Does Trent Dilfer JR - raise hope for McCoy?

[Flugel]

I watched that game yesterday where SF's defense and special teams caused 5 turnovers and even more loose balls New Orleans had to recover for losses. In between all the jarring hits, a commentator managed to sneak in the news that Alex Smith's first 6 Offensive Coordinators were fired. Evidently, it just so happens the same Jim Harbaugh that once needed to resurrect his own career under Lindy in Indy, has been the only one that knew how to apply career saving CPR.

Dating back to an old debate with a friend, he liked to tell me McCoy doesn't deserve a 2nd chance but Alex Smith deserved the same 9 lives his kitty has. I've already pulled out all the old stats and passer ratings showing the guy was not better than McCoy in spite of Alex being the first overall choice in the same draft Aaron Rodgers went 23 slots later. That same friend was the ONLY pre-draft Aaron Rodgers fan from an old message board I was on. Everyone thought the guy was crazy and I appreciated him even more for it. Therefore, I DID manage to praise him for going against the current and noticing Rodgers led a lesser talented Cal team over a vastly superior USC team. That showed something. The guy loved QBs so he told me every little thing he admired right down to how often he thought the kid power glued hotties.

Anyway, I couldn't help but thinking I was seeing the second coming of Trent Dilfer finding his play making TE Shannon Sharpe every time the shit threatened to hit the fan yesterday. Make no mistake, Vernon Davis runs 4.3s and there wasn't one DB that could stay with him or catch him. I didn't really see a ton of WR involvement from SF much like Dilfer's old Ravens team. It REALLY is amazing when your defense can get your offense 5 turnovers. I call this a nice margin of error to work with. Is there a better game day surprise than "hey, how would you like 4 downs from the opponent's 3 yard line?" Was the difference in the game the fumble at SF's 1 yard line or the turnover giving SF the ball at the Saints' 3 yard line or a sum of 5 turnovers to 0?

Somebody will look at the score and say - "if one thinks 36-32 is a defense winning a post season game, then God bless ya!" I say not so fast. The better DEFENSE made the higher rated offense less scoreboard efficient. Yes, the Saints had way more yardage. However, the SF 49ers were sticking people with jarring hits that pried footballs loose WAY more frequently. The first Trent Dilfer and the 2nd Trent Dilfer show us DEFENSE may still win Championships over MVP QBs. History has shown me MVP QBs rarely ever win Championships.

Alex Smith had the best game I've ever seen him play. Then again, didn't Colt McCoy beat the Saints on a day our defense was making their high powered offense turn the football over? I've got David Bowens scoring 2 TDs and 1 Scott Fujita INT reminding me it happened. You give a QB a margin of error like that and see how possible winning becomes? We've seen it regardless of how infrequently it has occurred. And don't forget Seattle's backup QB David Whitehurst outscored the Saints the same time last year.

Who woulda thunk Alex Smith might be the BEST reminder of what can take place with a DEFENSE that provides margin of error for a QB looking for confidence and career CPR? The guy was even bringing back memories of Steve Young scrambling for TDs in spite of any passer purist that says "passers pass they don't wear track shoes Tom." Okay, we'll compromise thoughts and say football players see to it TDs are scored. Alex Smith took 7 years on a first overall salary to show us how long it can take to portray a good football player. I'm not sure 1 game against a piss poor defense proves he's a driver instead of a game manager; but I CAN see I see him as a football player I wasn't willing to see. Today, he can beat the same team Whitehurst and McCoy did.

A better glance inside SF's winning ingredients show me 2 OTs drafted in round 1, an OG in round 1 from Idaho, a first round TE running 4.3s, 2 first WRs in Ginn Jr and Crabtree. They had a third 1st round WR in Braylon before they discovered where he prioritized football. And of course Gore was a 2nd round pick like Thurman Thomas was with the exact same skill set and agenda to prove everyone wrong. SF has slowly but surely made the environment right for a QB struggling with confidence and production. If Dallas didn't have a Herschel Walker trade speeding things up - would that have taken about 5 years for Troy Aikman instead of 3?

