San Francisco 49ers Forever

Big game fro the 49ers. Pitfall game, progress game, all that noise. Truly a GPS game, to coin a phrase. Apparently Philly is in a irreversible death spiral. They are down 31-24 in the 4th quarter. Unless they pull it out, they’ll be 1-4. Crazy. Da Raiders are trying to beat a tough Houson team on the road. Pittsburgh is wakng up from their malaise. Indy’s fighting for its first win. Gotta love the NFL.

The situation is what it has been. Keep Alex protected, and run block to the 2nd level. Get pressure with the front 7. RJF has some shoes to fill today. Frankly, I really didn’t think Soap was going to do as well as he has. I’m sure theyy’ll keep up the rotations on the D line to keep everyone fresh with D Dobbs and Ian Williams.

Hopefully the fans in attendance will be predominantly 49er fans today.

On the face of things, this is a game pitting two resurgent teams who have surprised a number of people and taken the early lead in their respective divisions. Tampa’s is a little more shocking due to the competition (Atlanta and N’Orlins) they face. Still, the NFC west was supposed to be Seattle, AZ, and StL fighting amongst themselves while the Niners staggered around blindly looking for clues behind their star-crossed QB. Well, 4 weeks in, and the Niners have a two game lead over their foes, and surprised the hell out of the Eagles last week. Frank Gore says the Eagles quit in the 2nd half:

http://tinyurl.com/3z8m9z9

So, here we are, two surprising teams squaring off. The current talk among the fans on both sides is low-scoring grind-it-out football. Let me be the one to say fuck that. If the Niners learned anything last Sunday, it is that they CAN push the ball down the field. They need to come out and be aggressive on offense. Try to get on top of these guys. Tampa Bay couldn’t do shit against Indy’s decimated defense. Yes, they have Dwight Freeney, but little else. TB spent 3 quarters getting holding calls and other penalties and did very little offensively. The fact that they won speaks to how sad Indy is without Peyton Manning.

I call this a trap game because these are the kinds of games that Mike Singletary would completely blow chunks on. He would build up his team as being better than the foe, preach his smashmouth style, and say we will lay our venegance upon them (sorry, just watched Pulp Fiction) and triumph. Invariably, the foe would come out aggressive, as TB did last year, and get on top of the Niners and coast the rest of the way home. Sing would mumble about looking at the tape to see how he was so easily taken down by the other team.  

I also call this a trap game because of the obvious raising of expectations. Not too many prognosticators (shut up, Twin) picked 3-1 at this stage of the season (I figured 2-2 was doable). Harbaugh is in total denial mode that his team is this good. Frankly I like him doing that. The other coaches were the opposite. They would be praised for close losses, and befuddled by the myriad blowouts. Harbaugh doesn’t want them believeing the hype.

But the main reason I call this a trap game is the fact that I wonder if Harbaugh comes out and plays this close to the vest. I think htis would be a huge mistake. The 2nd half last week showed that they can push the ball down the field. They can run slants and deep patterns. If TB comes out showing 8 in the box, and tries to stop the run/short passing game early, I hope against hope that the Niners go for broke. Hit some big plays. Try to get on top of these guys for a change. Try to get a 14 point lead before these guys can catch their breath. Harbaugh’s a smart guy, and I know he’s waiting to unleash some things, but he’s also missing the key guy, Braylon Edwards. Still and all, I’d be drawing some big plays up for Kyle Williams early. In other words, i think the Niners can win pretty easily if they come out aggressive, and not play into TB’s style of game.

The crazy thing about football as opposed to baseball is the urgency of EVERY game. In baseball, you can go on a 6 game losing streak, and still come out of it fine. In baseball, there’s always tomorrow. In football, you drop 2 games in a row, and 3 teams can pass you up on the way to the playoffs. Parity being what it is in the NFL these days, there is NO room for error. If you look at last year’s games, there were maybe 3 plays that kept the team from being 9-7 instead of 6-10. Look at Sunday’s Eagles win. There were missed FGs all over the place, fumbles, and drive-killing penalties. But the game hinged on the pursuit of Justin Smith to strip the ball from Jeremy Maclin, and Dashon Goldson having the wherewithall to simply fall on the football and not try to do too much and be the highlight hero (hello Nate Clements).

