Rams V 9ers

[Popeyejones]

Honestly through three quarters of that game Kaepernick still looked very pouty and sullen. Watched the game this morning and I can't shake the feeling that Kaepernick is mentally fragile.

TBH I think you're just seeing Kaepernick as he looks like, and reading into it from there. I suspect that if he were yukking it up on the sidelines some Hawks fans would insist he doesn't take the game seriously, if he was going over formations and plays on the sidelines some Hawks fans would insist that he's ill-prepared, if he was too confidently walking around some Hawks fans would say he's an egomaniac, If he was talking to somebody rather than watching a play some Hawks fans would say he doesn't support his teammates, etc., etc., etc.

Not saying you'd do any of these things, but Kaepernick's demeanor on the sidelines hasn't really been any different than it has ever been, IMO. He's laughing and joking around sometimes, and other times he's thinking with a blank expression on his face and staring off into space (what I think might be read as pouting). It doesn't matter if he's up or down by 30, it tends to be the same.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Oh my God...Stat of the day. Sorry, Rams fans:

SI_DougFarrar ‏@SI_DougFarrar 1m
Well. PFF has Cortland Finnegan allowing a perfect passer rating of 158.3 both outside and in the slot. Consistency!

 

[Dtowers]

Honestly through three quarters of that game Kaepernick still looked very pouty and sullen. Watched the game this morning and I can't shake the feeling that Kaepernick is mentally fragile.

TBH I think you're just seeing Kaepernick as he looks like, and reading into it from there. I suspect that if he were yukking it up on the sidelines some Hawks fans would insist he doesn't take the game seriously, if he was going over formations and plays on the sidelines some Hawks fans would insist that he's ill-prepared, if he was too confidently walking around some Hawks fans would say he's an egomaniac, If he was talking to somebody rather than watching a play some Hawks fans would say he doesn't support his teammates, etc., etc., etc.

Not saying you'd do any of these things, but Kaepernick's demeanor on the sidelines hasn't really been any different than it has ever been, IMO. He's laughing and joking around sometimes, and other times he's thinking with a blank expression on his face and staring off into space (what I think might be read as pouting). It doesn't matter if he's up or down by 30, it tends to be the same.

Not talking about how he looks on the sideline chap talking about how he looks on the field. Classic signs of defeated posture. Him and Bradford were going back and forth with it all game.

 

[Popeyejones]

^^^ Yeah, maybe I'm just not seeing it.

He has always been pretty animated after TDs and big plays, but behind center and looking at defensive schemes pre-snap he looked as he has always looked to me. Dunno.

 

[HawkWow]

49ers fans are seriously putting way too much value into getting open. Guess what? The Seahawks don't have a single WR that gets open more than once in awhile. (Until Harvin gets on the field, that is.)

Part of what makes up a good quarterback is completing passes to covered receivers. Your WRs not getting open being such a big problem speaks ill of Kaepernick as much as, or even more than, it does about your receivers. Plus, you guys have a KNOWN GOOD WR that specializes and has a history of making catches in traffic.

Again...This speaks more poorly of Kaepernick than it does of your receivers, IMO. Getting open is not something you can depend on or rely upon. It's a mirage. You can wait a decade and have the NFL pass you by trying to make a passing game based mostly on receivers getting open.

Beautiful analysis. I've been saying this since Harbaugh replaced Smith. I sincerely believe the raz-a-mataz of Russell Wilson sent Smith to KC. Harbaugh just had to have one of those. Of course Kaep had instant, but not lasting, success at the helm.

The kid is very long and that combined with his ridiculous athleticism made things very difficult for opposing defenses, until one fine night in the Emerald city. After that, he started looking less imposing. He apparently has the Packers number because other than them, and a come back vs Atlanta, he's not had significant success since. We exposed his weakness' last year, then did so again this year.

I don't know why, but I have a hard time kicking a dog when it's down. I don't mean to pile on SF, but they would us, in a heartbeat. I was embarrassed for my 9er nation bros this morning as I made my obligatory rounds. Much like in here, they are now convinced all they had to do was return to smash mouth football and everything is unicorns and rainbows again. This is (obviously) true vs. MAC quality teams like the Rams, but as soon as they face a team that can stop the run, they will ask Kaep to play the role of Alex Smith and that is not going to happen (anytime soon), IMO.

 

[hawk45]

I agree with the idea that a QB has to be able to throw balls to tightly covered receivers to a place where only his guy can get it. So far haven't seen that sort of touch from Kaepernick although I'm not writing his career epitaph just yet.

But let's posit for a moment that SF and SEA receivers are equally inept at getting open. In Seattle's case, the WRs not getting open are still starters. You have Rice, Tate, and Baldwin that you are throwing to and trusting them to catch it in traffic or stop an INT. Rice and Tate are very good at high-pointing, and Baldwin is just...good, period at making difficult grabs.

Yeah they have Boldin but that's it. If Boldin is just completely blanketed, it's a little unfair to expect Kaep to just throw it his way perfectly. Likewise I think it's unfair to judge him too harshly for his progressions, when he's probably thinking that after he reads Boldin (and VD when he's not on the sideline nursing hurt ovaries), he may as well panic and run because his other guys for sure aren't open or can't catch. Tom Brady can make dog doo look like NFL receiver, but no one else can.

