By Scooter_McG
Home field "advantage" seems to mean very little for the 49ers, with their home woes continuing against the Seahawks, making it 2 straight home losses this season and 9 losses from their last 10 home games. Admittedly, a few of those "home" games were played in Arizona last season, and there were no crowds all last year, but still it is a worrying trend.
Dropping a division game at home is doubly painful, and sees the 49ers drop two games behind the undefeated Carindals, who the 49ers will travel to play next weekend in what is now looking like an important game for the 49ers season.
The injury bug also cotinues to rear its ugly head. This time Jimmy G left the game to give 49ers fans a glimpse of the future in Lance. More on Lance later.
Here is what stood out to me.
49ers got off to a hot start on defense. The Seahawks first three drives were three and outs as the 49ers played aggressively with a number of tackles for loss or minimal gain to set up 3rd and shorts where the 49ers pass rush just ate, with two sacks (drives 2 and 3, to Ford and Bosa) as well as an almost sack to Kinlaw on the first drive that caused an errant pass. On the fourth drive Maurice Hurst blew up a run play for a huge TFL and then Ford and Kinlaw combined for another sack on 3rd and long. The defense held strong again on the Seahawks fifth drive. The play by the defense early in this one set the team up to build a strong lead.
But the offense couldn't take advantage. It all looked to be going so well after the 49ers easily moved down the field through the air during their opening drive, taking advantage of some soft coverage to open the scoring. But after that, the offense let the defense down. On the second drive Jimmy G did Jimmy G things, not seeing a defender and throwing an INT that could easily have been a momentum swing. After the defense stood tall to get the ball back, the 49ers drove down the field by attacking the Seahawks defense with crosser after crosser, but right from the start of the 2nd quarter the offense went completely off the boil, first with Tomlinson blowing his assignment on a sack which set up a 41 yard FG attempt for fill in kicker Wishnowsky, which he was unable to convert. The next drive would end on a blown opportunity for a big play, but really was just strange play call with new RB Patrick lobbing a ball way across field back to Jimmy G that took so much time to get to him that Jamal Adams was able to catch up to Kittle who had been wide open (and meant Kittle had to stop at the extent of Jimmy G's arm strength). On the 5th drive, again after a swift defensive stop, the 49ers offense would go 3 and out with a 2nd down loss on a run and then a pass behind Kittle on a whip route that gave the defender an opportunity to break it up. Despite the defensive dominance and seeming in control of the game, the 49ers found themselves just 7-0 up with a few minutes left in the first half.
Mistakes then cost the 49ers. The problem with not scoring when you are dominating a game is that it doesn't take much for the opposition to get back in the game... and get on top. It happened fast in this one. First, after that 3 and out on the 49ers fifth drive, Trenton Cannon forgot the rules and took the punt over the goal line after what looked a great opportunity to pin the Seahawks on their goal line. The Seahawks would take that break to easily march down the field for their first score, making the scores level at the half despite the 49ers easily being the better team to that point. In the third quarter, the offense got nowhere (more on that shortly), handing the ball back to the Seahawks all too easily. The defense started to let Wilson make plays with his legs, allowing easy escape routes (Armstead in particular was guilty of this). The go ahead TD happened on such a play. Trenton Cannon doubled down on his STs clanger in the first half by muffing the ensuing kickoff, then fumbling after he recovered by trying to make something out of nothing. In a blink it was 21-7. Then, after a lifeline via a Seahawks defensive lapse for a long Deebo TD, Dee Ford lined up offsides on what would otherwise have been a defensive stop, and Kirkpatrick gave away a DPI on the next 3rd down which looked unnecessary. The 49ers gave this one to the Seahawks in the end.
Lance looked very shaky. It is always tough coming into a game unexpectedly. But after Jimmy G was unable to go in the second half, Lance had to step in and lead the offense. It is understandable that he was nervy, and it showed with some very errant throws early on. But it then seemed Lance made the cardinal sin of letting those early miscues get in his head - aside from a 76 yard TD to Deebo on a busted coverage, Lance looked wild and was not seeing the field for most of the second half. He looked like the ol' deer in the headlights that sometimes happens to rookie QBs. Even on plays he should have been in his element, he was hurried and making mental errors - an example of this was on a play where he scrambled in the 4th quarter, down 28-13 at this time, and had the first down if he kept his feet, but inexplicably decided to go down 1-2 yards shy of the marker. It would lead to a 4th down stuff of Deebo on a jet sweep.