So, here we sit, atop the NFC West with a 2 game lead 4 weeks into the season. I sure as hell didn’t think we’ll have a lead like this at this point in the season. I knew the other teams were weak, but I figured it would take the 49ers time to get acclimated to the new systems and schemes they are all learning. I guess we should all be thanking the scheduling Gods, because the Rams, on paper at least, the best team in the west, has a brutal schedule, and looks like they’ll end up 0-7, with Green Bay, Dallas, and NO as their next 3 games. Seattle and AZ certainly aren’t doing very well, and all my thoughts on getting Kevin Kolb (talk about Checkdown Charlie. AZ fans are blasting his signing now) were unfounded and silly.

TB is one of those fair to middling teams that, when on can be scary, but watching that game last night, they spent 3 quarters shooting themselves in the feeet repeatedly. They must have had around 10 holding penalties. Freeney was unstaoppable, but Curtis Painter kept Indy from doing much offensively. But, as the thread says, this is a big test for your 49ers. And one where the head coach has to REALLY stress the importance of staying focussed. They are coming home after their best road trip in probably 15 years. They are getting press (albeit it’s more of the ‘how the fuck did the Iggles give it away?’), but Harbaugh is already getting praise from the talking heads around the media-sphere. The threat is very real that these guys come in with swelled heads, and thoughtsw of prime-time glory. This is where your coach HAS to beat on these guys to remond them that it’s all about hunger. All about not reveling in the recent past. It’s about pushing forward and not believing the hype. Matt Maiocco interviewed Harbaugh after returning from Philly, and it gives me a good feeling regarding just this fact. The gist of the interview is:

Is part of your task this week to sort of gauge the pulse of the team and make sure they don’t get too high after this win?
Harbaugh: “Yeah, that’s one. It comes back to – you’re getting better or you’re getting worse, you never remain the same. We’ll keep that blue-collar mentality.”

His experience as a head coach at Stanford defintely gives him an edge that the previous head coaches didn’t have. Even more so, when you consider that keeping college football players from going to the moon after big wins (say beating USC in LA), is tougher than doing that with professional football players. Still and all, these guys, as a team, are winning games that they had previously lost. The difference is the coaches back then would praise the team for close losses (GB, Minn, Atl, NO, Colts, Titans, ring a bell in the last couple years?), and then come up short down the road becasue they would rest on their laurels and fall flat. I can’t count how many times the Niners had (to steal a phrase from Skeebs) GPS games. Statement games. Ones that would show the team’s mettle. Invariably they’d fall flat, lick their wounds, and have to rebuild themselves from scratch. The problem came from the coaches building up the team needlessly and not putting in the work. Nolan would regularly give the team Monday off if the team won the previous Sunday. While that may sound good from a player standpoint, it doesn’t drive hiome the point that you need to keep working to get better, not take time off. There plenty of time to rest in the offseason.

Here’s the entire interview with Harbaugh. It is an excellent study in motivation techniques, self-deprecation, and the ‘us-vs-them’ mentality that Bill Walsh always drove into his players.

http://tinyurl.com/3qxvkbc

 Harbaugh understands what to do to keep these guys moving forward and not looking back. Well, the proof will be in the pudding this weekend, but he seems to have a much better grip on this than his predecessors.

. . . or does he? Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Every time Alex Smith comes up with a nice satisfying win, the pundits, fans, and anyone with an interest in the team says, there it is. This is what we bargained for when the 49ers made him the #1 pick back in April 2005. Is this the new beginning? Can Alex rise above the myriad obstacles that have been thrown in his direction? Can he finally gain redemption as the starting QB of the 49ers and lead them to the playoffs? Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?

