San Francisco 49ers Forever

I’m glad this one didn’t count, as there were a lot of problems with this one. most of all being the red zone offense. We all (I guess) saw the offense move up and down the field with little resistance but fail time and time again to get into the end zone. The biggest issues were drops and penalties. Again, though, the penalties were clustered pretty much toward the end of the game when the Walmart brigade was in there.

The drops though were from guys who should know better. Celek dropped two. Both of them killing drives deep in Indy territory. Hikutini dropped a TD that was thrown perfectly, Mostert dropped a 3rd down pass that would have yielded a 1st down,  and Pettis dropped a contested pass in the end zone. Pettis’s was the easiest to forgive, but still, he needs to make those tough catches in the end zone.

That being said, the first team pass rush with Armstead and Thomas out there was great. Attaochu looks like he is going to help a lot as well. He got solid pressure all game, so I feel a little better going forward about the rush. We did give up too many yards to Luck on scrambles, but that should be fixable. Attaochu vacated the middle on a play and was blocked out of it on one scramble, but he just has to stay home.

The run game, dormant all preseason, was hitting on all cylinders with the newly signed Alfred Morris leading the way. He looks like a great alternative to the smaller guys as Morris just hits the hole with speed and power as opposed to waiting for the blocks and stutter-stepping to nowhere. He may be the steal of the preseason.

Richard Sherman had a nice breakup, Witherspoon had some nice plays, and a huge whiff on a 3rd down swing pass, and the refs got too involved again, but this is pretty much the last test as the team goes into full Minnesota prep mode.

13 days till kickoff!

Of all the preseason games, this one is at least mildly interesting. The Niners will likely play the starters for the whole 1st half, and they will also do a little game planning. Something absent from the first 2 games, and definitely missing from the last (scrubbini) game.

Beyond that, we will get out first sighting of Richard Sherman, our newly minted player-coach-mentor to the young secondary.  I hope he plays slow and easy and saves himself for the real thing in Minnesota. As it is, the secondary, along with the defense as a whole has not been very exceptional. It has been fairly flat. Run D is decent, but we are getting little to no pressure on the opposing quarterbacks. Granted Salomon Thomas, the guy poised for a breakout year, and Arik Armstead, another guy who has been injured a little too much, bot are on the shelf for the remaining preseason. Hard to know what we have there. Jeremy Attochu looked good last week, and I hope he gets first team reps this weekend.

Of course Eli Harold and his bad angles and blown coverages has finally been jettisoned, but we have a couple unknowns in Mark Nzeocha, and Pita Taumoepenu to fill his spot. Guys who, before I started writing this, I’d never heard of or seen on the field. What they’ll likely do is move Dekoda Watson from DE to the strong side. I guess. Like I said I know nothing about Eli’s backups, and really, if they couldn’t out-play Eli, how good are they?  At least they have three weeks to figure it out. As it is, Nzeocha gets the start on Saturday.

Frankly, I think the offense looks really good at this point, despite the run struggles. I think that will come around as the season progresses. My big concern is was and will be our pass rush.  Good secondary play can only last so long, but a strong pass rush makes a middling secondary look great. Fred Warner looks solid in his limited play, and the LBs in general seem fine. Even the line play up the middle has been decent. Jones and Buckner have  looked solid. As a whole though, the defense isn’t thrilling me. Yet.

I’m sure the regular season will be different, but again, pass rush is king.

Yes, the time is ripe for some real football. Unfortunately we have two more preseason games to get through before the biggest test of the season in the frozen parking lot of the Mall of Minnesota, or the big black ice ship.

The preseason is a time of worry about: injuries, poor play, injuries, penalties, injuries, disinterest, and finally, injuries. We’e had our share of minor injuries but no season-ending ones. My concern is the topic. The lines.

I will say, the pass protection has been solid for he most part. Jimmy G hasn’t been sacked, and the other guys have fared pretty well minus CJ holding the ball too long. Run blocking has been a problem. Minus a couple big gains, most runs have been of the 3 yards or less variety. I get that we are still deciding n personnel, and losing Magnuson for 2 months doesn’t help, but I’d like to see this next game use a set cast of characters for the first few series to see if we can generate some offense with the run.

