Observations from today...

[Gump84]

Just a few observations I had:

Why does Gibbs insist on trying to run it up the gut when we have 1st and goal from the 3 yard line? It happened 3 seperate times. Portis was only getting 1 or 2 yards a carry, so why not try to hit Cooley in the endzone. Why run on 1st and 2nd down every single time and then attempt a pass on 3rd down? It was mind boggling and resulted in 3 TDs turning into 3 FGs. So, if you would, that would have been 38-16. Imagine that.

Why do the refs hate us so much? Not to be THAT picky, but we had another couple questionable calls go against us. Firstly, that call on Smoot during the 49ers 1st drive. They should have had to punt but instead got a 1st down. Eventually, as we know, they scored. Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but what was the official looking at on that Sean Taylor "forward pass". As far as I saw, he reached his hand forward, and threw the ball backwards or at very worst, parallel to his position, which is of course classified as a lateral.

Anyway, when all was said a done, the Skins played a great game today. It was a great team effort and we should be in for a treat next season.

[riskus]

i hate that we never try to run to the corners when we are inside the 5. Its always the same crap. I would love to see them spread the field with 3 recievers and then run the ball when they are that close.

[smoot]

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but what was the official looking at on that Sean Taylor "forward pass". As far as I saw, he reached his hand forward, and threw the ball backwards or at very worst, parallel to his position, which is of course classified as a lateral.
if you are in front of the line of scrimage you cannot hand the ball forwards like he did, it is still considered a forward pass even if it is never in the air

[Gump84]

It doesn't matter where your hand is, it matters the direction that the ball travels and from what I saw, it never moved forward. Therefore, it's not a forward pass.

[smoot]

It doesn't matter where your hand is, it matters the direction that the ball travels and from what I saw, it never moved forward. Therefore, it's not a forward pass.
actually he stuck his arm out to lamar, lamar was standing to the side and slightly in front of him and since lamar was in front they called it a forward pass

[ConradCountry]

Our offesnse got bitched in the running game by a bad San Fran Defense. That needs to be fixed.

[Gump84]

San Fransisco actually has the #3 run defense in the NFL, giving up only 3.9 yards per carry. Granted Portis got held to less than that, but I wouldn't necessarly say it's THAT bad of a problem.

[jporterweb]

First of all...

I've been complaining about the penalties all year. The announcers kept talking about all we had to do was score 21 points a game. Unfortuanately, There was a lot more then 1 game where a bogus penalty kept that from happening, or gave the opposing team a score to put it out of reach for Brunell. It's been getting better, but that call was the worst call I've ever seen. Smoot's hands hit him in the chest, no where near his face.

Now, the "forward lateral". First let me say I'm getting sick of these announcers constantly defending the referees as doing a great job. First stupid fox guy(can't think of the name) says (paraphrasing) 'Remember, it's based on where the ball leaves the players hand' Then says it's an obvious forward lateral. If you watch, Taylor plays it perfectly, he stretches out so that his hand and the ball are in front of Lamar. Then with the tip of the ball in his palm, and the back of his hand facing the endzone, he makes the handoff. By that definition, It was not a forward lateral, pass, whatever the heck you want to call it.

Now some positives. I was glad to see us finally take to the air a few times. Especially at the end of the half. Every other game this season where we've had that oppurtunity, we just walk into half time. This time we tried for more. Sure, we didn't get it but the only way you are going to make those type of passes connect is to throw them from time to time. Ramsey's deep balls were off today. Why? Because he sucks? NO, because he hasn't thrown deep all year.

Now the run game. Give the ball to Cooley on a handoff. Let the boy power it in. Give it to Betts, Give it to a power guy. HELL Push Ramsey up the middle from two yards out, but Portis is not a power guy, and he does not need to take that ball up the middle against a completly stacked line.

Overall, good game against a bad team. Playcalling was much quicker this time and it showed. However, the play calling was horrid in the red zone. Ramsey seems to be becoming more mobile, moving a little smoother out of the pocket. Not the speed of Brunell of course, but moving nontheless.

