As games go, Blaine Gabbert solidified his grasp on the starting QB spot as Colin Kaepernick did little in his first game action since the middle of last season. Kaepernick also decided to not stand for the National Anthem to protest black oppression. Something that is garnering attention across the sports, and non-sports world. To me, this isn’t a John Carlos/Tommie Smith style protest. This is more of a look-at-me protest. For a guy who is ostensibly fighting for his NFL life, it’s curious to do something that will piss off a lot of people, including your own teammates. It might mean a little more if he did this in a regular season game as the starting quarterback, not in a preseason game as a guy fighting for a spot on the team.
Since he lives in a free country, he has every right to protest what he feels is discriminatory behavior. I just think this is more of an attention-getting stunt than anything else. If you want to help, donate your salary to inner-city charities. Other than that? Pfffffffffffft. He’s acting like he wants the team to cut him. Kappy needs to worry about fighting for his job, not casting aspersions on the country or whatever this is.
As far as the game goes, we got dinged up in this one. Ellington pulled a hammy, Carlos Hyde suffered a concussion, Quinton Dial hurt his knee. The 1st looked good as good field position led to a nice TD drive, and a swing pass TD. The D didn’t have some of their starters (Armstead, Bowman) and looked pretty good. They weren’t getting the pressure they had gotten earlier, and they gave up like 8-9 4th down plays, but the defensive backfield played another solid game. I’d hope that the starters will be getting more pressure, and the 3rd/4th down conversion rate isn’t so gaudy.
All in all, a fairly shitty night with the injuries. We NEED Hyde to be ready. Ellington is one of our only experienced WRs so we can’t lose him either.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
Ellington is way too fragile to rely upon. Year after year now.
No kidding. Hyde is getting to be the same.
Trading began early this year
http://www.49ers.com/news/article-2/49ers-Trade-CB-Kenneth-Acker/2acfdf24-4d5f-49f5-a02c-efa3c242e979?sf34497219=1
Looking at last nights Kap interview I think his X hat was for Malcolm X
Well, now that expectations have been lowered once again. I am going to try and have some fun with this team. Hyde can’t be relied upon for anything at this point so play the kids. Our D does look like it can be special but if we give up the time of possession like we did they won’t last for very long. So, it’s time to gamble(tom that is) and see if we can’t come up with something fresh. I am all for trimming the fat. And Berger, thanks for the comment on the last thread. Love this blog and the people on it. I do think I gonna lower that prediction though 3-13. I honestly don’t know where the 3 wins will come from, luck I guess.
My expectations are about the same really. If they have good D, solid O line and running game and a game manager QB who doesn’t lose games for them they should be better than 8-8
Cross-posted from the People’s Front of Judea:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game.
— Apparently, he’s not going to read defenses or throw for first downs in a country that oppresses black people either…
The Judean’s Peoples Front you mean.
That’s the question I have, is this a deliberate back door for him or is he really that dense.
Fuck that guy.
See ya later guys, nice knowing you: WR DiAndre Campbell, RB Kendall Gaskins, DL Darren Lake, K John Lunsford, LB Wynton McManis, OL Blake Muir, OL Ian Silberman, WR Jerome Simpson and CB Cleveland Wallace. Additionally, the team announced they have placed WR Eric Rogers on the Injured Reserve List. The 49ers roster currently stands at 79 and must be trimmed to 75 by 1:00 p.m. PT on Tuesday, August 30.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/49ers-release-nine-players-including-wr-simpson
No surprises among our nine cuts. Good news is people like Paul Soliai, Roddy White and Mike Wallace came available. Even more players who could help fill out our roster should be there when teams cut to 53 in a few days
And we have money to burn
Do they play QB?
Not sure but Acker was a favorite of mine. Hope we have the horses to run with without him.
LOL RT
Never seen a QB competition be decided in the 4th preseason game.
Well they got my attention
According to Kelly the competition is still ongoing:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/kelly-kaepernick-still-competing-49ers-starting-job
Acker was outplayed ROB!!!!
