Did it seem obvious to ANYONE BUT ME that on ALL THE TIMING THROWS, there was no way that Fitz could be where he should have been at the time Anderson needed to throw the ball??? Andeson connected with, or a least put the ball in the vicinity of Doucet, Breaston, and Williams, and even to Hyphen and Komar on one occasion, but could only get the ball to Fitz on time and in the right place once-----and that was the corner route in the enzone where Fitz was already open there when the ball was released. So very many, many routes were wasted to Fitz today, because Fitz just couldn't get where he should have been in time. (another reason I don't like Whiz calling plays)-----he misses things going on in the game like this over and over. How frustrating must that have been for FItz and Anderson. Anderson's timing with the afore mentioned receivers was not nearly so bad as were his throws to Fitz today. In fact, of the incompletions to Breaston, Doucet, and Williams, several were two-handed drops by the receivers. Seems to me that several of Andersons throws to Fitz were right where Fitz should have been-----doesn't bode well to me that Whiz will play a Vet at 75% of his ability, but is reluctant to play a rookie (who has earned a shot), to play at all. Much the same happened last year when Boldin was trying to hog playing time when he could not answer the bell effectively. Pretty much the same results too.
DRC still gets too full of himself and becomes far too relaxed with coverage when he sees that Toler is getting all the work, and that Bradford was staying away from him. He got burned good on a crucial big pass that would have taken our D off the field at a very bad time late in the game that almost cost us the game. Toler, despite getting picked on all day, held up very well I thought. I only recall a couple of plays where he was simply beaten in coverage today. Even then, he played hard, just got beat by an accurate passer, not because he got lazy, and didn't cover. DRC STILL needs to learn that you can't take for granted that he is considered our best cover guy, EVEN FOR ONE PLAY. THat one play can kill you.
O-line started out all discombobulated, but gradually got better as the game progressed. I thought they improved considerably on pass protection as the game proceeded, but that because of the fumbling, (and the fact that Anderson was having such a hard time keeping up with everything going on at once, ie calling the play, trying to get motion men started, then trying to remember the snap count and reading the defense as they shifted), they seemed to go away from the run, even after having some success at it. It appeared to me that Anderson's actions were far too mechanical and were not at all smooth, whether they were hand-offs or passes. He needs to have an awful lot of time and reps with the ones, just to get to the point where Max Hall already seems to be in my opinion. He also had deer in the headlights look quite often, and only escaped with his life after taking far too many beatings. I know that Hall is a rookie, but it seems to me that he has outplayed Anderson across the board all pre-season so far. I hope that it hasn't been decided to let Anderson get totally beat up before Hall gets a chance to show what he can or can't do.
Komar has a distinct lack of comfort factor in punt receiving-----puts way too many punts on the ground.
D-line was lousy against the run up the middle with Robinson at the nose. LB play and secondary play was not that bad except for a couple of plays by Haggans. How the hell does one veteran player, jump off-side, then get back on-side, ONLY TO JUMP OFF AGAIN ON THE SAME PLAY, AND THEN DO IT AGAIN ALL OVER LATER IN THE GAME. I can't even comprehend that series of goof ups. I thought that AW had a very strong game, (it was great to see him get used like we couldn't use him last year because of Rolle's inability to keep from freelancing. Rhodes did well playing the deep middle I thought, much better than Rolle last year. More good stuff to come from this group I believe.
Officiating also showed the need for more reps for the guys in stripes. Although we got some breaks too, there seemed to me to be a dearth of non calls against the Lambs, that were called penalties against the guys in red for the very same actions, and that was not just limited to hits on the QB.
Bottom line, it was a win. Not pretty, (not even close). I'll take it, especially in light of the 9'ers losing to the sea hags. I feel like everyone in red at St.Louis today, escaped with mulligan. It really could have been a much worse outcome.