What we have learned so far...

the jerseys

I agree you can't read to much into just the forst pre-season game but it's already apparent that some of the same problems that have plagued us for years are still there. Defense had three picks in the first half- two on bad throws and one on a pass that shouldn't have been thrown. But the defense still can't seem to get themselves off the field. Denver managed to move the ball well against us with varied ball-control offense of short sideline passes and some paly action. I'm not letting a couple of picks from bad throws blind me to that.

Liked the Coffee kid. Was actually disappointed they drafted him because I thought they should have gone after an O-lineman but he stepped up. I see a lot of Ricky Waters in him... explosive off the ball, reads the holes & blocks well and when he gets hit he drives the defender back. Good power for his size. I'd like to see what he can do coming out of the backfield on pass patterns more.

It's only the first preseason game which means it's like all other previous preseason games with the good, bad and terrible. Two things stand out to me. Glen Coffee looks like a starter. And the secondary seems deeper with talent, but that might just be the Broncos WRs suck ass.

It wasn't perfect, but I like some of things I seen . As long as team shows improvement thru the preseason.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
It's only the first preseason game which means it's like all other previous preseason games with the good, bad and terrible. Two things stand out to me. Glen Coffee looks like a starter. And the secondary seems deeper with talent, but that might just be the Broncos WRs suck ass.

Eddie Royal had more catches and yards than anyone in our receiving corps last year.

I love how people say you can't judge a team when sitting out there starters.

Ha, in fact in the NFL History I don't think any team has ever fielded ALL of their on paper starters due to injury.

That is the zones #1 problem in the optimism dept. You guys always judge this team pre season and how they will do assuming no injuries to key guys which is quite impossible anyways.

To judge a team you need to assume key injuries are going to happen. Example, I posted last Sept. that the Pats were good for 10 wins without Brady, I was laughed off the board of course.

To answer the post. No nothing is different. We made no critical changes. We are still a 7-9 team.

brb

jumping off the bandwagon...

Of course not - we did NOTHING to address the same issues we've had for the past 6 years. In fact, we gathered...say it with me...ZERO starters from the draft. That's not a good sign for a 7-9 team.

Yes it was just the first preseaon game and there is obviously a lot of work left to do but what I was looking for was that killer instinct I had been hearing about and saw none of it. On a positive note, VD looked like he is comfortable being the go to guy.

Did anyone else think it was a bit unfair for Simms to still be playing the entire second half?

Yesterday looked a lot like last season, but I will wait to hold final judgment because its ONLY THE FIRST preseason game. Here are MY observations.


Hill is clearly the starter

Alex still sucks

Oline does not look much different, Snyder is a back up. Marvel Smith will be the starter soon.

Coffee is a good back, a lot better then I thought would be. Sheets also looked good hopefully he can make the roster.

Morgan should be the best WR on the team. Spurlock looked good last night, might be the end of the road for Battle.

Keasey is terrible, and injury prone. I like Britt Miller, he looks like a keeper.

Pass Rush is just like Sing says "non existent".

Manny Lawson cannot effectively rush the passer, the dude just dont have the strength he gets blocked way to easily.

Reggie Smith might actually have some talent.

Originally posted by susweel:
Yesterday looked a lot like last season, but I will wait to hold final judgment because its ONLY THE FIRST preseason game. Here are MY observations.


Hill is clearly the starter

Alex still sucks

Oline does not look much different, Snyder is a back up. Marvel Smith will be the starter soon.

Coffee is a good back, a lot better then I thought would be. Sheets also looked good hopefully he can make the roster.

Morgan should be the best WR on the team. Spurlock looked good last night, might be the end of the road for Battle.

Keasey is terrible, and injury prone. I like Britt Miller, he looks like a keeper.

Pass Rush is just like Sing says "non existent".

Manny Lawson cannot effectively rush the passer, the dude just dont have the strength he gets blocked way to easily.

Reggie Smith might actually have some talent.

Please explain to me how after the limited plays between the two QB's you think you know better than the coaches and experts who the starter should be. From what the coaches said,as well as all of the beat writers, neither QB did anything to separate themselves from the other. I agree with the rest of what you posted except the Manny thing, his technique needs work,but that is something he can be coached. Of course being stronger wouldn't hurt though.

Here is what I have learned.
1-We are a better team than a year ago, for the simple reason that our best offensive player and best defensive player was not on the field. Say what you will but we are not just talking about OUR best two players on both sides of the ball, we are talking about TWO of the BEST PLAYERS at THEIR POSITIONS IN THE ENTIRE NFL which also happen to be probably the two most important positions on the field (exception QB vs. RB) but none the less close. WIth them on the field, there is no question the game looks and feels different. (add 7-10 points extra for us) Not to mention we haven't even seen Crabtree.

2-Shawn Hill and Alex Smith to me look identical from what I remember them with a slight improvement from Alex but nothing like I was hoping for or from what all the reviews led me to believe. It's not like we were watching Mark Sanchez on his first play from scrimmage and hits his receiver 50 yards down field in stride and you say.......WOW, this should be something special. NOTHING special on the QB front but I do think they can be managable QB's and at least not loose us the games.

