Matt Schaub was your most valuable player. You didn't need to score after his pick 6 to win the game.
2013 49ers: Driven to drink
- Thread starter candylandriots
- Start date
Aldon Smith now facing three felony assault weapon charges.
However, Jim Harbaugh says his rehab is going "very well".
However, Jim Harbaugh says his rehab is going "very well".
Looks like Dorsey's hamstring injury isn't too bad -- only going to be out a game or two (link). However, with McDonald playing with a torn-bicep the rest of the season (and looking limited last Sunday) hopefully we'll be able to see Tank Carradine and Quinton Dial get some snaps.
Lemonier has done a decent job filling in for Aldon Smith. He has 1 sack, 8 QB hurries, 2 hits in 78 pass rushes -- including a safety last Sunday. By comparison, Aldon Smith had 4.5 sacks, 9 QB hurries and 3 hits in 91 pass rushes before entering rehab.
Here's some nice film breakdown of the Kaep-Davis TD passes here.
Lemonier has done a decent job filling in for Aldon Smith. He has 1 sack, 8 QB hurries, 2 hits in 78 pass rushes -- including a safety last Sunday. By comparison, Aldon Smith had 4.5 sacks, 9 QB hurries and 3 hits in 91 pass rushes before entering rehab.
Here's some nice film breakdown of the Kaep-Davis TD passes here.
I'm not changing the thread title, since they're 5-0 and averaging about 35 points a game since changed, but Aldon Smith was activated today. No word on when he will play. Also, no word on a suspension, though Roger Goodell sounded like they will take into account that he voluntarily went to get help.
Manningham and Crabtree are on the verge of returning. This team is getting healthy.
I am already getting excited for December 8.
Manningham and Crabtree are on the verge of returning. This team is getting healthy.
I am already getting excited for December 8.
Bump. Big game this week. A hard team to figure out. They haven't beaten anyone good but they have crushed the weaker teams on the schedule. They are 8-4 and 7 of of the wins have been by 10+ points, with 4 wines by 20+. The defense has been excellent all season, answering some questions raised toward the end of last season when they had trouble preventing big pass plays. After allowing 28, 29, and 27 points in the first three games, only two opponents have topped 20 points since then, and none have scored more than 23 (at New Orleans). Glenn Dorsey has filled in well at NT, 1st round pick Eric Reid should be in the running for Defensive ROTY at FS (he's actually been an upgrade over Goldson), and the linebackers, when not drunkenly crashing cars into trees, have been predictably awesome. This may be best the group of linebackers across all four spots any single team has had in decades.
The offense, on the other hand, has been wildly inconsistent. For all the criticism Kaepernick has gotten at times this year (much of it deserved), the passing game is actually ranked 5th by DVOA. But their offensive variance is 30th. The line play has dropped off this year, RT Anthony Davis in particular has regressed some. After riding the read-option to the Super Bowl last year, they have barely used it this year; Kaepernick is averaging 5.75 rushing attempts per game, most of that scrambles rather than designed runs. They are finally getting healthy at receiver with Crabtree and Manningham back in the lineup, but pro-bowl linemen Staley and Iupati are both fighting sprained knee injuries.
This team feels like it hasn't quite played up to its ceiling yet, but maybe the ceiling isn't as high as everyone thought after last year's playoffs and Kapernick's huge game against Green Bay in Week 1.. Seattle will be a very good test.
The offense, on the other hand, has been wildly inconsistent. For all the criticism Kaepernick has gotten at times this year (much of it deserved), the passing game is actually ranked 5th by DVOA. But their offensive variance is 30th. The line play has dropped off this year, RT Anthony Davis in particular has regressed some. After riding the read-option to the Super Bowl last year, they have barely used it this year; Kaepernick is averaging 5.75 rushing attempts per game, most of that scrambles rather than designed runs. They are finally getting healthy at receiver with Crabtree and Manningham back in the lineup, but pro-bowl linemen Staley and Iupati are both fighting sprained knee injuries.
This team feels like it hasn't quite played up to its ceiling yet, but maybe the ceiling isn't as high as everyone thought after last year's playoffs and Kapernick's huge game against Green Bay in Week 1.. Seattle will be a very good test.
