Do you know how great it is to NOT have to read articles like this after a crushing playoff loss?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ins/113142304/

I swear I read articles like this after 03, 13, and 97. All years where we didn’t get back in the playoffs after those soul crushing losses in the playoffs. 97 is particularly foreboding, as Dave Szott openly said they’d be careful that loss wouldn’t “break the team.” Some teams just don’t bounce back from losses like that.

It’s also been nice to see literally zero of the Niners blaming the refs for the game. The opportunity is there for them to do it, but they all seem to know they got beat and lost the game in the 4th quarter.
[Reply]

It’s on again tonight!
[Reply]

not just blowing a 10pt lead; but blowing it with like 7:30 to go in the 4th.
[Reply]

You have a 1st and 10, up 10, with 9 minutes left in the Super Bowl. You also have a running back who rushed for 220 yards 2 weeks before. What do ya do?

I know the Niners coaching staff has argued that Chris Jones should have received the accolades that WASP has - but if you keep the ball on the ground, the risk for a batted ball (or a drop, INT, overthrow, etc) and a stopped clock evaporate instantly.
[Reply]

Stuff like that destroys a team. It is in their head. How has Atlanta been since that debacle?
[Reply]

By the way - if you haven’t - give the 9ers broadcast a listen on gamepass. Greg Papa gives a HOF worthy broadcast but what really makes it stand out is Tim Ryan’s analysis. For a rival broadcast, it’s about as fair as it gets (some homerism, of course, but it’s minimal). And Tim and Greg genuinely give great calls to Chiefs highlights.

A good example was the DPI on Kelce. While Kurt Warner was lamenting a “bad NFL rule” on Westwood One that allows QB’s to take advantage of easy DPI’s (I think Warner was trying to balance Harlan’s obvious KC bias he had in the game lol). Ryan went into detail about how great of a play Kelce made and that he made a perfect, veteran move to engage contact and that it was, ultimately, on Moore for not turning his head around. Both Papa and Ryan had massive praise for Kelce throughout the game (a stark contrast from 9er fan homerism that since he’s not Kittle, he must suck).

They also suspected Damien’s sweeps right were all a ploy to gas/put hits on Sherman. Papa literally says “expect the Chiefs to try to go over the top on a tired Sherman sometime this quarter.” You could just tell that both of these guys have exceptional IQ’s of the game (and even seemed ahead of Shanny in some capacities).

They were pretty much ready to dare the Chiefs to stop their run up 20-10 (after Jimmy's high incompletion on 2nd and 9) They went on to not hide their criticism of Kyle's playcalling in the 4th quarter. At the beginning of the Niners drive up 20-17, Ryan said the worst possible thing they could do was stop the clock and at worst, immediately give the ball back to a warmed up Mahomes. They said this was the time to lean on their team's biggest strength and hottest player (Mostert) they were baffled that Shanny went to the air on 2nd and 3rd and 5 of that drive. Before the final drive, they pointed out that with 3 timeouts, nothing was preventing the Niners from running the ball and playing their normal offense down the field. They said the Niners shouldn't go for home runs and give the ball back to Mahomes with any time left, but get into their rhythm. Instead, they eventually turned it over on downs with 2 batted balls in that series. Hearing that kind of criticism from their own team's announcers was... a bit refreshing?

They were pretty bummed by the end, but that's to be expected. It pains me to admit, but their analysis also ran circles around Kendall’s from start to finish (and I like him more than most).
[Reply]

I'm not too familiar with gamepass, is this a subscription?
[Reply]

It’s on NFL.com. They sometimes offer free passes (just gotta look out for it). It’s EDIT: $99 a year, but I’m only paying for this month before cancelling the night before opening day. They have full rebroadcasts of every game (and listening options from several broadcasts) as well as the All 22. Perfect listening material for my 45 minute commute.
[Reply]

Thanks for the info!
[Reply]

After hitchens hit him-grappolo was grabbing his head. I think we covered that somewhere.
[Reply]

Stop being so negative. The Chiefs are going to WIN.
[Reply]

Valid point, although it seems like the Niners have a stronger foundation for future success. Guess we will see how it goes for them.
[Reply]

I've had gamepass for free for like 6 months, it was worth jumping on when Corona started, the freebe ends at the end of August though.
[Reply]

Most radio and television pundits have harped on Shanahan's play calling, saying he should have just ran the ball and it would have been an easy win.

