GDT: 49ERS VS SEAHAWKS

[CrimsonCrew]

Was driving home and listening to 95.7, I think (might have been KNBR, I was switching back and forth), and some guest was going on about how the Hawks are a MASH unit (injuries), the Niners should have killed them, and watch out if they come to SF in two weeks. I don't want to play the Hawks in two weeks. I'll be frank about that. I am absolutely praying that Philly beats them. But all the excuses for them are absurd.

The Niners had two pickups in FA last year, both on the offensive side of the ball, and two big pickups this year on the defensive side (Ford was a trade, but same difference). Those four guys were supposed to cue the turnaround. Shore up the OL, create incredible mismatches on offense, particularly in the short passing game. Generate pass rush and fly around the football field. All four of those guys were out for us, along with our starting SS, NT, and RG. That's almost 1/3 of our starting unit, if you count Ford as a starter. No one is making excuses for the Niners' play on that account - though there is certainly optimism for the expected arrival of Ford and Tartt in the postseason.

The Seahawks were missing a good all-around RB in Carson along with his backups - almost certainly the easiest position to address with a player off the street in today's NFL (see Mostert, Raheem). They were missing a very good LT in Brown. Other than that, they were missing...what, exactly? A pretty good safety who got traded this season with a seventh-round pick for a fifth-round pick. A good TE in Dissly. A mediocre C in Britt (incidentally, his PFF grade is 0.2 better than Person). I don't think there's any doubt but that the Niners were missing more significant players in this game.

[Samurai]

Was driving home and listening to 95.7, I think (might have been KNBR, I was switching back and forth), and some guest was going on about how the Hawks are a MASH unit (injuries), the Niners should have killed them, and watch out if they come to SF in two weeks. I don't want to play the Hawks in two weeks. I'll be frank about that. I am absolutely praying that Philly beats them. But all the excuses for them are absurd.

The Niners had two pickups in FA last year, both on the offensive side of the ball, and two big pickups this year on the defensive side (Ford was a trade, but same difference). Those four guys were supposed to cue the turnaround. Shore up the OL, create incredible mismatches on offense, particularly in the short passing game. Generate pass rush and fly around the football field. All four of those guys were out for us, along with our starting SS, NT, and RG. That's almost 1/3 of our starting unit, if you count Ford as a starter. No one is making excuses for the Niners' play on that account - though there is certainly optimism for the expected arrival of Ford and Tartt in the postseason.

The Seahawks were missing a good all-around RB in Carson along with his backups - almost certainly the easiest position to address with a player off the street in today's NFL (see Mostert, Raheem). They were missing a very good LT in Brown. Other than that, they were missing...what, exactly? A pretty good safety who got traded this season with a seventh-round pick for a fifth-round pick. A good TE in Dissly. A mediocre C in Britt (incidentally, his PFF grade is 0.2 better than Person). I don't think there's any doubt but that the Niners were missing more significant players in this game.

Every team has injury issues this time of year - that just comes with the territory. And if we do play them in 2 weeks (I hope we don't), Carson will still be injured. As will Weston Richburg, Kwon Alexander, Shon Coleman, Ronald Blair and DJ Jones on our side. Someone should tell that 95.7 "guest" to grow a pair and stop crying.

[CrimsonCrew]

I say guest because I don't think it was a caller, though I missed the beginning of the segment. I didn't catch if it was a former player, or a Seattle area media guy, but the way the hosts engaged him a bit, it didn't seem like he was just a guy who called in.

[SalemStoner]

Was driving home and listening to 95.7, I think (might have been KNBR, I was switching back and forth), and some guest was going on about how the Hawks are a MASH unit (injuries), the Niners should have killed them, and watch out if they come to SF in two weeks. I don't want to play the Hawks in two weeks. I'll be frank about that. I am absolutely praying that Philly beats them. But all the excuses for them are absurd.

The Niners had two pickups in FA last year, both on the offensive side of the ball, and two big pickups this year on the defensive side (Ford was a trade, but same difference). Those four guys were supposed to cue the turnaround. Shore up the OL, create incredible mismatches on offense, particularly in the short passing game. Generate pass rush and fly around the football field. All four of those guys were out for us, along with our starting SS, NT, and RG. That's almost 1/3 of our starting unit, if you count Ford as a starter. No one is making excuses for the Niners' play on that account - though there is certainly optimism for the expected arrival of Ford and Tartt in the postseason.

