Monday, December 3, 2012

There Were Plenty of Goats


The 49ers loss yesterday featured plenty of goats.  Here is my list along with my reasoning.

Greg Roman - I have been a believer in Roman, in part because I believe that players make the plays, not the coaches.  That being said, there were a couple of decisions that he made yesterday which left me scratching my head.  Leading 10-2 with under 4 minutes remaining and facing 3rd & 3 at his own 17 yard line he calls for a triple read option.  To compound matters, the pitch man is Ted Ginn.  By now we all know the outcome of the play, but what is he thinking here.  Sure the play may look good, but the risk/reward is way to high in this situation.  This is exactly the type of call that you would not expect from this staff, and it played a huge part in eventually losing the game.

The second issue is the play calling following the shanked Rams punt which gave the 49ers the ball on the 50 yard line.  Run, run pass, run, run, pass.  And to make it worse the call on 3rd down had almost no chance from the start.  By rolling out the quarterback the field has been cut in half and the Rams shut it down.  To play for a field goal when your kicker is struggling as much as Akers is a head scratcher, and something that Roman and his offensive staff need to really inspect as they move forward.

Colin Kaepernick - Unlike many, I though Kaepernick played a decent game yesterday.  He accounted for 275 of the 339 total yards for the 49ers yesterday.  But for all of the good things he did, his poor pitch on the option call mentioned allowed the Rams to tie a game that they shouldn't have.  This cannot be overlooked.

David Akers - Akers again missed a kick that would have defeated the Rams in overtime.  He is now 2-2.  On the season Akers has hit on only 7-15 field goals from 40+ yards, and has gone 0-5 from 50+ since hitting a 63 yarder in the season opener.  On the flip side, the Rams got 2 field goals of 50+ yards from their rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein.  The first from 53 yards to tie, and then from 54 yards to win.

Delanie Walker - Walker leads the 49ers in drops, and that came back to bite the team yesterday.  On the play following Kaepernick's 50 yard scramble to put the 49ers in scoring position Walker dropped a pass that was put right into his hands.  To make matters worse,  he followed the drop by committing a holding penalty on the next snap to put the 49ers in a poor down and distance situation.

Offensive Line - For the second time this season the Rams defensive front dominated the 49ers offensive line.  They gave up 3 sacks and 5 quarterback hits on the day, and had a tough time opening up holes for the run game.  The Rams front is young, and only getting better.  This matchup will be one to watch for a long time to come.

Dashon Goldson - His 15 yard personal foul for unnecessary roughness at the end of a Sam Bradford scramble gave the Rams the ball on the SF 40 yard line, in field goal position for Zuerlein.




3 comments:

  1. No mention of Colin's poor decision to roll into the endzone? What happened to all of that special speed Kaepernick was supposed to have, he couldn't out run the defensive tackles yesterday.

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  2. Or no mention of Colin staying inbounds giving the Rams nearly a minute of game time and an extra timeout. Even Rams coach was all over that one.

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  3. I did not mention the safety because it was a missed call by the referee's. The staying inbounds should be added.

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