Week 3 - Rams at 49ers TNF

[S-jax39]

Just now, jrry32 said:

He's getting more than 9 snaps per game. We've had multiple big plays this year come off of Tavon as a decoy. Gurley had multiple nice runs tonight off of the Tavon jet sweep action. McVay isn't going to make him an inactive. He recognizes his value. And I don't care about the money. It ain't coming out of my wallet. The money is what it is. Austin helps this team win. That's all I care about. We'll get rid of him after the season, but for now, it makes no sense to make him an inactive player other than being bitter about him being overpaid and a bust.

16 offensive snaps the first two games. Not counting ST. Anybody with speed can be a threat during a jet sweep bro. We arent the only team that does it.

 

If he muffs yet another punt, how do you preach accountability to the squad when one dude keeps repeating the same mistake? Im not bitter, Im judging him from this year.

[jrry32]

4 minutes ago, S-jax39 said:

16 offensive snaps the first two games. Not counting ST. Anybody with speed can be a threat during a jet sweep bro. We arent the only team that does it.

 

If he muffs yet another punt, how do you preach accountability to the squad when one dude keeps repeating the same mistake? Im not bitter, Im judging him from this year.

If he keeps muffing punts, you yank him.

And please don't try to sell me that BS that anybody with speed can do it. There's a reason it's such an effective misdirection play with Austin, and it's not just because he's fast. There's a reason the 49ers weren't running it a bunch of times with Goodwin, who is faster than Austin. You can admit Austin brings value while still being disgusted by the muffed punts. It's not an all or nothing proposition.

As for accountability, Gurley has fumbled 3 times in the last 2 games, but you're never going to bench the guy because he's playing like a stud. Accountability has always been a BS excuse for this stuff. You hold a guy accountable in other ways than cutting off your nose to spite your face.

[S-jax39]

1 minute ago, jrry32 said:

If he keeps muffing punts, you yank him.

And please don't try to sell me that BS that anybody with speed can do it. There's a reason it's such an effective misdirection play with Austin, and it's not just because he's fast. There's a reason the 49ers weren't running it a bunch of times with Goodwin, who is faster than Austin. You can admit Austin brings value while still being disgusted by the muffed punts. It's not an all or nothing proposition.

Anybody with speed can do it. What about austin makes it special? Ted freaking Ginn has done it lol. Im not saying he brings nothing. I just dont believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

At this point, the only thing hes good for is doing his stutterstep that will get you drunk if youre playing the rams drinking game. In my honest opinion, the league has figured him out. Tavon isnt going to be here next year, our top 10 pick at RB shouldnt need him to gain consistent yardage. On his several snaps a game...

 

When is the last time hes had a big play?

[El Ramster]

[StLunatic88]

7 hours ago, S-jax39 said:

Anybody with speed can do it. What about austin makes it special? Ted freaking Ginn has done it lol. Im not saying he brings nothing. I just dont believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

Not helping your case here. Ted Ginn has rare speed as well. Its not just about having a fast guy do it, You have to have that top end speed, as well as the acceleration that not every fast guy has, but the real separator is keeping that speed with the wiggle and cuts to make you effective with the ball in your hands,

Most fast guys cant turn the edge on a jet sweep, their hips are just too stiff. Tavon is a Rare talent. Unfortunately one that isnt an easy fit for any offense really, which makes his very frustrating, especially with how much we are paying him. Honestly after the second Muff last night I was screaming Cut Him. But after sleeping on it and still getting the win, that is an irrational move to make.

[StLunatic88]

9 hours ago, RamRod said:

Looks like we may be getting into a lot of shootouts if our defense keeps this up. So glad to have survived with a win.

Lets remember, it took a Muffed punt on the 12, and a fumbled Kickoff Return on the 30 to even keep them in the game. Thats 10 actual points right there, and likely an even larger swing the way our offense was rolling last night. Lets be conservative and say we would have scored a combined 6 points on those two drives. Thats suddenly a 16 point swing, we are probably going into Half with a 27-10 lead and this game probably never gets as close as it ends up. Especially if we go down the field to start the second half and tack on another FG like we did to go up 20. 

Now I know this is all conjecture, but Im just pointing out it took an atrocious Special Teams night (2 plays by 2 players, not the entire units) to even make this a game. Good teams can overcome those (like we did) Great teams never let them happen. Thats the level we need to get to.

I would like to see Pharoh Cooper to continue to get return looks, he can shoot out of a cannon on those. And we will need one of those guys next year when Tavon is gone. It would be nice not to have to draft one.