LoCo Jr grinding his axe again:
http://49ers.pressdemocrat.com/chip-kellys-49ers-worries-many-large/
Be worried…..it’s okay.
Straight out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not: the Mausoleum is sold out this season.
The bottle sounds pretty good right now
Todays press transcript from coach Kelly
http://www.49erswebzone.com/news/96736-transcript-kelly-talks-kaepernick-national-anthem-reactions-more/
Kelly will not make the decision to cut Kap but the suits in the suites will. “Get him out of here will be the cry!” “He’s a public relations nightmare!”
The PR nightmare apparently started long ago Nipper.
He (Kaep), and Paraag were said to be at odds going way back.
Some even suggested Paraag went so far as to blame Harbaugh for Kaep’s ‘attitude’.
I can see where, if true, those conflicts festered into a full blown dumpster fire from within.
Far cry from the Eddie-Era relationships between FO and Locker Room these days in SF.
Flaming embarrassment.
Early thoughts:
Badford (!!) looks terrific. Carr looks terrific. Winston looks terrific. Rodgers looks like Rodgers, beyond terrific. Mariota looks good. Romo looks at the ceiling. Ryan looks like a turnover machine again. Brees looks awful. Eli looks bad. Sanchez looks, well, the talk is now to cut him so Denver doesn’t owe the Eagles the draft picks. RG III looks like he’s another cog in the Factory of Sadness. Alex looks like Alex. I haven’t had the chance to see much else.
Now, just two more weeks and we can see beyond practice games. (IIRC, Badford looked terrific in preseason last year, then the season began.) Except for Romo, and Sanchez who will be looking into a broadcasting career.
Just to change the subject from Kappy’s behavior. This is, after all, a sports league which rolls in the dough only by pushing with massive advertising a drug which kills 100+ million people annually.
A league which embraces murderers, rapists, women beaters, you name it. Not standing for the anthem ranks pretty low on the criminal list. Kappy is a failure at PR. If you want to see and hear measured, articulate discussion by an athlete on race in this country, look at Richard Sherman. He can get a point across without being offensive except to those who will be offended by any talk which does not fit their preconceived agenda, no matter their skin color.
——————–
Two more weeks until actual, real games. And the Raiders D will still suck. Either those new D FAs
improve the D progressively over the course of the season, or it’s wait till next year again. At least
the O will carry their end.
I’m going to try not to get frustrated by the Niners. I want to see what Chip can do. I want to see if the team is playing better in the latter half of the season, or if the D is so gassed they’ve given up
and the O is just cashing it in.
Just random thoughts – keyboard addiction fulfilled. BTW, in the Kelly transcript, in the paragraph regarding Burbridge, the word in context is “alluded”, not “eluded”. HA! Now I feel better.
Kap is free to make choices, he is not free of the consequences.
There is nothing in the CBA requiring standing for the anthem, but again, Kap is a failure at PR. Any controversial statements, such as Sherman’s, are going to have consequences, but inflammatory actions like Kappy’s are doomed to failure from the start.
He’s also an employee working for an employer. I know of no employers who have no rules regarding employee conduct at or away from work. Fuck him and his politics. You’re there to play football, Kap, so go about the business of doing so or fucking leave.
His employment is covered by the CBA. He has the right to sit and any team that would try to punish him for sitting could be subject to a whale of a lawsuit, with public opinion on the team’s side and the law on the player’s.
Hyde has absolutely proven he can’t stay healthy. Shoulda been a pro golfer, football is too much for him. What is our RB situation? Do we still have like 9 of them? All shitty? It was idiotic to count on Hyde to be the guy this year.
Same with Ellington. Droughns is hurt as well. Mike Davis looks good. Except for the fumbles. We’re fucked without the few decent guys we have.
Ouch!
I just wonder how long the league goes on with these 4 preseason games. Hate to say it but they should add 2 more playoff teams and lose 2 pre season games.
Better yet, extend camps a couple weeks and do away with the preseason.
