First Half
- The early Red Zone failure is disheartening to say the least.
- WOWWOWOWOWOWOWOW. J.T. Just made 2 of the best throws I've seen back-to-back, and Vernon Davis actually held on to a ball!!! Jason Hill also FTW
- OK, that was a safety in any game, any time. What a crock of shit that call was. And, of course, the missed call leads to a TD. Mike Martz-esque timeout management means it couldn't be challenged.
- Overall, the defense really looked quite turrible. Some bright spots, but yikes. A lot of big passes given up, no pressure put on Orton. Made him look like Joe Montana circa 1988.
- Offense looked pretty good- O'Sullivan made some beautiful throws, Gore ran the ball very well, and VD actually held on to a tough pass.
- Me, the huge AS homer, is admitting he's not getting it done. He took wayyy too long to get rid of the ball a couple times, and missed WIDE OPEN targets also. That said, he got 'em in the end zone in the RZ, which had been a struggle.
Second Half
However, as I sit here after a nice victory, with extremely low expectations for this season, I find more and more reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming campaign. There are no excuses necessary (apart from the terrible Special Teams play, and the at times ridiculous defensive breakdowns...). They've actually looked....good. For two straight weeks!
Here's some things that really jump out at me :
30 + points(!) in back-to-back games
425(!!!!!!) yards of total offense (combine weeks 4 & 5 last season and you don't reach that)
Jason Hill with nearly 100 yards and a TD
Dominique Ziegler had 6 catches for 61 yds & a TD. Innnteresting. Lelie who?
No turnovers by the offense
Only 1 sack given up
Notice how none of those things are defensively related? That's because the defense didn't play very well, but they still played better than the Bears' D. I think it may be a symptom of a very short week; this game was all about offense for both teams.
Quick note on the QBs: I'm now officially retracting my hatred of JT. Sure, he's going to make infuriating decisions at times, but he made 2 throws that I've never seen Smith make before, and he can get stuff done on offense. I realize this total flip-flop makes me sound like your typical NFL fan, but I wasn't sure he was good enough, and he showed me otherwise (so far, anyways).
I think Smith may have a chance to regain the starting job later on, partly because the 9ers have to know if he's capable of haunting them after his release, partly because he needs more time in this offense, and partly because I'm not convinced he's fully healed from his injury. I've seen him underthrow very easy passes the last couple weeks- this is the guy who overthrew Battle 50 yards downfield in the rain in Seattle flat-footed. Let's hope his arm isn't Penningtoned.
- Alex Smith- kind of a conundrum... He throws horribly inaccurate passes often, but has been moving the team, scoring points, and not turning the ball over. Hard to read the guy, maybe his shoulder isn't quite 100% yet?
- Thomas Clayton is a man! He's 40!! To this point, 9 car/ 62 yds and a GREAT TD run (finished with 18/81). His long is only 15 yds, so he's getting nice sustained long runs.
- Some other stuff happened that I don't remember. Shaun Hill should be given more of a shot, given his past success, but whatever. Also, that Hail Mary at the end really pissed me off for some reason.
However, as I sit here after a nice victory, with extremely low expectations for this season, I find more and more reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming campaign. There are no excuses necessary (apart from the terrible Special Teams play, and the at times ridiculous defensive breakdowns...). They've actually looked....good. For two straight weeks!
Here's some things that really jump out at me :
30 + points(!) in back-to-back games
425(!!!!!!) yards of total offense (combine weeks 4 & 5 last season and you don't reach that)
Jason Hill with nearly 100 yards and a TD
Dominique Ziegler had 6 catches for 61 yds & a TD. Innnteresting. Lelie who?
No turnovers by the offense
Only 1 sack given up
Notice how none of those things are defensively related? That's because the defense didn't play very well, but they still played better than the Bears' D. I think it may be a symptom of a very short week; this game was all about offense for both teams.
Quick note on the QBs: I'm now officially retracting my hatred of JT. Sure, he's going to make infuriating decisions at times, but he made 2 throws that I've never seen Smith make before, and he can get stuff done on offense. I realize this total flip-flop makes me sound like your typical NFL fan, but I wasn't sure he was good enough, and he showed me otherwise (so far, anyways).
I think Smith may have a chance to regain the starting job later on, partly because the 9ers have to know if he's capable of haunting them after his release, partly because he needs more time in this offense, and partly because I'm not convinced he's fully healed from his injury. I've seen him underthrow very easy passes the last couple weeks- this is the guy who overthrew Battle 50 yards downfield in the rain in Seattle flat-footed. Let's hope his arm isn't Penningtoned.