The Seahawks were missing a good all-around RB in Carson along with his backups - almost certainly the easiest position to address with a player off the street in today's NFL (see Mostert, Raheem). They were missing a very good LT in Brown. Other than that, they were missing...what, exactly? A pretty good safety who got traded this season with a seventh-round pick for a fifth-round pick. A good TE in Dissly. A mediocre C in Britt (incidentally, his PFF grade is 0.2 better than Person). I don't think there's any doubt but that the Niners were missing more significant players in this game.

I literally laughed at co-workers who said Seattle was more injured than us in week 17. Didn’t even argue back, just laughed at them.

[Jikkle]

Was driving home and listening to 95.7, I think (might have been KNBR, I was switching back and forth), and some guest was going on about how the Hawks are a MASH unit (injuries), the Niners should have killed them, and watch out if they come to SF in two weeks. I don't want to play the Hawks in two weeks. I'll be frank about that. I am absolutely praying that Philly beats them. But all the excuses for them are absurd.

The Niners had two pickups in FA last year, both on the offensive side of the ball, and two big pickups this year on the defensive side (Ford was a trade, but same difference). Those four guys were supposed to cue the turnaround. Shore up the OL, create incredible mismatches on offense, particularly in the short passing game. Generate pass rush and fly around the football field. All four of those guys were out for us, along with our starting SS, NT, and RG. That's almost 1/3 of our starting unit, if you count Ford as a starter. No one is making excuses for the Niners' play on that account - though there is certainly optimism for the expected arrival of Ford and Tartt in the postseason.

The Seahawks were missing a good all-around RB in Carson along with his backups - almost certainly the easiest position to address with a player off the street in today's NFL (see Mostert, Raheem). They were missing a very good LT in Brown. Other than that, they were missing...what, exactly? A pretty good safety who got traded this season with a seventh-round pick for a fifth-round pick. A good TE in Dissly. A mediocre C in Britt (incidentally, his PFF grade is 0.2 better than Person). I don't think there's any doubt but that the Niners were missing more significant players in this game.

As long as they have Wilson it's almost always going to be uncomfortably close and divisional games tend to be close unless their is a wide talent gap.

I do think they should've had at least one more TD on the board in this game and if Deebo didn't catch than fumble the ball and regain it short of the sticks on 3rd down they probably get that TD.

But they were pretty much in total control on offense and they only punted twice the entire game and one of them was a result of a bogus unnecessary roughness call that made it 3rd and very long which they almost converted anyways.

Defensively I don't think they played bad. They kept the Seahawks scoreless in the first half and in the 2nd they still basically played good defense it's just they got hit with Wilson being Wilson. He bought time with his feet and made some really accurate throws to put points on the board. I'd just like to see them play more disciplined when they pass rush him and not give him so much space to work with in escaping.

[Samurai]

The top 5 PFF grades on offense were in order: Kittle (duh), Jimmy G, Deebo, Breida (that surprised me since he only played on 8 of the 50 offensive snaps), and Juszczyk. The top 5 on defense were in order: Sherman, Ward, Armstead, Buckner and Greenlaw. The bottom 5 were Williams, Givens, Witherspoon, Warner and Street. I assume Givens will likely be cut since the team signed 2 more for the DL with Earl Williams ( 300 pound NT) and Jonathan Kongbo (undersized 250 pound DE). Hard to understand how far Witherspoon has fallen since the early part of the season; I can understand a DB can be more exposed without a great pass rush but the amount he has dropped is huge. Do we go with Moseley or Witherspoon? Or if Tartt is healthy, do we roll with Tartt and Harris at safety and move Ward to the corner? Can the return of Dee Ford bring back our pass rush enough to make Witherspoon, Williams or Moseley look like solid cornerbacks again? Our inability to stop teams from throwing when they need to march down the field scares me.

[wco81]

Learned a new term, Non active player or NAP to describe players like Witherspoon who is near the WR target but doesn't turn around and make a play on the ball.

So if teams can't get separation for their WRs, they look for NAP defenders and if the QB can place the ball right, it's something they can take advantage of.

[NinerSickness]

Learned a new term, Non active player or NAP to describe players like Witherspoon who is near the WR target but doesn't turn around and make a play on the ball.

So if teams can't get separation for their WRs, they look for NAP defenders and if the QB can place the ball right, it's something they can take advantage of.

He needs to move to safety or just be a backup IMO. I was excited about his hot start, but that was only because the Niners had the best pass rush in the NFL by a huge margin. Now, without Dee Ford, he's back to being mediocre at best.