Go Chuck! Let out a loud BLEEP! That’s it, scare the neighbors.
Yes pre-season sure sucks especially if one gets hurt.
Well, at least this year high hopes didn’t last too long. It’s rebuild time and hopefully there are some kids that will try and make it work. We seem to have an O-line now but that’s not gonna mean much if there is nobody behind them to make plays.
Here are some High Hopes for you Winder.
20 passes for 61 yards with 1 interception and 2 sacks
Sorry, I can only laugh.
Pears is cut, see ya.
Finally! WOO HOO
I like Apples better.
Seldom has a pear been so unpopular.
Good riddance!
Don’t forget a swift kick in the ass on the way out to the parking lot.
Let’s say they move to 2 pre-season tilts, and add one more reg season game, and another playoff round, in the next CBA. If a guy rips his Achilles in reg game #1, which would have been the previous game 3 of preseason, is he any less or more out for the year?…
Gorgeous day. We better bring this home.
great self pity song. lol
Pears won’t be missed by anyone here I guess. Another move. Brandon Thomas to the Lions for a slot receiver.
He had 69 catches for 850 yards in 2012 and led the AFC in punt return yds. last year. Has a return for a TD too so we might have gotten a serviceable return man as well.
Serviceable WR and return man !
Good move
It’s going to be long, long season if the Niners settle for “serviceable” players. Ouch!
Oh and Kap will keep on sitting. He should insist on earplugs, that would really piss the patriots off. And throwing interceptions will piss off his coach and the fans!
Like it matters anymore, he is the back up to Gabbert for Christ sake.
I was reading Berger and NJ going back and forth on Baalke last week I think?
Berger was wrong in one thing, I also supported Baalke here, for a very long time. The one area that always bugged me was taking the ACL guys with a view to building a future roster. Particularly when the team was solid and maybe a piece or two away from going over the top.
Reading today about trading their 3rd round O line guy Thomas to Detroit sticks in my craw.
Firstly, taking an ACL guy is risky. The argument goes that they get a higher ceiling guy in a lower round and next year he produces. Sure, but there are two caveats: There is no guarantee any draft pick will work out, in fact less than 50% do, compound that with the chance of an ACL rookie even returning to his pre-injury form before trying to earn a roster spot and we are at a 25% possibility of getting a return on the pick. That is low odds.
The Niners experiment has not panned out very well. Today they traded a high pick, a 3rd round ACL reclamation project, so another low return.
This is entirely at the feet of Baalke.
So there are 3 of us. Still, we are not going to agree on everything. Of course, I never have a problem with disagreeing, I have problems with somebody being a dick about it. I can’t see you ever doing that. We have a mild disagreement here. We wouldn’t have Dial and Tank if we did not draft any injured players. Plus, we just traded another of those players for what looks like a WR who fills a need. Sounds like 3 good selections to me..
You feel all the other ones that haven’t worked out, some taken highly, balances out and the risk/reward was worth it?
They could have taken healthy players that may have contributed sooner at a higher probability factor.
As far as I know, Baalke is the only GM pursuing this practice, at least to the quantities he does. Even becoming defensive about it.
I’m not bagging “hopes for the year” because they had a rough game the other day. That’s a little premature. If they can win 5 games last year with a shit coaching staff, they can at least match that this year with a better staff and more talent.
There’s holes there and there’s talent. For now I’ll choose to focus on the good that could happen. 1980 has permanently conditioned me for that. From 6-10 to 13-3 and the title. Anything can happen. Get rid of the detritus to start with and Pears is a good first move. If Kap doesn’t snap the fuck out of it, but quick, get his ass out there too. Right now he’s a cancer and that’s the last thing this team needs.
And rtfirefly, nowhere near 100 million people die every year because of alcohol, at least not in this country. In 2014 88,000 died of alcohol related causes in the U.S. Way too many, but an infinitesimal figure compared to 100 million.
GO NINERS!
