Game 3 2017: vs Los Angeles Rams (Post Game Observations)

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not buying into these past 2 losses as big signs of "progress."

• Vs Seattle: Seattle looked TERRIBLE. Their o-line is TERRIBLE. They allowed pressure and dropped key passes; their running backs and wide receivers aren't any good. That's why the 49ers defense looked pretty decent up there. Case in point is allowing 41 points to the freakin' Rams at home the following game.
  
• Vs L.A.: This game looked to be over as soon as it stated. Sure, the Niners kept hanging around but it never really felt close. The Rams were moving the ball all over this newly crowned improved defense from the get-go. Then, they got complacent and let their foot off the gas--that's when the 49ers mounted the comeback. Sure, a comeback is somewhat admirable but, in my eyes, it was far more a combination of L.A. letting up on them and a few lucky bounces that went SF's way (early fumbled punt, the late fumbled kickoff, the onside recovery). And when it counted, the 49ers STILL couldn't get the 2pt conversion to tie it or the last drive to win it.

The penalties, crucial mistakes, and general ineptitude of the offense are worse than I expected; and I only pegged this team to win 5 games. That seems out of reach. I think I'm most disappointed in Shanahan. He doesn't have this team prepared or inspired to play. They lack leadership and discipline on and off the field. I expected a young team that would make mistakes but be well prepared and fired up. The fire isn't there. I expected an offense, albeit VERY minimal in the talent department, to show some signs of life and some innovation in the playcalling department. Last night, Shanahan's first call was the same short slant that Hoyer has had no success with. He's continually calling the same passes short of the sticks and, I get it, they don't have the protection...but can we get a little more creative in the running game and in the routes he's calling instead of this quick rub slants and comebacks? It looks like the same offense we've seen for years.

I'm not buying the fool's gold. This team has a long way to go before I see true progress. Last night's late-game onslaught when the Rams took their foot off the gas, and a decent defensive showing against a bad Seattle team aren't going to cut it.

0-3 is 0-3 any way you slice it.

Originally posted by cciowa:

enjoy that s**t show of a defense. and then if they do play well. we can enjoy the s**t show of the offense. all in the name of progress. lol

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
I'm not buying the fool's gold. This team has a long way to go before I see true progress. Last night's late-game onslaught when the Rams took their foot off the gas, and a decent defensive showing against a bad Seattle team aren't going to cut it.

Oh boy here we go.

Despite what the game thread might have made you think, game last night was never in garbage time considering we had a chance to win at the end. I'm not buying this "Rams took their foot off the gas" crap at all.

And a "bad" Seattle team? Lol. Seattle is going to win a double-digit amount of games this year again. Book it. If I'm somehow wrong I'll be happy because **** Seattle.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by cciowa:
enjoy that s**t show of a defense. and then if they do play well. we can enjoy the s**t show of the offense. all in the name of progress. lol

Our fanbase is pathetic.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not buying into these past 2 losses as big signs of "progress."

• Vs Seattle: Seattle looked TERRIBLE. Their o-line is TERRIBLE. They allowed pressure and dropped key passes; their running backs and wide receivers aren't any good. That's why the 49ers defense looked pretty decent up there. Case in point is allowing 41 points to the freakin' Rams at home the following game.
• Vs L.A.: This game looked to be over as soon as it stated. Sure, the Niners kept hanging around but it never really felt close. The Rams were moving the ball all over this newly crowned improved defense from the get-go. Then, they got complacent and let their foot off the gas--that's when the 49ers mounted the comeback. Sure, a comeback is somewhat admirable but, in my eyes, it was far more a combination of L.A. letting up on them and a few lucky bounces that went SF's way (early fumbled punt, the late fumbled kickoff, the onside recovery). And when it counted, the 49ers STILL couldn't get the 2pt conversion to tie it or the last drive to win it.

We're so far gone, we are taking moral victories with this defense. f**k that. THREE FIRST ROUND PICKS. It's time to show us something, or just move on. So tired of talking about potential. You got stuffed by Carolina and the Rams. You looked good against the worst OL in the NFL. It's honestly my worst nightmare come realized. The fact that we invested so much draft capital into this defense, and we are nothing more than below average.