Thankfully for Lance and 49er fans, he seemed to calm down on what would end up being the 49ers final offensive drive, doing a nice job of using his legs to create space, avoid pressure and pick up some important yards, while also hitting on some nice passes. There were still some errant and some late throws on the drive, but it was definitely a marked improvement. However, the context also needs to be considered - it came as the Seahawks were playing some very soft coverages while looking to protect their lead.
Based on this second half performance there is certainly still a long way to go for Lance before he is ready to be a consistently good QB. But on a positive note, we also got to see some of the exciting potential he possesses.
Kittle is super-human. He didn't have a great game, but some context is needed here. Jimmy G once again threw a high pass to Kittle which ended with Kittle getting tangled up coming down and looked like he had done a serious knee injury. Somehow he managed to play through it. Quite frankly, I would be shocked if he didn't do some serious damage to his knee on that play. The pain tolerance of the man is incredible.
Injuries are still a bugbear. Gould was lost in warmups. It would lead to a missed FG and a missed XP attempt, as well as meaning the backup kicker was needed for the onside kick. Jimmy G was lost at half time. Trent Williams was lost with a shoulder injury. As mentioned above, it looked like Kittle hurt his knee and we will wait and see if he misses any time as a result. Alex Mack also hurt his hand. This team can't keep using injuries as an excuse, but they are a problem.
FInal Verdict
The main takeaway from this one is the 49ers don't really look like a Super Bowl calibre team right now. The defense looked great for most of the first half, but looked gassed in the second. Understandably so, as the offense failed to take advantage and put the pressure on the Seahawks, keeping them in the game and not scoring points. Special teams was a massive issue in this one, partly due to losing Gould, but mostly because Trenton Cannon made three bone headed blunders. When you aren't playing great football, games are often won and lost on the margins, and it was the 49ers that made more mistakes when it mattered in this one.
The 49ers could find themselves in quite the hole after next week if they don't find a way to upset the undefeated Cardinals.
If this season continues the way it is going, I have no problem with both Lynch and KS being on the hot seat.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, Mac Jones is clearly playing the best football of any rookie QB. If, by the end of the year, Trey Lance could approach the level Mac is playing at now, I'd be happy. I really hope we don't regret giving up those first round picks.
I don't want to overreact 4 games into the season, and only one and a bit seasons removed from a SB appearance, but this team doesn't look like a top echelon team to me.
DeleteAnd part of the reason is that the 49ers are currently carrying two straight draft classes, rather than have those draft classes be part of the solution. Still early days for all those guys, but the 49ers put themselves in a position where they needed young guys to step into key roles quickly, and perform. Tough spot.
You know what Scooter? I think that is pretty similar to what I feel. This team is decent and can get into the Playoffs as the 6th or 7th seed and probably might even win a playoff game, but no Superbowls or Championships .
DeleteBut don't tell that to some of the guys in here. :)
They think Shanahan is above all criticism, can do no wrong and it is all Bells, Whistles & Unicorns. Its Not!
Honestly, with the way this team is going, it is eerily similar to last year. We started with the Revenge Tour crap and were 2-1 playing couple of bad teams (Jets/Giants) and then went 4-3 and then 6-10.
Kudos to the way the defense came out today though. We know Demeco Ryans can get his players to play for him! Really good 1st half from the D! Pity they couldn’t sustain it with the putrid offense.
Jimmy G is very unfortunate and his career is turning out like Sam Bradford and as he said, his unfortunate injury again “is getting old”, but so are the excuses for Shahnahan/Lynch and at some point the Head coach and GM need to be held accountable for the overall record.
One Home win in the past 10 games is unacceptable. That's at the Tomsula/Chip Kelly level.
Hey Scooter, who should shoulder the blame for depending on players who have an injury history? Who's to blame for depending on Jimmy Garoppolo, now that he's suffered the exact same type of injury that he suffered TWICE last season?
DeleteBTW Scooter, did you see Justin Fields take a big step this weekend? That probably doesn't happen unless he played the week before, right?
DeleteI'm not going to get into the woulda, coulda, shoulda, but Fields is obviously a much more accurate passer right now, than Trey Lance. In fact, Fields is probably more accurate than Jimmy as well.
However, I do like Trey Lance, and I do see his potential. But he's not going to reach that potential by running the scout team, and mostly sitting on the bench.