Defensively of course we are still looking for consistent pressure on the QB. Thomas is still on concussion protocol, Armstead is out for a few more weeks, and no one has stepped up to provide the heat. Jeremy Attaochu looked good last week so it would be good to see him on he first team D. There have been a lot of solid individual contributions, now it’s time for the team to become a team and start coalescing. And enough with the penalties. The whole leading-with-the-helmet thing is now under review by the league for some tweaking. Huzzah.

But all in all, it turned into a penalty-fest. they shoulda lost the Dallas game and won this one, but in the end, these don’t matter so who gives a fig? A 16-13 loss to the Texans was the score of this one, and the good news was the ref effed the call to give the TD to Houston, thus otherwise avoiding the dreaded preseason overtime. I mean really, can’t they just say ties are OK in the pre-season? Stupid fucking clowns running (ruining) this game of ours.

Speaking of ruining, the latest penalty du jour is the “leading-with-the-head-to-initiate-contact” rule. Raheem the Dream Mostert laid a textbook shoulder-to-chest tackle on a punt return and was flagged for the mouthful above. As was Jeremy Attachou when he was attempting to rush the passer and couldn’t put his head behind him as he initiated contact with the right tackle. I now everyone across the Earth bemoans the idiocy of the new rules that come out every season, and the reasons these rules are being implemented. It is to appease the lawyers of the players who later on down the road will sue for their maladies and blame football (and rightly so) for their issues.

Perhaps the league should just come up with a better response to these issues than they did with the older vets, who were basically told, tough shit guys, we are making more money than Croesus, but we’re OK with you dying in the streets of CTE, brain damage, and a myriad of other ailments. Give you 1/2 of 1% of the multi-billion dollar pie? Greedy bastards!  But I digress.

Jimmy Garoppolo avoided any head injuries by actually having solid protection for his 12 passes, and completed 10 of them.  He hit a nice deep ball to Goodwin for 40 yards, and had a nice improv on passes to the FB whose name I can’t spell, and Trent Taylor in the back of the end zone. Beathard continues to look too small to play in the NFL as yet again he had more than a few tipped passes and a shit load of checkdowns. Jimmy G was 7-7 on 3rd downs (and 1-1 of 4th) while  CJ was 0-6. By the time Mullens came in the refs were in full laundry mode and every drive had at least 4 penalties attached to it.

And, as I wondered after the game if Mullens would get a shot running the 2nd team word has come out that CJ sprained his foot at some point in the Hou game so it’s likely. Beathard is tough, sure, but he appears to be too methodical and doesn’t see the field fast enough to get to anything more than his 1st read, then the checkdown.

Other than that, Joe Williams, he who was about to be cut, was given a reprieve by cracking his ribs in the game, and Eric Magnuson tore his hammy and is out for the year. Not good.

We are practicing (and fighting) with the Texans this week, and other than the fight between Jimmie Ward and DeAndre Hopkins (who was then ejected rom practice), there’s not much to report.  Other than that, safety Terrell Williams ‘slightly’ injuring his knee, there is not much to report.

Speaking of balls deep. The Jimmy G deep passing game is still floating out there in the stratosphere. These have been somewhat allayed by many connections with Marquise Goodwin in practice, but Garoppolo still thinks that, like his whole game, it is a work in progress. He holds himself to high standards, as does Shanahan, so I think the passing game should be fine. The WRs look a hell of a lot better than in recent memory, and the progress is evident to those watching. I guess.

Anyhow, game 2 is coming up against these very same Texans, so expect a few more fights as these guys get tired of facing each other.