Yeah, I just pulled that one out of my ass. The World Health Organization figure is extremely high, though, I was just too lazy to look it up. I do know that 1 out of 4 males in their physical primes here in The Land of Enchantment will die from alcohol.
My point obviously is the hypocrisy of the league. Its job is to make money, period. From that, you can bet the anthem will be a bargaining point during the next CBA negotiations. Sitting for the anthem just looks awful, bad for business. If it were good for business, the league would fight to require all players to sit.
“Hypocrisy” is the wrong word since the league is not punishing Kap. I was sitting here trying to think of how I meant to phrase that thought, but I give up. The league will be laissez-faire unless it costs money. That’s the bottom line.
More on this swirling Kaepernick national anthem debacle:
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17411286/alex-boone-minnesota-vikings-calls-ex-teammate-colin-kaepernick-decision-sit-national-anthem-shameful
Boone rakes him over the coals pretty good and Rex Ryan basically sums up what Flavor said the other day, about guys like Kap having all the opportunity and money they could want.
In the first episode of Hard Knocks, Jeff Fisher has a scene in which he tells the Rams how it’s going to be when the anthem is played and he leaves no room for interpretation. Stand and show respect or don’t play for the Rams. I’m surprised all teams don’t have a similar rule. Like I said above, players are employees working for an employer, and I know of no employer that has no rules regarding employee conduct at work or away from work.
You want to make a big political statement, one rife with controversy, do it on your own time and on a more suitable platform.
I just cannot wait for the next pre-season game! They’re so exciting! Will Kap sit or stand? Will Harry Edwards show up for some face time? Ain’t sports wonderful?
One player I really wanted draft recently was WR Alan Robinson from Penn St. Some of you might remember me commenting often to draft him. I am seeing he had quite a year last year. I wish I hadn’t seen that, I mean it isn’t like we need a WR, right.
berger- I think he’s the most dynamic WR in the league right now. Don’t exactly know where he went in the draft but I’m pretty sure Baalky woulda passed on him.
Allen Robinson went RD2 to JAX
We took Carlos RD2 that year
Carlos #25 / Robinson #29 – Might have swapped Picks with them? Have to look that one up to be verify –
Yes – several moves that made that happen –
http://tinyurl.com/jxn2gvg
Quite frankly, with Chip here now, I’d prefer he make the calls on WRs.
Leave Baalke to the Defensive side.
lurker john- I think the reason we won 5 games last year was because we played some really terrible teams. To me the Raider game said it all.
Just for the record I like Baalke and think he’s a good GM
12th with respect to the ACL guys, I see it as a GM putting a grade on the healthy player, (pre-injury).
Baalke sees the ‘potential’ at a reduced price of course.
I would however, have to assume the medical staff would weigh in, on the potential recovery factors involved.
Gamble?
Certainly.
But, if there’s no immediate need at the position which said player is Drafted for, it becomes a depth Pick, IMO.
As I stated the other night, Marcus Lattimore seemed the most risky to me, simply because he was a RB and, nerve damage was involved.
I think Baalke reached on that one but, the kid was seen as a dedicated, ‘all business’ sort of reach.
Much in the mold of Frank, who, as we know, beat long odds having come back from several knee surgeries himself.
Win some/Lose some I guess?
He seems to favor RBs/OL/DL and DBs in his efforts to stack the roster depth too.
He needs to stay FAR away from WR Picks though.
I’m hoping Chip can improve that position with his input on the Offensive side of things.
Maybe these 2 can have the relationship I’d had hoped Baalke and Harbaugh were capable of having, (once upon a time).
NJ, I understand his reasoning, I don’t see at as having worked out sufficiently. Looks to me like the Niners lost out on a lot of healthy pics with very few successes. This last one, in essence they swapped a 3rd rounder for a 5th and were lucky to do that since cut downs are here.
I think as a policy for drafting it has been a mistake.
