Poor Coaching Decisions

I touch on this topic, and more, in my latest post: http://wp.me/p29VCs-aM

But, I wanted to highlight one of my biggest beefs from yesterday's game. MM's over-aggressiveness cost us 3 points at the end of the 1st half and got us off to a poor start in the 2nd half. At the end of the 1st half, we got the ball back with about 50 seconds left, down 6. I like the fact we didn't take a knee, but the first two plays didn't get us going. Now with around 30 seconds left, and after a short completion on 2nd down, still well short of the first down marker, MM calls a timeout. At first, I had figured SF called it. Coaching error number 1. Next play, Rodgers doesn't see anything and instead of just sliding inbounds to keep the clock running - and force SF to use it's last timeout - Rodgers throws the ball away. Remember, he was running away from the pocket and had someone applying light pressure. Plenty of time/space to slide and keep the clock running. MM should have made sure Rodgers knew to keep the clock running at all costs (or Rodgers should have known that himself). Either way, coaching/player error number 2. Then, after the punt, Kaepernick takes the field - the backup QB, only known for his running ability at this point in his career. So what do we do? Play deep, send three rushers that easily get discarded and Kaepernick scampers to what turns out to be Akers field goal range. It was a play eerily similar to Bradshaw getting a ton of yardage at the end of the first half in the playoff loss. How the players were so unprepared for Kaepernick, or at a minumum the coaching staff could not see that coming once he takes the field - heck, take a timeout once you see him on the field (I believe we still had one) - is unacceptable. Coaching error number 3.

And then, to start the second half. The Pack go 3-and-out. On 3rd-and-1, MM goes for bomb that was well covered because the 49ers don't respect our running game - and why would they - and weren't biting on any play-action. We had yet to establish any rhythm on offense. We needed to get some first downs and get going. I like aggressive play-calling. But, only at the right spots. That was not one of them.

Really? Not sure hindsight plays any role in that critique. I'd give you if we complete the long bomb it would have been great. But, the analysis of why it was too aggressive isn't flawed. And even if the 49ers didn't convert that long field goal, calling that timeout wasn't the right thing with how poorly our offense was playing, how good that defense was playing, and how far we still had to go to get into FG range. We got the ball to start the second half. Let's get in the locker room and make some adjustments.

That third and one play particularly galled me. I wanted to go through the TV screen after Mike and AR.

Regarding the Kaepernick play, there was an article they would be ready for him if he tried the wildcat. Guess that running threat didn't get recognized on special teams by Slocum.

Yup, Rodgers not sliding on 3-1?? C'Mon Man! Heat of the moment thing. Did he lose track of the down? It was dumb anyway you look at it. Cost us 3 points when you add in the turnstile D.

And our Defense still sucks anyway you look at it. Yeah, I know it's a work in progress but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck right now. Bright spot was Matthews 2 sacks and big hit (which was a questionable flag imo). Other than that, I can't remember anything really spectacular on D. Except them being turnstiles for the running game of the 9'ers and KC the week before that in preseason. Looks like that's the formula right now to beat the Pack. Run...keep Rodgers and the Offense on the bench. Burn clock.

The Rodgers Interception that was converted for the TD is what really irked me. That was Farvetacular. Did a player screw up a route, or just another dumb play? Put us back in a deep hole.

The sloppy reffing really bothered me too. The late late flags made it feel like a jobbing even if it was legit. And it was a distraction as it felt like the players were telling the refs when to throw the flag. Or they were looking around asking for a flag every down.

The Rodgers Interception that was converted for the TD is what really irked me. That was Farvetacular. Did a player screw up a route, or just another dumb play? Put us back in a deep hole.


If you notice on that play, the coverage ALREADY had their hands on Jennings before the pick! The 9ers should have had about 15 PI penalties. I counted about 5 different plays where the dback/lb for the 9ers did not even have their head turned toward the ball. In most instances, that is called.

Screw 3 points, we lost by 8.

At the end yes. But, if they don't call that time-out, we can safely remove 3 points and only trail 6 when we get the ball to start the half. If we sustain a drive and get any points on it, we either narrow the lead or take the lead. I know it's "if" and another "if". But, those coaching decisions played an important part in losing that game.

it kinda seems like they were holding out some plays in the playbook in case we do meet the 49ers again in the playoff

^ don't know about that. Most NFL playbooks have anywhere from 500-700 offensive plays. No way they even saw a fraction of what we have

I did see a lot of replays where the DB was definately holding on to our guys. The refs weren't good period but we definately didn't need the refs helping them and really giving our receivers no chance to get any separation. We already couldn't run the ball. It actually looked like the old days where the DB's used to put their hands all over the receivers.