Offense - B
Defense - A+
Special Teams - D-
Coaching B-
Skins Fans in the Stands - A+ ( I swear there were more skins fans then niners fans)

[JoeDaSchmoe]

I'm gonna make another thread purely about the running game, so I'll refrain from commenting on that for the moment.

As for the penalty, the NFL's rule on laterals is thus: A lateral is considered to have moved forward if the ball has moved closer to the opponent's end zone from the point at which it left the original player's hand to the point at which it was caught. The bodies do not matter at all. This was why the Music City Miracle as ruled legal. Apparently, handoffs made while the ball is stretched out forward are also considered illegial, which is why today's touchdown was called back. However, the problem I have with that call is that, looking at the replay, you can see that it was not, in fact, a handoff. Taylor tried to make it a handoff, but the ball didn't get there, and he had to toss it a few inches through the air. From my judgement, the ball traveled sideways. It did not move forward. Marshall's body was in front of Taylor's, yes, but as stated earlier, that doesn't matter. Only the movement of the ball does.

[CamLwalk]

Anybody catch Chris Myers' lame joke about Taylor? Kid get smacked in the mouth hard enough to need stitches (then gets right back in the game) and Myers' makes an idiotic crack about 'stiff upper lip'....yeah fu Chris.

[Skinz4lyfe]

First of all...

Skins Fans in the Stands - A+ ( I swear there were more skins fans then niners fans)


Yeah, that was pretty unbelievable. When the Redskins scored there was such a roar from the crowd it was amazing. I know the section I was in was mostly Redskins. I thought I was at FedEx field or something.

[CamLwalk]

Here's something I bet you didn't notice. The 49ers played the entire first quarter short a cheerleader!!


Cheerleader shenanigans: Apparently, cheerleaders are not above reproach. Field reporter Mike Shumann of KGO (810 AM) noticed a cheerleader sitting in the Monster Park dugout in the first quarter. When Shumann asked if she was injured, she said no. She then explained that she was late and had to sit out the first quarter.

nice stuff about Ray Brown too... (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/a/2004/12/19/SPGAAAEBN11.DTL)

[openallnight]

Portis can not break tackles. I actually decided to count the number of broken tackles yesterday. By my count Portis had 38 touches and a whopping total of 4 broken tackles!

[GolfFreak]

The running game needs work, but what else is new. We've always seemed to have problems putting it in for a score in the red zone. I was pretty upset that 3 times down there on netted 3 FGs. We need to punch it in, we got lucky.

[RedHokieSkin]

Portis can not break tackles. I actually decided to count the number of broken tackles yesterday. By my count Portis had 38 touches and a whopping total of 4 broken tackles!

I was looking for a place to comment about this without starting a new thread. This is as good a place as any.

I counted a lot more than 4 times where "Baby" Portis went down without ever having been touched. I know he's not a "power" back. I know that ball carriers often go down quickly to avoid a hit. But, I have never witnessed someone more scared of being tackled than Portis was yesterday. (Except maybe Todd Pinkston the past 2 weeks now...but at least he actually had something to be scared about)

There were several plays where he rolled over like a little baby, literally in the fetal position. There was one play that looked like he could have picked up 3-4 more yards if he took on a tackler rather than jogging out of bounds.

Every play was a demonstration of his cowardice. I don't care whe he is, if he doesn't go all out on every play, he needs to sit on the bench for a little while. Let Betts get some carries since he has some guts.

I guess it's possible Gibbs told him to just go down rather than get hurt. Why risk it? Would he have done this? Doubtful...

[hail2skins]

i hate that we never try to run to the corners when we are inside the 5. Its always the same crap. I would love to see them spread the field with 3 recievers and then run the ball when they are that close.

One problem with hitting the corners is the defense has less field to cover so they can get there faster. Plus, if Clinton doesn't see anything he reverses and normally runs backward and loses yards.

[openallnight]

Who screwed up their route on that long completion to Gardner? Was it Coles or Gardener? It looked terrible.