You can't pin this loss on the QB:

[Catfish]

As much as I hate to admit it, this was an atroscious defensive game plan. You cannot simply pin your ears back and rush wildly as deep as you can into the offensive backfield, and still contain the two biggest threats of the 'Niners offense, Gore and Kaepernic.

The game plan should have been to contain these two, no matter what, and leave the passing worries to our secondary. Yet time after time the defensive front 7 rushed blindly past the QB, and on occasion Gore, on the way to running themselves out of position to where contain was impossible on the two.

Yes, Lindley threw 3 interceptions. None of them were game changers, like constantly giving up huge chunks of yardage to either a running-back, or a running quarter-back. In fact, one of Lindley[s interceptions was no worse than a punt with no return at that juncture.

Lindley's game management gave this offense 17 points, and could have been more if critical drops were not mad. If the HC had not tried to get so gimmicky on the one drive where we had a 1st down on the 'Niner's 15 yard line, and had been mixing the run and pass very well, only to have Arians call for a half-back pass that went nowhere and led to a field goal instead of a TD which had seemed almost assured after the drive the offense had put on. The Cardinals went into the half with a 17-14 lead instead of a 21-14 lead. That would have been enough to get the win if the second half had played out as it did.

The truly sad thing is that in two consecutive weeks the defense failed to contain the running back, and the quarter back. Both weeks resulted in losses, and in both instances there were NO halftime corrections made in order to keep from letting the quarterback loose. There were so many missed, and run-by tackles that I got sick watching it continue time after time after time. You simply cannot run by the quarterback and not stop short of him to contain him while help comes. Only once in the game did this happen, and that was late in the game, after the scoring was done.

Lindley did not play masterfully by any means. He did play well enough to win this game, had the Cardinals not given it away. This was hard to take after last week, and is just as sickening to me as that loss was.

 

[Broseph]

I agree

 

[D-Dogg]

agreed.

palmer threw 4 picks in seattle last year and we won.

Lindley actually had a pretty good game overall. The D looked like horseflop out there, second week in a row.

 

[Buckybird]

Agree with the defensive game plan. However Lindley deserves his blame as well. He gave away at least 3 pts with an interception & threw for like 50 yds in the 2nd half so he gets no pass in my book. He played decent but left points on the board.

What's happened to the run defense lately? That's very concerning. Btw Mintor is atrocious & so is the team tackling.

On to Carolina & hopefully an upset. I think teams with losing records are 3 or 4-0 in the WC round. Let's get 1 win fellas

 

[DoTheDew]

We can't stop scrambling QBs anymore. I'm not looking forward to Cam Newton to be honest.

 

[PJ1]

Said it in the game thread. This loss is on the D. That said I didn't realize how much we would miss Foote. Minter and Carson should not be anything more than special teams players.

 

[Covert Rain]

I don't agree. Although this is the best he played the mistakes he made were at crucial points in the game. The one interception was as bad as it gets and nobody was there.

Yes he could of used some help but we don't stand a chance in playoff level football with a QB like him.

 

[D-Dogg]

I don't agree. Although this is the best he played the mistakes he made were at crucial points in the game.

Like when he threw the touchdown pass then immediately allowed a 70+ yard TD pass to boldin? oh wait, he didn't do BOTH of those.

 

[Covert Rain]

Like when he threw the touchdown pass then immediately allowed a 70+ yard TD pass to boldin? oh wait, he didn't do BOTH of those.

No. Like when we had momentum and he threw to an imaginary receiver or when in bad field position throws to a receiver clearly not open. Oh wait.....that was him.

 

[az jam]

Agree that the loss is mostly on the defense. They can't stop a mobile qb like Wilson or Kaepernick. The defense also had no takeaways against the Seahawks and 49ers.

 

[Jake6233]

Said it in the game thread. This loss is on the D. That said I didn't realize how much we would miss Foote. Minter and Carson should not be anything more than special teams players.

At least with Carson being an undrafted free agent thats all you could expect out of him but Minter as a second round pick was once again a huge disappointment.

