Sando's latest

[Shane]

Some of the poster comments at bottom are pretty funny.

http://espn.go.com/blog/NFCWest/post/_/id/14399/top-offseason-storyline-in-nfc-west

 

[Tyler]

Wow according to the 9er fans we might as well jsut forfeit the whole season next year. God forbid we actually go through the draft and camp and the season before we decide who the division winner is. Congrats to the 9ers on being the "offseason just began champs"

 

[187]

49ers fans make me laugh. "ahahaha you have Matt Leinart as your qb now!"





Says the fans with Alex freaking Smith taking snaps. Give me a break.

 

[Gaddabout]

I think with Leinart getting all the first-team reps and no one looking over his shoulder, he should be fine. The offense needed more balance anyway and the Cards are closer to being that since Gene Stallings was coach. Leinart excels in play-action, three-step drops, and delivering the ball in rhythm.

It would be nice to think he might take a step up and be capable of making difficult plays like those 35-yard tosses on long outs, but I don't see that really happening. I do think he can be an above-average game manager.

I'm more worried about the defense.

 

[SuperSpck]

I think with Leinart getting all the first-team reps he should be fine.
I'm more worried about the defense.

I agree with the philosophical dog.

 

[TJ]

Reason #1 why I dont read public forums.

Everyone who posts there is an idiot.

 

[WildBB]

Reason #1 why I dont read public forums.

Everyone who posts there is an idiot.

For the most part - Rank amatures.

I do think with improvements to the D, and other personell stepping up we can make up those 2-3 games Warner easily carries the team.

 

[seesred]

A little bird told me we are looking at McNabb.

GBR
40

 

[Shane]

A little bird told me we are looking at McNabb.

GBR
40

Your little bird is what we call 421A(insane)

 

[kerouac9]

For the most part - Rank amatures.

I do think with improvements to the D, and other personell stepping up we can make up those 2-3 games Warner easily carries the team.

And actually I think a more conservative handling of the QB position will help protect this team from games where Warner would utterly melt down (like the Carolina mess this year and both 49er games).

Fans for other teams inside the division better look inside their own houses first before coming after the team on top.

 

[conraddobler]

Whiz wasn't here when we drafted Matt and if he had been I highly doubt we would of drafted Matt but he wasn't, we did and here we are.

Matt's been through several years of punching bag status pretty much because that's how Whiz treats young QB's.

Whiz has proven to be wise about this, hopefully Matt has benefited from this and if we're lucky he'll put his ego aside and wear the glove, the glove IMO is a bigger deal than you might think.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

And actually I think a more conservative handling of the QB position will help protect this team from games where Warner would utterly melt down (like the Carolina mess this year and both 49er games).

Fans for other teams inside the division better look inside their own houses first before coming after the team on top.

Good post

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Wow according to the 9er fans we might as well jsut forfeit the whole season next year. God forbid we actually go through the draft and camp and the season before we decide who the division winner is. Congrats to the 9ers on being the "offseason just began champs"

LOL.

They said the same thing last year.

 

[TJ]

And actually I think a more conservative handling of the QB position will help protect this team from games where Warner would utterly melt down (like the Carolina mess this year and both 49er games).

Fans for other teams inside the division better look inside their own houses first before coming after the team on top.

I like this and is something that is commonly overlooked in this whole QB situation. Yes, KW is a better QB than Leinart, but there are certain segments of the game where we will actually see improvement.

For starters, handing the ball off. This sounds so minute but watching Warner hand the ball off was like watching paint dry. Whoever was carrying the ball, let it be Edge, Arrington, Timmy or Beanie, would have on extra tackler in the backfield than normal to allude. This also made the draw play virtually unusable. Matt turns and hands the ball of swiftly and lets the runner do the rest of the work. For me, it goes all the way back to his USC days and watching him get the ball to Bush and seeing him sprint down the field. Again, seems so miniscule right now, but we'll see an improvement in that department.

Which seigways to the next topic: play action. Kurt was not bad at this but because of how telegraphed the hand offs were, play action did not work as well as it could have. I discussed this during preseason. Furthermore, the mere fact that we will be running more will make defenses respect that aspect of the game and get baffled more by playaction.

Finally the bootleg. Matty can make plays with his legs. He can break out of the pocket when it is collapsing to buy time. This is going to be a small adjustment receivers are going to have to make but Fitz, Steve and Q can do that.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

I like this and is something that is commonly overlooked in this whole QB situation. Yes, KW is a better QB than Leinart, but there are certain segments of the game where we will actually see improvement.

For starters, handing the ball off. This sounds so minute but watching Warner hand the ball off was like watching paint dry. Whoever was carrying the ball, let it be Edge, Arrington, Timmy or Beanie, would have on extra tackler in the backfield than normal to allude. This also made the draw play virtually unusable. Matt turns and hands the ball of swiftly and lets the runner do the rest of the work. For me, it goes all the way back to his USC days and watching him get the ball to Bush and seeing him sprint down the field. Again, seems so miniscule right now, but we'll see an improvement in that department.

Which seigways to the next topic: play action. Kurt was not bad at this but because of how telegraphed the hand offs were, play action did not work as well as it could have. I discussed this during preseason. Furthermore, the mere fact that we will be running more will make defenses respect that aspect of the game and get baffled more by playaction.

Finally the bootleg. Matty can make plays with his legs. He can break out of the pocket when it is collapsing to buy time. This is going to be a small adjustment receivers are going to have to make but Fitz, Steve and Q can do that.

Great post. Don't forget the early Beanie days where he would start to fast at the ball. It wasn't because he was going to fast. Its because he had to make up the split second off the line because of how slow Warner is. Well actually get to see Beanie with the ball a spit second or too sooner than it was last year. I've said all along that some games we watch this next year we will be on the message board screaming that "Warner would have won us that game!" but for the most part I think were in for a treat next year.

 

[Brighteyes]

Was it the Titans game where we thought Kurt would start all week -- only to tell Mattie that day he was starting?

 

[Evil Ash]

Was it the Titans game where we thought Kurt would start all week -- only to tell Mattie that day he was starting?

Yup