Offline
1st off, credit to Kyle Shanahan and the San Fran offense. They had a helluva game plan and executed it well. That being said, I'm going to gnash my teeth and rage for a second: Their 1st 2 TD's were a direct result of uncalled OFFENSIVE PASS INTERFERENCE!!! Bourne clearly pushed off on Lattimore in the endzone on the 1st TD and it was blatantly obvious that Sanders pulling on M. Williams' jersey caused him to fall down on the long TD catch and run. Yes, Bell should have tackled him instead of trying to strip the ball, but it really sucks when we never get these calls but always get them called against us. That said, I thought the officiating was extremely fair (outside of the aweful holding no-call on the fake punt)
On to our own team's assesment. I'm only going to highlight what stuck out.
Offense:
GIVE MURRAY THE DAMN BALL!!! It's criminal that Murray is not getting 15-20 touches a game. He's clearly the better back right now and yet CSP insists on force feeding Kamara when he is clearly not 100 and defenses are keying on him.
Jared Cook: 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. Just when he was getting going earlier in the season, he got hurt. And again, the last game and a quarter he was getting in sync with Drew, and out again. Just Sucks. But he will help this offense get to the next level if he stays healthy.
Kamara: Not so sure all of the moaning and groaning over his mental wellness is warranted. He looks OK. Not special, but OK. I think he just needs to get healthy and we need to use Murray more so that when they are both in the game, defenses can't completely focus on him. I think CSP is doing him a disservice with the force feeding right now.
CantGuardMike: As a receiver, the dude is a Straight-Up G!! As a blocker, the dude is seriously lacking. There were multiple plays that went for negligible gains and negative yardage as a direct result of his poor blocking. I know many will not give this a second thought, or won't find this upsetting, but as physical as he is he should be better.
Defense:
Bad Apple??: He was being absolutely victimized in the first quarter and a half. Not sure if it was tentative play or poor scheming/coaching. I do think he is a bit gunshy from the number of ticky tack calls that have gone against him of late. But I also think there was hesitancy and lack of confidence across the board on defense. Though it seemed like he tightened up in the second half, I think it was more play designs that no longer targeted him. (more on that later)
Marcus Davenport: MOTHER *&%*%*!!!! Man that's a big loss. He was beasting in this game. Though it didn't show up, directly, in the stat sheet, he caused Jimmy G to step up directly into DD for the 1st sack. He absolutely rag dolled the RG and blew up the screen pass to Kittle. His loss will hurt. Hopefully it's not insurmountable.
WE MISSED KLEIN AND KIKO DEARLY!!! I believe many on here are underestimating the effect that having 2 of our starting LB's out had on this game. I think a big part of why they stopped targeting Apple was because they saw even better mis-matches against our LB's. I love Craig Robertson as much as the next guy, but he is clearly not Starter material. He looked lost out there constantly and completely whiffed on the Mohstert TD run. Then there's Stephone Anthony..... Well, there's a reason we let him go. His lack of understanding on assignment directly led to the Kittle Score and he didn't do much else very well. Even DD had a piss poor game and I credit it to him thinking too much about covering for those around him rather than focusing on his assignments.
Shy Tuttle: If this guy keeps playing at the same level, or improves, he will make re-signing Rankins either really cheap, or irrelevant. He is a monster inside and keeps showing up BIG!!
Overall, I think our defense fell victim to a really good offensive gameplan executed very well. Wrong Coach at the wrong time for our D. Even Cam Jordan looked lost and appeared to be 2nd guessing himself at times. I think we are getting the perfect team at the perfect time to remedy this situation on Monday night. Indy is down to the bottom of the barrel at the receiver position and Mack has been iffy at best. They are a formidable opponent to be sure, and if we are caught slipping, it will be an embarrassing loss. But if our D gets a little bit healthier (LB's) and DA doesn't play scared, I think this could be a confidence building game to rectify our past wrongs of late.
WHODAT!?!?!
On to our own team's assesment. I'm only going to highlight what stuck out.
Offense:
GIVE MURRAY THE DAMN BALL!!! It's criminal that Murray is not getting 15-20 touches a game. He's clearly the better back right now and yet CSP insists on force feeding Kamara when he is clearly not 100 and defenses are keying on him.
Jared Cook: 2 steps forward, 3 steps back. Just when he was getting going earlier in the season, he got hurt. And again, the last game and a quarter he was getting in sync with Drew, and out again. Just Sucks. But he will help this offense get to the next level if he stays healthy.
Kamara: Not so sure all of the moaning and groaning over his mental wellness is warranted. He looks OK. Not special, but OK. I think he just needs to get healthy and we need to use Murray more so that when they are both in the game, defenses can't completely focus on him. I think CSP is doing him a disservice with the force feeding right now.
CantGuardMike: As a receiver, the dude is a Straight-Up G!! As a blocker, the dude is seriously lacking. There were multiple plays that went for negligible gains and negative yardage as a direct result of his poor blocking. I know many will not give this a second thought, or won't find this upsetting, but as physical as he is he should be better.
Defense:
Bad Apple??: He was being absolutely victimized in the first quarter and a half. Not sure if it was tentative play or poor scheming/coaching. I do think he is a bit gunshy from the number of ticky tack calls that have gone against him of late. But I also think there was hesitancy and lack of confidence across the board on defense. Though it seemed like he tightened up in the second half, I think it was more play designs that no longer targeted him. (more on that later)
Marcus Davenport: MOTHER *&%*%*!!!! Man that's a big loss. He was beasting in this game. Though it didn't show up, directly, in the stat sheet, he caused Jimmy G to step up directly into DD for the 1st sack. He absolutely rag dolled the RG and blew up the screen pass to Kittle. His loss will hurt. Hopefully it's not insurmountable.
WE MISSED KLEIN AND KIKO DEARLY!!! I believe many on here are underestimating the effect that having 2 of our starting LB's out had on this game. I think a big part of why they stopped targeting Apple was because they saw even better mis-matches against our LB's. I love Craig Robertson as much as the next guy, but he is clearly not Starter material. He looked lost out there constantly and completely whiffed on the Mohstert TD run. Then there's Stephone Anthony..... Well, there's a reason we let him go. His lack of understanding on assignment directly led to the Kittle Score and he didn't do much else very well. Even DD had a piss poor game and I credit it to him thinking too much about covering for those around him rather than focusing on his assignments.
Shy Tuttle: If this guy keeps playing at the same level, or improves, he will make re-signing Rankins either really cheap, or irrelevant. He is a monster inside and keeps showing up BIG!!
Overall, I think our defense fell victim to a really good offensive gameplan executed very well. Wrong Coach at the wrong time for our D. Even Cam Jordan looked lost and appeared to be 2nd guessing himself at times. I think we are getting the perfect team at the perfect time to remedy this situation on Monday night. Indy is down to the bottom of the barrel at the receiver position and Mack has been iffy at best. They are a formidable opponent to be sure, and if we are caught slipping, it will be an embarrassing loss. But if our D gets a little bit healthier (LB's) and DA doesn't play scared, I think this could be a confidence building game to rectify our past wrongs of late.
WHODAT!?!?!
