Zadarius Smith: "We weren't ready"

[McKnowledge]

Matt LaFleur is a ********* and should have been fired straight away after the loss. It is totally unacceptable that a coach in his FIRST season who got THAT far should be allowed to keep his job. The guy is a complete jerk.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

I guess you`re not too familiar with sarcasm ???

 

[Pugger]

There is no excuse for not being prepared for the NFC Championship. There is no excuse for being embarrassed once again; not being prepared for a rematch against a team that bludgeoned you when both teams were at the top of the NFC. However, I'm glad he said it. It was very revealing. Most of the blame should rest on the shoulders of HC LaFleur, DC Pettine and rest of the staff.

The immediacy of the moment and importance of the game doesn't appear to have been effectively communicated to the team. There weren't nearly any adjustments for the NFC Championship in all three phases. In all three phases, the play-calling was predictable and lacked imagination. There wasn't any gumption to seize momentum on the first drive and any confidence quickly subsided with under-performing drives that consistently stalled.

Davantae Adams and Aaron Jones were the only players with any fight in them. Thoroughly out-coached and out-classed, LaFleur has a lot of work to do. Green Bay needs players with more passion.

You can play with all the passion you have but if the guy on the other side is the better player and more athletic I don't know what more a coach can do. The job this offseason for management is to improve this roster with better players that won't be exposed when playing a team like SF next season. The 9ers did this to us in 2 separate games so it wasn't just preparedness. KC will now have to contend with this team today. Yes, we beat them but they didn't have Mahomes in that game.

 

[Pugger]

I was watching something where they were breaking down some plays from the NFCCG. I remember one where they showed how the 49ers spread out the defense with some pre-snap motion, it struck me as very clever. I mean, yeah I'm just a casual so maybe that's why I'm impressed but damned if the Packers didn't just fall right into what the 9ers were trying to do: They left a big hole in the middle of the field and Garappolo threw right into it.

Contrast that to a clip I saw the week before after the GB-Seattle game, where they asked LeFleur about how SF had beaten them so bad the first game. And he said something like "I don't know, I'll have to look at some film and see what happened". I just can't help but think that, aside from the obvious talent difference, Shanahan just took him (and Pettine) to school.

Every team does that to us. It is shocking how many times in the last few years when the middle was wide open and we'd get killed. This is why so many want Gute to find an ILB who can cover that area.

 

[Pugger]

AAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Smith isn't going to say "those guys are so much better than us so they walked all over us" in public. Neither will the coaches - say it in public.

 

[McKnowledge]

I guess you`re not too familiar with sarcasm ???

I am. Are you?

 

[McKnowledge]

You can play with all the passion you have but if the guy on the other side is the better player and more athletic I don't know what more a coach can do. The job this offseason for management is to improve this roster with better players that won't be exposed when playing a team like SF next season. The 9ers did this to us in 2 separate games so it wasn't just preparedness. KC will now have to contend with this team today. Yes, we beat them but they didn't have Mahomes in that game.

I can see that. I think at key skill positions, especially RB, the 49ers are more athletic and faster. However, the biggest difference I saw in both games was the physicality and toughness the 49ers play with. That is something that must be instilled from the top. Toughness, both mentally and physically must be emphasized next season. GB was pretty much all finesse this season.

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

I am. Are you?

Yes mate, thanks

 

[melvin dangerr]

Not ready Z? You guys get paid a lot of money not to be ready..

 

[rmontro]

Every team does that to us. It is shocking how many times in the last few years when the middle was wide open and we'd get killed. This is why so many want Gute to find an ILB who can cover that area.

This wasn't simply a case of the guys couldn't cover though. They were drawn out of their area by the motion to create a hole SF could capitalize on. This kind of play design by Shanahan was probably the reason there were such huge holes for the 49ers to run through, or at least a large part of it.

Not ready Z? You guys get paid a lot of money not to be ready..

Yeah, I mean you could pay me and I could not be ready too.

 

[Sky King]

They weren't ready. That's not untrue in the least.

How much of that can be attributed to players who lack the talent to stop the run and pass or to the coaches who lack the philosophical wherewithal to challenge the next iteration of NFL offensive philosophy? It's already alive and well in SF and that's why they got to play in the SB. It will always be both although I would guess that "blame" is around 60/40 assigned mostly to coaching, maybe more.

The emerging offenses of the NFL have passed Pettine by. Can there really be any doubt about that now? Pettine's defense could not stop SF and they made it look easy getting past the Packer's woefully outsmarted and outplayed D. Twice. What's troublesome is that the 49er offense was able to dictate the outcome against so very little resistance no matter what the Packers tried on D. They had no answers for either the run or the pass. They dictated both games but in different ways. Ya gotta stop something and you can't say you stopped the pass when the other team did not even need to pass to demolish you.

The latest game reminded me of the Kaepernick embarrassment. There was a TV shot during that game of Capers up in the booth. After yet another Kaepernick option for big yardage, Capers pounded his fist on the table purely out of frustration. He had no answers. None. He was ill-prepared for the option play and, mercifully, that game ended before Kaepernick could zoom to 300 yards rushing. That one was all on coaching.

It was not much different for Pettine in the last 49er game. Adjusting his philosophy to fit contemporary offenses by next season will be critical, at least if the North is not really enough. You can be sure that other teams will try doing the same things that SF did and with even more refinements than what was seen last season, especially when they play SF yet again.

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

I am. Are you?

A misunderstanding for which I apologise.

 

[mongoosev]

Do you need to talk this through ??? We have trained staff......

I bet there a many of them. LOL

 

[tynimiller]

Davantae Adams and Aaron Jones were the only players with any fight in them.

I agreed with nearly everything, but this is just not true...however I get the point you were attempting this would drive home.

 

[PackAttack12]

Take Z at his word...they were not ready to play. I'm not sure why we're trying to make excuses for the words that came directly from the leader of the defense's mouth. Were we out schemed? Yes. Were we physically overmatched? To a point. But we were also most definitely outworked and got beat by the better team that actually came ready to play.

To another poster's point earlier in the thread, the 49ers are not 4+ touchdowns better than the Packers with all things being equal. I said it immediately after the game: absolutely no one showed up 100% ready to play.

Why that happened? I'm not really sure. But for all of the issues schematically, let's also not sugar coat it. We got our ***** kicked. And there's a big time effort and physicality issue that we have absolute control over.

Likely wouldn't have resulted in a win, but if heads weren't shoved up *****, we don't get wiped out like that.

I appreciate Z coming out and laying the blame on himself as the leader, but talk is cheap. You also said the same **** after the first 49ers game.

Do something about it.

 

[rmontro]

You can play with all the passion you have but if the guy on the other side is the better player and more athletic I don't know what more a coach can do.

Well, it appeared to me that we did try to throw more short passes, which is what everybody said we had to do - because our O line wasn't going to hold up long. Unfortunately, it seemed like our receivers got tackled immediately after catching the ball. So I don't know what our YAC was, but it seemed like no matter what approach we took, we were losing.

Coaching isn't just about play calling though, it's also about play design and player development.

 

[Pugger]

Well, it appeared to me that we did try to throw more short passes, which is what everybody said we had to do - because our O line wasn't going to hold up long. Unfortunately, it seemed like our receivers got tackled immediately after catching the ball. So I don't know what our YAC was, but it seemed like no matter what approach we took, we were losing.

Coaching isn't just about play calling though, it's also about play design and player development.

SF is a good tackling team, no question about it. We could learn a thing or two about that...