 

[BEASToftheEAST4]

WOW! What. A. Game!

I believe Chris Colinsworth was the one who said it--how towards the end of that game it felt like the Super Bowl. My heart almost exploded. So glad we came away with that win. They certainly made it interesting. Call me biased, but that had to have been the most exciting TNF game of all time--definitely top three.

Anyways, as for my personal analysis of the game:

I was already confident in Sean McVay, but this game led me to believe that he is the real deal. He's got this team buying into what he's selling and they look awesome out there. So much fun to watch. I am all in on him.

I said prior to the game being played that if we had barely won, that it would raise some red flags for me. That was not under the assumption that we'd score as much as we did. So I take back the fact that any red flag would be raised. However,

Defense flat out needs to improve. Yes, they're learning a new scheme. Yes, they're coming off a short week. Yes, they were on the field a lot and I'm sure they were gassed. Yes, we had our fair share of injuries on that side of the ball. But this is a 49ers team that entered this game without scoring a TD. While I didn't expect us to shut them out or even hold them out of a TD, there's no reason that team should have marched down the field time after time against us. Points-wise, I get that they were put into scoring position on two occasions when they shouldn't have been (muffed punt and kickoff return fumble recovery). I understand that the score likely wouldn't have been as close had it not been for that. But their offense still put up over 400 yards and that is unacceptable. Now I am confident in Phillips turning this around and getting it fixed. But there are some more serious issues here than one may anticipate--particularly in Ogletree stopping the run. He's a very talented player and has a knack for making big plays, but he also has a tendency to give up big plays as well--which is not something I'm looking for in my MLB.

Lot of injuries in this game, which is scary. By the end of the game, it felt like we lost half of our defense, as well as a few key guys from offense.

It was great to see Watkins so heavily involved and that bomb to him was an amazing play--both the throw and the catch.

Gurley truly is looking back to his rookie form and possibly even a step further. He's got his confidence back and its showing.

Goff had the bounce-back game we were all looking for. It might have even been his best game yet. Only 6 incompletions and at least two of them were smart plays in throwing the ball away and the other was a great pass that Higbee should have hauled in. Again, with Goff, the key is going to be consistent. We see that he's capable of this. Next step is him doing it on a regular basis. But it was great seeing him come back strong after ending last week's game on a bad note.

I have been fed up with Tavon for a while now and this game certainly did not help his case in my mind. Muffing two punts in three games is inexcusable--especially when he's basically used as a return specialist at this point (one that doesn't return kicks--which still amazes me) and a decoy--a very expensive one at that. Fortunately, it seems like they are not making the mistake of forcing him plays on the offense. They already made the mistake of paying him what they did. At least they're not making the mistake of playing him because of what he's getting paid. As frustrating and overpaid as he is, unless we could move him for decent compensation, it makes the most sense to keep him on this team for the season. He is an effective decoy and a dangerous returner (if he ever decides to hold onto the ball). He does more bad than good though, and I'm certain that he will not be a part of this team come the offseason.

 

I think that just about covers it...

[Flatlyner]

Just a couple of notes from the game for me:

-Fantastic offense.  McVay is a genius as far as I'm concerned.  Its certainly helps that they signed a great LT like Whitworth as well.  But kudos to McVay for running schemes that fit our actual players.

- This would likely not have been as close of a game as it was were it not for 2 extremely costly special teams plays.  The first is Countess offsides on the punt that gave the whiners a 1st down, which they turned into a TD.  Second was that fumbled punt by Austin that we luckily held them to a FG.   That's 10 points that could have easily been avoided.  Think of the score being 17-3 and the final being 41-29.   Yes, I know anything could have happened if those events changed, but we gave them 10 points they didn't deserve at the start of the game.

- The defense was, again, atrocious.  Phillips better figure this out and quickly with better offenses on the horizon.  I feel a major issue is our MLB's.  They are much better 4-3 LB's IMO and this scheme doesn't suit them well.  Tru made a few good plays, but also gave up a few big plays.  IMO, he is not a top 10 CB as he and his agents claim.  I would not pay him as a top 10 CB personally, but, we might have little options.

- Likely the worst call of the entire game was that roughing the passer call on Donald in the late 3rd that gave them an additional 15 yards on top of a huge catch by Garcon.  That was ABSOLUTELY not roughing the passer. As the announcers noted, that was a freaking form tackle with no malicious intent and not head hit.  Give me a damn break refs.

- Really brilliant play calls in the late 3rd by McVay with rollout to the left, etc. Perfect designs for what the defense was playing and giving Goff all the time in the world.

