Feckless Teams

 Unprepared and costly mistakes have put Richard Hightower squarely in the cross hairs. His special teams have looked like a unit that are completely unprepared for the moment. Kyle Shanahan, "Well, yeah, two weeks in a row [special teams] given up some bad plays," Shanahan said on Monday. "We know it happened last week versus Minnesota. Team played good enough around it to overcome it. We went into this week knowing how big of a deal it is, how good Seattle's been, how we were a little undermanned with some injuries that we had, which usually is a chain reaction down to special teams. So we knew how big of a deal it would be." "And to miss that, for them to get that fake punt on the first special teams play of the game was huge," Shanahan added. "The fumble that we had was even bigger. And then the missed extra point, big deal too. So we definitely have to play there better and we're trying to work at it."

Should Shanny sack Hightower?

Week 13 Post Match Review: 49ers at Seahawks

By Scooter_McG

The 49ers had a fantastic opportunity to strengthen their hold on an NFC playoff spot against the struggling Seahawks, with many of the teams vying for the 6th and 7th seed losing this weekend. Instead they reverted back to the team we saw for much of the first half of the season, as they made mistake after mistake after mistake of every variety you can imagine, including getting fooled by trick plays, turnovers deep in their own half, and costly penalties that gave the Seahawks cheap yards and extended drives. 

Some games don't need a lot of analysis. Some games can be distilled very easily down to some core aspects. This was such a game. 

The writing was on the wall early on too. After an excellent defensive effort to force a 3 and out, the team gifted the Seahawks the opening TD as they failed to even consider the potential of a fake punt. The right side of the 49ers punt return team gave the Seahawks an easy numbers advantage on the play, and once the ball was snapped directly to Travis Homer it never looked like being anything but a big play for the Seahawks. 

The 49ers did put up some resistance early on with the defense harassing Wilson and forcing some turnovers and the offense scoring points. But it was intermingled with an egregious INT by Jimmy G where he once again failed to see the underneath defender and threw it right to him, as well as a holding penalty that stopped a promising 49ers drive and kept it to a FG. Late in the half the defense also started to join in on the fun as they gave away numerous penalties including two personal fouls for hits on Wilson to make it a narrow 23-21 lead at the half despite the game feeling at that point that the 49ers should be well ahead. It was, unfortunately, just a sign of things to come. 

Much like in the first meeting, the second half started with the 49ers STs fumbling the ball from a kickoff to gift the Seahawks possession deep in 49ers territory. The 49ers would be fortunate to see Gerald Everett fail to haul in a would be TD and ultimately bobble the ball right to Williams for an INT. But the reprieve was short lived and a few plays later the Seahawks took Jimmy G down for a safety to tie the game. 

On the 49ers next possession the 49ers would come out passing, possibly an overreaction to having two runs stuffed inside their own five on the previous drive, and it would lead to another awful decision by Jimmy G as he threw the ball between two 49ers receivers and straight to the arms of a waiting Seahawks defender. The Seahawks would convert that mistake into another 7 points and 30-23 lead which ultimately would be enough to win the game. 

The worst part about the loss, aside from the self inflicted wounds, is that the Seahawks actually gave the 49ers plenty of opportunities too. Gerald Everett probably would have been given the game ball by the 49ers if they had somehow managed to win it. The Seahawks fumbled the ball 4 times, losing it twice, and also gave up the INT in the 49ers end zone. Unfortunately for Everett he was responsible for all three of those Seahawk turnovers. The last turnover even gave the 49ers an unlikely chance to go tie the game when it looked all but over, turning it over on the 49ers 2 yard line while up by 7. But of course the 49ers failed to take advantage, despite marching down the field and having a fresh set of downs within the Seahawks 10 yard line. It was that sort of day.

Credit to the Seahawks for devising a defensive game plan that would frustrate the 49ers into mistakes. They consistently kept 8 and 9 men in the box, clogging running lanes and daring the 49ers to pass. They did an excellent job of bottling Mitchell up all game. And when Shanahan decided to try and take advantage of the Seahawks playing so aggressively against the run, they did a good job of taking away Jimmy G's first read and forcing him into bad decisions (well, forcing is probably too strong a word, but Jimmy G obliged anyway). 

This game was a reminder that the margin between this team being a contender that bullies opponents and being an inept and ill-disciplined group is still pretty narrow. Any corner the team seemed to have turned the past three weeks was erased in this game. The onus will now be back on the players and coaching staff to reset their attitude and mentality quickly, and get back to playing some focused, disciplined and physical football. 

49ers Game Day Live

 49ers Inactives:

#49ers inactives: * LB Fred Warner (hamstring) * WR Deebo Samuel (groin) * LB Marcell Harris (concussion) * LB Dre Greenlaw * OL Colton McKivitz * DL Maurice Hurst (calf)

Week 13 Matchups to Watch: 49ers at Seahawks

By Scooter_McG 

The 49ers travel to Seattle in week 13 riding the wave of an impressive three game winning streak. The Seahawks on the other hand are mired in a disastrous season currently sitting at a 3-8 record and looking out of sorts in all phases, having won only one game since they beat the 49ers in week 4 (against the lowly Jaguars). 