NJ that’s the problem. Baalke CAN’T stay away from WR picks. Or QB picks. You can’t simply build one side of your team and expect to get anywhere. I mean if I (or you or Bergs etc.) can say Keenan Allen for example is going to be a solid WR pick based on seeing his college games, the why can’t they see it? They have 10x the film we do and more bodies watching as well. I get so tired of hearing that he can only draft defensive guys. Chip runs a WR-based offense. We didn’t really build that up this offseason OR the draft.
I think Chip runs a running offense. He uses 3 WRs wide but that can be interchanged with a TE or two. The alignment is more to help the running game than the passing game.
Agreed, running team with play action from spread formations.
Right. But we still need WRs that can get open and catch the ball. If we don’t have any WRs, then we will end up looking like the Jimmy Hat short passing game offense. Teams will scheme that shit away by playing everything tight to the line. No matter how spread out they are
Personally, I would have drafted Allen Robinson instead of Carlos Hyde. I even said it back then. Doesn’t mean I don’t like Hyde. It’s just that I watched Robinson continually winning the 50/50 ball match-ups and he had an over 40″ vertical leap. Some stat people got scared off because he wasn’t a burner. What I saw on the field was a good football player. I wanted him with our 1st pick, we could’ve had him with our 2nd round pick. IIRC, I think I wanted Funchess with our 2nd or 3rd pick if we did not get Robinson. He’s another win the 50/50 ball WR.
He went in the 3rd round for Gods sake. He was even coming off a knee injury. That’s his fucking MO.
Well, the hypocrisy tag goes to all the people coming unglued at Kappy’s actions. The idea of living in a free country means doing things that you believe in without fear of retribution. Tommie Smith and John Carlos took their very unpopular stand on the podium in the Olympics. It only took 45 years for the rest of the world to catch up to their sentiments. It isn’t the same fight, but it is similar.
I have no problem with him making his point, I have a problem with how he made his point. Disrespectful.
You don’t think there will be consequences to his actions? I’m certain he does. Are consequences for offending a lot of people retributions? Does living in a free society mean any action that is likely to cause offense should be free of consequences? He is not being imprisoned for it, or arrested. He will lose his endorsements and become persona non grata, both things he is well aware of. In short, he is reaping what he sowed exactly as he knew he would.
I didn’t say that, 12th. The only ones who really have a right to punish him is the team. He did it as a member of the 49ers. Possibly the league as well. The league MAY come down on him. But for what? Being a douche? Convicted felons get to play. As do any number of wife-beaters and drunk/drugged/steroid addled athletes.
I don’t agree with the Klan, but they have a right to hold rallies and shit. Offensive? Yes. Should they be punished for their views? No. Guys making the sign of the cross don’t get penalties, but the one guy who mimicked a Muslim prayer drew a penalty. That’s hypocrisy.
Again, I think this is a stupid way to draw attention to the ‘oppression’ of blacks or whatever his call is. But I don;t disavow his right to do so. The whole idea of we live in a free society yet we punish people for unpopular views (see Tommie Smith/John Carlos) is the height of hypocrisy.
I don’t think the team or the NFL will punish him. The free market will. His endorsements, sales of Jersey’s, signed memorabilia, his starting QB prospects, will all suffer because he chose a way to bring attention to his cause that is widely accepted as disrespectful.
Some look at him doing it as a courageous act considering he will likely lose a lot. I think that pales in comparison to the offense he caused to many.
There are a ton of avenues for a star such as him to defend a cause and he has every right. Disrespecting the flag and the society that gave him all he has was a very poor choice IMO.
I can only speak for myself but I am done with him.
LoCo Sr had an interesting piece on these events but I can’t put a link to it because a paywall appeared this morning.
I think how Kappy is protesting is incredibly stupid. Making a huge donation to an underfunded school district in an inner city while hogging all the press attention he could garner would be a smart protest.
That being said, I’m profoundly skeptical of those who blame the player and not at the same time the league. This is the league which wraps the flag tightly around itself, national anthem, military flyovers, etc., while simultaneously refusing to pay taxes to pay for that military. Oh yeah, they started last year finally. That’s just the league office, not the individual teams. How much in taxes do the owners pay? Open your books. Do owners strong arm taxpayers to increase their personal wealth (See Stadium, Levi’s)? Do the owners get government enforced monopoly privileges? Jerruh’s picture in the dictionary next to “hypocrisy” is gold-plated.