Everyone knows the story. The chicken-egg thing with Smith has been going on since he was thrown into the starting job back in 2005. He had Nolan as HC, Mike McCarthy (yes, THAT Mike McCarthy) as his OC, and little talent minus the rook from the U, Frank Gore. Next year it was Norv Turner as the OC, and a big dose of Gore, and incremental inprovement. 2007 was the Hostler/shoulder/Smith-run-over-by-his-head-coach deal. 2008 was a season on the IR, Nolan tossed midseason, and Martz as the OC.  2009, Martz was out for the peripatetic Jimmy-Hat Raye. He of his head coach’s like-minded 1975 offense. Smith started the season as Shaun Hill’s backup. After replacing Hill in week 6, Smith showed signs of life and nearly pulled off some nice comebacks. 2010 was the heralded continuity theme under Jimmy-Hat. Unfortunately, the team started 0-5, Jimmy-Hat got fired, and Mike Johnson was supposed to come in and start implementing a more aggressive offense. No such luck. Smith got hurt, lost his job to Troy Smith, and the QB merry-go-round was on. The high point being the big win over Seattle last December, and the season-ending win with Tomsula as the head coach.

So, the question is, what can Smith do with an offensive minded head coach? Or even what can he do with any kind of coaching at all? Harbaugh has said on more than one occasion that he has had to deconstruct Smith and get him to work on his footwork and his mechanics. If early indications are to be believed, the prognosis is good.  

Smith is now the 8th ranked QB in the league with a 97.7 rating. He’s only got 4 TD passes, but more importantly, he only has one pick. Yes, it’s early, but even from game one this offense is growing. There are more 3-4 WR sets. Runs from these sets as well. The early play-calling concerns I had were dispelled in the 2nd half yesterday. My hope is they continue with this style of offense, as it finally opened up the run game in the finest Bill Walsh tradition. Once they started hitting their passes, the run game magically opened up. Plus, it’s time for Smith to put 2 great games together. This Tampa Bay game (normally the Pigs Of Bay (C) ) becomes the all-important reality-check game. Can they continue with their success on the road in their friendly confines? We will see.

The Jim Harbaugh era got a huge confidence boost and redemption for recent losses to the Eagles when the 49ers caught up to, and passed the Eagles in the 4th quarter of a hard-fought game. Down 23-2 early in the 3rd quarter, the 49ers scored 21 unanswered points for the win. The Niners, even more impressively, were able to run the ball down Philly’s throat with 2:06 left in the 4th quarter by getting 2 rushing first downs to keep the ball out of Vick’s hands. Frank Gore shook off the ankle sprain and rushed for 127 yards, and Alex Smith passed for a season-high 291 yards (and 2 TDs) by connecting 21 times to 8 different receivers after shaking off a pretty flat first half. Kendall Hunter added 38 yards on the ground as well.

The defense, which gave up 513 yards, actually played well. They constantly dogged Vick, and kept the pressure on him, even though he ran for 70, and threw for 405. The Niners should have had 3 more sacks on him, but Vick got loose for some big scrambles and dodged Brooks AND McDonald for their first TD. Rogers had a nice pick on an early drive, and the DBs made a lot of defensive plays, even though Philly connected on a lot of big passes. Vick threw 46 passes, but the Niners were able to break up 7 of his passes plus the pick. The rush defense, minus Vick’s scrambles, was fine. Justin Smith, with his strip of Maclin, iced the game for the Niners. Bowman had a huge game as well, stopping Vick on a would be scramble for a 1st down, breaking up a pass, and generally playing all over the place.

Special teams were a mess. 1 miss and 1 blocked FG for Akers (with some obvious Philly jitters), Ginn had -6 yards in punt returns, and the obligatory holding call on a kickoff return.

