Give some props to the D-----

[Catfish]

Almost all of the threads are total despair and are saying that the entire team played poorly.

I would like to point out that the Defense had a very good game. They basically held the Niners to one long drive, (which resulted in a TD), and in one very long pass play. They completely shut down the vaunted running game of the Niners, (I will be surprised if Gore averages 2 ypc this game),

Also, the kicking and punting game was excellent, (not so the return game).

The offense was, -----well ------ so out of sync it was offencive. I can't put my finger on what the problem is there, but suffice it to say that KW looked like a 38 yr old QB who had lead feet, and a game clock in his head that was about 2 seconds slow. He appeared to be slow to recognize trouble, and even slower reacting to it. He even seemed so slow in locating open receivers, that by the time he threw the ball to them they were no longer there. I am not sure about putting this on the offensive line, as frequently during a game the QB is forced to buy a little time in order to throw. He was either flat broke, or he left his credit card at home, because I can't recall but one time where he successfully bought time, and that was on a desijned rollout to the right. In short, I thought KW played like he did in the last 3 games of pre-season. I am not ready to call out the entire offense until I see them operate with a QB who is playing in-sync at game speed, regardless if it happents to be KW, ML, or BSP. So far this regular season we haven't seen that.

 

[O]

The D did a great job today and only gave up 14 points.
The rest of the points given up today lay squarely on Warner!

 

[splitsecond]

D was great. Dockett was great. Unfortunately grandpa warner decided to dump the entire game on them.

 

[Catfish]

I'm not ready to dump the whole thing on Warner either----

Everyone knows Warner is in his comfort zone when he has his top 3 receivers in the game, and can simply go on timing and precise route running with proper adjustments made for the defensive reaction to the play. Take him out of that comfort zone and he struggles.

Today, we only had Fitzgerald healthy of his top three receivers. (They doubled him all day), taking him away from KW for the most part. Playing (not quite), up to his full potential, Boldin was pretty much a non-factor either, and Warner lost that slot guy going over the middle for the most part. The other part of the trio, (Breaston)was a scratch all together, and thus we had NO ONE with whom we could stretch the field and take the 7th man out of the box against our running game. What we ended up with was KW finding his relief valve, (Hightower), time and time again, or finding no one mostly. Lance Long was NO HELP, Urban dropped as many as he caught, and witrh the D-- doublling Fitz and Boldin, not much was available there.Taken out of his element, Warner looked lost. Whiz, for some reason or other, never seemed to be able to concentrate on finding a solution. I can only guess that his playcalling left him little time for analysis.

I don't know how, or IF, Whizenhunt can find a way to be the offensive coordinator Warner needs, and STILL BE THE HEAD COACH. That is stretching talent a long-long way. Clearly, today, the combination of Warner at QB, without his top 3 receivers fully into the game, and having his coordinator being involved with other things besides play-calling was clearly a problem.

On the other hand, (this being the 3rd year now that we have been told by Whiz that we will be playing TOUGH, SMART, DISCIPLINED, football). While I will not question the tough part today, I believe that there is something to be disired in the way of smart and disciplined football. Penalties hurt us badly today, both on offense and on defense, and while the defense played tough enough to nearly offset all their penalties, the offense did not.

Whiz has continually said that he would bench the repeat offenders of these offenses to set an example for the other players, YET I have not seen him do this. On the contrary, he has made Wilson, and Dockett, (two of the most penalized repeaters), captains of the defensive unit. That almost seems contrary to what he is trying to accomplish with discipline. Wilson still continues to head-hunt receivers who have their feet off the ground, when we have a rule that SPECIFICALLY forbids this. He still continues to jump far offside each game, and it seems to always be at a very inappropriate time. Dockett too had a couple of offside jumps in critical situations, that helped keep Niner drives alive.This went on all last year and will continue until Whiz does something about it. How many games do we have to hear about this in his post game presser until he takes action. The offense DID seem to be somewhat more disciplined under Haley, than they appeared today.

I would hate to be in the Coach's shoes right now, because he either has to find a way go get his QB into his comfort zone, or find a QB who is comfortable with the situation as it is. Either way, the difficulties are going to be significant.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Almost all of the threads are total despair and are saying that the entire team played poorly.

I would like to point out that the Defense had a very good game. They basically held the Niners to one long drive, (which resulted in a TD), and in one very long pass play. They completely shut down the vaunted running game of the Niners, (I will be surprised if Gore averages 2 ypc this game),

Also, the kicking and punting game was excellent, (not so the return game).