This week will be a good test. Kaepernick has struggled but that seems to be stemming from very poor WR play early in the year. Bouldin had a big game against GB but he's been covered up and doubled. Davis was hurt for a month but still out there. The play calling was focusing around Gore in a few of the losses. They ran the ball well but weren't finishing drives. I would say the Indy, Carolina, and New Orleans games could have all been won. Not taking anything away from those teams but a few better breaks and maybe a better play here and there and the Niners are a 1 loss team this year.coremiller said:
side notes:
Aldon Smith out most of season but back
Crabtree just activated and will only get better
Bouldin won't get doubled as much now
Manningham recently activated but still not 100%
Vernon Davis looks like he is now healthy
Joe Staley being hurt may hurt us
Quinton Patton is now practicing and may return soon
Jon Baldwin came in on trade for A.J Jenkins and had to start at WR
Kyle Williams struggled at WR, KR, PR and had to be released
garlan5 said:
I'll give you the other two, but Indy ran them off the field in that game. And haven't run against anyone since.
I think San Francisco wins this one - they're healthy, they're at home, and they have a lot more to play for than Seattle, who may take their hand off the throttle a little bit given that they're effectively three games up on everybody for the #1 seed with four to play. If I'm Pete Carroll and I have some interesting wrinkles on defense or offense up my sleeve, I'm certainly not blowing them on this game. And if I have anybody who is hurting but probably could gut it out if absolutely necessary, his ass is stapled to the bench.
Well yeah they did run on us. But as a homer that is one where I feel we let get away. I say that because we were only down 6 late and just couldn't finish off drives. We started running well ourselves but just didn't finish. Play calling was bad. We were in that game and gave up a late drive and we had 2 turnovers late. Probably shouldn't have used the term 'should have won' but def let slip awayDanoooME said:
DanoooME said:
The Niners had the ball down 13-7 at midfield with 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Kaep got sacked on 3rd down, they punted, and Indy drove for a TD to put the game out of reach. They got deservedly beaten, but it was not nearly as much of a blowout as the score suggested.
This was also the week Aldon Smith got arrested. I think it was much more of a distraction than anyone will admit and affected their preparation.
Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
I think you're right that optimal strategy is for Seattle to ease up slightly. But I can't see Carroll doing that. He hates Harbaugh's guts and can't stand losing to him. Seattle's players don't much like SF either. I also think that if Seattle can win they'll have a big psychological advantage for a rematch in the playoffs. And a Seattle victory lowers the odds of SF making the playoffs at all, which would help Seattle since a) SF is one of the few teams I could see winning in Seattle, and b) Carroll would love to knock SF out. So I don't see Seattle easing up at all in this game.
Yeah, you may be right, for all these reasons.coremiller said:
If Seattle does win, it'll be interesting to see if they let up against the Cardinals in Week 16. They could potentially really put the Niners up against the wall by losing that game.
coremiller said:
I agree with this assessment. I think the Seattle players hate SF and vice versa as well. As a fan, this is the big test for Seattle. If they can go in and win in SF, that would make my year because I can't stand Harbaugh either and I want to see the Niners curb stomped.
Gut-check--and the Niners come up big. The O-line contains that scary DE rotation; Glenn Dorsey frees up the Smith brothers--and it's back from the dead!
Nice game. Gore with a nice run to win it. We have to find a way to audible in noise come playoffs.
Side note: does Kendall Hunter look a bit off. Last year he was a spark plug. He doesn't quite look the same this year. Might be the line not opening it up and he can't hit it the same but something seems off. Still like the kid a lot though
Side note: does Kendall Hunter look a bit off. Last year he was a spark plug. He doesn't quite look the same this year. Might be the line not opening it up and he can't hit it the same but something seems off. Still like the kid a lot though
Hunter averaged 4.7 yards first half of the season--then Staley and Iupati went down and w/o wideouts defenses started loading the box.
Now Crabtree is back, the offense opened up some and the running game should benefit.
Could everybody wear helmet communication systems to overcome crowd noise?
Now Crabtree is back, the offense opened up some and the running game should benefit.
Could everybody wear helmet communication systems to overcome crowd noise?
mpx42 said:
In fairness, it was in response to a similar effort flying over Candlestick yesterday. I hope they feel like they got their money's worth.
Here's gore's big run: http://www.nfl.com/videos/san-francisco-49ers/0ap2000000295438/RB-Gore-51-yd-run
There are two keys to this play. The first is an amazing down block by Staley on Red Bryant. Bryant is listed at 6'4, 323 lbs and is one of the best run-stuffing DEs in the league, and Staley just wallops him and completely seals off the inside of the line. Snyder also gets a great kick-out block on Irvin. You can see it best on the replay from the end zone angle starting at 00:27.
The other is terrible overpursuit by the Seattle defense, creating the huge cutback lane for Gore. Thomas got the bad rap since he was the last man, but Chancellor and Wagner also took awful angles and got caught out of position by the cutback.