 

[b8rtm8nn]

Said it in the game thread. This loss is on the D. That said I didn't realize how much we would miss Foote. Minter and Carson should not be anything more than special teams players.

This. Those two were horrible, just plain horrible. Worst ILB play from a duo I have seen in a long time - neither has the instincts to stay in this league.

 

[Catfish]

Agree that the loss is mostly on the defense. They can't stop a mobile qb like Wilson or Kaepernick. The defense also had no takeaways against the Seahawks and 49ers.

We can stop a mobile quarterback like Wilson and Kaepernic, but not by rushing blindly past them then trying to chase them down from behind. You have to stop and hold just short of them and contain them until help arrives. We only did it once when Okafor blitzed and held just short, turning Kaep back right into the arms of Acho who had just come in from the other side just short.

 

[82CardsGrad]

The defense was shaky at best today... But they only allowed 7 points in the second half. Is the standard a shutout? Meanwhile, Lindley goes 5 - 11 for a whopping 37 yards in the second half... No Bueno....

 

[Catfish]

The defense was shaky at best today... But they only allowed 7 points in the second half. Is the standard a shutout? Meanwhile, Lindley goes 5 - 11 for a whopping 37 yards in the second half... No Bueno....

BA pretty much stopped running the ball.

 

[82CardsGrad]

BA pretty much stopped running the ball.

Yep. That too...

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I am going to make this short and sweet.

You certainly can pin the loss on Lindley, 2 of his 3 INTs you just cannot throw in the NFL.

You just can't. Write a thesis for all I care on the subject, but you cannot throw an INT on a check down where you are gaining at MOST 2 yards. You cannot do that.

The INT to start the 2nd half was abysmal. To who ? To where ? What was he thinking ? Was he thinking ? Sorry, you cannot be that irresponsible with the football.

In both situations it either cost us points, or the Niners turned around a scored.

Sorry I just cannot agree, Lindley played a HUGE part in this loss.

 

[cardpa]

I am going to make this short and sweet.

You certainly can pin the loss on Lindley, 2 of his 3 INTs you just cannot throw in the NFL.

You just can't. Write a thesis for all I care on the subject, but you cannot throw an INT on a check down where you are gaining at MOST 2 yards. You cannot do that.

The INT to start the 2nd half was abysmal. To who ? To where ? What was he thinking ? Was he thinking ? Sorry, you cannot be that irresponsible with the football.

In both situations it either cost us points, or the Niners turned around a scored.

Sorry I just cannot agree, Lindley played a HUGE part in this loss.

I agree and don't agree, Lindley played a part in this loss but I don't think it could be described as HUGE. You can't as a defense give up a game tying TD in a mere 3 plays after your offense just drove down the field 80 yds. in 8 plays. The 49ers had 395 total yards and 205 (over half) came on just 6 plays.

This TEAM is not playing very well right now and the coaching staff has not been up to par as well either over the last 2 weeks. Dismal performances all around.

Many were posting that this game was going to be a disaster because Lindley was the QB. It turned out to be a 3 point game. Most were not even expecting the offense to score 1 TD. It scored 2 and some questionable play calling may have prevented another. Not trying a 53 yd. FG is also questionable especially when you know points from the offense were going to be at a premium.

Did Lindley make some bad mistakes, absolutely. The first INT hurt because the team was in FG range. The second could be a questionable play call because all they needed was 6 yds. to keep the drive alive. It was a solid drive that was chewing time off the clock and both the run game and short passing game was working well at this point. Sometimes you need to stick to what was working and grind it out. There is nothing wrong with wearing down the defense with long time consuming drives. The 3rd INT is Lindley panicking, however this partly goes back to the previous drive when BA abandoned the run game completely even though he had almost 7 minutes left on the clock to work with. The offense had zero 3 an out to that point and had moved the ball consistently so some of this falls on BA and the decision to suddenly go away from what was working the whole game up to that point.

This was indeed a team failure. We can only hope that they review what worked and what didn't and reinforce some discipline and form tackling with the defense. We can also hope that BA sticks to what had been successful for 60 minutes instead of panicking himself and going completely away from it.