I'm honestly not even sure if this defense is even going to take off if you add a premium edge rusher like it did in 2011 with Aldon. People seem to think we're an edge rusher away from being elite, and I don't see it. It's just been mediocre.

Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
I'm not buying the fool's gold. This team has a long way to go before I see true progress. Last night's late-game onslaught when the Rams took their foot off the gas, and a decent defensive showing against a bad Seattle team aren't going to cut it.

Oh boy here we go.

Despite what the game thread might have made you think, game last night was never in garbage time considering we had a chance to win at the end. I'm not buying this "Rams took their foot off the gas" crap at all.

And a "bad" Seattle team? Lol. Seattle is going to win a double-digit amount of games this year again. Book it. If I'm somehow wrong I'll be happy because **** Seattle.

The Rams got "comfortable". They were controlling the game the whole night. That and the turnovers I mentioned, coupled with the onside kick, let the Niners stick around.

And I don't know what you saw from Seattle but I saw a really bad team. They'll win the division; NFC West is the worst in the league. And yes, they'll probably get to 10 wins, but that doesn't mean that they're a good team. They're notorious for turning it on late in the season anyhow so regardless of where they net out, we lost to them when they played very poorly.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
The Rams got "comfortable". They were controlling the game the whole night. That and the turnovers I mentioned, coupled with the onside kick, let the Niners stick around.

And I don't know what you saw from Seattle but I saw a really bad team. They'll win the division; NFC West is the worst in the league. And yes, they'll probably get to 10 wins, but that doesn't mean that they're a good team. They're notorious for turning it on late in the season anyhow so regardless of where they net out, we lost to them when they played very poorly.

I agree with you FWIW

Originally posted by Ensatsu:

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not buying into these past 2 losses as big signs of "progress."

• Vs Seattle: Seattle looked TERRIBLE. Their o-line is TERRIBLE. They allowed pressure and dropped key passes; their running backs and wide receivers aren't any good. That's why the 49ers defense looked pretty decent up there. Case in point is allowing 41 points to the freakin' Rams at home the following game.
• Vs L.A.: This game looked to be over as soon as it stated. Sure, the Niners kept hanging around but it never really felt close. The Rams were moving the ball all over this newly crowned improved defense from the get-go. Then, they got complacent and let their foot off the gas--that's when the 49ers mounted the comeback. Sure, a comeback is somewhat admirable but, in my eyes, it was far more a combination of L.A. letting up on them and a few lucky bounces that went SF's way (early fumbled punt, the late fumbled kickoff, the onside recovery). And when it counted, the 49ers STILL couldn't get the 2pt conversion to tie it or the last drive to win it.

We're so far gone, we are taking moral victories with this defense. f**k that. THREE FIRST ROUND PICKS. It's time to show us something, or just move on. So tired of talking about potential. You got stuffed by Carolina and the Rams. You looked good against the worst OL in the NFL. It's honestly my worst nightmare come realized. The fact that we invested so much draft capital into this defense, and we are nothing more than below average.

I'm honestly not even sure if this defense is even going to take off if you add a premium edge rusher like it did in 2011 with Aldon. People seem to think we're an edge rusher away from being elite, and I don't see it. It's just been mediocre.

Agreed. A number 3 overall pick should be an immediate contributor. Solomon Thomas, safe for a couple tackles for losses, has been invisible and is only a friggin rotational player. I wrote off Armstead last year.

So what has this team truly garnered as compensation for 3 years of sucking? Buckner. That's about it so far.

I swear people on here acting like they expected this team to be 3-0 by now.

Originally posted by SunDevilNiner79:

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
The Rams got "comfortable". They were controlling the game the whole night. That and the turnovers I mentioned, coupled with the onside kick, let the Niners stick around.

And I don't know what you saw from Seattle but I saw a really bad team. They'll win the division; NFC West is the worst in the league. And yes, they'll probably get to 10 wins, but that doesn't mean that they're a good team. They're notorious for turning it on late in the season anyhow so regardless of where they net out, we lost to them when they played very poorly.

I agree with you FWIW

It's like people are completely writing off the first 3 quarters of this game--the quarters where it truly mattered--for a late 4th quarter surge...that still fell short...against an average Rams team...at home.

Sorry, I'm not buying it. Get a win. Show some early success on offense. Show me a pass rush. Show me some leaders. Show me some true signs of talent from 1st rounders who aren't named DeForest Buckner.