If ever there was a QB who needs to play in an offense that is specifically structured with his particular skill set in mind, it's Trey! And that's been obvious since before training camp. Now Kyle needs to scramble in order to install an entirely different scheme, and I guarantee you guys that we will see the offense commit even more mistakes in the following weeks, because of this!
Kyle is seriously missing the common sense gene!
DeleteMost of the things I predict, end up coming true over time. But don't mistake me for being a psychic.
DeleteFor instance, if you asked me before yesterdays game ... who is the player most likely to line up offsides on a really big defensive series ... I'd have told you it was Dee Ford.
DeleteThat doesn't make me psychic ... it makes Kyle a bad Head Coach!
And BTW guys, it's not about how many yards a team gains, it comes down to scoring points.
DeleteAlways has, always will!
One more thing: Do you guys understand the flaw in having an emergency backup QB be a player who requires an entirely different game plan than your starting QB?
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ReplyDelete@Scooter:
ReplyDeleteYep. Second and third round picks making no contribution. Aiyuk awol after a good rookie season. It just seems odd that these things keep happening.
And of course the injuries continue. After this season, I think I would look to go another direction and dump Peterson. Could it really hurt?
I really hate losing to the Seahawks all the time. I'm trying to not overreact, but I know that I do when it is a loss to the squawks. Still, I have to say that the Shanahan lustre is starting to wear off.
Do you think KS is improving as a HC? I frankly can't see anything that one can point to say that's the case.
One other thing. I said it at the time and I'll repeat - letting Matt Breida go was a mistake. Yes he had some fumble problems, but at least he was explosive and was the only one in the same league with Mostert. When you look at the replacements for Mostert can you honestly say that Breida wouldn't have faired better.
I don't see the areas that Shanahan is improving in as a HC. I think he is a great play designer and pretty good play caller. Based on everything I have heard I think he's very good at communicating the why, and at cutting through the BS and telling guys how it is. I think he's always been good at those things.
DeleteBut player management? Player development? Game management? Decision-making (game and roster)? Adaptability? All remain question marks to me and I haven't really seen much improvement.
A key concern of mine atm is that it actually seems like its getting to him. He's been getting snarky with the media a lot lately. He didn't look like a confident leader on the sideline today.
"He didn't look like a confident leader on the sideline today."
DeleteLosing a critical offensive weapon - your PK - minutes before opening kickoff might have contributed to how he "looked".
rib, you are a Forty Niner Faithful, through and through, and I respect that.
DeleteBTW, I took Kyle's post game comments out of context yesterday, so I blew that. What he said wasn't nearly as bad as I originally thought. That said, Kyle is still deflecting, IMO.
Here's my thing: Injuries are part of the sport. The best Head Coaches adapt. Robbie Gould has had this exact same issue in the past. Same with Jimmy G. In fact, Jimmy Garoppolo is no more, and no less, injury prone than he's been his entire NFL career, and now here we are. The odds of Jimmy getting hurt were high, and the odds of Gould getting hurt were higher than the average kicker because we've seen him injure his groin before, and he's getting up there in age.
If Kyle wasn't 100% in charge of this roster, it would be a different story. But Kyle is in charge of the roster. We are in his 5th season now, so he has to take ownership of whatever issues there are on this roster this season.
You are what your record says you are, and Kyle is 31-37 as the 49ers HC, and has one winning season up to this point. Yah, it was a terrific season, but even then, he ultimately came up short.
I personally think Jimmy's injury is a blessing because it's my feeling that the sooner Trey Lance develops, the better off the 49ers are going to be, and the bigger Super Bowl threat they are going to be. As you saw yesterday, he's got a long ways to go, and he's not going to get there without playing. It's a myth that raw QB's develop by sitting on the sideline, and running the scout team.
DeleteTrey needs to play. Not only that, Kyle needs to do everything he can to protect the kid, without keeping him on the sideline. Some of the development process is the building up of his confidence, which is always fragile for rookie QB'. That's why you have to have to build a proper game plan around the kid. You can't get yourself into a situation where you have to play him without properly developing a game plan specific to his skillset.
Luckily Trey is a great playground QB, but that has to change next week. Kyle needs to give him easy reads, and lean on his athleticism for now, and then he can slowly add more and more on his table.