All in all, a big victory for this Niner team that is trying to find its identity. Alex Smith had one of, if not the best, game of his career. The much maligned offensive line did well for the most part. Anthony Davis’ huge struggles with Jason Babit (and a false start) notwithstanding.  164 on the ground was very solid. Smith’s second half won the game for the Niners. Philly wore down in the end, and the run game sealed the deal.

 So much for the dream team in Philly. The San Francisco 49ers had one of their toughest victories in quite a while with a stirring 2nd half comeback vs the Philadelphia Eagles, IN Philly. After a desultory 1st half where Smith threw for 66 yards, and gave up a fumble which resulted in 7 for Philly, the Niners were by all accounts lucky to only be down 20-3 due to an early Vick pick, and a very retarded play by Ronnie Brown when he tried to lateral the ball while getting tackled on the 2 yard line. 

Alex Smith came back in the 2nd half to play about the best football of his star-crossed career. He was 13-17 for 225 yards in the 2nd half, threw for 2 touchdowns (no picks), and ended up with a 112.5 QBR when all was said and done. The Niners outscored a suddenly pourous Philly defense 23-3 in the 2nd half, threw for 291 yards, and rushed for 164. For all the shit the O line has taken, they run-blocked very well, and pass protected well. Although Anthony Davis had quite the adventure trying to block Shooty Babbit, uh, Justin Bieber, errrrr, Jason Babin to the tune of 3 sacks.

It wasn’t the cleanest game played, with 4 missed FGs and costly fumbles on both sides, but for the 49ers to come back on the road against a legit team says worlds for how good a job Harbaugh has done with this team this young season. They sorted out the run blocking, and gave time for Smith to hit some deep passes in the 2nd half. An aspect of this team that hasn’t been apparent. They also hit on a slant (a SLANT!) for the TD to Morgan.

A game to build on. Most defintely. TB at home isn’t easy, and Deetroit on the road isn’t a cakewalk either, but they certainly can be taken care of if they keep playing this type of offensive game. Strong running and a passing attack that takes advantage of matchup issues when they are there. Still would like to see a little more of VD deeep, but there’s little to complain about when Smith hits 8 different guys for 291 in the air. Winning these close games is light-years above all those mioral victories of the last two regimes. The Niners were losing these types of games for the past 4 years.

Don’t see much of a chance against Philly, unless there is constant pressure from the get-go, the 49ers force some early turnovers, and the are-we-not-so-sucky O line can figure out how to pass protect. And run block. These two teams have had some interesting games over the years. I read a wonderful thing in the paper in that before last week’s loss to the Giants, the Iggles hadn’t given up 4 TDs in the air since Joe Montana dropped 5 TDs on Philly in 1989. 4 of those TDs of course came in the 4th quarter. Then there was the beat-down that Philly laid on SF in 1994 (40-8?), where Young went ballistic when George Seifert pulled him out of the game. The players themselves said it was the turning point of the season, and the Niners won 10 in a row, and closed the season 13-1 and went on to win the Super Bowl.

Recent history hasn’t been so kind. In 2005, Tim Rattay was chased and harassed to the tune of a 42-3 beat-down. In 2006, the Eagles ruined one of Alex Smith’s best days when he went 27 for 46, 293 yards, and one TD en route to a 38-24 loss. The 2008 debacle was the death knell for Mike Nolan. Going into the 4th quarter with a 9 point lead, Gore at 98 yards on the ground, and possession of the ball, the Niners (and JT O’Fuckmeagain) fumbled and pick-sixed their way to a demoralizing 40-26 loss. Gore had 6 yards rushing on 3 attempts, with the LEAD. This prompted the Nolan firing a week later, and the throttling of the pass-happy Mike Martz by Mike Singletary. 2009? Well, a 3 pick day by Alex sealed that game, a 27-13 ho-hum loss. Last year’s game was another close-but-not-quite loss. Alex had his only 300 yard game in his career, going 25 for 39, and 309 yards. However, he skipped a screen pass off Gore for a pick, and gave Philly 6 points on a misguided attempt to salvage a broken play. He instead fumbled and Philly took it to the house. Another close comeback thwarted by the misfortunes of the Singletary-led 49ers.  

