GDT: 49ERS VS CARDINALS

[RIPskaterdude]

Sure glad we paid all that money for one tackle AA

[CalamityX12]

My knee jerk reactions after gm 1

- DL lost it’s game changing impact. I did not like losing Buckner in favor of Armstead(i acknowledge the cap issues), Armstead was a no show today and that’s not how you replace DeFo. If DeFo wasn’t getting to the QB, he was opening it up for everyone to feast! Armstead did none of the above...

to be fair they had the same struggles against mobile QBs last year to even with bucker. There where several plays when they where on Murray's ass and he managed to get away in ways that most QBs wouldn't. I remember last year looking forward to getting back to games against pocket passers and i feel the same now.

I think the wide 9 will always be vulnerable in that way.

We struggled and that’s not on Saleh for coaching something up to defeat that. You’d think he’ll have this squad tactically better against mobile threats considering last year’s results. But not even a spy?

That’s besides the point, in the pocket Murray had all day to pass then run away... that wasn’t like that last year...

[RIPskaterdude]

Niners about to be last in NFC West

[CalamityX12]

A discouraging sight from our DL is the lack of pass rush.... I’m not using the Mobile QB or first game excuse...

One of the biggest assets and keys last year to our SB run was the ability to sack the QB. We were crushing it non stop and making big stops with timely sacks..... that started to fade a bit at the end but came back a little....

Today.... non-existent.... I fear Nick’s devotions to perfect his pass rush over gaining additional strength may come back to hurt him/us, the combo of Jones/Givens/Thomas/Hyder Jr may be enough for run stops but hardly anything in the pass rush department, Ford is an injured ghost and Armstead’s first game to be our leader on defense to cover the loss of the faithful’s trusted DeFo Buckner, is a F+.

[GS Warriors 1]

To give up the biggest play of the game on a miscommunication against a future HOF WR is just plain bad.

Jimmy Garoppolo played about as bad as he has for this team, even though he had 0 turnovers.

We looked like the worst team in the division today, but not gonna panic. Just yet.

[G-Ant]

Niners about to be last in NFC West

We might as well tank the year and go for Trevor or Fields

[dr3am]

The only positive I can say is that we didn’t have Debo or that rookie that’s been doing good in practice.

[CrimsonCrew]

Cohn said in his game grades that Alexander was the primary spy on Murray. If that's true - and I'm not confident it is - it's very worrisome. I rarely saw him in the same frame as Murray on his scrambles.

[CrimsonCrew]

Gotta say, this was a rough day for the big FA signings. Juice had a huge catch and appeared to block pretty well, and McKinnon made some plays, but Richburg is hurt, Alexander was bad, Ford was non-existent, and Armstead (re-signing) made little to no impact. And this was against a Cardinal OL that is mediocre at best. All those guys - and especially Alexander and Ford - need to up their games quickly.

[CrimsonCrew]

I realize I'm obsessing, but it's what I do...

I really expected Reed and McKinnon to be more involved, and in more creative ways. I figured we'd see a lot of motion, maybe get two RBs on the field at the same time, or motion McKinnon out. There was a little of that, but not nearly as much as I expected. I would have liked some more creative play-calling out of Kyle to cover for our lack of receivers.

[Jikkle]

There were some worrisome aspects from this game but I didn't see anything to panic over.

I mean some reactions from the fandom act like the Cardinals put up 40 points on the defense. I mean they got a TD from a very short field and another one off a drive with very questionable calls from the refs. You're just not going to completely shut down a team and hold them under 10 points especially in today's NFL.

Defense could've done better though and I'm not sure what their plan for Hopkins was. You can't let the guy have 14 catches for 151 yards and that's something to could be a concern going forward.

Offensively was just bad all around. Jimmy G had one of those games were he looked nervous the entire game and I wonder if we'll ever see 2017 Jimmy G again and I wonder if he'll grow out of games where it seems like he has the jitters the whole time. It wasn't one of Shanahan's best called games and it feels like Vance Joseph has a good read on him.

But despite it being bad they convert a 4th and short on the goal line or Jimmy G hits KB at the end than they still win the game so it's not like it was horrible either.

And I'll give the offense the benefit of the doubt in that if you're starting Pettis and KB are your starting wideouts it's going to be somewhat of a struggle.

[CrimsonCrew]

There were some worrisome aspects from this game but I didn't see anything to panic over.

