No I'm saying players that substitute for other players already play every game, just in different roles. Expect for the QB. The backup QB is a unique position of holding a clipboard. Unfair? What the fuck? Where did your moron eyes read that one? I'm saying the 49ers are a special case in that they can get their clipboard holder into the game plan. They have a fantastic option QB on their roster. Good for them. Almost every other team doesn't have that luxury. Almost every other team has a backup QB that's essentially a lesser option at QB. Kaepernick might not be the lesser option for the fucking 5.5 yards per rush attempt 49ers, therefore they can afford to give him snaps when it counts and have him run the option play and actually score. Ryan Mallet isn't going to run an option play and go for a TD. Neither is almost every other backup QB. That's why there used to be a special rule for a second clipboard holder. Nobody wanted them to count on the roster because they were useless.
Part of it is the play calling; if your QB is getting murdered (and the Cards QB was this and pretty much every game so far this year) you need to get quick outs or any quick passing play period. With Fitzgerald being double covered most plays (which is what I'd do) the other guys have to get separation quickly, which isn't happening apparently. I'm surprised the Cards didn't run the ball more in this game. Stephens-Howling isn't some hairy-assed chancer but he's not on anyone's list of good RB's. That line was doing decent blocking on run plays. Plus, running it is going to make the defense take some gap responsablity rather than pinning their ears back and flat out charging at the guy getting the snap. I only caught this game on Red Zone (so I'm only seeing plays, not the flow of the game) but that o-line looked David Carr era Texans bad on pass blocking. No QB around would have done much better in this game.
Arizona isn't much of a running team this year. They are at the bottom of the league in most rushing stats, including attempts and yards. It's too bad because the Cardinals have a pretty good defense. They just can't run the ball, don't have good QB's, and their offensive line isn't very good. Which is a level of failure that should cost some people their jobs, especially people who've been there for several years and thus created the mess.
The running game of the Cards has been improving over the weeks, despite losing our top two backs (Beanie comes back next week). However, LaRod isn't a powerback, and running on every play doesn't result in a positive (too many times he was tackled in the backfield). We needed plays by the QBs and there were some to be had, they just missed them (which is why they need to be up against the wall). Really, though, while Potter and Massie are doing terrible (hey, late round rookies), the pass protection has been better than it had been weeks 4 - 9. Despite being under pressure, there were times when they had an open man and simply missed. You can overthrow Fitzgerald only so many times...
Smith was not having a spectacular year before he got hurt. If Harbaugh just wanted to keep the Saints guessing as to which QB he'd start this week, he could have easily said "it depends on how Alex is feeling." Instead, he went out of his way to give the impression the job might be up for grabs. If I was Alex Smith, the message I'd have taken from that is that he better step it up when he returns or he might get the hook.
I'd call his season pretty good, though. I don't know what you want, but a 70% completion rate and a QB rating over 100 is more then most teams get out of the position. For what the 49ers seem to want out of their QBs Smith has been a perfect fit.
Exactly. Alex Smith isn't Tom Brady so he isn't having a spectacular season but he's having a damn fine year. My assumption has always been the QB job was always up for grabs but is Alex's job to lose. As long as they were winning and Alex was healthy he was going to be the starter. But with Smith getting injured and Kaep getting a chance to showcase his talents he may have won the job now especially if Smith is out another game and Kaep does the exact same thing again. If Alex is healthy he is probably starting and we'll have a full blown QB controversy in the offseason unless he leads the Niners to a Super Bowl victory or close.
Here's how a 49ers blog described Smith's performance so far this year, giving him a B-. I don't know about you guys, but I've watched most 49ers games this year and think that's pretty accurate: he's played 8 games this year and hasn't played well in 4 of them. That's not very good. But you know, like, completion percentage. Whatever.
I'd expect the 49ers to expect to go to the Super Bowl this year. What I don't expect is them telling their starting QB that he's out with five games left in the season. I'm more inclined to believe that they'll insert Kaepernick at various points and give him scripted plays to run, not just Wildcat anymore, but continue to feature Smith as their starter. Some analyst noticed that Kaepernick was at his absolute best against the Bears early first half and early second half, when he was going with the prepared scripted plays and had about 50% completions in the second and fourth quarters.
I think you're misinterpreting acceptance as desire. Harbaugh has done a great job maximizing Smith's ability and minimizing his mistakes. Smith can't make sight adjustments post-snap, so Harbaugh put in hot routes on every passing play so he knows where to throw the ball if he gets blitzed before the play starts. They also run a system where two plays are called in the huddle, to compensate for Smith's inability to call his own audibles. Obviously, those adjustments have worked and Smith has become an efficient, largely mistake-free passer where in previous years he was a liability. However, that doesn't mean that all Harbaugh wants from the QB position is a guy who doesn't negatively impact the team. The last guy he coached was Andrew Luck, after all. I think the Niners are in the same situation as the Ravens were 10 years ago. They won a Super Bowl with Dilfer playing conservative and letting their defense and running game win games for them, but they were never sold on Dilfer. Instead they brought in Elvis Grbac almost immediately to try to open up the offense. The Niners have been running a conservative, ball-protection offense because that is the best you can get with Alex Smith. That doesn't mean it's what Harbaugh wants. Heck, the gameplan on Monday was pretty much exactly the same as against the Giants--throw on first down and keep the defense guessing. Kaepernick executed it to perfection, when they tried it with Smith it was a disaster. There's a reason Harbaugh traded up to draft a QB in his first draft as coach. He knows that QB is the most important position on the team, and it's easier to win with a QB who can compensate for deficiencies elsewhere on the team than it is to build a team that can compensate for a deficient QB.