Trey is the future. How well Trey develops over the next couple years is going to dictate how successful the 49ers team is, so Kyle has to make his development the number one priority and quit pretending he can have it both ways. Hindsight is 20/20 but it seems clear now that it would have made much better sense to roll Jimmy's $24+M into next years roster, in order to put the best team possible around Trey Lance.
Also, Kyle needs to play Trent Sherfield more now that Trey is the starter. He and Trey have developed a chemistry, and Trey trusts him. All of these little details make a difference.
DeleteWell, I thought SF would get handled after keeping it close until the 3rd. That said, I was completely wrong on how I saw that happening.
ReplyDeleteI thought the offenses would trade td's early on before our Offense faltered. Sadly the way it went down was particularly disheartening. The offense struggled to score against a defense that has struggled to stop anyone all year. They could have put the game away early considering how well the defense was playing but they were constantly a tick off. Kyle is maddening because he can be so aggressive in his play calling and concurrently cowardly in any situation that lends itself to going for it.
Trey Lance provided a spark but like in college he is incredibly inaccurate to the point that he makes Jimmy look accurate. Some of this is due to nerves, but his college tape is littered with this inconsistency. He needs work on his mechanics and this is not a team that prioritizes that... that said at this point, SF needs to just roll with him IMO.
Given how they have chosen to construct this roster... I think they have failed to build a contender for this year and probably next.
Maybe ill be less disheartened and calm down after another nights sleep.
Always appreciate your comments, Shoup.
DeleteI don't want to be a downer on this blog. I respect everyone's passion for the team, but it's reasonable to be skeptical about their prospects.
Losing Gould then the double muff were the turning points directly affecting the outcome of this game. Take away those and this could have turned out completely different. Now some hysteric posters also see fit to directly blame the HC for Cannon's goof. For signing another teams castoff or some other specious Reasons...
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the future is here now. The team needs a win next week and if Trey can lead them to it, there's no turning back. We'll see if RGIII's feat of a rookie leading a team to the playoffs is repeatable as so many have argued for. If he can't then it's Shannies fault, right?
--Losing Gould then the double muff were the turning points directly affecting the outcome of this game. Take away those and this could have turned out completely different. Now some hysteric posters also see fit to directly blame the HC for Cannon's goof. For signing another teams castoff or some other specious Reasons...
DeleteIt looks like the future is here now. The team needs a win next week and if Trey can lead them to it, there's no turning back. We'll see if RGIII's feat of a rookie leading a team to the playoffs is repeatable as so many have argued for. If he can't then it's Shannies fault, right?--
This is how it goes with emotional and irrational fandom right? Somebody has to pay for killing the dreams of fans and now it's veering toward Shanahan because the rookie didn't come in and set the world on fire. This team for whatever reason has been snake bitten with injuries for the past few years even through two different S&C groups and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for them. As it stands there are teams around the league worse off in this area than the Niners are, but it just seems to keep happening and kills the chances this team has to challenge for a SB. What isn't the problem is the HC who always has this team competing and in games no matter who is on the field. Anybody calling for Shanahan to be fired needs to look back over the last 20+ years at the list of 49er HC's and be thankful we finally have a good one.
We win and Shanny gets the credit. We lose and anyone but him gets the blame. Kyle is a good OC but a poor HC IMHO.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking how we were all making fun of the Rams and their supposed "cap hell". Yet McVay and company seem to be able to adjust and pretty much field a competitive team every year since he's been there. Sure, sure... it's all the fault of injuries. Yet, somehow, other teams seem to navigate their way through injuries. But, hey, we hired a guy with a PhD, Ben Peterson, to head up player health & performance. Forget being at the top of the league with regards to avoiding injuries, I'd settle for just being average.
DeleteAl Sacco
@AlSacco49
·
15h
"The #49ers are the fourth best team in the NFC West in the fifth year of this regime.
Honest question: At what point are Shanahan and Lynch deserving of criticism? Because it feels like right now."
Nah, whine. It's the opposite. Credit is spread around after a win. After a loss, it's *that guy* The QB... or the HC with the idiot play call... or the fumbler... or the player committing the critical penalty... or the kicker missing the winning 35 yard FG at the whistle...