The 49ers will be looking to exact revenge for that week 4 defeat, which was a game that exemplified the 49ers first half of the season. In that game the 49ers squandered some excellent play by the defense in the first half, through a litany of mistakes, including an INT and other errant passes, penalties, missed FGs, a fumbled kickoff return, and some very strange play calling by Shanahan including a trick play that called on the newly signed RB Patrick to take the hand off, then lob the ball way back across field to Jimmy G - a play that took so much time to develop that the intended receiver (Kittle), who initially was wide open, ended up being well covered by the time the ball got to him. 

Injuries were also an issue - Robbie Gould got injured during warmups, which saw place kicking duties fall on the boot of punter Mitch Wishnowsky with the expected results, and Jimmy G was also lost at half time after injuring his calf in the first half, which pushed Trey Lance into action in the second half and he looked overwhelmed for the majority of that game. 

Basically, if something could go wrong, the 49ers found a way to make it happen.

What made the loss in week 4 so disappointing was that even with the bad luck with injuries, if it wasn't for so many self inflicted wounds it was a game the 49ers could have won and won fairly easily.

Unfortunately the 49ers will go into this one a little banged up again, missing some key players in Deebo, Warner (probably) and Greenlaw. So in this second matchup, this is what I believe the keys to victory will be. 

Not beating themselves. First and foremost, they can't have a repeat of the first matchup. They can't return to the mistake riddled team we saw during the first eight weeks of the season. And that extends to all facets of play - avoid turnovers, obviously, but also avoid drive killing penalties on offense and drive extending penalties on defense, and play disciplined football. 

Keep running the ball. This is one where the opponent's defensive statistics suggest it may be worth focusing on changing things up and trying to take advantage of the 31st ranked passing defense in the NFL (in terms of passing yards allowed). Especially given the Seahawks rank 4th in the NFL in terms of average yards per rush allowed, at just 3.9 yards per carry. And with Deebo out for this one that will see the 49ers most explosive weapon missing. His contribution in the running game the past few weeks has been an important ingredient to their resurgence. 

You could argue then that the 49ers should lean on Kittle and Aiyuk to generate some explosive plays through the air. And yes, they should - to some degree. But in my opinion it would be a mistake to make getting the ball into their hands early and often a focus of the game plan. We've seen all too often how this team can find ways to lose when they move away from a run-heavy approach. And we've seen over the past three weeks that this team doesn't need to be averaging 4+ yards per carry for the rushing attack to be vital to the team's success. 

Play to your strengths, and for the 49ers that involves a steady diet of running the ball. And in Elijah Mitchell, the 49ers have the type of RB you can happily make the focus of your offense. 

Don't let Wilson beat them with his legs. In the first meeting this became an issue for the defense as the game wore on. In the second half in particular, Wilson was able to pick up new sets of downs quite regularly by getting outside the edge defenders, with Ford and Armstead particularly guilty. 

Wilson comes into this game playing some of the worst football of his career. The 49ers can't allow him to get back into form by letting him easily buy time and pick up yards with his legs. 

Frustrate Metcalf. Something that has become apparent during the Seahawks poor run of results is that DK Metcalf can be frustrated out of the game. The 49ers should make a point of taking him away early on, and if they can steadily build a lead that frustration has a good chance of getting in Metcalf's head and potentially see him either check out or start giving silly penalties away. 

49ers DL has to dominate the Seahawks OL and cover for the strained depth at LB. The OL is possibly the Seahawks biggest weakness, and to make matters worse for them they have some injury concerns up front as well (not to mention injuries at RB too). There should be no excuse for the 49ers DL not to have their way with this unit, shutting down the running game and getting pressure on Wilson. It will be doubly important this week for the DL to have a big game given the injuries at LB - this will put extra pressure on the DL to penetrate quickly and clog up lanes to keep the back 7 clean to attack the ball.  

Open/General Discussion Friday

 Elijah Mitchell pro bowl bound?

Shan-A-Rant

After getting picked off by a Zimmer led defense for the second time in recent memory, we all saw what happened afterward on the sidelines; the Shan-a-rant in the face of Jimmy G. Joe Staley:

“I’ve been on the sideline before when Kyle shields his face with the playsheet and rips his quarterback and other players, and it’s not fun,” Staley told KNBR's "Papa & Lund." “You don’t want to be a part of that. Kyle has a mastery of cursing you out and sounding really cool while he does it.

“Whatever he said to Jim got him dialed back in. It shows a lot of growth. Jimmy is playing with a lot of confidence right now. That is a perfect example of the confidence he has in himself to kind of flush that. As players when things don’t go your way, guys will fold under pressure sometimes and start doubting themselves.

“He finished the day going 16-for-21. Very efficient on third-down conversions. He got back to what we saw in the last four weeks. I think it just comes back to the confidence he has right now, in the system, in himself, to regroup, not doubt himself and lead the team. And he’s doing a good job of that this year.”

I couldn't agree more with Joe. I think both coach and quarterback are maturing before our eyes. The way Shanny handled Aiyuk has paid off as well. Let's see if they can keep it going.

Not So Little Brother

 The prevailing thought is it'll be Kittle, Aiyuk or the combination of the two that will be picking up the slack for an injured Deebo Samuel. I see it differently. I think it'll be Jauan Jennings. I think he brings the physicality that Deebo did. He's been coming on strong and I feel like he's poised to take on a bigger role. Will Shanny feel the same way and feature the young man in the game plan against Seattle? If he does I think he'll be rewarded. Jennings led all college receivers with 30 broken tackles on 57 catches in 2019. What he lacks in speed is made up by his desire and grit. Do we have another sibling about to join the YAC Brothers?