49ers post game thread

[Zorn76]

1st off, It's nice to Finally see a win again, particularly on the road, and just 4 days removed from our home debacle against the Panthers. And while we knew the 49ers were more reflective of their 2-4 record than we were coming in, to hold them to 3 pts, force 7 three-and-outs, and have them punt 9 times is still a good night by any measure.

We set the tone early with a nice long drive, and were reminded what a healthy Beast can do, especially when he's given some semblance of a lane to run through.

Other observations:

Pass protection (no surprise) is still a major work in progress, and I think the OL is due for (again) a significant overhaul next offseason. SF had only 9 sacks coming into tonight but got to RW 5 times. It's been discussed ad nauseum here and abroad, and certainly Wilson bears some responsibility. But, IMO, this group is not the future, not even close. More growing pains to come by an overhaul, but we have to continue to strive to find pieces worth investing in, and forget about this nonsense of converting DL to OL at the NFL level.

Tyler Lockett - 5 rec/79yds/ and a TD receiving. Great game for the rook who is only going to get better as a WR, and is already stellar as a return guy.

RW - decent game overall - great 1st half. His deep ball to T.L. for a TD was a thing a beauty, while his long attempt to Kearse was poor decision. Two defensive guys were all over it, and it resulted in an INT that should've been avoided. The red zone pick was tough.

Time of possession - dominated here (38:05 to 21:55)
1st downs - Sea 21/SF 8
Total yds - 388 for our offense.

Defense - dominating (as one would hope) against a terrible offense (145 total yds on 11 drives).

Michael Bennett - On. Fire. 3.5 sacks. Get job up front in general.

Plenty of other stats, but you get the idea.
Now 10 days until our next game in Dallas.
Very winnable.

Just have to stay focused and finish strong. The 2nd half did slow to a crawl, but at least we have a little momentum going into the next match up.

[RiverDog]

My initial thoughts:

At least two of those sacks were not the OL's fault. Russell makes a decision to scramble whereas other quarterbacks might choose to throw it away. I'm not saying that Russell makes a bad decision when he scrambles and gets sacked as in many cases the possible reward justifies the risk, just that the sack number is always going to be high with a quarterback like him.

Michael Bennett had a whale of a game, as did Avril and my favorite whipping boy Bruce Irvin. They all brought pressure consistently all night long and they did good jobs in coverage when they were asked, did a pretty fair job of shutting down the run. And Bennett is learning to stay onsides!

Russell looked a lot better in the pocket last night. I didn't see the happy feet as I have in past games. When he did scramble, he generally had both hands on the ball and was ready to throw. A consistent running attack helped keep the rush at bay. He did have a couple of picks, but they were good risks. The one at the end of the half would have made it a 24-0 halftime lead. At least he's starting to take some chances. Beast looked terrific. Despite the sacks, which are going to happen, the much maligned offensive line played fairly well.

It looks like we're using Sherman on their top receiver more and more. I guess that's an admission that Cary Williams is the weak link that will get singled out if we don't move Sherman around. Getting a consistent pass rush paid dividends in our secondary coverage.

One of the least talked about positive things is Hauschka's kicking. He hasn't missed a FG attempt yet, and he has several from the 50 yard area. He must be living right, too, as he's benefited from a couple of favorable bounces off the uprights. No XP misses, either, and his kickoffs have yielded their fair amount of touchbacks. The only negative anyone can say about his performance to this point is that botched pooch kick to start overtime in the Rams game. ST play was generally solid, no boo boo's that were going to hurt us.

All in all it was a game that we really needed and we did what was expected of us. But to all of our forum cheerleaders, I remind you, that this wasn't the Packers or Panthers. This was the 49'ers. They were not expected to compete this season. This was a game we were supposed to win, and win decisively. Let's not start doing cartwheels and back flips like we did after our game against the Bears. We still have a long, long way to go until January, and a lot tougher opponents to face than the team that by most accounts had the worst offseason of any team in modern history.

[c_hawkbob]

I've felt all along that what was happening, especially those 4th quarter collapses, were anomalies, not who we had become. They were departures from who we were (and still are) caused by a lack of focus and communications.

