OFFICIAL Gameday Packers beat SF 49ers thread

[HarveyWallbangers]

Jennings is just as bad.

I don't think so. Jennings at least offers some coverage at times. McMillian is seldom good in coverage. He's supposed to be an in the box safety, but misses far too many tackles. He's a big disappointment to me. I had high hopes for him when we drafted him.

[Fritz]

I'm not quite giving up on McMillan, but it's clear he's not ready. I am very disappointed in his play.

SF was clearly better yesterday. The two turnovers were big, and the safety play cost the game.

I was encouraged by the second half running game, discouraged bye the second half defense.

Has anybody seen James Jones?

[3irty1]

Positives:

We had a remarkable first half all things considered. It was raining shit on the Packers with two STUPID turnovers and some help from the hometown refs in SF yet it was still somehow tied at half. The defense played well, and made them work hard for every yard. The offense pulled it together for a fantastic drive before half.

Bakhtiari and Barclay gave us solid games. MM helped them out a lot with the playcalling. Bakhtiari looks likely to give us the best LT play we've seen since Clifton.

Jordy Nelson can just be a jaw dropper. Finley responded very nicely to his own retardation and did some damage from an inline spot too although they never ran to the strong side from some reason. Cobb is a one man offense.

Brad Jones was always in good position and had a great day of tackling.

Pickett at 1-tech FUCK YEAH! Raji played well. Nice to see that Jolly hustle again! Love it when Capers brings the beef.

We were barely beaten by a good team. In fact despite their offseason losses and the fact that they've already had more injuries this year than last, I think this is the best version of the Jim Harbough 9ers we've seen. Kapernick does not seem to know that he's supposed to be a flash in the pan, he had some big time throws. Eric Reid was the best defensive player on the field yesterday. Looked like vintage Troy Polamalu.

Negatives:

Eddie Lacy was a disappointment and I don't want to hear excuses. He's quick and he's got power but with no balance to go with it he's just a guy who falls down violently on first contact. Poor vision on the run before his TD run, left some yards on the field. I understand its Bowman making a play but there are no excuses for a fumble ever. The jury doesn't stay out long for running backs so he had better show up next week.

File a missing person's report for James Jones.

Why in the name of Vince Lombardi's horned-rimmed glasses is Ross on the team? Guy is just a corn-studded turd.

Seeing as how Clay now makes the big bucks now I feel better about pointing out that when MM said last year that X% of FF in the NFL come off sacks and that's something we have to work on he was talking about Clay. Strip the ball Richy Rich.

No reason geriatric possession receivers should be putting up those numbers. Some of his yards were good throws, good cuts, and good veteran pushoffs but plenty of it was Boldin in the slot matched up against a linebacker or safety. In many ways this game was reminiscent of the Indy game last year, just the expectations going in were different.

Jerron McMillan needs to wrap up, especially if he's not going to cover.

Finley would make me pull my hair out except then I'd look like Finley which would remind me of Finley which would cause a positive feedback of rage that could only end in a school shooting. Finely causes school shootings.

Sitton and EDS were a tire fire. Clearly SF staff saw something holdy Sitton was subtly doing on tape and got in the ref's ear about it but the fact that MM couldn't do the same for Boldin's repeated nudge-offs is a negative on it's own.

[Fritz]

Good comments though I'm less down on Lacey.

[Upnorth]

+1 to thirty1, but I'm more bullish on baktiari. For his first start pulling a probowler he played excellent. Like I said last night we have hay wood and burnett we win! Also the third and six fourth and two hurt us bad.

[Harlan Huckleby]

McCarthy didn't have a choice after those offsetting penalties after Clay hit CK out of bounds.

Sorry, but I got a bug up my ass about that decision. You have 3rd and 6 versus 4th and 1 in the red zone. If you look at the game flow, Kaepernick is having little trouble passing on 3rd down. I'm not sure SF's chances of succeeding in 4th and 1 are drastically different from their 3rd down conversion rate. What's more, chances are good that they kick the chip-shot field goal on 4th and 1 anyway. Why, why would you give Kaepernick an extra shot at the end zone?

[pbmax]

One of the first two holding calls, Sitton was about to lose control of Smith and the hold of the shoulder pad and jersey (everyone's technique) was more obviously an advantage. Smith looked like he was about to disengage. But I have seen worse not called.

The other two he had his hand in the same place but was in control of Smith. Neither of those gets called except that the hole was wide open. Sitton was getting some movement on that guy.

McMillan: I am not sure how they worked this yesterday but I think Bush's presence meant JM stayed at safety while Bush was at dime slot corner with Hyde. When Burnett is healthy, JM would slide back there.

