Week 11: San Francisco 49ers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

[757-NINER]

1 hour ago, TecmoSuperJoe said:

49ers won, Seattle lost, but the Hufanga injury has me demoralized as a fan. 

Hope he can come back next year strong. That's a 1st-Team All Pro we just lost.

Honestly I'm not that bummed about Huf.

Don't want to see any of our players hurt obviously but I really believe Huf has been pretty bad all year.

His nose for the ball and timely ints has masked alot of bad tackling, bizzare angles to ball and blown assignments.

Was disappointed with the defense as whole again today.

Maybe my expectations are too high but we're just leaky af waaaaay too much.

In the run game, on the backend, we just let mediocre offenses and QBs stay in the game far too often for my liking.

With all we've invested in the front four, we allow teams to convert far too many 3rd & Longs and extend drives. It's absolutely maddening to watch AA, Hargraves, Chase & Bosa all on the field on a 3rd & 14 and we STILL can't get off the field. 

I've allowed Wilks to take his lumps but we're at the point where some of these calls are going to expose us against better teams. The blitzing on 3rd downs is driving me crazy. Like I get bringing the occasional blitz when a certain look warrants it. But his blizes don't get home. Like ever...yet he continues to dial them up with a secondary that can't hold on in man situations at the rate he's asking them to.

I'm not usually this vexed after a win but I just found myself smh with that side of the ball the final three quarters of the game. We didn't close out that game the way a team with a supposedly Top 3-5 unit should.

Edited November 20, 2023 by 757-NINER

[J-ALL-DAY]

7 minutes ago, Forge said:

This comment annoys me. Wasn't this a scramble drill with Purdy breaking contain?

Yep, but this is always done to knock Purdy and give Shanny a bit more credit than he deserves. 

1 hour ago, Forge said:

Aiyuk 825 yards through ten games (9 for him). Probably going to end up with 1200-1300 or so

831 to be exact. Was hoping he would end with 200+ yards today but he only got one target after his long TD.

Losing Huf stinks and we had some fortunate luck prior to his injury of not losing anyone of significance for the rest of the season. Brown played solid in his first real game of action but we shall see going forward how he holds up. Brown did some similar things to Huf in college so there's that. 

Chase only had one sack but legit could have had two or three more. Still can't believe how easy he was beating Wirfs at times. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

Kittle in the first six games: 

18 catches

25 targets

216 yards

3 TDs

Kittle in the last four games: 

25 catches

31 targets

432 yards 

2 TDs

Next game is against Seattle and Kittle has always done damage against them. May be in store for 90+ yard game, especially with how good the Seattle corners are so Deebo/Aiyuk will have their work cut out for them. 

[P_locniners]

Great win, super stoked.

sucks about the Hufanga injury…..but.

the thing about Hufanaga is that he always seems to be in the right place at the right time ( almost seems like luck on his interceptions), but based on college tape and what happened in minimal action in this game is that J. Brown is very much the same.

he, like Hufanaga, just seems to be in the right place at the right time. This isn’t a complaint, this is a good thing and hopefully it continues (knock on wood). I have high expectations for Brown and am excited to see a glimpse at a player that I expect to be playing along side Huff next season barring  any setbacks for his return.

great win, super stoked and bring on the seachickens

[49ersfan]

Unless Hurts/Brown have a monster performance tomorrow, i think Purdy is going to win NFC Offensive Player of the Week

[TecmoSuperJoe]

 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Hmmmm...

 

[J-ALL-DAY]

11 hours ago, 757-NINER said:

Honestly I'm not that bummed about Huf.

Don't want to see any of our players hurt obviously but I really believe Huf has been pretty bad all year.

His nose for the ball and timely ints has masked alot of bad tackling, bizzare angles to ball and blown assignments.

Was disappointed with the defense as whole again today.

Maybe my expectations are too high but we're just leaky af waaaaay too much.

In the run game, on the backend, we just let mediocre offenses and QBs stay in the game far too often for my liking.

With all we've invested in the front four, we allow teams to convert far too many 3rd & Longs and extend drives. It's absolutely maddening to watch AA, Hargraves, Chase & Bosa all on the field on a 3rd & 14 and we STILL can't get off the field. 

I've allowed Wilks to take his lumps but we're at the point where some of these calls are going to expose us against better teams. The blitzing on 3rd downs is driving me crazy. Like I get bringing the occasional blitz when a certain look warrants it. But his blizes don't get home. Like ever...yet he continues to dial them up with a secondary that can't hold on in man situations at the rate he's asking them to.

I'm not usually this vexed after a win but I just found myself smh with that side of the ball the final three quarters of the game. We didn't close out that game the way a team with a supposedly Top 3-5 unit should.

I don't agree that Huf has been bad this season. He's been good and a lot more disciplined. He had a rough game vs Cincy but aside from that was super clean with his tackling and didn't blow many coverages like he did towards the 2nd half of last season.