Also, after some shaky moments in the second quarter, that was some pretty awesome defense in the second half. Here's Seattle's second-half drive chart:
11:11 3 03:28 SEA 18 7 34 Punt
04:07 3 03:44 SEA 3 6 30 Punt
14:15 4 01:39 SEA 30 3 0 Punt
09:17 4 02:57 SF 27 7 14 Field Goal
00:26 4 00:17 SEA 16 1 0 Intercepted Pass
There are two keys to this play. The first is an amazing down block by Staley on Red Bryant. Bryant is listed at 6'4, 323 lbs and is one of the best run-stuffing DEs in the league, and Staley just wallops him and completely seals off the inside of the line. Snyder also gets a great kick-out block on Irvin. You can see it best on the replay from the end zone angle starting at 00:27.
The other is terrible overpursuit by the Seattle defense, creating the huge cutback lane for Gore. Thomas got the bad rap since he was the last man, but Chancellor and Wagner also took awful angles and got caught out of position by the cutback.
Also, after some shaky moments in the second quarter, that was some pretty awesome defense in the second half. Here's Seattle's second-half drive chart:
11:11 3 03:28 SEA 18 7 34 Punt
04:07 3 03:44 SEA 3 6 30 Punt
14:15 4 01:39 SEA 30 3 0 Punt
09:17 4 02:57 SF 27 7 14 Field Goal
00:26 4 00:17 SEA 16 1 0 Intercepted Pass
Yeah the defense looked solid -- and it was nice to see them contain Lynch who over the past several years has run well against their defense.
I didn't see the whole game but in looking at the final numbers, Bruce Miller had more targets and catches than Vernon Davis?!
I didn't see the whole game but in looking at the final numbers, Bruce Miller had more targets and catches than Vernon Davis?!
Looked like he either tripped or "came up lame" at the end of that run. Could not find anything online, was there anything on that?
Yeah he missed the next play then right back out there. I think the knee buckled just a bit but that seems to be his"move" at the end of runs to avoid being stripped.
Yeah he missed the next play then right back out there. I think the knee buckled just a bit but that seems to be his"move" at the end of runs to avoid being stripped.
I don't think so. There were still over 4 minutes left and Seattle had two timeouts; they couldn't really burn the clock down until they got the next first down (on the Kaepernick sweep).seageral said:
Super Nomario said:
I think he purposefully went down to stay in bounds. If the 9ers had to kick on the ensuing 4th down, they would have taken some time off that clock.
Not nearly enough, though. Seattle would have been out of timeouts, but there would still have been 2 1/2 minutes left and they only needed a field goal. Maybe that is why he went down, but I don't think it makes a lot of sense.Dogman2 said:
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/ostler/article/Brilliance-of-Gore-s-slide-matches-his-51-yard-run-5047218.php
Gore said he slid to run clock. Freaking smart.
Gore said he slid to run clock. Freaking smart.
Super Nomario said:
I think he had a chance to score a TD, and SF was down by 2 at this point so Seattle would have needed a TD instead of a FG at this point, with no timeouts. Which is why it looked strange to me the way he went down practically on his own.
That aforementioned third-down conversion placed the Seahawks between a rock and a hard place; it gave San Francisco a new set of downs and Seattle a tough call. When the 49ers kicked the game-winning field goal, they kicked with 31 seconds left and took a one-point lead. Should the Seahawks have taken the decision out of their hands by allowing the 49ers to score a touchdown several plays earlier? Advanced NFL Stats says yes, and it's hard to argue with the logic. The field goal as kicked left San Francisco with a win percentage in the low 90s. If Seattle allowed San Francisco to score on the first play after Kaepernick's conversion, it would have been down six (or more likely either five or seven, pending a two-point play) with the two-minute warning still to come. That seems preferable to a closer game with virtually no time left on the clock, and the numbers suggest it would have left San Francisco with about an 80 percent chance of winning, meaning Seattle would have been clearly correct to give up and allow San Francisco to score. It's not clear whether the 49ers would have accepted the gift Seattle would be offering in the spirit with which it was intended, but it was likely worth a shot to try to create what would have been a superior situation.http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10107892/bill-barnwell-week-14-nfl
Barnwell agrees with Gore clock takes precedence over touchdown.
Barnwell agrees with Gore clock takes precedence over touchdown.
trekfan55 said:
He didn't have a chance. If you look at the replay, Thomas and Sherman pretty much had him cut off (unless they overran the play again).
DanoooME said:
No doubt. He def wasn't scoring. Big Gore fan here- I've seen him break these runs for 9 years. He isn't a finisher as he just doesnt have the top end speed. Somewhere around '07-'08 he was getting stripped at the end of big runs a little more frequently than he liked (or fans for that matter). He started making it a point to cover with both arms and doing that sliding move when he feels the defender on him from behind.
