Who’s Kittle referring to when he questioned the effort level of certain individuals? — Gregg C.
Barrows: I was wondering that, too. The 49ers defensive line wasn’t great on Sunday, but that seemed to be because of a lack of talent, not a lack of effort. Samuel Womack gave up a pair of touchdowns, one in coverage and one because he couldn’t hold the edge on Marcus Mariota’s touchdown run. Again, that’s more lack of experience than lack of effort.
I think Kittle was talking about a teamwide lack of ferocity. He didn’t like that they went three-and-out on both their first possession of the game and the first of the second half. The 49ers’ practices on Thursday and Friday in West Virginia were lively and full of energy. In hindsight, maybe they were feeling a little too good about themselves after an easy win in Carolina.
Just a little motivational jab. No biggie.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that Shanny disagreed with him.
DeleteI don't think that Kittle really thought there was. Trying to get players to dig even deeper.
DeleteAnd I thought Kittle invented national tight ends day, not so fast.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.49ers.com/news/george-kittle-national-tight-end-day
I agree with Barrows and under - not really directed at specific individuals, more team wide, and it isn't a biggie. I suspect he recalls all too well the issues during the first half of last season with inconsistent focus and as a veteran and team captain he is putting the team on notice that they need to sharpen up.
ReplyDeleteFrom the HC all the way down, everyone needs to pick it up. Stop the penalties and turnovers. Convert 3rd downs.
DeleteRazor, you bet, I might add catch the ball and play special teams.
DeleteIn the second halves of the three games the Niners have lost, they have had nine turnovers, two field goals, and zero touchdowns.
ReplyDeleteThat's gotta be a point of emphasis in every offensive meeting.
DeleteI don't see how Kingsbury survives the season. He said he's willing to give up play calling if it means wins. That's an offensive head coach that's out of answers.
The offense has left a lot to be desired this season so far. A lot of things they need to figure out.
DeleteKingsbury was never good to begin with. The guy had 2 winning seasons in college, overall college record was 35-40 with a 19-35 Big 12 record (obviously beating up on NCAA 1aa teams) and has a 26-28-1 record in the NFL, 1 winning season and never an NFC West crown.
DeleteAs bad as some want to make it out to be with Kyle, we really need to remember how much worse it can be, and has been.
Like I said, making rash firings is how the niners went from Walsh, Seifert, Mooch (even Seifert to Mooch wasn't a great move) but to Ericson, Nolan, Sign and JT. Thankfully the team got Harbaugh but again a rash "mutual seperation" resulted in JT and Chip Kelly. What do Ericson, Nolan, Sing, Tomsula (2x) and Kelly all have in common?...160 games coached, ZERO playoffs. A combined record of 44-116, 27% win percentage. Of the 21 49ers head coaches, only 8 have made the playoffs. Its funny, people criticize Kyle for his losing seasons but when Mooch lost Young, he had 2 losing seasons.
Kyle needs to have someone in his ear to remind him not to get pass or run happy, keep the balance. I feel like Andy Reid use to have the same issues, he'd forget to be balanced. Also doesn't help that Williams and Mitchell have been out basically since game 2, with them back this offense will look a lot better.
George:
ReplyDeleteFrom a Dieter Kurtenbach article this past Monday:
"The Niners are yet to come from behind from anything more than a four-point deficit going into the fourth quarter in Shanahan’s six years in charge, going 0-26 since the start of 2017, per the Associated Press."
I'm not the second coming of Reasons and calling for Kyle's ouster. But if the season goes south, I would like to see a new approach.
Is that come from behind and win or just come from behind and take a lead?
DeleteThats such a weighted stat tho, like look at the GB game last year, they were down 3 entering the 4th...then down 10, then back to 3, then down 6, then up 1 with 37 seconds left to play...then they lost by 2. So they did come back in the 4th quarter when trailing by 10 at one point, but "entering" the 4th they were only down by 3 but that only took 90 seconds to grow to 10. And they took the lead, so the offense did its part actually scoring 14 points in that quarter, problem was the defense gave up 13 which made all the difference.
I'm sure there are plenty of other examples like this when the team went down more than 4 after the 4th quarter and came back to tie, take a lead or win...but entering the 4th it was a 3 point deficit or less.
Stats like that remind me of some lines from the classic film...Little Big League:
"An interesting side note; that’s the 14th one-run game for the Tigers already this season. Tops for any team north of the Mason-Dixon Line, whose home games are not played in a dome."
&
"Last year though, he was 6th in the American League in hitting right-handers he was facing for the first time, after the seventh inning, at home."
Great for stat heads but I'm sure there are plenty of good coaches with awful records when down by more than 3 going into the 4th.
Let's revisit in 2 years. 2017 was an expansion team. I want to see Shanny/Lance develop the offensive vision.
DeleteJust highlights how much the team relies on the running game to power the offense. Get into situations where you need to pass and they struggle to make it happen. As razor said, keen to revisit that in a few years with Shanahan's hand picked QB.
DeleteTNF just said that McCaffrey has been traded to the 49ers.
ReplyDeleteMassive. The injury history is a big concern, but when healthy he provides the perfect skillset at RB for what Shanahan wants to do.
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