The defense looks disappointing because it is like death by a hundred paper clips. Aside from two big plays, the Bucs had to chip away at everything and converted 3rd downs at a high clip. It was like the Cardinals game all over again. But we allowed only 14 points, 287 yards and held the Bucs to 4.3 ypp. You will take that all the time. Furthermore, we held Baker to 5.5 YPA and had 11 PDs to go along with 4 sacks (8 QB hits). Only thing was, we didn't take advantage of the INT opportunities. If we come away with at least two, if not three, then things looks a whole a lot different.

One issue with Wilks though is he will have Ward in off coverage on 3rd and 8 or 3rd and 10 and it ends up being an easy completion. Even if you are to run zone, Ward needs to play closer to the LOS. When he does and gets his hands on the receiver? Either it's going to be an incomplete or he's going to make it difficult on the receiver and force a tough completion. 

Can we give a shoutout to Armstread? He had .5 sacks in the first seven games and has 3.5 in the last three games while putting consistent pressure on the opposing QBs. 

Bosa has had some bad luck getting a bunch of .5 sacks this year but he's going to have his breakout multiple sack game soon. Gets way too many QB hits not to but Wilks just needs to have the corners play a bit tighter coverage and jump the short routes more to discourage opposing QBs. Right now they all know what is going to work on certain alignments and it becomes pitch and catch. 

No one mentioned Ambry's play but he had another good game. The only true bad rep was where he almost allowed the TD to Otton. He should have been more aggressive there and know the TE was not going to cut it to the corner there. It was always going to be a post route. He needs to recognize that and sit on it and break on the ball. Luckily Otton bobbled the ball and Brown cleaned it up. Aside from that, he was pretty much lock down. I don't blame him for the Evans TD as he was playing the fade route as he had a safety inside but Gibson played the slant and gave up his positioning for a fairly easy TD.

On to Seattle.............

[NinerNation21]

20 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

I don't agree that Huf has been bad this season. He's been good and a lot more disciplined. He had a rough game vs Cincy but aside from that was super clean with his tackling and didn't blow many coverages like he did towards the 2nd half of last season.

Two things have frustrated me a lot this season with Huf - 1. Wilks is not using him like Ryans did last year. Ryans had him creeping everywhere and letting him loose near the LoS, where he can wreak havoc. His delayed blitzes were a thing of beauty. Wilks has completely changed Huf's role and it has turned him into a bland player. 

The other thing is his guessing. I hate that Huf guesses and gambles all the freaking time. He's a bad tackler because he guesses and gambles. 

I hate losing Huf, but he was a shell of his former self and nowhere close to All-Pro level. I think Brown can cover just as well as Huf and has been a ball hawk and sure tackler all throughout college. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see much of a drop off at all in play.

[TecmoSuperJoe]

 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

9 minutes ago, NinerNation21 said:

Two things have frustrated me a lot this season with Huf - 1. Wilks is not using him like Ryans did last year. Ryans had him creeping everywhere and letting him loose near the LoS, where he can wreak havoc. His delayed blitzes were a thing of beauty. Wilks has completely changed Huf's role and it has turned him into a bland player. 

The other thing is his guessing. I hate that Huf guesses and gambles all the freaking time. He's a bad tackler because he guesses and gambles. 

I hate losing Huf, but he was a shell of his former self and nowhere close to All-Pro level. I think Brown can cover just as well as Huf and has been a ball hawk and sure tackler all throughout college. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see much of a drop off at all in play.

Know he wasn't at his All-Pro level like last year (can't be one every year), but didn't seem like a liability to me at least. Sadly, his ACL injury clouds his future, but still a young guy at 23. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by TecmoSuperJoe

[J-ALL-DAY]

19 minutes ago, NinerNation21 said:

Two things have frustrated me a lot this season with Huf - 1. Wilks is not using him like Ryans did last year. Ryans had him creeping everywhere and letting him loose near the LoS, where he can wreak havoc. His delayed blitzes were a thing of beauty. Wilks has completely changed Huf's role and it has turned him into a bland player. 

The other thing is his guessing. I hate that Huf guesses and gambles all the freaking time. He's a bad tackler because he guesses and gambles. 

I hate losing Huf, but he was a shell of his former self and nowhere close to All-Pro level. I think Brown can cover just as well as Huf and has been a ball hawk and sure tackler all throughout college. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see much of a drop off at all in play.

Again, don't agree with this take. Just because he did not have the same amount of flashy plays does not mean he was playing bad. It is true he is being used differently but he was a lot more disciplined in his coverage and was much better in the tackling department. You say he is a bad tackler but he has five missed tackles for the year and three of them came against the Bengals. He's been largely the same player with better coverage and less flashy plays at the LOS. You will see the difference with Brown back there and the pass defense allowing more big plays. 