I mean some reactions from the fandom act like the Cardinals put up 40 points on the defense. I mean they got a TD from a very short field and another one off a drive with very questionable calls from the refs. You're just not going to completely shut down a team and hold them under 10 points especially in today's NFL.

Defense could've done better though and I'm not sure what their plan for Hopkins was. You can't let the guy have 14 catches for 151 yards and that's something to could be a concern going forward.

Offensively was just bad all around. Jimmy G had one of those games were he looked nervous the entire game and I wonder if we'll ever see 2017 Jimmy G again and I wonder if he'll grow out of games where it seems like he has the jitters the whole time. It wasn't one of Shanahan's best called games and it feels like Vance Joseph has a good read on him.

But despite it being bad they convert a 4th and short on the goal line or Jimmy G hits KB at the end than they still win the game so it's not like it was horrible either.

And I'll give the offense the benefit of the doubt in that if you're starting Pettis and KB are your starting wideouts it's going to be somewhat of a struggle.

The concerns on my part - so far as the D goes - is that they couldn't stop the things they knew they'd have to: Hopkins and Murray running. It seemed like they were powerless to stop those two things, and they should have been things they were working on stopping all offseason (at least once they added Hopkins).

Offense, as you say, this was one of those games that made me really question if Garoppolo would have have it. He's paid too well to just be a guy who can make on-time throws to open receivers in the 0-15 yard area of the field. And frankly, he wasn't even doing that yesterday. If that's the kind of guy he's going to be, let's pay Mullens half as much and go with him.

[CalamityX12]

Cohn said in his game grades that Alexander was the primary spy on Murray. If that's true - and I'm not confident it is - it's very worrisome. I rarely saw him in the same frame as Murray on his scrambles.

I’d be shocked if that’s true... sure as fooled me and perhaps 99% of the faithful if that were the case.... did not see him spying at all or anyone for that matter

[CalamityX12]

I realize I'm obsessing, but it's what I do...

I really expected Reed and McKinnon to be more involved, and in more creative ways. I figured we'd see a lot of motion, maybe get two RBs on the field at the same time, or motion McKinnon out. There was a little of that, but not nearly as much as I expected. I would have liked some more creative play-calling out of Kyle to cover for our lack of receivers.

I can understand the slow approach with McKinnon...

I just read today somewhere for the time being at least, Reed will be on a snap count of sorts.... while I under the reasons behind it, I hope it’s not majority of the season. Plus, would like him or Dwelley more involved with a wobbled Kittle

[CalamityX12]

There were some worrisome aspects from this game but I didn't see anything to panic over.

I mean some reactions from the fandom act like the Cardinals put up 40 points on the defense. I mean they got a TD from a very short field and another one off a drive with very questionable calls from the refs. You're just not going to completely shut down a team and hold them under 10 points especially in today's NFL.

Defense could've done better though and I'm not sure what their plan for Hopkins was. You can't let the guy have 14 catches for 151 yards and that's something to could be a concern going forward.

Offensively was just bad all around. Jimmy G had one of those games were he looked nervous the entire game and I wonder if we'll ever see 2017 Jimmy G again and I wonder if he'll grow out of games where it seems like he has the jitters the whole time. It wasn't one of Shanahan's best called games and it feels like Vance Joseph has a good read on him.

But despite it being bad they convert a 4th and short on the goal line or Jimmy G hits KB at the end than they still win the game so it's not like it was horrible either.

And I'll give the offense the benefit of the doubt in that if you're starting Pettis and KB are your starting wideouts it's going to be somewhat of a struggle.

The concerns on my part - so far as the D goes - is that they couldn't stop the things they knew they'd have to: Hopkins and Murray running. It seemed like they were powerless to stop those two things, and they should have been things they were working on stopping all offseason (at least once they added Hopkins).

Offense, as you say, this was one of those games that made me really question if Garoppolo would have have it. He's paid too well to just be a guy who can make on-time throws to open receivers in the 0-15 yard area of the field. And frankly, he wasn't even doing that yesterday. If that's the kind of guy he's going to be, let's pay Mullens half as much and go with him.

And that’s on Saleh for failing to stop or scheme against them.... we play mobile QBs every season, considering last season it was an Achilles heel, you’d think there was better game planning or something different to help curve the weakness

[CrimsonCrew]

I was thinking about some of the excuses - not saying they aren't legitimate in some cases - to defend Garoppolo's poor play. People, including myself, have touched on the fact that he hadn't played many games for his amount of time in the league. And that's certainly true. But the assumption with that is that he would improve as he got more experience. There is an alternative outcome: teams could get better at defending him as he put out more tape. And I think we've been seeing that in the last few games. Teams have improved at taking away what he likes to do, and he's been struggling to adjust.

