My thoughts after rewatching the game

xwalker

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1. I think that Doug Free has an injury to his left arm. I watched him closely and it appears that something is wrong with his left hand/arm/shoulder. It is subtle, probably because he does not want anyone to notice. It appears that he cannot extend that arm with any power and was often using his right arm in situations that you would expect him to use his left arm. When the rusher was coming around his outside (left) shoulder, he would try to lean into him with his shoulder instead of using his arm to push him past the pocket. I went back and watched the Jets game to see how he looked for comparison. There was definitely a difference.

2. There is a huge difference between playing the Slot CB and playing CB on the outside. It might be the most difficult position on defense. I think that all of the 3rd down conversions against Alan Ball came when he was playing in the slot. Scandrick might be the player that the team misses the most. Ball is OK when playing on the outside. Hopefully, Newman can play the slot when he returns. I was surprised that McCann didn’t get a chance to play the slot.

3. I love Garrett as the head coach. I do however, wish that he would hire an Offensive Coordinator that call plays from in the booth. Sparano might be available soon.

4. I don’t really understand a lot of the Cowboys run plays. They tend to be slow developing. Jones will be lined up deep in the backfield and still do a delay move before moving forward. In reviewing the games in slow motion, it appears that often the OL has created an opening but that it has closed before the RB gets to the line. If someone is lined up as a fullback, then it is a guaranteed run. They need to pass from this formation a few times to keep the defense from keying on the run.

5. They didn’t run as many screen passes or other throws to the RBs as I expected.

6. Tyron Smith is already a top 10 player on the team.

7. Dockery looked OK (not great but not terrible) except for the false starts. His 1st step is a little slow, but otherwise he has power and can move OK on pulls.

8. Kosier really got pushed around.

9. Kowalski looked very comfortable in his 1st action of the season.

10. Spencer gets a lot a grief from fans for lack of sacks, but rushing the passer really appears to be his 3rd priority after run defense and coverage.

11. I don’t see any problem with the D-Line. Hatcher looks great and Ratliff usually beats 1-on-1 blocking. The run defense is good except short yardage. The backups, Lissemore and Brent looked good in limited action.

12. I know that Kitna doesn’t get practice time during the season; however, I think that McGee could do about as well as a backup.

13. The players that really appear to have benefitted from the Coaching changes are Jenkins, Hatcher and Sensabaugh. I have noticed that Sensabaugh is actually hitting people like you would expect from an NFL safety. Jenkins is playing though the injuries and Hatcher is finally living up to his talent.

14. I don’t know if Romo will ever throw the ball to MartyB again.

15. Witten is amazing. Where was the 49ers TE Vernon Davis?

16. I have not been impressed with the officials this season. I guess that I’m a Homer, but I saw their OL commit multiple holds and hands-to-the-face that were not called; however, it was not a bad as last week.

17. Sean Lee has a lot of WOW plays. We have never seen above average ILB play since we switched to the 3-4. I would like to see Bradie James play special teams instead of Lee. Brooking is a least on the Field Goal defense team. He probably didn’t know the rule about leverage since he is probably new to playing special teams.

18. Hopefully, at least 2 of the top 3 CBs and at least 1 of the top 2 WRs can play in the next game.

19. Overall, I’m pleased with the team. They don’t really have any players that make me want to throw up like they have had in the past few years (i.e. Leonard Davis, Igor, etc..). Just keep Bradie James out of coverage.
 
19. Overall, I’m pleased with the team. They don’t really have any players that make me want to throw up like they have had in the past few years (i.e. Leonard Davis, Igor, etc..). Just keep Bradie James out of coverage. AMEN!!!!
 
Nice write-up. I don't get all the love for McGee though. He has a way to go before he can replace Kitna. Kitna plays with some authority out there; McGee looks tentative and backs out of the pocket too much and too early.
 
Good post. I wondered about an injury to Free, too. It's just too strange for such a solid guy to have such a bad game all of a sudden without something like that going on.
 
I hope you're wrong about Free. We can ill-afford another injured starter. Hopefully it was just a bad game.
 
Nice job....lot's of good points and observations.
 
I was at work and didn't get to watch the game. I only saw the highlights. I have a question regarding the play that the 49ers back scored their 3rd TD on. It looked as if Spencer was beaten pretty badly on the play. Was that the case or was there something else that I didn't see in the highlight?
 
Manster74;4130890 said:
I was at work and didn't get to watch the game. I only saw the highlights. I have a question regarding the play that the 49ers back scored their 3rd TD on. It looked as if Spencer was beaten pretty badly on the play. Was that the case or was there something else that I didn't see in the highlight?

He was just plain beat. Too slow to cover the guy.
 
Manster74;4130890 said:
I was at work and didn't get to watch the game. I only saw the highlights. I have a question regarding the play that the 49ers back scored their 3rd TD on. It looked as if Spencer was beaten pretty badly on the play. Was that the case or was there something else that I didn't see in the highlight?

Nope, he was beat soundly. He used bad technique on the play and just couldn't run with the TE. It looked to me he was expecting run and thought the TE would come to him but the TE went to the right and Spencer never got a hand on him to check him at all so the TE just ran free and Spencer was toast.
 
Manster74;4130890 said:
I was at work and didn't get to watch the game. I only saw the highlights. I have a question regarding the play that the 49ers back scored their 3rd TD on. It looked as if Spencer was beaten pretty badly on the play. Was that the case or was there something else that I didn't see in the highlight?

Spencer was up at the line and had to cover TE Delanie Walker without ANY deep or mid-range help. Walker was listed as a WR at the combine in 2006 and ran a 4.49 fourty. The 49ers list him at 6-0 and 242 lbs.

I think that the blame is more on Rob Ryan than Spencer. Even with perfect technique, there is no way that Spencer can cover this guy without ANY help.
 
Good point about the penalties, the team leads the league in sacks yet have not been held once (according the refs).
 
Boyzmamacita;4130790 said:
I hope you're wrong about Free. We can ill-afford another injured starter. Hopefully it was just a bad game.

He looked pretty bad.
 
Nice post. NO to Sparano. Boring. He's waayy too conservative for my taste. Got too many weapons that would be wasted, IMO.


I was livid with Ball during the game but I have to agree with your assessment. Slot coverage is a tough business. Especially with an agressive defense.
 
xwalker;4131930 said:
Spencer was up at the line and had to cover TE Delanie Walker without ANY deep or mid-range help. Walker was listed as a WR at the combine in 2006 and ran a 4.49 fourty. The 49ers list him at 6-0 and 242 lbs.

I think that the blame is more on Rob Ryan than Spencer. Even with perfect technique, there is no way that Spencer can cover this guy without ANY help.

This. An excellent call by the SF OC. Spencer had zero chance of covering him on that play. Walker would have to either fall down or drop the ball to foul that up. That was a very good throw by the QB as well.

Nice write up by the OP.
 
Seven;4132120 said:
Nice post. NO to Sparano. Boring. He's waayy too conservative for my taste. Got too many weapons that would be wasted, IMO.


I was livid with Ball during the game but I have to agree with your assessment. Slot coverage is a tough business. Especially with an agressive defense.

If Houck retires following this year, I could see the possibility of bringing Sparano back to take his role (OL Coach, running game coordinator). But I think as long as Garrett is here, he'll be the main play caller.
 
Boyzmamacita;4130790 said:
I hope you're wrong about Free. We can ill-afford another injured starter. Hopefully it was just a bad game.

yea I even saw him get beat bad a couple of times
 

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