How about the LT for the 49'rs? He jumped or flinched at least 3 times and never got called. Hell, one play our D guys were pointing at him he jumped so early and they never did throw a flag. How can you not see a LT jump? A big mass squatting right there in the open.

The roughing call was correct. He followed through and jumped on Smith's back well after the ball was gone.

Late flags? The only reason they felt late was because Aikman was constantly looking for things to bitch about. If he hadn't said, "Well, gee... that was a late flag." every time one was thrown, nobody would have thought about it and most of the ones he complained about weren't really late anyway. Late flags are part of football and are certainly nothing new in the NFL either. How many times have you heard commentators say, "There was a late flag on the play..." and no big deal is made of it? I can hear Al Michaels in my head saying it right now. (Yes, Al Michaels lives in my head)

I saw that happen once, but not 3 times.

Maybe not 3 times on the LT alone, but there was a sequence on one scoring drive where there was at least 3 false starts missed, including 2 on the even bigger DT-turned-FB. It got kind of ridiculous on that sequence. And frankly, you wonder whether SF would have converted that drive into 7 had those false starts been properly called - even with our porous defense trying to stop them on 3rd down!

I'm not sure what game you were watching, but nobody touched Jennings until a full second after the ball was intercepted. I just looked at it and there's no way there was anything close to PI on that play.



Legitimate gripes about officiating are one thing, but there's no need to make stuff up.

Which drive was it? I have Gamepass and I can go back and look at that drive.

EDIT:
Okay, went and looked... the missed one was the first play after 2 minute warning. Yes, it was a missed call. Then two plays later, there is an iffy one that looked simultaneous in real time. Probably a good non-call if you like the officials to err on the side of fewer penalties, which I personally prefer. It was only when I used frame advance on my DVR that I could tell. It looks like he started to move 2 frames before the ball starts to move, which would be about 0.06 seconds early. Even knowing that, it's still hard to tell for sure in real time. I couldn't find the 3rd one you referred to.

Wow. Didn't expect this amount of breakdown. Impressive. I had actually thought it was a second-half drive, but I could obviously be mistaken. I remember a play where the DT-turned-FB started to block down well before the snap. Wait, now that I think about it more, they actually may have called it - because it was so egregious. And I think they then completed the TD to Davis, who promptly got rejected by the cross-bar. In any event, the long and short is the refs were terrible. Terrible for both teams. They didn't lose the game for us by any measure, but they certainly had a negative impact on the overall game that cannot be overlooked.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they did call that and I think they may have mentioned the one from earlier.

Yet it's okay to overlook the negative impact on the overall game that the regular officials have had over the years? Some of these crews have been very good. I can think of at least 3 or 4 regular crews who have been consistently bad for years, but they're still around. Why? Because the damn NFLRA makes it very difficult to get rid of them.

Look, the replacement officials made inconsistent calls all day long, missed some obvious fouls, and called some fouls that really weren’t. They even awarded a fourth time out to Seattle, jeopardizing the Cardinals hard fought victory. Any objective observer might conclude that they stunk. Thus I’m forced to conclude that the NFL should continue to keep the referees locked out since there is no discernible difference in the caliber of officiating.

I'm fine letting the replacements stay. If the real ref's returned today it would only cut down on half of the bad calls

Actually, the regulars are out practice. I think they'd be worse today. I say let the Pete Morellis and Walt Colemans watch from home.

The officials should be wallpaper and basically incognito. The ebb and flow of that game was interuppted by a # of bad calls and they were not all one way.

But I want to get back to something. I'll admit I didn't see Kapernick on the field as I went for another beer and thought the half was going to run out. But didn't he come on the field when they went into punt formation? If so then I reject the defense that we had prepared for him. The article that was posted and which I remembered was that they were prepared for him on offense if he came on the field???

They get 3 points there, keeps Akers from kicking his 3 points...thats a 2 point game right there

Went right over your head didn't it... Personally, the longer we keep these refs, the more a standard is established for acceptable missed/bad calls. That being said, we should commit to the current refs and groom them into the perfect officials that don't make mistakes. We should use them to create a new standard and a new system that can be held accountable for the calls it makes. Let the best of the old refs bend to our new way of thinking and join the new system we create. If we settle things with the old refs, we settle for the same lousy production we have seen in past years, only made worse because now they have something to be compared to "You know the refs seem to be worse than ever before, but at least they're better than those replacement clowns."