The offense was, -----well ------ so out of sync it was offencive. I can't put my finger on what the problem is there, but suffice it to say that KW looked like a 38 yr old QB who had lead feet, and a game clock in his head that was about 2 seconds slow. He appeared to be slow to recognize trouble, and even slower reacting to it. He even seemed so slow in locating open receivers, that by the time he threw the ball to them they were no longer there. I am not sure about putting this on the offensive line, as frequently during a game the QB is forced to buy a little time in order to throw. He was either flat broke, or he left his credit card at home, because I can't recall but one time where he successfully bought time, and that was on a desijned rollout to the right. In short, I thought KW played like he did in the last 3 games of pre-season. I am not ready to call out the entire offense until I see them operate with a QB who is playing in-sync at game speed, regardless if it happents to be KW, ML, or BSP. So far this regular season we haven't seen that.

I agree. The defense and special teams really held up their end of the bargain. Rolle did a nice job at returning (even though he screwed up at the end).

Wasn't all doom and gloom.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Front 7 played a great game... great game. However, our secondary is so damn bad. I now know why Pitt let Mcfadden go. Rolle truly sucks. And if anyone is banking on Rashad Johnson being the heir apparent to A-Dub, you need to take a closer look...

 

[MadCardDisease]

My biggest concern going into this game was the Defense. I just didn't trust Billy Davis and wasn't sure if he could come up with a good game plan.

Ironically it was the Defensive game plan that kept us in this game. No thanks to the offense.

 

[Buckybird]

Almost all of the threads are total despair and are saying that the entire team played poorly.

I would like to point out that the Defense had a very good game. They basically held the Niners to one long drive, (which resulted in a TD), and in one very long pass play. They completely shut down the vaunted running game of the Niners, (I will be surprised if Gore averages 2 ypc this game),

Also, the kicking and punting game was excellent, (not so the return game).

The offense was, -----well ------ so out of sync it was offencive. I can't put my finger on what the problem is there, but suffice it to say that KW looked like a 38 yr old QB who had lead feet, and a game clock in his head that was about 2 seconds slow. He appeared to be slow to recognize trouble, and even slower reacting to it. He even seemed so slow in locating open receivers, that by the time he threw the ball to them they were no longer there. I am not sure about putting this on the offensive line, as frequently during a game the QB is forced to buy a little time in order to throw. He was either flat broke, or he left his credit card at home, because I can't recall but one time where he successfully bought time, and that was on a desijned rollout to the right. In short, I thought KW played like he did in the last 3 games of pre-season. I am not ready to call out the entire offense until I see them operate with a QB who is playing in-sync at game speed, regardless if it happents to be KW, ML, or BSP. So far this regular season we haven't seen that.

props to the D for 52 minutes...then they couldn't hold the lead ...again!!! They are only as good as the whole game!!!

 

[Assface]

D was great. Dockett was great. Unfortunately grandpa warner decided to dump the entire game on them.

DD was a beast today. During at least one play today he was halfway across the line before the rest of the guys on both lines were even out of their stance.

 

[ajcardfan]

I just can't forget the two mental errors inside of the ten that gave up the go ahead TD and the deep pass to Bruce that set up their first TD. Yes, the defense played much better than the offense, but they did just enough bad things to not win also.

 

[Buckybird]

I just can't forget the two mental errors inside of the ten that gave up the go ahead TD and the deep pass to Bruce that set up their first TD. Yes, the defense played much better than the offense, but they did just enough bad things to not win also.

reality

 

[lauraw]

The defense played solid, but the front 7 was very solid. If we get that all year, and our offense is better than it showed today and Kurt does'nt get killed, we should still
win our share of games..

 

[TJ]

props to the D for 52 minutes...then they couldn't hold the lead ...again!!! They are only as good as the whole game!!!

Slow down Bucky. The D was not the reason this team lost today. As a matter of fact, the offense was making it very hard for the defense all game with turnovers which led to bad field position and a bunch of 3 and outs. Simply, they ran out of gas. Happens to the bests defenses in the league. That's why balanced football is necessary to win games, which wasn't the case. One more touchdown and we're not having this conversation.

 

[Dayman]

Aside from the TD drive, the D held SF to all three and outs in the second half. That's pretty impressive.