 

[RolandDeschain]

You don't have to expect Kaepernick to throw perfectly into a group of three guys, just throw a jump ball after making sure Boldin knows ahead of time to go up for it. One deep completion to Boldin like that per drive foot San Francisco would open them up a LOT.

 

[Exittium]

I watched it and, well all I could think was how NFL.com and NFL Network were going to ride that Kap-cock train and claim them almighty.. which it seems they have. They get owned by two decent teams nfl has a hayday but when they stomp on the rams.. a sub-par team obviously not fully clicking .. They get praised as if it was the 2nd coming..

1st off Kap's roll out were mediocre he almost got sacked on each one... they all were to the right and throwing to Boldin. You can't tell me Tripplett favored those 49ers because I'm pretty positive on those roll outs there was some o-line holding. And Boldin, well I know Ill probably get some back lash but he's really similar to our Baldwin, except one thing man he got got away with A LOT of PI calls. Gore he's fits those forty whiners well.. he whined the previous week about not getting any or minimal touchs against the colts and he got quiet a few this game so overall.. Game looked like a typical "comeback confidence booster" game where the bigger team beats up the lesser team. (Harbough tired of him getting all the credit for a team he really never built either... )

Oh and in the beginning when Kap claimed "not to care or focus on the twitter haters" he must he's taking the time to read them and favorite them.

My hate for the Steelers and big Ben has seemed to of shifted to the 49ers and their self absorbed pouting prick QB.

I know its more rant then anything.. but yeah I really hate those 49ers... :49ersmall:

I had fun watching the game purely because of my wife.. at the end she was screaming bounty system because of all of a sudden rams players are being injured left and right... (she made it fun to watch) I told her maybe, maybe not either way this is just a pure shit game... 49ers looked like shit and the rams looked tired, I mean afterall it was a rinse and repeat of rollout throw right to boldin, boldin pushed off and catches, or rollout right hand off to gore. <Not much of a game.. and somehow the rams weren't picking up on any of it. Kaps not a great qb when ur able to shutdown Boldin and Gore.. Hawks did it, Colts did it... Rams could have but who knows

 

[hawk45]

You don't have to expect Kaepernick to throw perfectly into a group of three guys, just throw a jump ball after making sure Boldin knows ahead of time to go up for it. One deep completion to Boldin like that per drive foot San Francisco would open them up a LOT.

Yeah...I do think it's just a much greater challenge going against NFL defenses with only 1 guy you really trust. Manningham, Crabtree, VD out they're just down to nothing at all. I have a hard time thinking that there's much Kaepernick could do that would mitigate the effect of that enough for him to be really really effective in the passing game. Against someone other than GB that is.

I'm no Kaepernick fan at all I just feel the need to reserve judgment until he gets 1 or 2 of his weapons back.

 

[HawkWow]

I don't think it would matter if Kaep had Megatron and Fitz alongside Boldin. He is only capable of seeing one per play, anyway. I can't recall seeing many (NFL) QBs that lock on the way he does. It's comical. His head doesn't even move and his intended targets wouldn't be more obvious if he pointed at them with his free hand. We now know two things. GB's secondary sucks...but not as bad as the Rams.

 

[hawk45]

Huh. I don't feel I've seen Tjack (first tour with Seahawks) level locking on when I've watched but I don't really go back with DVR so I lay no claim to the final opinion on the subject.

 

[HawkWow]

Huh. I don't feel I've seen Tjack (first tour with Seahawks) level locking on when I've watched but I don't really go back with DVR so I lay no claim to the final opinion on the subject.

If and when you do, you too will give the belly laugh. I mean, I am more amazed when he is successful than not. And I'm not kicking the downed dog, either. It's something they will spend a lot of time attempting to correct, but it's so glaring that, IMO, it will be like retooling a 20 yr golf swing.

 

[rideaducati]

Huh. I don't feel I've seen Tjack (first tour with Seahawks) level locking on when I've watched but I don't really go back with DVR so I lay no claim to the final opinion on the subject.

If and when you do, you too will give the belly laugh. I mean, I am more amazed when he is successful than not. And I'm not kicking the downed dog, either. It's something they will spend a lot of time attempting to correct, but it's so glaring that, IMO, it will be like retooling a 20 yr golf swing.

I tried telling niner fans and so-called "experts" this very thing prior to the season starting. They wouldn't listen...until now. Now everyone is jumping on as if they knew this all along. The media and niner fans only saw the results and had no idea that the results were unsustainable because of OBVIOUS flaws that every "expert" overlooked.

 

[Throwdown]

Oh my God...Stat of the day. Sorry, Rams fans:

SI_DougFarrar ‏@SI_DougFarrar 1m
Well. PFF has Cortland Finnegan allowing a perfect passer rating of 158.3 both outside and in the slot. Consistency!

Didn't someone say they had the best corners in the league like a month ago?