Well, where's our Gronkowski, Davis or Graham? I know when Ben Watson was healthy in 2010 he had one of his best years and it reminded us he USED to run 4.3s too. When he's out - we we're looking to USC's backup TE Jordan Cameron. We STILL need a game-changing WR to get someone like Greg Little better matchups and pry 1 or 2 Safeties out of the box. In doing so, we're not running slant after slant after slant into such heavy traffic. All year, I've watched guys like Calvin Johnson, AJ Green and Jimmy Graham catching rainbows and alley oooops. We don't perk our QBs with that advantage here. It's hard to tell how good the point guard is if you give him Danny Ferry in traffic instead of Charles Barkley. I still remember Drew Brees before Antonio Gates and Keenan McCardell. 100% of SoCal was concluding after his 3rd season: "we know a backup when we see one." Apparently, they didn't have the first clue.

The thing playoffs show me is the teams with the most play makers are scoring the most points. In the case of the first game yesterday, that INCLUDES defensive play makers. That mattered more than the better QB if we all saw the same game.

[next2nothing]

Great post as always Flugel.

My buddy and I were actually talking about this same sort of thing during the game. We both made a couple of comments about how crazy it was that SF had caused so many turnovers yet the deciding difference was less then a TD. Any other team and the game probably looks more like New England and Denver did last night. Not to totally knock on Smith because he did play very well but the only deep throws he had were to Vernon Davis. Speaking of New England, where did a majority of Brady's throws go to? Hernandez and Gronkowski.

I like that you mentioned the supporting cast of WR's. Ginn, a guy with pure speed and Crabtree, a big, physical WR. The DC cannot leave these guys uncovered. You think that helped allow Smith to hit Davis in stride on that middle of the field route with under a minute left to put them in position to win the game? You bet your ass it did. Davis is a monster TE who can outrun most DB's in the league but I wonder if he has a game like he had yesterday without the guys on the outside soaking up coverages.

Alex Smith had a great game and this is not a knock on him but that game yesterday only showed that you don't always need the gunslinging, MVP QB to win in the tournament. It was also a great example of what happens when you surround an average to good QB with talent. Like you said Flugs, hard to lose a game when you're given the ball inside the opponents 10 yard line 4 times.

People like to say that "a great QB makes the talent around him better". I disagree, I think that aside from 4 or 5 guys in the league, the talent makes the QB better. That's why I think if we can't get Luck then we need to grab playmakers on offense.

One last thing... even though they lost, you gotta give Kudos to New Orleans defense. Time and again they were put in awful situations yesterday but were able to keep New Orleans in the game down to the final minute. People will say they sucked yesterday but those people either weren't watching, were disgruntled NO fans or were SF fans because I saw a tough, hardnosed defense just get worn down by being on the field a majority of the game. Does that ring any bells? Not to say we are comparable to the Saints, we aren't, but when your offense can't get drives going and can't stay on the field you'll see your defense suffer greatly from that.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

The main thing that game made me pine for is a good coach. The San Fran team of today doesn't resemble last years team, and for one reason ...the guy who is coaching them up.

To answer the OP ...no it doesn't give me hope for McCoy. Hiring a great coach who would push him might, but that's not going to happen so it is what it is sadly.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by TheBestPlayersPlay

The main thing that game made me pine for is a good coach. The San Fran team of today doesn't resemble last years team, and for one reason ...the guy who is coaching them up.

To answer the OP ...no it doesn't give me hope for McCoy. Hiring a great coach who would push him might, but that's not going to happen so it is what it is sadly.

That's a good point TBPP! After Crabtree dropped his 3rd pass yesterday, the game plan evolved/adapted to who was ready to provide the big plays. Vernon Davis. We just kept square pegging a round hole with Greg Little to a league leading volume of dropped passes.

When teams have enough talent like say Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, they can score by accident. This was displayed by Nicks taking a short route adjustment to pay dirt when the OTHER WR was commanding such attention that he cleared out defensive humanity every where last week.

Originally Posted by next2nothing

My buddy and I were actually talking about this same sort of thing during the game. We both made a couple of comments about how crazy it was that SF had caused so many turnovers yet the deciding difference was less then a TD. Any other team and the game probably looks more like New England and Denver did last night.

Hard to say it any better than that! Thanks.

[Sez.EJ]

San Fran is just stacked with high draft picks all over the offense and defense after years of losing. It's finally coming together for them. That defense is just amazing. I am guessing Singletary could have them right where they are now too. I think that his over the top antics got him canned. I would have liked to see him succeed. Kudos to Harbough for a good job this year. Run first offense Great D and a QB who can manage the game.. can win consistently. Baltimore is another example of that.. It would make a nice superbowl matchup. Smashmouth may making a comeback back.

