Week 3: Packers @ 49ers

[CrimsonCrew]

Yeah, I don't think people are legitimately taking into consideration just how much of a meteoric leap going from FCS college football to the NFL is. Let alone trying to do that after pretty much being idle for a full season. While Lance did play 1 game, he wasn't even allowed to formally practice the vast majority of that year.

This year's rookie QB class are all struggling MIGHTILY, and all those other guys were highly decorated college players from big time programs. All those other guys are vastly more experienced and polished than Trey Lance is.

With Justin Fields specifically, he had a horrific game last Sunday and neither his coach's or O-line helped him like at all. Still where was his elusiveness being able to evade pressure and pick up yards with his legs? Where was his his ability to make plays off script when the play broke down? He didn't show any of that, because playing QB in the NFL is damn difficult. He has yet to be able to adjust.

On a 2-1 team, where the current QB led a drive to take the lead with 37 seconds remaining in the 1 game they did lose, to say that that team needs a QB change for the very raw under experienced rookie, is baffling. It seems like those takes are mostly based out of shear hate for Garoppolo.

This is a 17 game season, and we now have an extra wild card available, yet some choose to believe the season is almost already lost.

Its inevitable that Trey Lance time is coming, and when that time comes I'll be all aboard the Trey train. However, trying to force that to happen sooner, most likely isn't going to help anybody in the equation.

I'm not advocating for a knee-jerk reaction. But I'm also a pragmatist. The Rams just dominated the SB champs. The Cards might have the best offense in the league. And we have shortcomings at important positions that have no realistic chance of improving dramatically in the near future. If we lose next week, or the next two weeks to drop to 2-3 (at which point we could very realistically be three games behind the division leader), I think we've got to consider getting the rookie some experience so we can be competitive next year instead of breaking in an inexperienced passer then.

I don't disagree with your overall point, in wanting/needing to get Lance some seasoning. However, I'm having a seriously hard time grasping that time should be after 5 games into a 17 game season.

To me, that situation is more of a team is sitting with a 4-8 record type of thing.

I guess a big part of that is my pessimism about this season. I don't think the defense can rebound with the players we have in the secondary, and I think the interior OL could continue to be a problem.

[thesack12]

I'm not advocating for a knee-jerk reaction. But I'm also a pragmatist. The Rams just dominated the SB champs. The Cards might have the best offense in the league. And we have shortcomings at important positions that have no realistic chance of improving dramatically in the near future. If we lose next week, or the next two weeks to drop to 2-3 (at which point we could very realistically be three games behind the division leader), I think we've got to consider getting the rookie some experience so we can be competitive next year instead of breaking in an inexperienced passer then.

I don't disagree with your overall point, in wanting/needing to get Lance some seasoning. However, I'm having a seriously hard time grasping that time should be after 5 games into a 17 game season.

To me, that situation is more of a team is sitting with a 4-8 record type of thing.

I guess a big part of that is my pessimism about this season. I don't think the defense can rebound with the players we have in the secondary, and I think the interior OL could continue to be a problem.

Its not a smart bet, but maybe during the 2nd half of the season the light bulb will turn on for Ambry Thomas. Perhaps he can become a semi competent CB. Also, maybe Lenoir continues to grow and solidifies himself as a reliable corner.

Again not a smart bet, but hopefully both Banks or Moore will be able to step in at some point and give the O-line a boost.

Hopefully both Sermon and Mitchell will develop their game. Hasty will be back in a couple weeks, he's another very young guy with some upside and capable of making some explosive plays. Jeff Wilson's return is also on the horizon. The running game should get better.

The 9ers have rookies at all of the weak spots in their roster. While its not ideal to have to lean on rookies, its also entirely reasonable to expect overall growth from them as the season wears on. Its definitely not out of the question to assume, that we are currently seeing the worst from all of these rookies (save for maybe Lenoir), and better days are on the horizon.

Even with the D-Line, Kinlaw is only in his 2nd season and not 100% healthy yet. For all intents and purposes, Bosa is only playing in his 2nd season as well and still in the infancy stages of working his way back from serious injury. So we should continue to see growth from both of those guys. The under-rated Jordan Willis will return in week 8. There is also a sliver of hope that Ford will improve as he gets further removed from his injuries.

We also can't rule out a trade, to provide a big spark to the team. We saw this with the Sanders trade in 2019.

As it pertains to NFC west rivals, Zona has played 2 AFC south teams and just as easily as Frisco could be 3-0, the Cards could be 2-1. Vikings missed a game winning 37 yard field goal as time expired to lose to the Cards. Seattle looks to be vulnerable, and have only beat the 0-3 Colts. Rams look great, but have played the very subpar looking Bears and 0-3 Colts in addition to Tampa. There has yet to be an in division NFC west game played. Those 24 division games are going to shape this season for all 4 teams.

Also, injuries are always a factor. While it seems like the 49ers are constantly on the wrong side of injury luck, 1 crucial injury can de-rail any of those other team's seasons.