This game, what happened last night, is who we are. We're a very talented team with a young, inexperience O-line that has yet to completely "get it". And what we saw last night is what I expect to see going forward; Tight D backfield, ferocious front seven, awesome running game and a QB that can survive having to run for his life.

We're not as good as the 2013 team but very few teams ever were (or ever will be). But what we are may be enough to carry us, especially if as Coach Carroll says he expects to happen; the O-line gels around mid season. ... Or another team (there are other teams) may be able to exploit our weakness and send us home early, but I fully expect this team to still make the playoffs.

And a third straight trip to the Super Bowl is still an achievable goal.

[Hawk Sista]

It's all about finish. We finished last night and we need to finish moving forward - finish out games and the rest of this season.

I agree with mostly all that's been said so I'll just add this - yes, RW is responsible for some sacks. But if you are willing to say that, you are also responsible enough to acknowledge that he has slipped out of, ergo preventing many others.

[Hawktawk]

A good all around performance, best overall performance of the year by both units. 9ers had been on somewhat of an upswing the last few weeks and got stuffed at home in prime time.
I love the runs out of the I formation with the monster fullback leading.I think its also good for these linemen to get to play some smash mouth and be on the attack instead of on their heels.
The defense was stellar, shut down.

I keep going back and forth on Wilson's performances this season. The protection has been better at times and he has burned teams when that happens, like the incredible 43 yard TD bomb on a ball thrown 60 yards flat footed.
But when it breaks down it breaks down quickly and he really is amazingly elusive. I'm not sure many other guys could be even remotely effective in that situation. The two picks were his only glaring blemishes of the last couple of weeks IMO.The first pick was a great instinctive play by the defender. The second one I was swearing at the TV it was such a stupid uncharacteristic play by Wilson. I dunno maybe he was hearing the complaints of the "just throw it" crowd.

Overall very satisfying win. Bring on Dallas.

[obiken]

Sorry, it was a win that's all. As Steven A Smith said this morning its more about the Niners being so dysfunctional than us doing anything great. The 49ers are just a really bad FB team, period. We won, we were supposed win. We beat Dallas without Romo, go to the break; then we play the Cards, that's the season. We are far from being out of the woods.

[NorthHawk]

Winning out within the division is crucial now. I'm not sure we can catch the Cards if we lose more than 2 more games within the division.
The good thing is it's in our hands and coming up to week 8 we have a lot of time to get healthy for the home stretch.

[RiverDog]

There's a pretty interesting stat that seems to line up with where our successes and failures come from. Take a look at the current points per game rankings:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/ ... ntsPerGame

3 of our 4 losses have come against Cincinnati (4th), Green Bay (5th), and Carolina (6th). Our three wins have come against Detroit (T-26th), Chicago (T-26th), and San Francisco (32nd). The only anomaly within that stat is losing to St. Louis (31st).

Here's what we have facing us in our last 9 games: Arizona X2 (2nd), Pittsburgh (T-8th), at Baltimore (11th), Cleveland (12th), at Dallas (25th), at Minnesota (29th), St. Louis (31st) and San Francisco (32nd).

I'm not going to try to draw any conclusions as to what the future bears for us, but I do think that it's more than just a coincidence and is worth thinking about.

[NorthHawk]

The common factor in most if not all of our games is lack of production in the 2nd half (4th Quarter especially).
It's like the opposing Defenses make half time adjustments and we can't (or don't) counter it Offensively.

[Hawk Sista]

One could live and die in those stat lines.

Turn over ratio
Toxic differential
3rd down conversions
3rd down stops
# of rushing attempts
etc....

Every single loss we have had this year was avoidable. It is frustrating as hell that we could be 6 & 1 or 7 & 0 with just a handful of things bouncing or going differently. At the same time, we should realize that the Hawks are very close, theirs is a good and experienced & roster (over all), they can do this, and there is, indeed, hope.

Go Hawks

[THX-1138]

I have heard this game being referred to as a "get right" game. It was a must win, but I hesitate to say anything "got right" other than winning instead of losing.