Well, we are avoiding the major injuries in this grueling preseason. But we aren’t avoiding the nagging injuries. The laundry list of dings and doinks include:

TE George Kittle (shoulder) — week-to-week
RB Matt Breida (shoulder) — week-to-week
DL Arik Armstead (hamstring) — week-to-week
RB Jerock McKinnon (calf) — rest this week, reevaluate next week
CB K’Waun Williams (ankle) — rest this week, reevaluate next week
LB Malcolm Smith (hamstring) — rest this week, reevaluate next week
OT Garry Gilliam (concussion) — day-to-day
DL Solomon Thomas (concussion) — day-to-day
LB Eli Harold (knee) — day-to-day
Edge Jeremiah Attaochu (groin) — day-to-day
WR Max McCaffrey (foot) — day-to-day
Limited: TE Cole Wick (knee), LB Brock Coyle (hip), CB Richard Sherman (hamstring), OG Joshua Garnett (knee), OL J.P. Flynn (knee)
Recovery Day: OL Mike Person

So, we have avoided the big one so far, unlike Washington RB Derrius Guice who tore his ACL after breaking off a nice long run, or SD CB Jason Verrett who tore his achilles right before camp, or Packer linebacker Jake Ryan who tore his knee up to name a few, but our list is pretty long.

The fact that 2 RBs are on the list, starter Jerock McKinnon and Matt Brieda, prompted us to sign Alfred Morris. Yeah, he’s a bit long in the tooth, but he’s not here to take over the workload, he'[s here to be a body in the backfield for the next 3 games while the starters heal up. Unless things change fore the worse. McKinnon is a bit worrisome as we paid him a shit-ton of money to be on the field, not as a situational back, so his health and availability is of paramount importance. Breida was a nice surprise last year, and this signing throws shade on Joe Williams, but at this point we simply need the bodies.

Also, shout out to John Brodie, who is celebrating his 83rd birthday today. A real tough son of a bitch on and off the field. He endured the slings and arrows of a drunken Kezar stadium crowd for years and years to win the MFL MVP in 1970, and lead the 49ers to the playoffs three straight years. He played, and won on the Seniors Tour in golf, and was a successful announcer for a few years as well.

He suffered a major stroke in 2000 and was told he couldn’t walk or talk again. He is now however, doing both.  Brodie certainly was an epically tragic figure in my early sports days as he was the QB when I started watching games, and his stirring comeback in 1972 to come off the bench and lead the 49ers into the playoffs with two 4th quarter touchdowns to beat the Vikings 21-17 is one of my all-time favorite events that I saw live.

When is a win not a win? Yesterday. I think there were 7 injured Niners with 3 seconds elapsed in the 2nd quarter. TE George Kittle and RB Matt Breida both had shoulder injuries that look kind of significant. Kittle’s hurt hurts a little more because he was hurt reaching for a bad Jimmy G pass downfield. Salomon Thomas and Gary (Ian) Gilliam both had concussions, and Malcolm Smith (the hologram LB) pulled a hammy during the National Anthem.

Sure it’s good to win, but as Aluminum Mike Singletary proved, preseason wins mean nothing when the season starts.

The Niners looked slow from the get-go, and Dallas simply drove down the field at will and scored on that first possession. Then they went to scrubs on O. Garoppolo wasn’t as successful as Prescott, but he looked OK converting a couple 3rd and long situations minus the missed pass to Kittle that got him hurt. Hmmm, where have I heard that before? Anyhow, CJ BeatHard was beaten hard and did OK for a midget QB. Lots of tipped passes and missed shots.

The guy whose stock rose the most was Julian Taylor. Arik (who?) Armstead’s backup was all over the field making tackles and getting fairly decent pressure on Dallas’ QB for most of the game. DJ Reed had some nice pays, Dante Pettis looked very solid despite letting one get into his pads, but got so open on a deep ball that he still caught it despite being underthrown 10 yards by CJ. Bourne made some nice adjustments out there as well.

What to gain from this? We have the makings of a strong team but I’m sure worried about our depth. This team cannot afford too many more injuries and we are as week 1 of the preseason.

Well, here we go with the 2018 football season. The Giants are staggering around .500 and don’t seem capable of passing up the myriad teams in front of them for the division, let alone with wildcard.  So football is coming just at the right time. Everyone knows the issues (O line, D line), the struggles (defensive backfield), the position fights (defensive backfield, WR, backup RB), and the tough schedule out of the gate.

So, let’s get ready to RUMBLE!!!

Here’s a little trip down memory lane . . .

