Grousing About 'Rats and Writers

[Bretsky]

Re: Grousing About 'Rats and Writers

Just two Monday morning grumblings.

First, in the thread on the loss of Al Harris, a couple of posters implied that Thompson has failed to stock the roster well enough with corners, and now the team is screwed. They point to the drafting of Pat Lee and the playing of Bush as examples in support.

First, there's no way to tell how Lee would be playing had he not been put on IR. Maybe he'd be the dime back - it's impossible to say, really. Secondly, the team has lost Lee and Blackmon, so instead of having a 6th round rook out there, it might have been one or the other. Harris is not the first corner to go down; he's the third.

It's as if people are blaming Thompson for not having pro-bowlers on the fourth string. Tramon Williams - the nickel now stepping in - is a high quality replacement for Harris. How many teams would have a nickel back as good as Williams to step in?

My other issue has to do with Mike Vandermause's column, which severely tramples cause-and-effect with this passage:

"One play after Kampman was carted to the locker room in the third quarter, the 49ers scored their first touchdown. Two plays after Harris went down in a heap early in the fourth quarter, the 49ers scored their second touchdown. On the next series, the 49ers scored another touchdown to turn what had been a 30-10 rout into a nail-biter.

It was no coincidence the wheels came off the defensive wagon once Kampman and Harris departed."

WTF? Uh, Mike - that play right after Kampman was carted off, the one you cite as an example of how "the wheels came off"? - you know, the touchdown? Uh, who was covering Crabtree on that route? Oh - Al Harris - the guy whose absence you cite as reason the Packers fell apart, along with Kampman's absence. What sloppy writing.

If Vandermause had broken the play down and showed that the Niners picked specifically on Kampman's replacement for a t.d., you could say his absence caused a touchdown. Sure. But could you say much more than that without a deep analysis of how the Niners took advantage over the course of the rest of the game? No.

What an easy, sloppy article - no real thought, no analysis, just some vague and general claims that abuse any real notion of cause and effect.

There. I feel better now.

This is a rough group in here Fritz; gotta take the good with the bad. One thing about da rats is you'll get many many different viewpoints and you can balance your own with others and decide where you are.

With that being said........BUSH SUCKS........Why is he on our team again ?

Dude can't even recover a dam fumble in the most important game since we were in the Super Bowl

Yes, I'm still bitter

I'd have frickin loved to see Mike the Freak McKenzie back in Green Bay; hopefully the Bell dude I've never heard of will be 2x as good

[Scott Campbell]

Re: Grousing About 'Rats and Writers

Just two Monday morning grumblings.

First, in the thread on the loss of Al Harris, a couple of posters implied that Thompson has failed to stock the roster well enough with corners, and now the team is screwed. They point to the drafting of Pat Lee and the playing of Bush as examples in support.

First, there's no way to tell how Lee would be playing had he not been put on IR. Maybe he'd be the dime back - it's impossible to say, really. Secondly, the team has lost Lee and Blackmon, so instead of having a 6th round rook out there, it might have been one or the other. Harris is not the first corner to go down; he's the third.

It's as if people are blaming Thompson for not having pro-bowlers on the fourth string. Tramon Williams - the nickel now stepping in - is a high quality replacement for Harris. How many teams would have a nickel back as good as Williams to step in?

My other issue has to do with Mike Vandermause's column, which severely tramples cause-and-effect with this passage:

"One play after Kampman was carted to the locker room in the third quarter, the 49ers scored their first touchdown. Two plays after Harris went down in a heap early in the fourth quarter, the 49ers scored their second touchdown. On the next series, the 49ers scored another touchdown to turn what had been a 30-10 rout into a nail-biter.

It was no coincidence the wheels came off the defensive wagon once Kampman and Harris departed."

WTF? Uh, Mike - that play right after Kampman was carted off, the one you cite as an example of how "the wheels came off"? - you know, the touchdown? Uh, who was covering Crabtree on that route? Oh - Al Harris - the guy whose absence you cite as reason the Packers fell apart, along with Kampman's absence. What sloppy writing.

If Vandermause had broken the play down and showed that the Niners picked specifically on Kampman's replacement for a t.d., you could say his absence caused a touchdown. Sure. But could you say much more than that without a deep analysis of how the Niners took advantage over the course of the rest of the game? No.

What an easy, sloppy article - no real thought, no analysis, just some vague and general claims that abuse any real notion of cause and effect.

There. I feel better now.

This is a rough group in here Fritz; gotta take the good with the bad. One thing about da rats is you'll get many many different viewpoints and you can balance your own with others and decide where you are.

With that being said........BUSH SUCKS........Why is he on our team again ?

Dude can't even recover a dam fumble in the most important game since we were in the Super Bowl

Yes, I'm still bitter

I'd have frickin loved to see Mike the Freak McKenzie back in Green Bay; hopefully the Bell dude I've never heard of will be 2x as good

McKenzie torched that bridge on the way out of town. Though unlike another high profile defection, he didn't continue running his mouth after it was all over.

[Bretsky]

I think it was Shermy who pissed MM off so TT might have liked him

[bobblehead]

I think it was Shermy who pissed MM off so TT might have liked him

I think TT is a pragmatist so he would resign BF tomorrow if he was available and it was the best move for the team. People who bitch about TT's ego are right to an extent, he has such a big ego he doesn't take any of it personally and goes about building the team the best way he knows....hopefully that way is good enough.