DeleteRemember, "success has many fathers, failure is an orphan"
They have been criticized for a number of different things: Not scouting Mahomes and ignoring the QB position entirely in the first round that year for yet another DL who built his rep on one game, not having a better backup option behind Garoppolo before this season, not drafting CB's before the 3rd round and many more I'm sure I'm forgetting. I've seen all those complaints along with the "Lance needs to play" whining that has been ongoing since the kid was drafted. In other words they have been criticized and rightfully so in many cases. That doesn't mean either of them are on the Hot seat. That is fan created solutions to their frustrations. Shanny and Lynch aren't going anywhere. Both just signed extensions last year and have built a pretty good team overall. There have been mistakes just there are with every other team in this league. Bottom line is we have one of the best Football minds in the game Coaching our team and the players like and play hard for him. Lynch is well respected and let's the front office do it's job. The one area that has repeatedly killed this team has been injuries and I'm sure they would appreciate a call from anyone who has the solution to that problem.
DeleteNAE:
DeleteI'm sure you realize that having one of the "best minds" doesn't necessarily equate to being a good manager or head coach in this case. Happens all the time in the real world. Geniuses often are quite incapable of managing day-to-day real world operations. KS is obviously not terrible at it, but imo he leaves a lot to be desired (Scooter summed up nicely my feelings on this matter). KS is great OC material, but being a HC is different. He's in his fifth year.
He leaves a lot to be desired...how? What are some examples of him failing as a HC in your opinion?
Delete1) For several years he didn't realize that the backup QB position was very suspect. He refused to admit that the QB he drafted, CJB, wasn't sufficient as a backup. Mullens is included in that. The 2018 season should have taught him that, but it took a 2020 season to finally get him to do something. That decision was a rookie instead of a seasoned veteran, so the jury is still out.
Delete2) His player development is questionable. Which QB has he developed. I was a JG fan, but now even I have to admit that JG is not progressing and probably is regressing. What happened to Aiyuk this year??! He was great as a rookie and all expectations were that he would be the top receiver. Yet he seems to primarily be relegated to fielding kickoffs or maybe it's punts. What the hell happened there?
QB development?? Name one that he has developed with the 49ers.
Also, 1st and 2nd round picks don't seem to be cutting it. Bosa is an exception because he was developed by his father and doesn't really need direction or much coaching. But McGlinchey doesn't seem much better, S. Thomas was a bust, Pettis, and then this year Aaron Banks and Thomas. Further, I haven't seen much of Sermon. There have hardly been any outside zone runs by RBs recently.
3) Game clock management seems to be questionable and has been criticized by many. I know it's tough to manage a clock in the heat of battle, but he's getting paid big bucks to do it and many, many other things. Hire additional staff if you need help.
4) Player management - no reasonable QB backup for years and now apparently no capable backup for Gould, which is odd given the fairly high reliance on a field goal kicker. What was up last year with Witherspoon basically deciding when and if he wanted to play (Miami game where Brian Allen was getting torched time and time and time again by Fitz).
Sure there will be cases for every coach where something happens, but I wonder if KS just expects things to happen because they are obvious to him. Does he delegate enough for a HC. As a HC, offensive game planning is only one of a number of important tasks.
Finally, I'll just add that I've heard plenty of analysts call Kyle a brilliant offensive mind, but how many times have you heard great or even good head coach.
He's grew up peripherally involved with the NFL, his dad was a HC, he's been an NFL coach of some sort for many years, so I expected more, I guess.
What do you see as his strong points as a head coach.
Point 1: He actually got some pretty good play out of Mullens in 2018 which likely led him to believe he was ok at the position if Garoppolo missed a couple of games going forward. Last year showed that wasn't the case and he did something about it this year.
DeletePoint 2: He's had some level of success with pretty near every QB he's ever worked with. That includes young QB's and older QB's. He's got one of the best QB friendly offenses in the game. JG has missed a lot of time. That's his problem. You are asking who Shanny has developed and yet the one season he made it all the way through Garoppolo played well enough to go to a SB. Up until he got injured yesterday he had played pretty well overall and the team was in position to win every game. As for Aiyuk Shanahan has stated very clearly what led to him starting slowly. That changed in the GB game when he had the Lions share of the snaps and made some plays.
The drafting woes are also vastly overstated. They blew their first draft class overall no question. They were inexperienced and it showed in that draft, yet they still got a HOF talent in Kittle and a good DT in DJ Jones.