Long story short, a lot of things can happen over the course of a 4 month long, 17 game season. So to completely change course, and basically punt on the season after 3-5 games is taking a defeatist mentality.

[thesack12]

Being down 6 before that final drive, 49ers only had a 14.52% win probability
After the go ahead TD with 37 seconds left, 49ers had a 87.28% win probability

So upsetting

[Jikkle]

I'm not advocating for a knee-jerk reaction. But I'm also a pragmatist. The Rams just dominated the SB champs. The Cards might have the best offense in the league. And we have shortcomings at important positions that have no realistic chance of improving dramatically in the near future. If we lose next week, or the next two weeks to drop to 2-3 (at which point we could very realistically be three games behind the division leader), I think we've got to consider getting the rookie some experience so we can be competitive next year instead of breaking in an inexperienced passer then.

I don't disagree with your overall point, in wanting/needing to get Lance some seasoning. However, I'm having a seriously hard time grasping that time should be after 5 games into a 17 game season.

To me, that situation is more of a team is sitting with a 4-8 record type of thing.

I guess a big part of that is my pessimism about this season. I don't think the defense can rebound with the players we have in the secondary, and I think the interior OL could continue to be a problem.

This pretty much where I'm at and why I'm not saying we should start Lance right this minute I'd like to see him get the job full time at some point in the season depending on how things are going.

To me the offense is pretty much at it's ceiling and I don't see it improving over the course of the year. And that's not a bad thing as the offense has been pretty solid so far but I think Shanahan is squeezing as much as he can out of what he has on the field.

Defensively, I do see room to grow and improve but with the pieces they're working with in the secondary It's tough to see it transforming into an elite unit.

For me I see this team capable of making the playoffs I just don't see it winning 4 games to win the Super Bowl when you consider the opponents they'd likely have to go through.

So like Crim said I'm for starting Lance to get him more ready for next season so we could make a more serious run than rather to start him to save this season. And I wouldn't say starting him is giving up on this season either because while I would expect him to struggle early on it might be once he gets a few games under his belt and starts to get more comfortable he could really take off by the time playoffs roll around. He could also struggle the entire season as well and we might have to wait until next season to see that leap forward.

To me the smarter dice roll at some point is to go with Lance because either he struggles all season but he grows from it and he's better situated for next season or he struggles early but progresses as the season goes on and the offense is more dynamic. Unless you believe Jimmy G can win us a SB this year there really isn't a reason to stick with him the entire season.

[Jikkle]

In my post, I never stated nor implied that it would be "smooth" with Lance at QB. My point is that I don't think we can beat the top teams with Jimmy as our QB given the holes we have on defense and our O-line. Probably can't win with Lance either but I don't see how it would be worse - a loss is still a loss. I look at it this way: if you and I get into a fight and I am the superior overall fighter, chances are that you will lose. But if you have the power to knock me out, then you at least have a chance of landing that one big punch that turns it in your favor. Even with that power, you may well still lose but at least you have a chance. Jimmy doesn't have that knockout punch power. Without it, he's not going to "win on points" against a superior fighter. Lance at least has that knockout power potential, which gives us a chance. A chance is better than no chance.

Sorry, it wasn't really directed at you. It is a segment of the 49ers fan base that keeps repeating that. The defense lost the game in the end. Should have been 3-0. Lance does have big play potential one hand but also has the potential the make the typical rookie mistakes from inexperience that can kill games.

Sure, but what if we had, you know, scored in the first 29 minutes of the game? If the offense had executed sooner, we wouldn't have been in a position for the D to blow it.

People are forgetting to that he had a fumble in the 4th that put Green Bay in position to kick a FG which we all know that 3 points was the difference in the game.

Do get me wrong I blame the defense for blowing it at the end but just because Jimmy lead the drive to give them the lead doesn't mean there isn't blood on his hands either.

[Jikkle]

Jimmy is getting way too much heat here. He has flaws but generally he runs the offense well. Got 3 tds second half including the shoulda been game winner. And that with an oline that can't block for pass OR run. Our running backs got less 50 yards total. If the defense had d one its job he would be a hero.

We have bigger problems with both lines. Other teams control the LOS constantly. The other teams are regularly running for 6 or 7 yards on first down. It's a recipe for a bad season and it would not really matter who the qb is. And is our defense coordinator any good?

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Maiocco had a similar bit about how perception of Garoppolo swung dramatically based on things that happened when he wasn't on the field. That may be true, but I don't think the perception should change based on that, and mine didn't. Garoppolo had his moments in this one. He put together several strong drives, and gave us a chance to win. But he plays in an extremely QB-friendly system that calls on his skill players to do most of the heavy lifting, and he doesn't exactly kill it within that system.

Once again, he came out of the gate ice cold and was one of the primary reasons we fell behind 17-0 to begin with. He repeatedly missed relatively easy throws early, nearly threw a very bad INT, then did throw a pretty bad INT on the first play of a drive (admittedly a good defensive play on what was actually an accurate deep ball, but Garoppolo needs to see the defender). And even if pressure arrived almost immediately, he still had a potentially back-breaking fumble late in the game.