But, although the 49ers had a good average yards per carry, the Chiefs had just shut down the running back who had the single greatest stretch of games in playoff history, and was being considered unstoppable by most experts.

Our defense absolutely had the ability to stop the 49ers run game. And, going to the passing game had the potential to catch us off-guard. On one play, Jimmy G looked like he threw the ball away, but it was later determined that the receiver ran the wrong route, and had he run the correct route would have been wide open because Fenton was absolutely confused on the coverage. It likely would have resulted in a TD or at least a very long competition off the catch and run. I think Turning Point and Chris Simms both broke down the play, showing Fenton out of position and the receiver, which I think was Borne, running the wrong route.

Then Chris Jones started knocking down passes like a man possessed. On two of the tipped passes, the receiver was wide open and would have had an easy 1st down, and could have helped change the outcome of the game.

If Jones doesn't knock down those passes, and Borne runs the correct route, it's likely those radio and television experts would be talking about Shanahan's genius play calling, and how he used the threat of his dominant run game to surprise the defense, putting the game on Jimmy G's shoulders after barely allowing him to throw the ball in the two previous games.

I said this earlier in the thread, but I really think it's Saleh that should be getting more of the blame than Shanahan. His defense gave up 21 points in about 6 minutes of game time in the 4th quarter. Yet, no one even mentions his name when talking about our comeback.



Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk
[Reply]

In traditional circumstances I would be 100% in agreement - especially if you have a top ten QB. However, in the 49ers position I think you have to rely on the strength of your football team (ranked 2nd in the league) - especially since the time remaining is very much operating as a 12th teammate at the point on the field.

It reminds me of when Haley would refuse to hand the ball off to Charles and would instead opt to have Matt Cassel chuck the hall in spite of having zero trust in Matt. It also makes me think of the 2013 and 2017 playoff games where Andy ran the ball seven? times despite having a lead in the second half. Am I remembering right that Andy only gave the ball to Kareem three times in the 2nd half in the 2017 game against the Titans?

Don’t get me wrong, with Mahomes I really could not care less if Andy chucks the ball 50 times in the 2nd half up by 20. Whatever. It’s Pat. He can be trusted. But Jimmy? I don’t see it. Shanny did a similar thing in their loss against the Ravens earlier in the year. It was 4th and 1, Mostert had shredded the Ravens all game in the pouring rain and what does Shanny call? Two passes on two different 4th and 1’s, one of which Jimmy flat out missed a wide open receiver. The play calls can be perfect on Shanny’s end, but at the end of the day if you’re trusting Jimmy to deliver over Mostert and Kittle (who’s blocking), you’re probably out thinking yourself. At a certain point, it doesn’t matter if the defense knows what’s coming, you just gotta rely on your guys to beat them. I think some coaches (even great ones) forget that when they try to fool a defense by giving up their bread and better, they underestimate the gift they’re giving to their opponent by moving away from the dominant part of their team. Heck even Tyrann said the defense was thankful the 49ers moved away from the run.

Funnily enough, I would trust Matt Ryan in that situation way more than Jimmy - but Falcons fans hilariously all called Kyle to keep chucking the ball and blow the lead in the 4th - which he did. It was basically a massive salt filled celebration on the Falcons subreddit after the game.

The thing that interests me the most is that Andy was actually quicker to rely on the run in the 2nd half of the Titans game with Mahomes than he was 2 seasons ago with Alex. It has to help that both the Titans and Niners allowed the Chiefs red carpet access to the running game due to their very justified fears of Patrick.
[Reply]