Every draft since then has produced multiple good starters which I won't bother listing but form the makeup of the roster both as starters and depth players. This past draft they focused on getting the QB and shoring up positions they've had trouble with injury wise in the past. It remains to be seen what Banks does, but Sermon had a really good game yesterday, Mitchell looked good when he got his chance before the shoulder injury, Lenoir has played pretty well after being forced to take on a bigger role than intended due to injury. Hufanga and Moore look like they could have bigger roles moving forward. You have to give it some time before drawing conclusions.
I don't see a lot issues with clock management no more than I see from any other game anyway. I saw Belichick have to waste a second timeout near the end of the game last night because they couldn't get their defense set up properly. It happens these guys are human.
Point 4: Now you're being unreasonable to the extreme. No team is going to be able to overcome losing their kicker in warmup unless the Punter is also a good FG kicker which is rare. Witherspoon and any other player for that matter has the right to ask out of a game if they are injured. As the HC you deal with it and move on to the next guy. Not sure what you expect him to do there.
I've written a novel here so I'll wrap it up by saying Shanahan is thought of as one of the best young HC's in the league and it's because his teams are always competitive no matter who is playing. His players respect him and play hard for him. They feel like they have an advantage going into a game based on what he gives them. Things have started off shaky due to injuries yet again, but what I do know is that this team will compete every week and that isn't the case with a lot of teams around the league.
I expect more and you don't have the same expectations. Shanahan is not a savant HC by any stretch of the imagination and that is unequivocally illustrated by his W-L record.
DeleteYou keep giving him passes in Year 5 for issues which a guy with all of KS's experience should be able to handle. But keep blaming everything on injuries - it's easy, doesn't require questioning decisions and maintains the status quo.
We know what Shanahan's strengths are. He is very good at a number of things. But for mine there are legitimate question marks over the items cubus refers to, and I refer to earlier. He actually came to the 49ers with a lot of those question marks already. And it is difficult to point to those areas with any signs of notable improvement.
DeleteAs to whether any of those make him an unsuitable or bad HC, I don't believe so. All coaches have strengths and weaknesses. But if those areas of concern cause issues for team success then it does become a problem. TBD.
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Delete" He actually came to the 49ers with a lot of those question marks already."
DeleteMany people blamed him for the Atlanta loss in the SB, but I didn't and won't because he was the OC and did plenty to win that game. However, had KS been the HC while also acting as the OC, I would have blamed him and that's the crux of my point of view in the discussion with NAE.
No disagreement from me about blaming Shanahan for that loss. But there needs to be a separation from the idea of Shanahan IS bad at something, vs Shanahan has question marks about certain elements of his skills. It may be that these aren't even weaknesses per se. Just not areas he excels in. For mine he certainly has some question marks, and for the most part those are the question marks he came to SF with.
DeleteThe game management/ play calling question mark included the Atlanta SB loss. Not assigning blame. Just saying it was a question mark, and not one he has yet proven was a blip/ non-issue.
@Scooter: Wasn't referring to you with my comment. While KS wasn't perfect in the SB (who is?), he did enough to win that game for the role he was assigned. I blame the HC and defense for losing the game. KS wasn't responsible for the defense or special teams in that game. Now he's responsible for everything and imo, one can't just give him a pass because one thinks that he is an offensive savant.
DeleteAgreed. I still think Shanahan is a pretty good HC, but I am also starting to have some doubts.
DeleteI typed out a long replay that didn't go through due to an error so I'll keep it short. I hold Shanahan accountable and said very clearly that he and Lynch deserve some of the criticism. What I don't agree with is that he deserves to be criticized for not having a great backup or developing a better backup. I already made my point about that so won't rewrite again. The game management and play calling issues you are complaining about are pretty common around the league which was the point I was making with the example of Belichick blowing a TO late because they didn't have their crap together. As long as the mistakes are not glaring to the point of directly affecting the outcome of a game you live with them because these guys are human and won't make the right call every time.
DeleteLets hope we play lights put against the cards, was a tough start for Trey but he didnt give up that's a good sign now reps with the starters and starting against the Cards will accelerate his development,lets hope Shanny try to alter his scheme to get Trey in a good rhytym.
ReplyDeleteFor sure Robber. This is going to be THE test for Kyle. How well he designs a game plan that, on one hand protects his young QB, and on the other, takes advantage of the young QB's unique skillset, the more competitive the 49ers will be later on down the road, both towards the end of this season, and in 2022.