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nfl/sf49/49erspictures.html

Sure, it’s only pre-season football, but it’s FOOTBALL! The 2018 season is about to officially start in 2 days! Against the Dallas Cowboys no less. Lots of good things coming out of camp, but aren’t there always good things coming out of camp? Alex is hitting the long ball .Kaepernick is sharp in his 2nd and 3rd reads.  Hoyer is catching fire . . . on and on.

Thing is, this camp does feel different. the team has some legit weapons in the backfield in McKinnon, Jusckjcklxj, Brieda, and possibly Joe Williams. Garcon is healthy, Goodwin came on like gangbusters working with Jimmy G, last year. Dante Pettis is lighting up the practice field with Jimmy G. And Kittle has a better grasp of things.  Jimmy G is Jimmy G. A guy who took the team over and won in a very compressed time frame. He’s up to speed, and itching to play.

Defensively there have been a lot of changes. And a couple injuries. One serious, one hopefully not. Arik Armstead is already out for a bit with his hammy, Richard Sherman is  also nursing a hammy. We aded pas rusher Jeremy Attucho, Sherman, rookie DJ Reed, Fred Warner, and the return of Malcolm Smith.

But as we all know, the season will come down to two things. How well we protect Jimmy, G and how well we get after the opposing QB. I think our pass rush could be helped a little bit by the better coverage downfield, but the pass rushers have to bring it. We have been anemic in the rush since they heady days of Aldon and Juston Smith. We’ve lost AA for a while and he rest is up for grabs. Word is DE Salomon Thomas has flipped with DFB to the inside, and both players have improved.

Then again it’s only talk until they hit the field.

Thanks to LJ for bringing this up, so I had to look into this a little more. Frankly I had never heard of the supposed issues Garoppolo has throwing deep passes. His numbers last year were 4-16 (with one drop) which works out to 31.3%. Sucky. Or 31st out of 35 QBs.  Granted, this is a small sample size, and granted even more, Jimmy G came into an entirely new system that he didn’t completely grasp and was force-fed in a few short weeks, AND we don’t really have a stable full of thoroughbreds at WR, but still and all, that’s a pretty shitty completion rate. Even coming out of college, the knock on Jimmy was, per an NFL writer,Nolan Nawrocki:

“He undershoots and often hangs the deep ball, Makes receivers work for the ball downfield, and deep accuracy could stand to improve.”

To me, this isn’t a big deal. At least not yet, anyway. This will be Garoppolo’s first camp to fully digest Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Garoppolo already showed toughness in the pocket, accuracy in the pocket and on the move, and the ability to improvise whe the protection breaks down. His feel for the game is very solid for a guy with so few starts, and he should only get better with more reps with his stable of WRs.

Jimmy G has made Marquise Goodwin look like a bona fide weapon, if not a deep threat, with his speed and separation ability, and Dante Pettis is getting rave reviews for his precise route-running and separation ability. He could very well be the steal of the draft. The point being, if the WRs and Jimmy G can roll at about a 62-65% completion rate on 0-25 yard passes, the deep game WILL open up. And with any kind of separation, the completion rate will rise.

As was noted by ROB!! in reference to Bill Walsh, you don’ really need to be all that successful throwing deep. Just showing it lets the defense know you are willing to try it. As I noted, Andy Reid, EVERY game vs the Niners back in the day Reid would throw deep on the first play. Why not? If you miss it, you’ve shown the defense you are willing to gamble. If you miss it, so what? 2nd down. If it’s picked off, it’s basically a punt. If you hit it, you’ve gained a big chuck of yards, if not a TD.

What annoyed the LIVING SHIT out of me was that Teflon Mike Nolan, Aluminum Mike Singletary, St. Jim Harbaugh, and Jimmy Bag-of-Farts  NEVER threw deep. Teams used to dare us to try and go deep by lining up their entire defense within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.  Ted Ginn, for all his warts and drops, had ONE deep play in three years here. He had multiple big plays when he got to Carolina the next year.

So I have no problem with the inconsistencies with the deep ball as of now. We just need to DO IT.  I have no issue with Shanny because I know he knows the importance of using the deep ball judiciously.