Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
As I had said throughout the week, I was very curious to see what tricks Greg Roman had up his sleeve this time in order to try to confuse the Cardinals' defense. His whole modus operandi is to try to take the Cardinals' defense out of its customary comfort zone and to throw them off balance.
Roman is clever and he clearly knows how to exploit defensive vulnerabilities---and this week was no exception as he came out in their no huddle offense with the thought of exploiting mismatches in the short to intermediate passing game and to exploit holes in the Cardinals' pass rush and on the edges with Colin Kapernick's superior athleticism.
For the 49ers' first two lengthy drives---all of Roman's preparations worked. Kaepernick was in rhythm and was as slippery as ever.
The good news is that even though the Cardinals' could only match the 49ers' two TDs with 2 Chandler Catanzaro FGs, the Cardinals' drives were lengthy as well, thus allowing the Cardinals' defense some valuable time to gather their breaths and to start to make game-changing adjustments.
The even better news is that Roman's strategy basically was a concession that his offense could no longer pound the rock on the Cardinals on a consistent smashmouth basis with Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde.
My---how things have changed since Todd Bowles became the DC in AZ.
The big badass 49ers are no longer going to even try to pound the ball down the Cardinals' throats, even with a defense that is minus messers Dockett, Dansby, Washington and Abraham---because actually this Cardinals' defense may be an even better run defense with the current personnel.
Last week I cited how crucial it was for the Cardinals to relegate the Giants strictly to the passing game, having repelled their rushing attack. Look at what the Giants did yesterday versus J.J. Watt and the formidable Texans' defense---Rashad Jenning rushed for 34/176 yards/5.2/1 TD to trigger a stunning 30-17 victory. Versus the Cardinals, Jennings rushed for 18/62/3.4/0 TDs.
This week---the Cardinals and Greg Roman rendered the 49ers rushers, other than QB Kaepernick, useless (28 yards combined on a mere 11 carries).
And then came halftime---and the whole complexion of the game changed.
Kaepernick was still tough to corral at times, but the Cardinals got to him sooner and forced him back into traffic sooner. In addition, the coverage was tighter and the tackling was much more crisp. If you notice, Deone Bucannon was inserted at ILB to shadow Kaepernick and was sitting there waiting for him on a few timely occasions.
Even though Antonio Cromartie missed a pick six---it caused Kaepernick to become a little more tentative on his short to intermediate throws.
Cromartie gets hurt---but Justin Bethel---next man up---is solid. Johnson and Jefferson start making better tackles. Tommy Kelly and Frostee Rucker are making their presences felt. Patrick Peterson is on his man like glue---and not holding a lick.
And the play of the game, imho, was Jefferson's monster sack, not only for WHEN it happened in the game but HOW it happened---Jefferson stuck his grill right between Kapernick's legs---which was yet another huge adjustment the Cardinals and the coaches made---you can't tackle Kaepernick high, he's too strong in the upper half---you have to get to his legs.
On offense, we are seeing now what a difference speed makes, thanks to Andre Ellington, Michael Floyd and John Brown. It basically is putting the opponents' safeties in a pickle---where once they could shade Fitzgerald, now they have to shade the deep thirds---but they can't shade all three deep thirds, so it sometimes leaves them in no-man's land, as the 49ers' safeties were on the two Smokey Brown TDs.
In this league, if you can freeze the safeties, you can score a ton of points.
The offensive line is cohesive and very active in the passing game. They are making the right switch calls as well.
As for Ellington---he is the straw that stirs the drink---and he is picking his spots (being smart to avoid punishing hits)---and here come yet another adjustment that he made or probably he was told (rather emphatically---haha on the sideline), because on the big 20 yard run hit late in the game, he had a good hole the last time BA called that play and slightly hesitated, which is all the time those 49er ILBers need to make a play on the ball. This time, Ellington hit that hole in a flash and found himself one juke from scoring a TD.
As for the guy who made all of this happen---Drew Stanton was, for the second week in a row, the epitome of tough---not only tough physically from all the pounding he took---but even more so mentally for keeping his poise under pressure and delivering the ball on time and in spots where only the Cardinals' WRs could catch it. His 92.2 QBR in this game was only surpassed by Ted Ginn Jr.'s 108.3! lol
Floyd remains superb and cleverly shuns added attention amassing another 100 yard performance.
Fitz gave us all goosebumps with his tenacious, never-say-quit 3rd down conversion...and gave us all fits of a different sort when he coughed the ball up seconds later. Fitz's mistakes are so infrequent that it is hard to criticize him, but he had a key lost fumble in the second half versus the 49ers last year and no one knows better than he that he cannot make those kinds of mistakes. Fortunately, the defense was resolute and forced the 49ers to punt the ball back to an offense that was feeling hungry to seal the victory.
The Cardinals STs---were excellent---especially Catanzaro who has been a paragon of consistency on both his FGs and his kickoffs.
Lastly---while Greg Roman and the 49ers' no huddle may have gotten into the Cardinals' heads in the first half---clearly the Cardinals got into the 49ers' heads in the second half which caused them, out of frustration and key lapses in discipline, to self-destruct and implode.
You know you are frustrating a team when they resort to futile bully tactics. What was so wonderful was the Cardinals basically put the 49ers on "ignore" and did their job.
The reality is it looks as if the bully in SF may be gone. It was all in their offensive game plan---which relied mostly on finesse. And---how desperate must the 49ers be to be asking Kaepernick to run as much as they do? Chances are at that rate, he is going to wear down and/or get dinged.
