Thoughts on 49ers post-game
Ugh. I don’t write much here, but I’d like to write more. Might as well write about the Forty-Niners, who just lost to the Giants. This is what I saw as our problems:
Special teams turnovers were the biggest factor this game. Their normal returner (Ginn) wasn’t in the game, and the replacement returner turned the ball over twice. A turnover on a kick-off is especially crushing, since you almost automatically give the opposing team amazing field position. In the end, each of these two critical turnovers led directly to scores, and were the largest reason we lost, but not the only reason.
Alex Smith. Our offense in general sucked. It couldn’t move the ball at all. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I’m pretty sure we were something like 1-10 on third down conversions. I think we have a number of offensive problems – mediocre receivers, a porous offensive line, but one of our glaring weaknesses is our quarterback. Against the Saints, Alex appeared to redeem himself somewhat, but I don’t think his performance was actually that impressive – he played well, but it’s only impressive because he so rarely plays well. Yes, he got us into the NFC Championship, but by making passes that Tony Romo, Eli Manning, and any number of other decent quarterbacks make every game. The Niners are making a mistake if they view a couple lucky fourth down drives against the Saints as evidence of Alex Smith’s transcendence as a quarterback, and against the Giants, he showed why.
The play calling. What was up with the play calling? I wasn’t there, I don’t know the field situation, but it sure seemed like we threw a lot of big passes, ran some, and didn’t throw many short-distance passes. I’m pretty sure we got where we were by running and throwing short passes. What happened? Did Harbaugh suddenly believe the hype that Smith was a good quarterback?
The offensive line. I noticed this against the Saints, as well as all season, but for all his faults, Smith gets hit an awful lot. Now, some of that has to lie on him – other QBs scramble around and make plays happen. When rushers are coming at him, Smith does scramble around, and will occasionally run for it (and he’s a decent runner), but rarely makes plays happen, rarely throws it away, and often gets sacked. However, it feels like he never has much time to do anything before the defense closes in. Really, where are his linemen?
The nice thing is that the defense is young, and will be back next year. Hopefully we can make some improvements in the off-season, and have another great season.