3-We definately have no pass rush. Any team can get pressure on the QB by blitzing and over loading the offensive line. In order for us to say we got pressure we need to see " mano y mano" plays where our guys get a sack from messing someone up bad. The only way we get pressure this year is with blitzing the shirts out of teams and hopefully with our secondary looking the way it did we might be better than 13 overall versus last year.

SO.........with the one positive being not having Willis and Gore (and Crabtree) and still winning, and other two negatives being QB and No pass rush I will say this. It will be a decent year meaning we will be much more competitive than last year and years prior. I am more excited about this year than I have been in recent memory and I know you all are too and probably see and feel the same way. There is hope there, we look better so far, maybe we have a QB than can be servicable, Gore, Willis, Crabtree on the field we no doubt will win more games BUT ARE WE FORGETTING who we are and what our organization expects, WHAT WE EXPECT???

We are the 49er's for cryin out loud! Being decent is NOT ACCEPTABLE, not winning superbowls is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Until we find a VERY GOOD QB and start having a VERY GOOD PASS RUSH on other teams we will always be just okay. Expect more from this team and the coaches and personal involved. We need to find ourselves that QB and pass rush if we want to say we are great. WE need to find these guys if we want to compete with the Pats, Giants, Steelers and all other elite teams. It will not happen without it and I will not accept being decent. I hope we get our respect back at least this year and make the playoff's....at a bare minimum.....BUT LET'S ALL PRAY THAT WE CAN HIT GOLD AGAIN LIKE WE DID WITH GORE AND WILLIS and grab our QB and PASSRUSHER of the future with next year's 2 first round picks.

Just Pray we do........

Originally posted by susweel:
Yesterday looked a lot like last season, but I will wait to hold final judgment because its ONLY THE FIRST preseason game. Here are MY observations.


Hill is clearly the starter

Alex still sucks

Oline does not look much different, Snyder is a back up. Marvel Smith will be the starter soon.

Coffee is a good back, a lot better then I thought would be. Sheets also looked good hopefully he can make the roster.

Morgan should be the best WR on the team. Spurlock looked good last night, might be the end of the road for Battle.

Keasey is terrible, and injury prone. I like Britt Miller, he looks like a keeper.

Pass Rush is just like Sing says "non existent".

Manny Lawson cannot effectively rush the passer, the dude just dont have the strength he gets blocked way to easily.

Reggie Smith might actually have some talent.

I agree with some of your analysis but don't agree with your QB assesment or Snyder comment. All the QBs did pretty good and Singletary went out of his way to praise Snyder after the game.

I learn more about the zone then the 49ers in preseason.

The great thing about preseason is that you can shape the outcome in your mind anyway you want. There is such little substance(especially in the 1st game) that people pick any evidence that reinforces preconceived notions they already had.

Cant wait for the regular season. You either win or you dont.

Originally posted by FriscoKid220:
I know it's just pre-season, and I know that it's just the first game. Having said that, lets quickly go over what was good, bad, and in between.

Offense

-The qb competiton is still quite open up until this point. I think that both qb's did things that you expected them to do, as well as do some things that would show us that they haven't proved anything as far as deserving the starting position. However, I do belive that no matter who the qb eventually is, they are going to do a fine job and will give us a chance to win.

-The O-Line still has to improve on pass protection. I know that the qb's held the ball for a long time, but what I also saw was our linemen getting over powered and beat off the line. We also need to do a better job of blitz pick-up.

-Overall, the offense seemed to find a quick groove and was able to move the ball, even though our D helped them out some.


Defense

-I think I speak for everybody when I say..."Where the hell is the pass rush??" I still haven't seen any kind of pressure on the qb that would suggest that we have improved in this area. This also leads me to think that we should have used that second round pick on a pass rusher/d lineman. The only thing I saw was Justin Smith still being consistent and making plays. Oh and by the way, where was Kentwan Balmer at??? It might seem too early to make this statement, but I think that he is a for sure BUST!. Maybe I'm being too critical of him, but I call it like I see it.

-Just singling somebody out, I thought that Takeo Spikes did an outstanding job tonight. This guy was everwhere making plays and stepping up his game. It looks like he started off just where he left off from last season.

-The secondary looked much improved with the additoins of Dre Bly and Dashon Goldson. Nate Clements made a play with an endzone interception that saved us from maybe losing this game. Our secondary looks like it can be one of the top units in the league if we can somehow stay a far from those zone coverages.


Special Teams

-Just think we need to focus on holding onto the ball during the kick/punt returns. Thank god that kicker isn't our starter, LoL.



Rookies

-With the exception of Michael Crabtree (I hope he signs soon), I think our rookie class looks like they can contrinbute and be good/solid picks for us.

-I was extremely impressed with Glen Coffee and his running. He seemed to find holes and run with that power that we drafted him for.

-Scott McKillop did a fine job also with this sure tackling and work ethic. Rickey Jean-Franscois did ok in limited action and I though Curtis Taylor did some nice things as well.

-I thought Nate Davis looked ok. He seems like he has the ability to be a good contributer later on in the coming years. Oh by the way, he kind of looked like a fat a**, but I guess that's just how he's built, ha!



Overall, I think we have made some improvements and showed that we can be a comptetitive group. We still have some players, good quality players at that, that can do some real nice things for us this coming years. Most of all, I'm just glad that Football is here and that Niners are gonna have one hell of a season!


Yeeeeeeeeeeahhh Boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The gold pants just make Davis's butt look big.