And so now, what do you say, Coach?
Is this the beginning of a rivalry?
Roman is clever and he clearly knows how to exploit defensive vulnerabilities---and this week was no exception as he came out in their no huddle offense with the thought of exploiting mismatches in the short to intermediate passing game and to exploit holes in the Cardinals' pass rush and on the edges with Colin Kapernick's superior athleticism.
For the 49ers' first two lengthy drives---all of Roman's preparations worked. Kaepernick was in rhythm and was as slippery as ever.
The good news is that even though the Cardinals' could only match the 49ers' two TDs with 2 Chandler Catanzaro FGs, the Cardinals' drives were lengthy as well, thus allowing the Cardinals' defense some valuable time to gather their breaths and to start to make game-changing adjustments.
The even better news is that Roman's strategy basically was a concession that his offense could no longer pound the rock on the Cardinals on a consistent smashmouth basis with Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde.
My---how things have changed since Todd Bowles became the DC in AZ.
The big badass 49ers are no longer going to even try to pound the ball down the Cardinals' throats, even with a defense that is minus messers Dockett, Dansby, Washington and Abraham---because actually this Cardinals' defense may be an even better run defense with the current personnel.
Last week I cited how crucial it was for the Cardinals to relegate the Giants strictly to the passing game, having repelled their rushing attack. Look at what the Giants did yesterday versus J.J. Watt and the formidable Texans' defense---Rashad Jenning rushed for 34/176 yards/5.2/1 TD to trigger a stunning 30-17 victory. Versus the Cardinals, Jennings rushed for 18/62/3.4/0 TDs.
This week---the Cardinals and Greg Roman rendered the 49ers rushers, other than QB Kaepernick, useless (28 yards combined on a mere 11 carries).
And then came halftime---and the whole complexion of the game changed.
Kaepernick was still tough to corral at times, but the Cardinals got to him sooner and forced him back into traffic sooner. In addition, the coverage was tighter and the tackling was much more crisp. If you notice, Deone Bucannon was inserted at ILB to shadow Kaepernick and was sitting there waiting for him on a few timely occasions.
Even though Antonio Cromartie missed a pick six---it caused Kaepernick to become a little more tentative on his short to intermediate throws.
Cromartie gets hurt---but Justin Bethel---next man up---is solid. Johnson and Jefferson start making better tackles. Tommy Kelly and Frostee Rucker are making their presences felt. Patrick Peterson is on his man like glue---and not holding a lick.
And the play of the game, imho, was Jefferson's monster sack, not only for WHEN it happened in the game but HOW it happened---Jefferson stuck his grill right between Kapernick's legs---which was yet another huge adjustment the Cardinals and the coaches made---you can't tackle Kaepernick high, he's too strong in the upper half---you have to get to his legs.
On offense, we are seeing now what a difference speed makes, thanks to Andre Ellington, Michael Floyd and John Brown. It basically is putting the opponents' safeties in a pickle---where once they could shade Fitzgerald, now they have to shade the deep thirds---but they can't shade all three deep thirds, so it sometimes leaves them in no-man's land, as the 49ers' safeties were on the two Smokey Brown TDs.
In this league, if you can freeze the safeties, you can score a ton of points.
The offensive line is cohesive and very active in the passing game. They are making the right switch calls as well.
As for Ellington---he is the straw that stirs the drink---and he is picking his spots (being smart to avoid punishing hits)---and here come yet another adjustment that he made or probably he was told (rather emphatically---haha on the sideline), because on the big 20 yard run hit late in the game, he had a good hole the last time BA called that play and slightly hesitated, which is all the time those 49er ILBers need to make a play on the ball. This time, Ellington hit that hole in a flash and found himself one juke from scoring a TD.
As for the guy who made all of this happen---Drew Stanton was, for the second week in a row, the epitome of tough---not only tough physically from all the pounding he took---but even more so mentally for keeping his poise under pressure and delivering the ball on time and in spots where only the Cardinals' WRs could catch it. His 92.2 QBR in this game was only surpassed by Ted Ginn Jr.'s 108.3! lol
Floyd remains superb and cleverly shuns added attention amassing another 100 yard performance.
Fitz gave us all goosebumps with his tenacious, never-say-quit 3rd down conversion...and gave us all fits of a different sort when he coughed the ball up seconds later. Fitz's mistakes are so infrequent that it is hard to criticize him, but he had a key lost fumble in the second half versus the 49ers last year and no one knows better than he that he cannot make those kinds of mistakes. Fortunately, the defense was resolute and forced the 49ers to punt the ball back to an offense that was feeling hungry to seal the victory.
The Cardinals STs---were excellent---especially Catanzaro who has been a paragon of consistency on both his FGs and his kickoffs.
Lastly---while Greg Roman and the 49ers' no huddle may have gotten into the Cardinals' heads in the first half---clearly the Cardinals got into the 49ers' heads in the second half which caused them, out of frustration and key lapses in discipline, to self-destruct and implode.
You know you are frustrating a team when they resort to futile bully tactics. What was so wonderful was the Cardinals basically put the 49ers on "ignore" and did their job.
The reality is it looks as if the bully in SF may be gone. It was all in their offensive game plan---which relied mostly on finesse. And---how desperate must the 49ers be to be asking Kaepernick to run as much as they do? Chances are at that rate, he is going to wear down and/or get dinged.
And so now, what do you say, Coach?
Is this the beginning of a rivalry?
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