We're not in a position to give up on Garoppolo that this point, but if he doesn't improve pretty dramatically over the next several games, I think there's a strong argument for seeing what Mullens can do. Granted Mullens is a FA this year, I think, and if he does get starting experience and show well, he'll be much more expensive to re-sign. Should still be a fair bit cheaper than Jimmy, though.

[tallglassowater]

I feel like we overachieved last year on both ends of the ball, now teams across the league have figured out our defense. You can’t be considered an elite defense when you can’t make stops when it matters. The only positive I can see is that we didn’t have Debo playing but then again he really didn’t shine until the second half of the season when we had Sanders.

He was also a rookie last year so it's understandable he wouldn't come out of the gates dominating. He was a difference maker the second half of last season and the playoffs, so hopefully he continues with that, but foot injuries are always scary.

[tallglassowater]

There were some worrisome aspects from this game but I didn't see anything to panic over.

I mean some reactions from the fandom act like the Cardinals put up 40 points on the defense. I mean they got a TD from a very short field and another one off a drive with very questionable calls from the refs. You're just not going to completely shut down a team and hold them under 10 points especially in today's NFL.

Defense could've done better though and I'm not sure what their plan for Hopkins was. You can't let the guy have 14 catches for 151 yards and that's something to could be a concern going forward.

Offensively was just bad all around. Jimmy G had one of those games were he looked nervous the entire game and I wonder if we'll ever see 2017 Jimmy G again and I wonder if he'll grow out of games where it seems like he has the jitters the whole time. It wasn't one of Shanahan's best called games and it feels like Vance Joseph has a good read on him.

But despite it being bad they convert a 4th and short on the goal line or Jimmy G hits KB at the end than they still win the game so it's not like it was horrible either.

And I'll give the offense the benefit of the doubt in that if you're starting Pettis and KB are your starting wideouts it's going to be somewhat of a struggle.

The concerns on my part - so far as the D goes - is that they couldn't stop the things they knew they'd have to: Hopkins and Murray running. It seemed like they were powerless to stop those two things, and they should have been things they were working on stopping all offseason (at least once they added Hopkins).

Offense, as you say, this was one of those games that made me really question if Garoppolo would have have it. He's paid too well to just be a guy who can make on-time throws to open receivers in the 0-15 yard area of the field. And frankly, he wasn't even doing that yesterday. If that's the kind of guy he's going to be, let's pay Mullens half as much and go with him.

And that’s on Saleh for failing to stop or scheme against them.... we play mobile QBs every season, considering last season it was an Achilles heel, you’d think there was better game planning or something different to help curve the weakness

I feel like the 49ers defense should be specially equipped to handle running QB's because of how often they played them the last couple seasons. Especially with how much they play Seattle and the improvisation Wilson has when he is on the move.

[CalamityX12]

The concerns on my part - so far as the D goes - is that they couldn't stop the things they knew they'd have to: Hopkins and Murray running. It seemed like they were powerless to stop those two things, and they should have been things they were working on stopping all offseason (at least once they added Hopkins).

Offense, as you say, this was one of those games that made me really question if Garoppolo would have have it. He's paid too well to just be a guy who can make on-time throws to open receivers in the 0-15 yard area of the field. And frankly, he wasn't even doing that yesterday. If that's the kind of guy he's going to be, let's pay Mullens half as much and go with him.

And that’s on Saleh for failing to stop or scheme against them.... we play mobile QBs every season, considering last season it was an Achilles heel, you’d think there was better game planning or something different to help curve the weakness

I feel like the 49ers defense should be specially equipped to handle running QB's because of how often they played them the last couple seasons. Especially with how much they play Seattle and the improvisation Wilson has when he is on the move.

Exactly... it’s very discouraging to be not able to have a heads up or inside track on how to defend such mobile QBs when you face two quality ones 4x a season at least....

[a8bil]

The over-reactions in this thread are humorous.

Perspective: The Cardinals showed signs of improvement last year, almost beat the 49ers in the second game, and added one of the best wide receivers in football.

49ers came into the game with injuries on the O-Line, no first string WRs on the field, Kittle injured, Coleman limited because of SCA, McKinnon back for his first game in 3 years, Sherman apparently hobbled...and yet, the 49ers barely lost this game. People need to settle down. Rome is not burning.