[Fritz]

Mike Mckenzie was slow but got by on guile when he left here, and I'm not sure any more loss of speed since then has been compensated for by increased guile.

Yes, lots of opinions, Bretsky, and that's fine, but I find it unreasonable to bitterly complain that TT doesn't have All-Pro backups just waiting in the wings at not the nickel spot, but the dime spot.

How many teams have lost two corners (Lee and Blackmon) and still have a more-than-serviceable corner playing the dime package? I'd wager that 90% of the teams out there, and maybe more, have dime backs who are roughly on a par with Bush, at least if their first dime back choices were hurt, like Green Bay's have been.

[Bretsky]

Mike Mckenzie was slow but got by on guile when he left here, and I'm not sure any more loss of speed since then has been compensated for by increased guile.

Yes, lots of opinions, Bretsky, and that's fine, but I find it unreasonable to bitterly complain that TT doesn't have All-Pro backups just waiting in the wings at not the nickel spot, but the dime spot.

How many teams have lost two corners (Lee and Blackmon) and still have a more-than-serviceable corner playing the dime package? I'd wager that 90% of the teams out there, and maybe more, have dime backs who are roughly on a par with Bush, at least if their first dime back choices were hurt, like Green Bay's have been.

Nobody said all pro backups that I recall
I'm not sure Lee ever cracked the depth chart; I could be wrong but I though he was inactive...aka..>Fergy...much in his rookie year. I'm not sure we miss him at all. We miss Blackmond on specials a lot. He never seemed much of a CB. Now Al Harris; we can't replace him with most starters....definitely not a backup.

[sharpe1027]

Re: Grousing About 'Rats and Writers

This is a rough group in here Fritz; gotta take the good with the bad. One thing about da rats is you'll get many many different viewpoints and you can balance your own with others and decide where you are.

With that being said........BUSH SUCKS........Why is he on our team again ?

Dude can't even recover a dam fumble in the most important game since we were in the Super Bowl

Yes, I'm still bitter

I'd have frickin loved to see Mike the Freak McKenzie back in Green Bay; hopefully the Bell dude I've never heard of will be 2x as good

You know, sometimes a player's label sticks with him for his entire career. Take Ahman Green, had some fumbling troubles early and made big headlines when he got benched for it. Over his career you heard over and over and over again about how much of a fumbler he was. Everytime he fumbled, it was a big deal because he was a "fumbler." The reality is, he wasn't out of the ordinary in terms of fumbles per carry.

IMO, Bush falls into that category. At one point in his career he had shown enough to earn significant playing time as a DB. He failed and looked bad doing it. I was down on him as much as the next guy. When I saw him out there this year, I got a sick feeling in my stomach. You know what though? He looks much improved. Still because of his impression, every time he gets beat people will be screaming about how bad he is, just like when Ahman fumbled.

[CaliforniaCheez]

I thought it was a simple adjustment by the 49'ers that should have been in their game plan.

Instead of attacking the strong outside, you pass down the middle with your big receivers going against Jarrett Bush.

Remarkably effective. Once Harris was out Bush was in as the nickel.

[sharpe1027]

I thought it was a simple adjustment by the 49'ers that should have been in their game plan.

Instead of attacking the strong outside, you pass down the middle with your big receivers going against Jarrett Bush.

Remarkably effective. Once Harris was out Bush was in as the nickel.

Early on I saw Woodson lined up on Veron Davis. I am guessing that changed after Al went out, but I haven't confirmed it.

[Fritz]

Mike Mckenzie was slow but got by on guile when he left here, and I'm not sure any more loss of speed since then has been compensated for by increased guile.

Yes, lots of opinions, Bretsky, and that's fine, but I find it unreasonable to bitterly complain that TT doesn't have All-Pro backups just waiting in the wings at not the nickel spot, but the dime spot.

How many teams have lost two corners (Lee and Blackmon) and still have a more-than-serviceable corner playing the dime package? I'd wager that 90% of the teams out there, and maybe more, have dime backs who are roughly on a par with Bush, at least if their first dime back choices were hurt, like Green Bay's have been.

Nobody said all pro backups that I recall
I'm not sure Lee ever cracked the depth chart; I could be wrong but I though he was inactive...aka..>Fergy...much in his rookie year. I'm not sure we miss him at all. We miss Blackmond on specials a lot. He never seemed much of a CB. Now Al Harris; we can't replace him with most starters....definitely not a backup.

Nobody said it but the implication is that Thompson failed because Bush is the dime back. I disagree, in part because it's not Thompson's fault that Lee and Blackmon got hurt.

[denverYooper]

I thought it was a simple adjustment by the 49'ers that should have been in their game plan.

Instead of attacking the strong outside, you pass down the middle with your big receivers going against Jarrett Bush.

Remarkably effective. Once Harris was out Bush was in as the nickel.

How many of those were his fault, though? One was on Hawk, and another on Matthews for not being disruptive enough, at least. He's been on the field more than people realize, I think, and has been at least ok most of the time. Part of the issue that people have is that the only time his name is mentioned, it's not a kudos. He hasn't made any big positive plays to replace the negative plays his name is associated with, but most of the time he does his job.

Bush also brings some ability as a rusher, and IIRC almost had a sack on Romo. It'll be interesting to see if they bring him on some pressure because I think he could be one of our better rushers out of the secondary.