The Niners can best be described as "feckless". They looked to me like they may have given up at least in the 3rd quarter and may have in the 1st half. A SF D line that hasn't been able to generate a pass rush all season sacked RW 5 times. That is a result of Frankenline.

Dallas, even with a backup QB, will be a better team to measure the Hawks by. And if they wish to make the playoffs I think they kind of need to run the table.

[burrrton]

And if they wish to make the playoffs I think they kind of need to run the table.

I think 11-5 will be needed, which means (in my humble analysis) we 'only' need to go 8-1.

Tall order, but if we continue to round into form, does anyone think that an impossible feat? I don't. Need to keep seeing improvement, though.

[Zorn76]

The one thing that's working in our favor, for the time being, is the rest of the conference records.
Right now, there's only 5 teams who are over .500, a pretty low number.

A look at the standings also shows that the Vikings stand at 3-2, and who would hold the 2nd WC spot if the season ended today.

Minnesota is no powerhouse, either. Lots of room for Seattle to get in that spot.

To win the division, I think we will have to sweep AZ. But for a WC, 10 wins will likely do it. That means 7-2 the rest of the way.

Tall order, all things considered.

But still possible.

9-7 likely doesn't cut it.

[c_hawkbob]

10 wins will get us in if we win the division.

That's the target, the Division, not a number.

[RiverDog]

10 wins will get us in if we win the division.

That's the target, the Division, not a number.

Good point.

[obiken]

Right we have to win the division, the WC is not going to come out of the NFC West with the Panthers and Falcons both being undefeated. I and a lot of others keep forgetting that we have lost to 3 undefeated teams.

[Zorn76]

Obi - That's why (at this point) I'm more focused on getting the 2nd WC spot, besides trying to win the division.

Long way to go, but there is some math to consider:

AZ 4-2 = 6-4 for them to get 10 wins. They are also good enough to finish 7-3 the rest of the way, too. Assuming they beat Baltimore Mon night in AZ (and I think that's a given), they will be 2 games up on us by the conclusion of week 7. That's partly why I believe we'll need to sweep them to defend our West crown.

We get a chance to play the Vikings (in Minn) a month or so from now. We also have to keep an eye on the East, to see how things shake out between Philly, NYG and Washington (though I don't think the Redskins will end up factoring in much). The Cowboys I don't think will end up being a factor, either.

[Futureite]

Good win guys. I do not want to discredit it by discussing how bad we are. That much is obvious.

[obiken]

Good win guys. I do not want to discredit it by discussing how bad we are. That much is obvious.

It was not a good win. It was a win over an ultra crappy team that is going to draft in the top 5. Sorry to help you out Future but that's the reality of the situation. It should have been at least 34-3. Its like our win over the Bears.

[Futureite]

Obiken, true. It coulda been a whitewash like the Cards put on us. We may have the worst O and D in the entire league. But if you think back, even in 2013 the Hawks struggled just to beat several crap teams, including Hou and Tampa. At the end of the yr that didn't mean a thing. A W is a W in my opinion.

[obiken]

Good point, they have never been able to relax like Pat fans!

[Vegaseahawk]

I agree with Bob, the division title is the goal. I remember seeing 11-5 teams miss the playoffs. Didn't it happen to the Cards recently?

[Hawktawk]

I agree with Bob, the division title is the goal. I remember seeing 11-5 teams miss the playoffs. Didn't it happen to the Cards recently?

As I recall the Cards were 10-6. I could be wrong. The 2008 Pats with Cassell at QB were 11-5 and stayed home. the 1986 Hawks won their last 5 to finish at 10-6 and missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins. Next to this current group of players that was the most loaded Hawks team ever with a legitimate shot at the Lombardi. They had beaten both SB participants in the regular season including bludgeoning the donkeys in the finale.Moral of the story is you gotta play in September and October to get to Nov and Dec with something left to play for.