The bar was set really low for this team this year, but I expected to see a team better than what I saw last year; I don't. I see the same team wearing different numbers.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
And I don't know what you saw from Seattle but I saw a really bad team.

I saw an elite defense. Not just against us but in Week 1 against the Packers in their house, too.

I wonder how different this board would be if a phantom OPI doesn't get called (or a phantom defensive holding on a 3rd-down sack in the 1st quarter. Amazing how people are overlooking that play. Led straight to a Rams' TD).

Originally posted by AlexCat49er:

Originally posted by Nuns:

Entertaining game? Check
Competitive team? Check
Still in the running for a high draft pick? (ie possible Franchise qb) Check

Winning all around.

At some point during this rebuild (currently in its 3rd year), you'd hope the goal would be for the team to actually win games rather than just position themselves for a higher draft pick.

Id agree with the winning all around point. I'm afraid the last 2 years were an absolute waste and shouldn't be counted as part of our Rebuilding process. This year should be our first rebuilding year since we actually went into it that way.(i.e. New GM, Coaches, 36 new players including 15 rookies, stop gap QB). This IS the start of our rebuild and atleast half of the battle is getting a true Franchise QB. Very unlikely to get one of those unless you're the first or second pick in the draft. I know it doesn't Gaurantee it. But chances are remarkably higher there. I'd love to see competitive games and wins if we had a Franchise QB already but we don't. I would hate to be the Rams, Bills, Jets, Texans, Bengals Broncos in recent years no matter how good everyone else on that team is they needed a FQB. No point in going 8-8 9-7 every year and if they do make playoffs are one and done. So while we're rebuilding and trying to find out who belongs in our future plans this year, we should also be hoping for a chance at the best QB in next years draft because I'm not very excited at the thought of getting Cousins for about 30m a year. If Kyle wants him then he knows more but I feel he'll just be the consolation prize if we can't get his Top QB prospect in the upcoming draft. So all in all. The best and easiest way to Rebuild is finding your Franchise QB as early in the process are you can and not "settling" for a 30 year old $30m/year cousins. Just my opinion.

Originally posted by NoelC:
I swear people on here acting like they expected this team to be 3-0 by now.

My expectation is that the young players that we are looking at right now take the next step and start producing on the field. Forget about the wins. Our rebuild might be set back 4-5 years because of how bad some of these young guys are.

And to be honest, I don't even really care how Hoyer performed even though he had a nice game. Hoyer is not the future at all, so why bother? Everyone in the fanbase knows this. Even if we won this game, I'll admit. I'd be less upset, but share the same concerns. We don't look good on defense at all, and will probably get carved up by Palmer next week if he can just sit back in the pocket and not care about the putrid pass rush.

Originally posted by Midbay:

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by NCommand:

But yes, Rams have a legit shot at winning the division. They have first round talent everywhere that's been developing for a while and made a ton of smart FA signings and with the offensive scheme and talented QB, Seattle is probably freaking out.

This is NOT the same old sorry ass Rams.

Eh they couldn't beat an average Washington team and barely beat a bad 49ers team. Lets not get carried away.

You can see it coming together. Offense was always the question. That's starting to be answered now.

I agree. With the new coaches it looks like the Rams are headed in a much better direction. For those who are upset that we didn't spend money in free agency like the Rams, it is probably worth remembering that winning the division doesn't really mean squat, particularly if it hurts your chances at winning a Superbowl the next year. The Rams have a lot of talent by virtue of drafting high for many years, and with their cap space they are in a position to peak over the next few years so it makes sense to ramp up spending now. We have a less talented team with a few key pieces missing that will take time to find and develop. Our peak is out there a bit further than the Rams so it makes sense for us to keep the powder dry for now.

Exactly. Unlike Harbaugh when he took over a veteran group that ultimately burned out, the Rams are still young while many of their picks have several years of experience and are high talents. Turning over the defense to Dick is smart...it should take them a while to get fully acclimated but when they do, they could be one of the better defensive units. On offense, they attacked the OL and WR units in FA (more 1st round talent) and drafted 1st round talent at QB and RB.

In short, do they have any units that don't have at least one premier talent?

With experience within their new systems, they could become a dangerous team and be good for a long time.

We're a few years behind them in that talent acquisition curve.