For what it's worth: i remember hearing about how few fumbles he had in highschool and at miami and he got a little humbled in his first few years in the nfl. I also was there when he scored his first NFL touchdown! not that it has any impact on this thread!
Mano a mano:
The Hawks DE rotation (Bryant, Clemons, Avril, Bennett) stayed fresh playing 31-41 snaps each; none per PFF had a positive rush rating; total one QB hit, 3 hurries.
The Niner tackles, Staley and Davis, played all 69 snaps.
The Hawks DE rotation (Bryant, Clemons, Avril, Bennett) stayed fresh playing 31-41 snaps each; none per PFF had a positive rush rating; total one QB hit, 3 hurries.
The Niner tackles, Staley and Davis, played all 69 snaps.
#5 seed and a trip to the literally frozen tundra of Lambeau Field for the 49ers. I checked the forecast for Sunday, high of 17 and chance of snow (it was -16 in GB this morning when I checked the forecast).
I was definitely pulling for the Bears yesterday - it's pretty hard to beat a team like the Packers 4 times in 2 years.
And seriously, fuck the refs in New Orleans for that Ahmad Brooks penalty, that ultimately cost the 49ers the division.
All that said, I like that the team is at full strength and has won 6 straight...Crabtree is making a difference and it was nice to see Quinton Patton get involved in a big spot yesterday. I'll be interested to see the gameplan that Greg Roman has for the Packers this time. Last time it was a steady diet of Boldin, the time before that Kaepernick killed them with his legs. Frank Gore against the #25 run defense this time?
I was definitely pulling for the Bears yesterday - it's pretty hard to beat a team like the Packers 4 times in 2 years.
And seriously, fuck the refs in New Orleans for that Ahmad Brooks penalty, that ultimately cost the 49ers the division.
All that said, I like that the team is at full strength and has won 6 straight...Crabtree is making a difference and it was nice to see Quinton Patton get involved in a big spot yesterday. I'll be interested to see the gameplan that Greg Roman has for the Packers this time. Last time it was a steady diet of Boldin, the time before that Kaepernick killed them with his legs. Frank Gore against the #25 run defense this time?
#5 seed and a trip to the literally frozen tundra of Lambeau Field for the 49ers. I checked the forecast for Sunday, high of 17 and chance of snow (it was -16 in GB this morning when I checked the forecast).
I was definitely pulling for the Bears yesterday - it's pretty hard to beat a team like the Packers 4 times in 2 years.
And seriously, fuck the refs in New Orleans for that Ahmad Brooks penalty, that ultimately cost the 49ers the division.
All that said, I like that the team is at full strength and has won 6 straight...Crabtree is making a difference and it was nice to see Quinton Patton get involved in a big spot yesterday. I'll be interested to see the gameplan that Greg Roman has for the Packers this time. Last time it was a steady diet of Boldin, the time before that Kaepernick killed them with his legs. Frank Gore against the #25 run defense this time?
More Joe Staley. This time in the slot
I was definitely pulling for the Bears yesterday - it's pretty hard to beat a team like the Packers 4 times in 2 years.
And seriously, fuck the refs in New Orleans for that Ahmad Brooks penalty, that ultimately cost the 49ers the division.
All that said, I like that the team is at full strength and has won 6 straight...Crabtree is making a difference and it was nice to see Quinton Patton get involved in a big spot yesterday. I'll be interested to see the gameplan that Greg Roman has for the Packers this time. Last time it was a steady diet of Boldin, the time before that Kaepernick killed them with his legs. Frank Gore against the #25 run defense this time?
More Joe Staley. This time in the slot
As an outsider that doesn't really follow the team, I found this article pretty informative regarding the Harbaugh-Baalke relationship. I have no idea whether the writer is actually reliable or whether he has some kind of axe to grind (the article seems pro-Baalke overall).
Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
I've been reading Kawakami for roughly twenty years--he's covered Stanford football for years and I'm a diehard fan--and he's been consistently excellent and reliable. I'm less familiar with his work with the 49ers but he's at least in the ballpark of being a good reporter
Kawakami doesn't have an axe to grind, and he's generally fair, but he also loves drama and personality conflicts and he really loves trolling the fanbase. I'm sure there's some truth to his narrative but I'm also skeptical that things are as bad as he suggests.
dbn said:
Less than what Romo, Cutler, Stafford and Flacco "earn".
Seattle and San Francisco have accumulated great depth because they've been paying their starting QB peanuts. That isn't going to last and some hard choices are coming for both teams next year when both get the extensions they deserve.