Well, sure. There are better QB's than Alex Smith. The question remains why Harbaugh would want to commit to Kaepernick right now. It's not September anymore. If they're absolutely sure that, yes, switching quarterback right now will still take them to the Super Bowl, then they'll go for it. That's one hell of a call to make when pretty much everyone thinks that you'll get to the NFC Championship game with your starting QB. I still say that they'll benefit from Saints not knowing who is starting on Sunday, they might even start Kaepernick and put Smith in there after the first two drives or whatever.
Because Harbaugh wants to win the Super Bowl, and he knows that they are going to face teams like the Bears, Vikings and Giants in the playoffs and not the Jets, Bills and Cardinals. As was mentioned above, Smith has only played well in half of his games, and the rest of the team was only able to win in spite of him against the Jets and Seahawks. Kaepernick threw for more yards in his first start than Smith has in any game this season except against the Bills. And he did it against one of the best defenses in the league. Harbaugh makes the change now because it gives them a better chance to win in January, and because the concussion gives him an excuse to extend the trial period before making the change permanent. And also because looking at season averages hides the fact Arizona is the only good defense that Smith has played well against. Even against St Louis, Smith was outscored by a touchdown and Kaepernick brought the team back to tie.
Apparently, you and Sluggo are absolutely right. That's a legacy decision for Harbaugh, right there. And considering how the Saints D looked against other young athletic QB's, one hard to argue against. I still think it's one hell of a gutsy call, but that's why Harbaugh is paid whatever it is he's paid, to make those decisions.
So, it's official. Kaepernick is the starter on Sunday, and Harbaugh reportedly said it's not related to Alex Smith's health. Ironically, since the Saints have one of the weakest run defenses in the league, it may not matter that much who starts at QB. The game plan is probably going to be centered around Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter pounding the ball up the middle for 5+ yards a carry.
Fun/interesting fact about the New Orleans D: They have stopped opponents with a first-and-goal from the five yard line or shorter from scoring touchdowns ten times this season. As Spagnulo keeps saying, now we only need to do this on the 50 yard line as well.
Lions definitely got jobbed by the calls but they had it in their hands at the end. Unfortunately, their 55 year old kicker couldn't get the bounce. Now if the Cowboys will lose, it will be a perfect day!
So apparently there's a rule that if you throw a challenge flag on an automatic review, you not only get a 15 yards penalty, they also don't do the challenge? This is a terrible rule. You don't award a team points after a flagrant unnecessary roughness, or for pass interference in the endzone, but you do give them a touchdown for throwing the challenge flag at the wrong time? That's just ridiculous.
It's moronic that an NFL rule says if you throw a flag on a TD (which used to be the only time you could) then suddenly fairness and the integrity of play no longer matter. However there is no question that Walt Coleman is biased against Detroit (or for Houston) as his interpretation is all that matters and he could have interpreted the spirit differently. Probably the clearest instance of a ref needing to get fired. Not because he made mistakes, every ref makes bad calls, but because he willfully influenced the game.
Indeed, it's a ludicrous, ridiculous rule. It actually came up in last week's Atlanta game, and I couldn't believe it even existed. I could see someone making an argument for the 15 yard penalty, but cancelling out a review is an over-the-top stupidity tax for throwing a challenge flag on a play that's already getting reviewed. That said, how dumb is Schwartz? Why is he throwing the challenge flag at all? He's a head coach in the NFL and doesn't know that all scoring plays are reviewed, and throwing the flag is not only unneccessary but a 15 yard penalty? If he just keeps the flag in his pocket, none of this mess happens. When the Texans had that apparent interception in OT that actually hit the ground, I was desperately hoping they would cut a sideline shot of a bunch of Lions assistants tackling Schwartz to stop him from repeating his mistake. DON'T DO IT AGAIN JIM! SOMEONE GET HIM!!
Good point, Schwartz absolutely does know the rules, because in his first game against Harbaugh (that culminated in The Handshake) he was strutting around on the sideline taunting Harbaugh for trying to challenge a non-reviewable play. So in that respect, it couldn't've happened to a better guy.
The Skins pass defense absolutely fell to pieces in the 2nd half. Amazing how different they looked first to second half. But that doesn't overshow the fact that in the end, the Skins have RG3...who is ridiculous as a rookie QB.
Jesus Buck and Aikman are stupid. "Why didn't he just score?" Because now all they have to do is kneel and win, dipshits. He just sealed it in the safest way possible. (edited to fix iphone-induced typoes)
That first half made me think it was Christmas. I mean, why else would the Jets keep gifting the Pats the ball?
So what's the over/under on how many minutes of continuous laughter Omniscia had during the 2nd quarter? (Real minutes; elapsed game time was 52 seconds)
None. I was socializing. Damn it. I did cheer on occasion, though, when I could steal a glance at the TV. Also, stop kneeling, guys! I need Hernandez to score a few points!