[NinerNation21]

23 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

Again, don't agree with this take. Just because he did not have the same amount of flashy plays does not mean he was playing bad. It is true he is being used differently but he was a lot more disciplined in his coverage and was much better in the tackling department. You say he is a bad tackler but he has five missed tackles for the year and three of them came against the Bengals. He's been largely the same player with better coverage and less flashy plays at the LOS. You will see the difference with Brown back there and the pass defense allowing more big plays. 

Maybe, neither of us know.

I didn't say he was bad, I said he is being used differently and it has capped his playmaking ability. He's not bad, but he hasn't been great either. 

 

[J-ALL-DAY]

3 minutes ago, NinerNation21 said:

Maybe, neither of us know.

I didn't say he was bad, I said he is being used differently and it has capped his playmaking ability. He's not bad, but he hasn't been great either. 

 

You said he was a shell of his former self...That's just not objectively true (Lombardi voice). And he was on pace to end with the same amount of INTs as he had last season, if not more. What is different is that he is not used at the LOS as much or blitzing as much so he's not coming up with those big TFLs. That's not something he can control. Do you recall more than one or two blown coverages from him all season? He allowed six TDs last season while allowing only one this year. Does that not matter? He's hardly getting targeted when he is singled up in coverage and when he was at the back end, he's where he's supposed to be and not allowing anything over his head. Isn't that the #1 responsibility for a safety, especially in this system? 

[757-NINER]

1 hour ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

I don't agree that Huf has been bad this season. He's been good and a lot more disciplined. He had a rough game vs Cincy but aside from that was super clean with his tackling and didn't blow many coverages like he did towards the 2nd half of last season.

The defense looks disappointing because it is like death by a hundred paper clips. Aside from two big plays, the Bucs had to chip away at everything and converted 3rd downs at a high clip. It was like the Cardinals game all over again. But we allowed only 14 points, 287 yards and held the Bucs to 4.3 ypp. You will take that all the time. Furthermore, we held Baker to 5.5 YPA and had 11 PDs to go along with 4 sacks (8 QB hits). Only thing was, we didn't take advantage of the INT opportunities. If we come away with at least two, if not three, then things looks a whole a lot different.

One issue with Wilks though is he will have Ward in off coverage on 3rd and 8 or 3rd and 10 and it ends up being an easy completion. Even if you are to run zone, Ward needs to play closer to the LOS. When he does and gets his hands on the receiver? Either it's going to be an incomplete or he's going to make it difficult on the receiver and force a tough completion. 

Can we give a shoutout to Armstread? He had .5 sacks in the first seven games and has 3.5 in the last three games while putting consistent pressure on the opposing QBs. 

Bosa has had some bad luck getting a bunch of .5 sacks this year but he's going to have his breakout multiple sack game soon. Gets way too many QB hits not to but Wilks just needs to have the corners play a bit tighter coverage and jump the short routes more to discourage opposing QBs. Right now they all know what is going to work on certain alignments and it becomes pitch and catch. 

No one mentioned Ambry's play but he had another good game. The only true bad rep was where he almost allowed the TD to Otton. He should have been more aggressive there and know the TE was not going to cut it to the corner there. It was always going to be a post route. He needs to recognize that and sit on it and break on the ball. Luckily Otton bobbled the ball and Brown cleaned it up. Aside from that, he was pretty much lock down. I don't blame him for the Evans TD as he was playing the fade route as he had a safety inside but Gibson played the slant and gave up his positioning for a fairly easy TD.

On to Seattle.............

We'll just have to agree to disagree on Huf.

It was a play early in the first half where he got caught trying to potential jump an in-breaking route and allowed a big gain along the seam because he either forgot or didn't recognize he was responsible for the go route. He has at least one of those types of plays almost every game.

He's been very hit or miss in terms of his run fits, especially when he has outside contain. I'm not going to get too much in the weeds, but I expect more fundamentally sound football from him in year three.

I understand that we're going to give up the dink & dunk to most teams. That's what the defense is geared to do... make teams repeatedly be precise on the short stuff and screen us to death to combat our aggressiveness to get in the backfield. 

But there's no way we should be giving up these 3rd and longs repeatedly. That is the down & distance this defense was built to thrive in, and we haven't been getting off the field enough for me in those instances. Anything longer than a 3rd & 5 should be playing directly into our wheelhouse.

I do agree that running the off-man behind the blitz is not cutting it. I don't think Wilks is utilizing the match-up zone enough or combo coverages as a whole. We should be running more zones that tie into the pass-rush. We're at our best when the backend has their eyes on the QB and can break on plays in front of them. We still work function best out of zone in obvious passing situations. I do like seeing more man in certain instances and against certain QBs. But on money downs, we should be throwing more coverage traps at QBs like Baker instead of trying to 'get home' with the blitz.