With the Vikes continuing to win I really doubt 10-6 gets especially Seattle in as a WC since they are already behind the 8 ball on tiebreakers. 11-6 maybe. I agree the division is the surest and most attainable goal. All that being said this isn't last years NFL and I see any number of games left on the schedule that will be tough and crucial. Playoff chances are in serious condition. Another NFC loss to anyone and they are on life support, sorry.

[Futureite]

At this point, if I were a Hawks' fan, not sure what the division gives you. Unless the Cards win it, it's unlikely that the NFC West winner finishes higher than 3 seed. Even the Cards are behind the 8 ball to get a 1 or 2 seed with Carolina and GB both sitting undefeated. Hawks have lost to both, so they are essentially 4 games back from them. If I had to wager, I'd say the Pack get the #1 seed, win their first Div game, and will host the NFCCG regardless.

So you add that up, and a Hawks' div title essentially gives them 1 home WC playoff game. And bragging rights, of course. A lot can change between now and then of course (for example, ATL could win the South and Hawks could beat them to leapfrog over somehow to a 2 seed), but this is the most likely outcome in the case of a Hawks' NFC West title. Either way, with that D Hawks are capable of winning on the road as a 3 or 5/6 seed and going back to the SB . Especially if the run game gets rolling again like it did Thursday Night.

[RiverDog]

At this point, if I were a Hawks' fan, not sure what the division gives you. Unless the Cards win it, it's unlikely that the NFC West winner finishes higher than 3 seed. Even the Cards are behind the 8 ball to get a 1 or 2 seed with Carolina and GB both sitting undefeated. Hawks have lost to both, so they are essentially 4 games back from them. If I had to wager, I'd say the Pack get the #1 seed, win their first Div game, and will host the NFCCG regardless.

So you add that up, and a Hawks' div title essentially gives them 1 home WC playoff game. And bragging rights, of course. A lot can change between now and then of course (for example, ATL could win the South and Hawks could beat them to leapfrog over somehow to a 2 seed), but this is the most likely outcome in the case of a Hawks' NFC West title. Either way, with that D Hawks are capable of winning on the road as a 3 or 5/6 seed and going back to the SB . Especially if the run game gets rolling again like it did Thursday Night.

The point is getting into the playoffs, and every team in the league's first goal is winning the division. The easiest way to get into the playoffs is to win your division. There's only three teams you have to beat and you play all of them twice. A wild card, especially this season where we've already lost to two potential division runner ups, is always more problematic.

[obiken]

We have to win the Division to get there.

[Futureite]

River;

Good points. I agree. Should be a good matchup Cards V Hawks in a couple of weeks.

[Zorn76]

Been a rough week + for SF since their loss to Seahawks.

Locker room is void of leadership - has been this entire season, really - and while I like Tomsula as a person, he's in way over his head at this point.

If Sunday goes badly for them in St. Louis - and there's every chance that it will - I think the wheels come completely off. Even if Hyde were playing, the Rams defense would still smother them.

St Louis - 27-6.

[RiverDog]

The San Fran story is about leadership and ownership. When you have a strong coach, like Harbaugh, you find ways to work with him, you don't destroy him.

This may become a classic story along with that of Al Davis's descent in to craziness. Arrogant folks ignoring the wisdom of football people, discarding people who could help them, and making decisions

We are very fortunate to have wealthy, savvy owner who knows when to back off and when to make a statement. He has hired good people and allowed them to do their jobs. Not everything has been perfect. but this team is coming together in good form.

Good summation, ObS. The only current ownership/management situation I can think of that's worse than the Niners is the Redskins and Dan Snyder.

[Futureite]

Been a rough week + for SF since their loss to Seahawks.

Locker room is void of leadership - has been this entire season, really - and while I like Tomsula as a person, he's in way over his head at this point.

If Sunday goes badly for them in St. Louis - and there's every chance that it will - I think the wheels come completely off. Even if Hyde were playing, the Rams defense would still smother them.

St Louis - 27-6.

I kinda hope wheels do come off. At least then a big change may be in the works. Even the Bidwells eventually caved under heavy pressure. Correctly functioning wheels only get us 6 wins max LOL, and that does nothing for our team.