I’m not expecting miracles. I am hoping for better line play, continued improvement by the secondary, and some consistent drives. If the Niners can keep it low-scoring, thaey have a chance. A track meet doesn’t bode well.

A few interesting tidbits came out of 49ers Central this morning. One is that Frank Gore will see limited action this weekend in Philly. Limited meaning none. That turf in Philly is not very forgiving, and healthy guys roll their ankles on that fake grass shit all the time. Frank would be well-served to sit this one out. The other story was Joe Staley’s remarks about the offensive offensive line. Here’s what Joe said:

 “Contrary to everyone’s belief, we don’t suck,” Staley said. “We’re good players and we play well. It comes down to everybody executing. It takes all 11 guys. It doesn’t take five offensive linemen to make a running play go. It takes fullbacks. It takes tight ends. It takes quarterbacks carrying out the fakes, wide receivers blocking downfield. It takes all 11 guys and we all do our job and we all have to do our part.”

Yes, Joe, it takes a village to block for a run up the middle. The problem with your argument is that Gore is usually met by a defender 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The WRs and TEs aren’t blocking DEs an NTs. You are. The front five is getting no penetration at the point of attack. Better fakes would sell the runs? How do you fake a running play, by the way? Yes, there’s a learning curve this whole unit is going through. but we fans sure don’t feel that confident when Gore is met consistently behind the line of scrimmage, and Smith is constantly hit while he throws, or is sacked.

Anyhow, with Gore and Norris out, we get to see the future in Hunter and Miller as the FB and RB. Will THEY make the blocking look better? Hard to say, but Norriss sure has his share of whiffs in trying to block. Other teams have run on Philly, so we should get our shots. Give Gore the rest. Maybe bring him in for a few screen plays. He’s better suited to grass anyway. Miller can hopefully play Norriss to the bench for the rest of the season.

Still no word on how long Braylon Edwards will take to recover from his torn meniscus. Please at least activate Kyle Williams. He deserves more of a look than he’s gotten.

Well, so far in the young season, the Niners have gotten their first win under Jim Harbaugh, their first road win in Cincinnati, and a near-miss against a quality team vs Dallas. Say what you will about Dallas, but they could very well be 0-3, while SF could be 3-0. As it is, they are both 2-1. AZ and Seattle are 1-2, and the Lambs are 0-3. As good as it all seems, the Niners are about to face a tough few weeks coming up. Games against Philly (road), Tampa, and Detroit (road) lead to the bye week in week 7. The only patsy in the immediate future is Cleveland after the bye week. And you know how much the Yorks want to win the battle of Ohio (having recently won the first leg). 

Philly and Deeetroit look to be the hardest games in the near future. Tampa? Haven’t seen them this year, but they’ve scraped past Atlanta and Minnesota, and lost to Deeetroit. Philly matches up offensively very well against what the Niners struggle with. And that’s the short passing game/WCO type passes to the flat, TEs underneath, and delayed screens. Dallas shredded the Niners in the 4th quarter by going underneath, and featuring Witten to no end. Celek was kept quiet by the Giants, but Philly’s WRs had good numbers across the board. 13 catches for 160 yards. Although Maclin is questionable for the Niner game. Philly aslo runs pretty well, and this will be a test for Sopoaga to clog the middle, and the LBs to stay at home. Overpursuing on screen plays is death, and Bowman especially needs to not get caught out of position on screens and delays. 

Tampa is more of a ball control offense. They don’t do anything particularly great, but they move the chains and grind out drives.  Freeman is fair to good, but 2 TDs and 4 picks  isn’t all that. And their run game is fair to middling as well. This should be a winnable game.

Deeetroit on the other hand, is pass, pass, pass. Stafford is close to 1,000 yards passing already, and they are 4th in the league in passing yards. They have a very good young secondary as well. However, teams run on them pretty well, so our O line will hopefully start to gel and be able to open up holes for Gore and Hunter.  