Hayward is out four weeks minimum at this point. He will need time and reps. McMillan could be called on for coverage until Week 6 unless they find a better option. Suggestions included House and Williams but I am not sure either has played slot before for the Packers.

Has anyone else, besides Bush, worked at slot corner beyond Hyde and Hayward?

[Harlan Huckleby]

The Packers were hurt without Burnett and to a lesser extent Hayward. But remember, San Fran was missing Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham. A wash?

[ThunderDan]

The Packers were hurt without Burnett and to a lesser extent Hayward. But remember, San Fran was missing Michael Crabtree and Mario Manningham. A wash?

No, how does SF improve their passing game yesterday? They threw for 400+. You don't put in Crabtree and Manningham and magically throw from 500+ yards. We sucked at pass coverage yesterday.

[run pMc]

Felt pretty good at halftime considering Lacy's fumble and Finley's bobble.
Eric Reid makes our safeties look like hobos TT found on the street on the way to the game.
Thought Jarrett Bush was in the game too much, I assume they didn't play House more for a reason. Pass pro for Rodgers was pretty good considering the defense -- the tackles held up ok, but Bakhtiari does look small.
EDS was snapping the ball a half second after he lifted his head; Aldon Smith was timing that and jumped early once or twice, but Bahktiari did ok for a first game.
Sitton's penalties were costly and saw SF get away with a few holds.
The whole "extra down" controversy might have mattered but it wasn't as egregious as last year's Fail Mary, and frankly if this satisfies the season's requirement for a controversy I'm good.

The secondary lost this game -- Boldin and Davis were their threats and they couldn't stop them. How much of that is on the safeties?
Thought the defense had trouble getting set in their calls.
The no-huddle drive where they started to get *some* yards on the ground was impressive -- the Niners defense was on its heels.
Didn't see Datone Jones do anything. Perry was ok, Neal did not impress. Thought I saw more 3-DL sets but doubted wist cracked a smile. Looked like the Defense played a mush-rush to keep Kaepernick in the pocket, and the secondary let Boldin (who probably runs a 4.75 40 at this point) run wild.

A good game for the fans...tough to win Game 1 on the road against the defending conference champs. Going in, I thought SF was a more talented team so I'm ok if GB loses the first game of the season -- if they win the last one.

[Harlan Huckleby]

No, how does SF improve their passing game yesterday? They threw for 400+. You don't put in Crabtree and Manningham and magically throw from 500+ yards. We sucked at pass coverage yesterday.

A "wash" means the same, not worse. The Packers defense were missing two DBs, the SF offense was missing two WRs. And they were of roughly equal quality. Perhaps the result would be similar with everybody playing.

[mraynrand]

Sorry, but I got a bug up my ass about that decision. You have 3rd and 6 versus 4th and 1 in the red zone. If you look at the game flow, Kaepernick is having little trouble passing on 3rd down. I'm not sure SF's chances of succeeding in 4th and 1 are drastically different from their 3rd down conversion rate. What's more, chances are good that they kick the chip-shot field goal on 4th and 1 anyway. Why, why would you give Kaepernick an extra shot at the end zone?

totally agree, also for the reasons I put in the other thread. Shows total lack of confidence in the D.

[pbmax]

Its hard to be positive about a defense that surrenders 400 yards in the air. But, unlike last year where big plays completely deflated the D in the 2nd half and it looked like a surrender, they competed hard to the end.

They were still getting stops late and its not enough, but its better than last year's effort.

[mraynrand]

A "wash" means the same, not worse. The Packers defense were missing two DBs, the SF offense was missing two WRs. And they were of roughly equal quality. Perhaps the result would be similar with everybody playing.

That's always hard to say. I haven't gone over the tape, but the Packers claimed they were going to play "left to right" with d-backs, meaning everyone stays in their place and takes whomever they get. If mostly true, that's inviting SF to expose the hell out of their weakness by moving their strength (Boldin), which I believe did happen a lot. If Hayward and Burnett are in there, perhaps that doesn't happen, and if Manheim and Crabby1 are in there, maybe there still is not extra advantage.

It seemed the Packers played a reasonable amount of zone coverage (or at least less shifting) to prevent getting misaligned and unsound against the run game or the Kap game. That worked, but they may have sacrificed being able to match up with Boldin better (even so, Boldin made outstanding catches even with good single or double coverage).

[pbmax]

His offseason study did seem to pay off on keeping the D balanced. San Fran specializes in getting odd man match ups like the TE first down when Matthews went crashing into Gore and Jones could cover the TE. But that happened far less than last year.