Originally posted by mcwoot:
When your defense sucks it's generally accepted logic to play keep away and not let them have the ball
If there were incomplete passes that resulted in stopping the clock in the 4th quarter before the 2 minute warning providing more time for the Rams you'd have a point. There weren't.
3rd quarter:
Rams punt.
49ers TD drive
Rams TD drive
Arguing that more runs should have been called on a 3rd quarter TD drive seems silly on its face. It was a 6:27 drive.
Niners get the ball again with 3:53 left. They get to 3rd and 1 in the red zone as the quarter ends. 3rd quarter plays on this drive were 3 runs, 2 completed passes,1 Purdy scramble and 1 incomplete pass.
Here's every play the 49ers had on offense in the 4th quarter before the game was tied and how it impacted the clock:
49ers up 7
3rd and 1 on LA 18 @15:00 - QB Sneak, no gain. (RUN - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCKED STOPPED DUE TO REPLAY REVIEW ON FUMBLE)
4th and 1 on LA 18 @14:52 - QB Sneak, gain of 2 (RUN - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
1st and 10 on LA 16 @14:09 - Pass play, Purdy scrambles for 8 (PASS CALL, RUN PLAY - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
2nd and 2 on LA 8 @13:25 - Mason for 1 (RUN - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
3rd and 1 on LA 7 @12:44 - Mason run for -1 (RUN - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
4th and 2 on LA 8 @11:57 - FG to go up by 10
Possible plays in 4th quarter on drive that could have more time run off with a run call: 0
Drive time: 6:56 total (3:53 3rd, 3:03 4th)
49ers up 7, following drive
1st and 10 on SF 30 @6:15 - Pass to Jennings for 15 (PASS - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
1st and 10 on SF 45 @5:35 - Mason for 9 (RUN - TACKLE OUT OF BOUNDS OVER 5 MINS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
2nd and 1 on LA 46 @4:57 - Mason for 4 (RUN - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
1st and 10 on LA 42 @4:14 - Guerendo run called back for holding (RUN - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK STOPS FOR PENALTY)
1st and 20 on SF 48 @4:08 - Pass to Jennings for 5 (PASS - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING)
2nd and 16 on LA 47 @3:11 - Pass to Jennings for 7 (PASS - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING; RAMS CALL TIMEOUT)
3rd and 8 on LA 40 @3:08 - Pass play, Purdy scrambles for 3 (PASS CALL, RUN PLAY - TACKLE IN BOUNDS - CLOCK KEEPS RUNNING; RAMS CALL TIMEOUT)
4th and 5 on LA 37 @2:47 - FG wide left
Possible plays on drive that could have more time run off with a run call: 0
Drive time: 3:28 total, Rams used 2 timeouts
Where does a run play drain the clock more on those two drives? No plays in the 4th quarter before the game was tied and under 2:00 if called differently would have taken off more clock. You can argue the one incompletion on the FG drive in the 3rd quarter could have been a run, but it was still a 7 minute scoring drive to go up by two scores.
The defense and special teams get most of the blame. After SF went up 14 they allowed TD, FG, TD, FG. 20 points on four drives.
But sure, let's blame the loss on the offensive play calls.
[ Edited by captveg on Sep 23, 2024 at 8:17 PM ]