DeleteIf Kyle is as brilliant of a play designer / play caller, as I think he is, now is the time to prove it, starting in Arizona next week!
If Kyle does right by Trey Lance, he will install an entirely different style of offense ... for now.
DeleteKyle needs to go all-in. Anything else will not suffice!
Yep, something like he did with RG3 but with lesser qb runs like let him use his legs on the right time
DeleteThe good news is that Trey Lance is quite a bit bigger and stronger than RG3, and Lance knows how to actually deliver the hits, rather than taking them. There is a real art to understanding leverage, and physics, and Trey has a natural ability to punish defenders.
DeleteThat said, Trey shouldn't need to run very often He only needs to establish that ability, and the offense needs to play off of that ability.
Kyle definitely has his work cut out for him.
Deja Vu but instead of Mullens we have Lance. We got problems but we're nowhere near where we were at this time last year. Take care of business against the Cardinals and lets get this team rolling back in the right direction!
ReplyDeleteRazor, a Super bowl is probably not in the cards this year. Fans need to get that through their heads. They are in an especially tricky spot now.
DeleteThere are going to be ups and downs with Trey Lance, from now till the end of the season.
If Kyle had gone all in on Trey starting with training camp, they'd be a lot further along than they are now. And if they want to be a contender next season, the worst thing they could do is bench Trey Lance again in a few weeks.
Exactly Razor ��,
ReplyDeleteLets get the ace of spades and give the Cards the highway to hell!!! ��
I posted this over at the press democrat, but would like to hear any comments that people over here might have.
ReplyDelete"One thing that I’m curious about is KS’ comment that the gameplan wasn’t setup for Lance. This seems odd to me because they said they gave up the draft picks to get a rookie that could be a backup now and later the starter. Further, KS knows that Jimmy G is injury prone and Lance might have to go in at any time. And further still, he knows that TL and Jimmy G are two very different QBs so a gameplan for Jimmy G can’t be assumed to work for TL (he basically confirmed this with his comment). However, just like any prudent company, department or office or even person, there has to be a “disaster plan” in place for various situations. In other words they should have had a generic game plan for TL if he needed to replace an injured Jimmy G (the chances of which were and are very, very high). Therefore, I am left wondering about how well these guys actually plan things; or was this just an excuse by KS to try and placate angry fans. I wonder if KS gets so wrapped up in his specific game plans that he can’t see the forest for the trees as a HC needs to and do or delegate the planning that any entity/organization needs to do."
Here's what Shanahan said:
ReplyDelete"We have packages in for him, but the gameplan wasn't built for him. And you do the openers and all the second half adjustments, but we didn't really realize that Jimmy wasn't going to come out until like the last minute. So, we had to kind of make some moves on the fly and do some stuff that he was comfortable with, and I thought we got better as we went."
In other words the gameplan is the gameplan based on that specific opponent and what the starting QB does well. As it is with all teams and QB's. Lance has his plays but he is still learning the offense and isn't at a point where he can play it the way Shanahan wants him too. That is why he hasn't had many snaps I would imagine. As much as people like to talk about all these things Shanahan could do with Lance at QB, it takes time for the QB to get to a point where he can actually play at the level he needs to. Contrary to popular belief I don't think Shanahan is looking for Lance to just run around and make plays off schedule. Based on his and his Father's histories, he wants the QB to make plays from the pocket first and if need be make a play outside of it if the pocket breaks down. In other words the game plan wasn't setup for Lance because Lance can't run the game plan yet.
I know it was a tough situation for Lance, but he looked mostly like a deer in the headlights and as Jack retweeted:
DeleteJack Hammer Retweeted
Jake Hutchinson
@hutchdiesel
Lance is not seeing anything out there. Standing, standing, and running every time.
He was brought in to be the backup as well. JG and TL are very different QBs, but if he is to be the backup he needs to be able to function, which means KS needs to adjust and have him ready to play if needed. When you have Jimmy Glass as your QB, it can't just be an academic year for TL.
So a kid who just turned 21 and has played one season of football in three years looked lost on Sunday? Of course he did. He is the backup because they want him to be involved and run his plays in the Redzone or short yardage if needed. Again as I said in the response to your other post, there aren't a lot of backups who are going to come in and set the world on fire within a game situation. They don't get the reps. This week he will get the reps but he will still struggle most likely because he is very inexperienced which was the whole reason for keeping Garoppolo and starting him to begin with.
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