[King of Kings]

I took away two things from the S.F. game.

1: No question about it, this is a passing league now and you're not going anywhere unless you have an elite, top 5 QB with glistening biceps. The days of defense winning championships is over. The Ravens game today reiterated as much.

2: Thank you Homgren for blowing Harbaugh off because he wasn't one of your drinking buddies. There's zero doubt now that if he can go NFC Championships with that roster? He could have went 9-7/10-6 or better with our schedule this year and started his Cleveland career on a high note, a high note that was last provided to Bud Carson several decades ago.

[Tobalaz]

I was amazed how much defenses mattered deciding the NFC championship game.
For two games if you just looked at the box scores, you would have thought them to be offensive shootouts but it's pretty far from the truth.
Most of the points scored weren't from crumbling defenses and long drives, they were direct result of excellent field position due to defensive turnovers.
Amazing, just amazing.
I'm seeing the NFC win it all this season because the defenses are so lethal and the offenses are pretty good capitalizing on short field position.

[Sez.EJ]

I was so impressed how San Frans D continually managed to put pressure.. just rushing 3 guys in the 4th quarter. It was pretty amazing.

[Legacy Fan]

Originally Posted by Flugel

When teams have enough talent like say Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, they can score by accident. This was displayed by Nicks taking a short route adjustment to pay dirt when the OTHER WR was commanding such attention that he cleared out defensive humanity every where last week.

They also have Mario Manningham who would be our #1 on our team if he played the entire season with his helmet on backwards.


But most importantly, as TBPP alluded to, they have Tom Coughlin, who gets shit for respect, but the guy runs his team the right way. And produces results. Rex Ryan talked about being 'nobodies little brother' or whatever, well guess what, Rex ? Coughlin is your daddy. Always will be.

I don't want to turn this into a Mangini thread, but fuck me.

[next2nothing]

Originally Posted by Sez.EJ

I was so impressed how San Frans D continually managed to put pressure.. just rushing 3 guys in the 4th quarter. It was pretty amazing.

Justin Smith played out of his mind this past Saturday.


And not to derail the thread but I hate Rex Ryan with a passion. Dude is overrated as fuck.

[YtownBacker]

a few things in general I took from this weekends games.

1. To be productive on offense the offensive line has to provide the QB with time to throw, get threw his progressions and let the receivers time to run their routes. Most of these premier receivers (TEs included) didn't get immediate separation, they had to earn it. But, just amazing how much time some of these QBs have in the pocket. Given enough time someone will come open.

2. Pass rush is still the number one way to stop or at least slow down offenses. Making a QB throw to his first read or have to move and get uncomfortable in the pocket is much better then relaying on lock down corners to get the job done. Given enough time a good NFL QB will find someone open. So, the way to stop a good QB is to put continual pressure on him. Brees, Ben, Rogers can all be taken out of their game if you get enough pressure on them. You win games by getting pressure on QB and causing turnovers.

3. You don't have to be a elite receiver to be an impact player on offense. TEs can be impact players. RBs make the best checkdown players in the pass game. I saw QBs beating the blitz and cover two with the MLB dropping deep into the middle of the zone by using their RBs effectively as checkdown guys. Also, you don't have to have burners to spread the field. Big receivers and big TEs create mismatches and can also spread the field.

4. You got to limit big plays on special teams. As close as most of the games were, the outcomes can very well be altered by just a few special teams plays. Your defense can play lights out all day but if you give up field position or a big return that's like punching them in the face. Same goes for executing field goals and changing field position with a punt and not allowing a return. Also executing kickoffs so a team has a long field. We know how many games that cost us this year.

Summary: I saw offensive game plans affected by pass rushers more then corners affected the offense. I saw many more TEs affect games this weekend then I saw RBs affect games. All the teams played good special teams, maybe a overlooked strength that helped get them there. I saw players executing basic plays, from basic formations with good technique, not a bunch of razzle dazzle, spread offense, wildcat or trick plays. There are only so many plays that NFL teams run out of a limited number of formations. It's more about execution then play calling.

Tebow, zone reads and running QBs are a fad and will go the way of the wildcat.