 

[-The Glove-]

Oh my God...Stat of the day. Sorry, Rams fans:

SI_DougFarrar ‏@SI_DougFarrar 1m
Well. PFF has Cortland Finnegan allowing a perfect passer rating of 158.3 both outside and in the slot. Consistency!

Didn't someone say they had the best corners in the league like a month ago?

Yup RamzFan

 

[hawker84]

they wouldn't break the top ten in the CFL....

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Oh my God...Stat of the day. Sorry, Rams fans:

SI_DougFarrar ‏@SI_DougFarrar 1m
Well. PFF has Cortland Finnegan allowing a perfect passer rating of 158.3 both outside and in the slot. Consistency!

Didn't someone say they had the best corners in the league like a month ago?

Who would ever say that? Either way the Ram's issues aren't the secondary. They're on Bradford, the OC, and that sad collection of running backs made worse by counting on Austin to be Welker right out of the gate. Total recipe for disaster in my opinion.

 

[-The Glove-]

Oh my God...Stat of the day. Sorry, Rams fans:

SI_DougFarrar ‏@SI_DougFarrar 1m
Well. PFF has Cortland Finnegan allowing a perfect passer rating of 158.3 both outside and in the slot. Consistency!

Didn't someone say they had the best corners in the league like a month ago?

Who would ever say that? Either way the Ram's issues aren't the secondary. They're on Bradford, the OC, and that sad collection of running backs made worse by counting on Austin to be Welker right out of the gate. Total recipe for disaster in my opinion.

That secondary was a huge part of their issues when Finnegan gives up a perfect QBR and Jenkins gets bullied on the other side. Thwres an issue there, and I doubt its solely tje players. That scheme is all messed up

 

[5_Golden_Rings]

Oh my God...Stat of the day. Sorry, Rams fans:

SI_DougFarrar ‏@SI_DougFarrar 1m
Well. PFF has Cortland Finnegan allowing a perfect passer rating of 158.3 both outside and in the slot. Consistency!

Didn't someone say they had the best corners in the league like a month ago?

Who would ever say that? Either way the Ram's issues aren't the secondary. They're on Bradford, the OC, and that sad collection of running backs made worse by counting on Austin to be Welker right out of the gate. Total recipe for disaster in my opinion.

That secondary was a huge part of their issues when Finnegan gives up a perfect QBR and Jenkins gets bullied on the other side. Thwres an issue there, and I doubt its solely tje players. That scheme is all messed up

They didn't start getting burned on the back end until it was clear that Gore was going to run all over them. The very same thing happened in week 2: Wilson was getting NOTHING in the passing game at the beginning of the game, but Lynch was running down hill. Eventually that softens the secondary. It's Football 101. The Rams couldn't stop the run, and eventually that opened up the pass. Likewise in week 2, the 49ers abandoned the run because it was going nowhere, meanwhile Seattle stuck with it. It became a blow out.

If your defense can't stop the run, you aren't going to win many games. If, however, you have the luxury of having such a good secondary that you can consistently put 8 in the box without sacrificing much in the secondary (like Seattle), teams are going to struggle mightily. The only chance anyone has against Seattle is to STICK with the run, and keep running into the wall, and have good defense until the inevitable cracks in the ground game open. But normal, mortal defenses? If you can run on them, and have success, odds are you can eventually pass on them.


NOTE: in the 90s the 49ers, who had Carroll as a D-Coordinator, ran the same scheme Seattle does now. They generally shut down the run often with 8 in the box and forced teams to be one dimensional, and they were consistently a top 10 defense (I think they were number one in 95 and 97, and 6 or so in 94 and 96; they ran the same scheme before and after Carrol got there and left). BUT, when teams stuck with the run, eventually they had success, and with that came success in the passing game. Green Bay did that a lot to San Francisco in the 90s, as did Atlanta when they had success against us with Anderson at running back. You've got to run the ball if you play a great defense. The problem with those teams, and with Seattle now, is that the offense is also good, which means you have only so long before you will feel compelled to abandon the run. But really, you can't. If you do that, the game will snowball out of control almost every time. You might say, what about the 49ers in the 80s and 90s? They didn't have much of a running game. They also LOST in the playoffs in more years than they won, because again, when you play a great defense, you've got to be balanced. Same thing with the Patriots last year. Eventually it backfired on them. Yeah, they improved their running game, but they were too quick to abandon it and put everything on Brady and the passing game. Likewise with Manning most of his career. You've got to stay balanced against good defenses, and in the playoffs, almost all defenses are good.

The Rams couldn't run the ball Thursday, the 49ers could, and they eventually got whooped. And again, in week 2, the 49ers abandoned the run, Seattle didn't, and eventually the game snowballed into a blow out. Again, Football 101.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Yup. (Football 101 is good defense, the ability to run the ball, and a quarterback with the ability to complete passes in tight windows when it counts). Seems Pete earned his stripes?

Or are you ready to admit the fact that Wilson IS in fact a better quarterback than Kaepernick? Given your whole offense was so painfully basic....half field and single read. Wow, seriously? The actual takeaway from this game is that Bradford is Sanchez not that Kaepernick is elite.

Bradford missed so many pure open passes it nearly brought tears to my eyes between the laughter.