Kappy didn’t steal, kill, rape, or commit any other mayhem. He quietly protested, a longtime American tradition. Don’t like the way he protested? Don’t watch it.
Levi Stadium is privately funded RT.
Since when?
http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Levi-s-Stadium-The-1-3-billion-bet-5687409.php
According to this 2014 estimate, the City of Santa Clara forked over $975 million. It does state that the stadium is publicly owned, however. I stand corrected on that.
Here’s the link, 12th. Nothing earth-shaking. I don’t think the fact he’s made money playing a game means he can’t comment on this. That means all athletes are exempt from commenting on social issues. Which is what Bron Bron and Michael Jordan used to catch shit FOR. the fact that they DIDN’T take a stand.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/sports/6024734-181/lowell-cohn-49ers-colin-kaepernick
If that’s the case, then those who inherited their wealth have no right to comment either. See Owners, NFL.
A lot of owners are self-made, so give credit where credit is due. Building a business, working your ass off and building a fortune are good things. It means a lot of jobs for a lot of people. It means a stronger economy. Just because Jed inherited his money (something completely out of his control) doesn’t mean they all did. I’d wager that most did not.
Take a stand, no problem, just don’t disrespect our country and the citizens who paid a heavy price for his privilege to do it, and that is exactly what he is doing.
Cohn’s point is he thinks this is a publicity grab for a failing QB who is fast becoming irrelevant and needs to stay in the limelight, maybe he is right.
I agree 12th. Bad timing and place for such a protest. The fact that the irony is completely lost on him only fuels the debate about his intelligence.
Okay so when does Kap get cut? Does anyone have a clue? Besides Gabbert who else can help the team at QB? Those are the questions that interest me. I’m bored with all the social stuff.
They are between a rock and a hard place. Cut him now and its because of his principles right?
Use him at all this season, starter or back up, and if he gets hurt and isn’t healthy by April 1 next year he is guaranteed $14 mil, same way he gets $12 mil this year.
Trading him right now will be difficult, he would be cheap though.
Best option may be to have him a healthy scratch every game and cut him at the end of the season but he takes up a spot on the 53.
No good options as far as I can see.
As for the QB position depth chart, seems clear Gabbert is the starter ( Did I really just write that?) and unless they gamble with Kap’s health and risk him, then Driscol is the back up.
Obviously Kap is the qualified back up but the risks are big and so is the backlash. Tough decision.
That’s my take anyway.
Complicating all this is DSJ’s comment about leaving Chip’s Eagles that Chip was trying to get rid of all the black players.
Good thing everything is settled for the start of the season in two weeks.
They play him Thursday. He doesn’t look like a starter and they cut him for football reasons. No need to pay a back up 12 million with the chance of that escalating to 14 mil next year. Anybody who can’t understand that is to much into politics.
Yeah RT, he got rid of two black players and replaced them with two black players. You would seriously have to be looking for a fight to say he was racist over that situation.
Kappy’s comments are in no way directed at the military. He’s ‘commenting’ on the police.
And I don’t think he gives a shit about endorsements as they have pretty much dried up anyway. No one is looking to have a backup QB doing any ads for them. I see this more as a move to get cut.
Beyond that, there are plenty of black players that stand behind Chip from his time coaching in Oregon. The whole DSJ thing is bullshit. LeSean McCoy? Didn’t get THAT move, but both those guys have been labelled as shit disturbers themselves.
Apparently Kap is too slow to play in Chip’s system. He doesn’t process the plays quick enough forcing him to run for yards. If this is true, then he may be forced out of the 53 man roster.