 

[Buckybird]

Slow down Bucky. The D was not the reason this team lost today. As a matter of fact, the offense was making it very hard for the defense all game with turnovers which led to bad field position and a bunch of 3 and outs. Simply, they ran out of gas. Happens to the bests defenses in the league. That's why balanced football is necessary to win games, which wasn't the case. One more touchdown and we're not having this conversation.

But we are having this conversation. Did the defense keep Frisco from taking the lead late? No. If they did we wouldn't be having this conversation. Should we expect this offense to win every game for this team? Look at all the long drives for leads this team has given up last season and before. It happens way too often to be considered an "upper echelon" team. One's a mistake, Two's a trend, three's a problem. I understand that it's not always going to protect a lead, but its amazing how many we tend to give them up at the wrong time. This pass defense is what it is waaaaaaaaaaay below average and hasn't changed.

 

[TJ]

But we are having this conversation. Did the defense keep Frisco from taking the lead late? No. If they did we wouldn't be having this conversation. Should we expect this offense to win every game for this team? Look at all the long drives for leads this team has given up last season and before. It happens way too often to be considered an "upper echelon" team. One's a mistake, Two's a trend, three's a problem. I understand that it's not always going to protect a lead, but its amazing how many we tend to give them up at the wrong time. This pass defense is what it is waaaaaaaaaaay below average and hasn't changed.

We only gave up 200 yards of offense. We neutralized their run game completely. And to your claim about the pass defense, we held Hill to 180 yards passing. None of their receivers had more than 74 yards. Dont see how these numbers make them WAAAAAAAYYYYYY below average.

The offense, specifically Kurt Warner, pretty much suffocated them into taking control of the entire game. Untimely turnovers that lead to poor field position. Both turnovers put SF on our side of the field. I encourage you to watch or listen to Whisenhunt's presser. He does not speak ill at all about the defense, but rather the offensive penalties and implying that Kurt couldnt find the open man.

You are undoubtedly putting blame where it is not due. I was proud of their effort today. This could have turned into a track meet very easily against us. Then again, if our offense was clicking, it would have been a track meet the other way around.

 

[Buckybird]

We only gave up 200 yards of offense. We neutralized their run game completely. And to your claim about the pass defense, we held Hill to 180 yards passing. None of their receivers had more than 74 yards. Dont see how these numbers make them WAAAAAAAYYYYYY below average.

The offense, specifically Kurt Warner, pretty much suffocated them into taking control of the entire game. Untimely turnovers that lead to poor field position. Both turnovers put SF on our side of the field. I encourage you to watch or listen to Whisenhunt's presser. He does not speak ill at all about the defense, but rather the offensive penalties and implying that Kurt couldnt find the open man.

You are undoubtedly putting blame where it is not due. I was proud of their effort today. This could have turned into a track meet very easily against us. Then again, if our offense was clicking, it would have been a track meet the other way around.

That was one of the most vanilla offensive game plans that Frisco had against us you will ever see. We stopped it and shut down their strength, running the football. But, when the money was on the table they passed their way 80 yards for the winning TD and ate the clock up in doing so. Before the half they hit a bomb down the middle to set up another TD. Our weakness was and is our pass defense. Thats reality

 

[TJ]

That was one of the most vanilla offensive game plans that Frisco had against us you will ever see. We stopped it and shut down their strength, running the football. But, when the money was on the table they passed their way 80 yards for the winning TD and ate the clock up in doing so. Before the half they hit a bomb down the middle to set up another TD. Our weakness was and is our pass defense. Thats reality

No you are not seeing reality. 180 yards passing is below what teams usually give up in a game. And is very good given that they held onto the ball longer than we did. We gave up one big play. After that, our CBs and safeties were on the receivers like glue on the long pass plays. My only argument was that we didn't pick any of those off. But, that's not the end of the world. Again, you are missing the big picture. I am astounded that you are trying to argue with me about this. Try visiting one of the million Warner or Offense Stinks threads. I don't see very many people complaining about the defense, including Coach.

Vanilla? Are you telling me they weren't trying to beat the defending division and conference champs? They were running two a day gassers all preseason and in practice to take this game. I don't see how they would come out and run a "vanilla" offense. A Singletary coached team is not going to play soft, but rather try to beat you with hard work and aggressive play calling. Their defense took advantage of a lost Warner and a depleted receiving corp. That was the back breaker.

 

[Fitz Rulz]

SF converted crucial 3rd downs that we could have stopped. I felt D did well on 1st & 2nd downs.

And that winning TD, it was easy to defend if there was a cover.