So, these next three games are a challenge to this young team trying to find its way. 0-3 wouldn’t be the end of the season, but depending on how these games go, it’ll tell how much they have learned. The Niners need to take care of their home game vs Tampa. That is the best chance of winning their next few. A win in either Deeetroit or Philly would be pretty large, and would garner this team some cred and some confidence.

3-3 is the likely outcome at the break. We’ll see what the deal is after that. Then the schedule gets pretty dicey with the likes of Baltimore, the Giants, Washington, and Pittsburgh around the usual suspects of the NFC West. One would think 8-8 is in reach. They’d have to beat some good teams to improve on that.

Those are for Rob! Well, a highly herky-jerky offensive performance was rewarded with a road win for young coach Harbaugh. Harbaugh went to the air a lot more that the first two games (30 passes to 29 runs), and the results were all over the place. Smith ended up 20-30 for 201, but, as usual, he was sacked (5 times), hurried, and pressured all day. This is a recurring problem. He had at least 4 dropped passes. Crabs drop on a 3rd down was plain unnacceptable. The overturned TD looked like a bad call. Harbaugh should have challenged that. Crabs had a couple more drops. VD dropped a nice 20 yard out on the 9 yard line, plus he fumbled, but ended up with 114 yards on 8 catches. The drops are maddening. Smith was errant on a few passes, but Harbaugh must be really working with Smith on his tendency of throwing high balls, because most of his passes were low. Still and all, the Niners barely drove the ball past the 50, and the run game was again nowhere to be found. 68 yards is pretty bad. Gore had a costly fumble (lost) deep in Niner territory, Miller as well, although the Niners recovered that one. Miller looked good catching the ball out of the backfield, though. Without the fumble, he could have displaced Norriss. It still may happen. VD put the ball on the ground too. The highlight of the run game was Hunter’s 7 yard TD run in the 4th quarter to give the Niners the lead.

Defensively, the Niners started this game just like the Dallas game, where the opponent marched straight down the field to inside the 10, and forced a field goal (Dallas missed theirs).  The base pass rush continues to be very solid. Only one sack, though it was a jarring hit by Ahmad Brooks. Aldon Smith was in early, but did not see a lot of action However, Ginger shredded the defense on that 1st drive. The run defense was again solid, but some of that is a by-product of the Niner defense giving up a lot through the air. The DBs, though, did well for the most part. Rogers undercut the out route for a nice pick, and R Smith made a very nice diving pick on the errant deep ball by Dalton late in the game.

All in all, a decent effort. The main thing is, it is a win on the road. Those are hard to come by in the NFL. Especially for a rookie coach. Just ask Tony Romo. Harbaugh is still trying to find an identity for his offense, and the struggles were apparent yesterday. False start penalties, unneccesary time outs, and missed blocking assignments were many and varied. Mainly because the Niners were trying to throw more than they had in the previous two games. Yes, this looks a lot like last year, and the year before that, but the reality is, this coaching staff has had little time to install this new offense. They started out with the run and are now moving on to the pass. Kind of an extended training camp. The hope is that they get more cohesive and right the little mistakes before they become a bigger problem down the line. Strangely, Gore was pretty passive blocking yesterday. He’s usually solid at picking up blitzes, but yesterday not so much. Gore had a bad day yesterday, and he may be in danger of getting spelled more often by Hunter.

Philly is next, on the road, and they were embarrassed by the New York football Giants yesterday. E Manning torched the vaunted Philly secondary for 4 TDs in the air, and Bradshaw gained 86 yards on the ground. Philly is a bit demoralized, but a win in Philly would be very hard to come by. The Niners would need to bring the pressure even more, and slow down Philly’s WCO. They throw underneath a ton, and with Vick likely out, this would be even more likely with Franz Kafka in there. A metamorphosis into a punishing defense that can stop short passes is needed.