They should have cut him yesterday for being a terrible QB. He hasn’t learned shit. The reason I am pissed is the vagueness of his protests. He is talking about isolated city instances mainly police actions in depressed black neighborhoods. This shit has been going on for ever. I can understand the frustrations of both sides to this coin. There has been innocent people killed and subjected to unwarranted brutality. And, there have been a lot of cops shot for no reason. To blame the country for this is just seems like a fools errand to me. These kind of issues need to be dealt with by the city they happened in.
And two days ago Dwayne Wade’s innocent cousin was gunned down by two black gang members. The only reason we’re hearing anything at all about it is because Wade is a superstar athlete and high profile individual. These types of incidents occur every day in our inner cities and very few of them garner any kind of media attention at all.
I have to question Kap’s judgment on a lot of things; on the field, where he constantly makes poor decisions, and now choosing a very poor platform for his “protest” about minority oppression, which is a fucking joke in and of itself.
As far as I’m concerned, he’s worn out his welcome in S.F. and saying that doesn’t come easy for me, because I was a huge supporter and then apologist for him from the beginning. I’ve reached my limit.
Same.
Kap has one last pre-season game to show something, anything. 49ers at least need a back-up.
Will be interesting to see if the team tries hard for him.
In the first series against GB they came hard after Kap and the line was a sieve except Staley. After the play Staley walks towards his teammates with his arms wide open. I interpreted that to mean what the heck just happened, because protection had been good for Gabbert.
Can’t say for certain, and GB did come after him, but sure looked like the O line didn’t play as hard for Kap as they did for Gabbert.
Maybe I’m seeing things.
I wondered why the blocked so well for Gabbert and not for Kap. Afterwards, when I heard he sat for then anthem I thought the same thing.
If Chip truly runs a run-based offense, then the QB is less of a focal point than, say, a team that runs the WCO. Meaning Gabbert should be able to be successful by not making mistakes, making good decisions in the read option, not forcing the ball into coverage (a Kap specialty) and not taking sacks. A la, dare I say, Alex Smith, albeit with a much better arm.
I say excise the tumor, Kap, cut your losses, stay with Gabbert for now, Ponder as your backup and keep working with and developing Driskel. I don’t know what the 49ers really think about Driskel, but he passes the sniff test at first glance. Nobody is predicting this season is going to be easy. There’s going to be growing pains all the way around. So, gut it out with the QB’s who actually want to be with the team and figure out a way to make it work.
Kap is not doing the team any good right now. Gabbert has clearly done his off-season work and kept his head down and focused on learning Kelly’s offense. The Niners need positive things moving forward and Kaepernick is disgruntled. If his first pre-season game is any indication, he looks a lot like he did last year and he is way behind the learning curve.
Don’t know how the other guys see it but I think of this O, what little I’ve seen of it, as a hybrid.
It is run centric but not necessarily power. It is a run first, spread formation offense with WC precepts.
I felt Kap would thrive in this O, but the pre-season hasn’t worked out for him and he flunked his first game back. Add to that the huge distraction factor and he gifted Gabbert the job. Probably was going to lose it anyway on performance as he had done so little.
I think you’re right that Gabbert can run this scheme fairly well.
Just to be fair to Kap, he was rehabbing most of the off-season, so he couldn’t put the field work in. But he lost most of his teammates last year (witness Alex Boone’s recent comments regarding his “protest”) and that’s a bad thing for a QB. If he can’t lead, what good is he? He’ll never get the maximum out of this teammates. How do they know he won’t just bail on them again?
At this point I don’t think there’s much chance Kappy stays here all season. The team will likely cut him between thursday’s game and the regular season.
Colin Cowherd has a terrific show today on the Niners. He rehashes Harbaugh’s tenure (agree or disagree, depending on which conspiracy you believe), Kappy with the Niners…
“Kaepernick was never a leader. Anquan Boldin was the leader of that clubhouse. Unquestionably. You didn’t mess with him.”
On the current controversy, he plays Belicheat’s response: “I don’t know about politics (-I’m paraphrasing). We’re focusing on the Giants.”
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Week 1 is MUST WIN. After that the Niners may not win again till week 7 or 8.
New thread is up.