- Couple of terrible play calls on the goal line in the late 3rd, running Gurley straight up the middle multiple times in a row, with the whiners blitzing the entire team in the middle.  Flip that ball outside where Gurley is most effect and he has 4 TD's this game easy.

All in all, I'm very excited for this offense and our emerging QB, but at the same time, very concerned about this defense.  If the D can just play average, we could be looking at a wild card birth.  Such a strange thing to say, as last year I said if the offense can just play average we'd be good.  How things change.  

Cheers and congratz fellas! 

[S-jax39]

3 hours ago, StLunatic88 said:

Not helping your case here. Ted Ginn has rare speed as well. Its not just about having a fast guy do it, You have to have that top end speed, as well as the acceleration that not every fast guy has, but the real separator is keeping that speed with the wiggle and cuts to make you effective with the ball in your hands,

Most fast guys cant turn the edge on a jet sweep, their hips are just too stiff. Tavon is a Rare talent. Unfortunately one that isnt an easy fit for any offense really, which makes his very frustrating, especially with how much we are paying him. Honestly after the second Muff last night I was screaming Cut Him. But after sleeping on it and still getting the win, that is an irrational move to make.

What is his rare talent? Being fast? Plenty of people with his speed. Lets stop pretending this dude is Shady Mccoy in the open field.

[StLunatic88]

56 minutes ago, S-jax39 said:

What is his rare talent? Being fast? Plenty of people with his speed. Lets stop pretending this dude is Shady Mccoy in the open field.

Keep digging this hole man. If you cant even recognize that Austin has a rare skill, then you are just being stubborn at this point.

[JonStark]

I think Austin's rare talent is, for lack of a better word, his quickness. He's super fast, and can change directions without seemingly losing any speed and burst right back to his max pretty fast. But if he can't hold on to the ball, it doesn't really matter. He could be the best punt returner in the league but if he muffs have of his returns, that's unacceptable.

I would've liked to seen that screen to Cooper go to Tavon though. Probably wouldn't have made a difference but he needs another play besides the jet sweeps.

[S-jax39]

1 hour ago, StLunatic88 said:

Keep digging this hole man. If you cant even recognize that Austin has a rare skill, then you are just being stubborn at this point.

What hole am i digging? You keep talking about things that arent translating on the field. This isnt year 1 2 or 3. This isnt Jeff Fisher. If hes not producing at this point, its time to man up and stop justifying his play based on what he *could* do. You guys say im being stubborn but you are caping for a dude that is somehow still making a negative impact on the game in limited snaps.

[S-jax39]

1 hour ago, JonStark said:

I think Austin's rare talent is, for lack of a better word, his quickness. He's super fast, and can change directions without seemingly losing any speed and burst right back to his max pretty fast. But if he can't hold on to the ball, it doesn't really matter. He could be the best punt returner in the league but if he muffs have of his returns, that's unacceptable.

I would've liked to seen that screen to Cooper go to Tavon though. Probably wouldn't have made a difference but he needs another play besides the jet sweeps.

I completely understand that. Now explain to me how it is truly a skill if it doesnt translate on the field.

[StLunatic88]

1 minute ago, S-jax39 said:

What hole am i digging? You keep talking about things that arent translating on the field. This isnt year 1 2 or 3. This isnt Jeff Fisher. If hes not producing at this point, its time to man up and stop justifying his play based on what he *could* do. You guys say im being stubborn but you are caping for a dude that is somehow still making a negative impact on the game in limited snaps.

What in the world are you talking about? You are fighting a ghost or something. All I pointed out was that Tavon has a RARE SKILL that is all I said. And that is valuable in the league. I even said its unfortunate that his skill is hard to implement when it is attached to the frame he has, 

Im gonna let you continue to fight yourself if you want, because you clearly arent paying attention to what is being said.

[S-jax39]

Just now, StLunatic88 said:

What in the world are you talking about? You are fighting a ghost or something. All I pointed out was that Tavon has a RARE SKILL that is all I said. And that is valuable in the league. I even said its unfortunate that his skill is hard to implement when it is attached to the frame he has, 

Im gonna let you continue to fight yourself if you want, because you clearly arent paying attention to what is being said.

Ok, im not gonna respond anymore. Continue to to talk about his magical "skill" that doesnt translate on the field being valuable. Im not going to continue to point out how if it doesnt translate to on field success it doesnt mean anything. His frame is irrelevant, plenty of guys like him that has success in this league. Hilton and Hill off the top of my head easily. He just sucks.

If he fumbles a game away i dont wanna see a single post from you complaining. Continue to talk about how valuable he is.