This is a GB defense that let NO hang 38 on them in the opener. Detroit put up 17 in a half before they shut them down in the second half. It's not a strong unit.

And sure, as said, there are PLENTY of units that deserve criticism in this one. But QB is one of them, and he's the highest paid guy on the team, so he deserves to shoulder the lion's share of the blame.

Agree with most of that. But the first int I would chalk up to a great defensive play. Jimmy is not great but absolutely no qb looks good with an online that can't pass block or run block. I still put this loss way more on the line and the defense.

Any thoughts on our DC? Defense is making almost no impact plays.

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I'm willing to give Ryans some wiggle room as a rookie DC because the defense as a whole hasn't been terrible especially given what he working with at CB but he's the defense has had two awful drives late in games that you simply can't have.

In the Eagles game allowing the Eagles to score a TD late in like 60 seconds was terrible. In that situation giving up a TD would've been fine but the one thing you absolutely couldn't do is give it up quickly and that's exactly what they did. And the end of this last game. Don't think I need to explain that one or why it was horrible.

But there have been some great moments as well that seemed to be glossed over.

The goal line stand against the Eagles was fantastic and in hindsight probably saved the game. And they had another goal line stand against the Packers that would've been a game saver if the 9ers ended up winning the game. That goal line stand was right after Jimmy G threw a pick on the very first play of the drive so that make it even more impressive to me.

Also I feel that the defense does tend to look better in the second half of games so far so that tells me the staff is making adjustments and not getting out coached in that aspect.

At lot of the things said about Ryans if you rewind to 2017 is what was said about Saleh and I'm not saying Ryans is going to be Saleh but just to state that a couple of games in isn't enough to make a firm judgement on him ultimately.

The thing I notice that anytime a play is over 5 yards we all react like we have the worst defense in the world when in today's NFL offenses are going to move the ball and score points. You're not going to stop a guy like Rodgers and the Packers offense from putting some points on the board and having big plays it's just how much you limit them from doing that.

[Mamba Mentality]

These next two weeks are huge for Jimmy, vs Seattle and @ Arizona. If he plays well and wins atleast one of those games I think he'll remain the starter for the forseeable future but if he has any hiccups I could see Lance getting a start coming off their week 6 bye.

[CrimsonCrew]

I'm willing to give Ryans some wiggle room as a rookie DC because the defense as a whole hasn't been terrible especially given what he working with at CB but he's the defense has had two awful drives late in games that you simply can't have.

In the Eagles game allowing the Eagles to score a TD late in like 60 seconds was terrible. In that situation giving up a TD would've been fine but the one thing you absolutely couldn't do is give it up quickly and that's exactly what they did. And the end of this last game. Don't think I need to explain that one or why it was horrible.

But there have been some great moments as well that seemed to be glossed over.

The goal line stand against the Eagles was fantastic and in hindsight probably saved the game. And they had another goal line stand against the Packers that would've been a game saver if the 9ers ended up winning the game. That goal line stand was right after Jimmy G threw a pick on the very first play of the drive so that make it even more impressive to me.

Also I feel that the defense does tend to look better in the second half of games so far so that tells me the staff is making adjustments and not getting out coached in that aspect.

At lot of the things said about Ryans if you rewind to 2017 is what was said about Saleh and I'm not saying Ryans is going to be Saleh but just to state that a couple of games in isn't enough to make a firm judgement on him ultimately.

The thing I notice that anytime a play is over 5 yards we all react like we have the worst defense in the world when in today's NFL offenses are going to move the ball and score points. You're not going to stop a guy like Rodgers and the Packers offense from putting some points on the board and having big plays it's just how much you limit them from doing that.

I think Ryans will be a good DC at some point, I'm just not sure he's there yet. I'm certainly not shouting to replace him at this point. Through three games, our defense has shown a tendency to collapse at the end of games. But we also showed that tendency under Saleh, and it may just be a feature of how we scheme the defense. I'd like to see improvement there, and adjustments to how teams are defending Bosa in particular (seems like they're giving a lot of help on his side, and we haven't worked out a way around that yet), but in my view, Ryans has at least this full year to show that he can do some of that, and likely longer.

[thesack12]

Lombardi is going in on the failure to make the Packers field the kickoff in the last possession.

Also Alex Mack is to blame for a lot of problems, poor blocking and poor snaps in key situations.

I don't know if Mack missed a block on the play where Jimmy fumbled in the 4th quarter.

Alex Mack sucked last night. He got destroyed on Sermon's first run and we lost 3 yards because of it.

Mack was brutal.

Watch on YouTube

Mack looks painfully bad watching the game film.

[CrimsonCrew]

Yeah, that's really bad. Never liked the Banks pick, but more for the player than the position. Really question this FO in its talent evaluation at times.