There's not much that can be said after that debacle. I just hope that was rock bottom, because it's really hard to imagine a worse performance than that. While watching every second of one of the worst offensive displays I've ever seen, I was able to devise a number of solutions to some of the problems that are ailing the 49ers (offensive and otherwise). Here's a sampling, in no particular order: * Larry Allen should retire and be replaced by Adam Snyder. * Justin Smiley should be benched and replaced by David Baas. * Derek Smith should retire and be replaced by Brandon Moore. * Trent Dilfer should retire and be named assistant quarterbacks coach. * Jim Hostler should be fired and replaced by one of any number of small kitchen appliances. LET'S HOPE this finally alleviates some of the Alex Smith criticism. With any kind of decent offense around him, he could be a Pro Bowl quarterback. He should be nominated for sainthood for moving the ball AT ALL the past three weeks. Let's also hope the injury to his right shoulder doesn't keep him out more than a couple of weeks. Speaking of which, let's just keep Smith on the bench next week, regardless of the injury. Let Dilfer get banged around against another former team (and one of the best defenses of the past decade) and regroup during the bye week. I LOVE the 49ers' defense. Absolutely love it (except for Derek Smith). Nate Clements is worth every penny. I just hope all this extra work doesn't tire them out by November. And I genuinely feel bad for them having to make up for an offense that continues to party like it's 2005. I ALSO LOVE the 49ers' special teams. They were fantastic, and the offense wasted absolutely every break the special teams gave it (including a blocked punt and a recovered surprise onside kick at the start of the second half). AND OF COURSE I love Frank Gore. If he was frustrated last week, he might need a good suicide hotline number this week. He showed today that he still has the burst he had last year. He just can't ram his way through a half-dozen unblocked defenders. MY ESTEEMED COLLEAGUE Eddie suggests that the Chargers should fire Norv Turner so the Niners can bring him back as offensive coordinator. I'd like to second that motion. MY ESTEEMED COLLEAGUE Chris now has the unenviable task of rewatching this game play-by-play for this week's "Film Room" segment. I wouldn't blame him if he called in sick on this one.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Kneejerk Knotes: That was rock bottom, right?
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3 comments:
Let's not leave the Oline coach off the hook here fella's, that was a horrendous performance. It was only a matter of time before they got AS hurt and it finally happened.
Another thing, WHERE THE HELL IS THE OFFENSIVE GAMEPLANNING? I mean, normally an OC will create an offensive scheme that exploits the other teams weaknesses on defense, but with the exception of the 1st and 4th quarters against the Squeelers, the playcalling has been the same, run up the center against an 8-9 man front. What the F***? Where are the screens, sweeps (we had one toss sweep and it was for a big run),the slants, the misdirections, the quick hooks, the 5 yard crossing routes,the TE outs, the 3 step drops, you know, all the freaking plays that normally nullify stacked fronts!!!!!
I don't know how much blame goes to Warhop. He certainly can't be off the hook, like you said. But how could the line get this bad this quickly? That's the mystery Nolan must solve immediately, if not sooner.
As for the gameplanning, I don't think Bill Walsh himself could have gotten a decent performance out of this team today. They simply weren't ready to play, and their execution was horrible regardless of the play-calling. There were several times when Hostler made good calls but someone on the line (or under center) would screw something up. Seemed like that happened on just about every play.
Ok, so if its not all Warhop, which I agree with, then it can only be that the skills of the players have deteriorated significantly, that is hard to believe (other than Allen), but like you I am left guessing. But definitely teams have adjusted and have found ways to exploit the line in the middle.
With that said, if teams have adjusted then we certainly havent countered with either effective playcalling/scheming or with player execution.
This defense has real promise but has a couple of missing pieces, the offense on the other hand has more than a couple of missing pieces. It has a heart and a head missing, the players are the heart, and offensive coaches are the head.
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