The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly - Week 2

Written by Chris Sullivan

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 07:56

Looking back at the 49ers game, it's time to see what worked, what didn't, and, to paraphrase Charles Barkley, what was just plain turrible?

The Good:

Justin Forsett looked good. He ran the ball with authority, putting his foot in the ground and going. His 14 yard run where he drug about four 49ers with him was borderline epic (if only he had scored).
Brandon Frye wasn't great, but he was good which, given the circumstances, was excellent. Frye came in after two weeks on the squad following a turbulent training camp for him. He did not allow a sack and, while he wasn't good in the run game, no one else really was either so lets not fault him for that.
The Seahawks' two-minute offense is among the best in the league. Do we ever go into the 2MO without scoring? I can't think of a time, even when our QB breaks a rib in the middle of it. Could we see the Seahawks enter the no-huddle more often? Not likely, but if we ever get down by two scores late, I'd expect it.

The Bad:

The Run Game continued to sputter. The 49ers are a very good run defense, and the Rams are a very bad run defense. We're probably somewhere in the middle of the 165 yards of week one and 65 yards of week two. In other words, average and bordering on schizophrenic. The Bears will be a big test.
Big Play Babs misinterpreted his name. Big Plays for us, Jordan, for US. At least Brian Russell would have dramatically whiffed on a tackle, Babs just took terrible angles on both long runs. He was okay outside of those two plays but, uh, without those two we win 10-9.
Curry Overpursued. I love the heart he's playing with, but as the only "starting linebacker" playing, I think he had too much on his mind and too much pressure on his shoulders. It's a lot to ask of a rookie, but those are the cards he was dealt this weekend. He'll be fine, but Zerrick Rollins needs to get him prepared to be the leader of that LB corps or get Hawthorne ready to step up when Lofa cannot play.

The Ugly:

Injuries. This isn't 2008, these are all temporary, not season ending, injuries. They are much more spread out than last year. These are the good things. Here are the bad things: Brandon Mebane, Leroy Hill, Lofa Tatupu, Josh Wilson, Marcus Trufant, Walter Jones, Sean Locklear, Chris Spencer, Deion Branch, Justin Griffith, Matt Hasselbeck. Brutal.
The West Coast Defense. This is not a final determination by any stretch, but where was it? Where has it been? No turnovers, mild pressure, poor blitz packages. Is this still "vanilla," or are we coaching at full strength?
My Gut Reaction. Alright, I'll admit it, I was overly emotional about Hasselbeck's dive. Yes, I want my QB to be passionate and trying to score, but look at the list of injuries. The idea of losing Hass in week two nearly made me pee myself, and not in a nice warm-ya-up kind of way.

Comments (13) Add Comment

2 min drill...
written by CanadaHawk, September 22, 2009

"Could we see the Seahawks enter the no-huddle more often? Not likely, but if we ever get down by two scores late, I'd expect it."

Isn't that just a wee bit late??? Seriously, if it works, why wait until we're basically out of the game to go to it? smilies/angry.gif

G, B and U.
written by LouieLouie, September 22, 2009

Curry didn't have a great game in SF, but I liked that he got fined for being too rough in the first game. That bodes well for the long term with the Hawks.

I hope that J-Force begins to see at least triple the number of runs that he's had in the first two games. Jones had a good day last week, but didn't seem able to make anything happen this week. J-Force has looked good since preseason.

The loss of Mebane and Tatupu obviously helped break a couple of big runs for the Niners, but hopefully those two guys will be healthy soon. Big-Play-Babs was chosen over Russel because of his pass protection skills, but he could use some work in the run game. He's not supposed to be tackling running backs coming free with all of those big bodies in the middle of the D-Line.

The high number of injuries are troublesome. The big question is; is it just bad luck, or are the Hawks doing something wrong?

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written by omarlittle, September 22, 2009

I think we will be seeing more of Milloy against Matt Forte and da bears.

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written by G.Miller, September 22, 2009

I agree with your article Chris. We looked turrible on most fronts. Let's not forget that the niners did also minus two big "luck box" runs. They are leading the division right now. I know without ANY passing game that won't last throughout the season. Time to bring back the heat at Qwest.

On the plus side, at least Grossman isn't gonna be here to have another one of his career days against us.

Bad Defense? sure. Vanilla? Hardly.
written by Hawksfanmsnvl, September 22, 2009

We got a sack on the QB what...4 times? when was the last time we did that and lost? take two giant runs away and we win the game with or without Hasselbeck. All in all our defense looked alright- we just got a bad break- twice. We'll look better this week.

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written by omarlittle, September 22, 2009

yea but anytime a run breaks out for more than 20 yards, a bunch went wrong on that play. To have two plays go for 80 yards, every single aspect of that defense failed. I personally blame Grant and Babs, I love them both but they dropped the ball on that play. Its their sole responsibility to make sure no big plays happen, hence the name safety.

I'm sure that proformance will get Milloy more playing time for at least this week. I'd rather have him in because none of da Bears WRs are scary, but Matt Forte is one of the best in the buiz. I'd feel more comfortable if Milloy got the nod for this match up.

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written by Tomahawker, September 22, 2009

I know what you felt - by chance, Mack and Zoe Strong were in Anchorage this past weekend. They came and spent the game with us. If only you could have heard the collective gasps and sounds of shock and concern from the Strong's and our Hawkers alike, when Matt collaped after intially standing up. One of the scariest hits I have seen one of our players take.

This many injuries can't be a coincidence
written by Pacificsands, September 22, 2009

It has to be a problem with the strength & conditioning team. Nothing else makes sense.

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written by Halkboy14, September 22, 2009

Should we have passed on mark sanchez?
Comparison between Matt Hasselbeck and Mark Sanchez.

Sanchez: 435 yards, 2 TD’s 1 INT and 32/53 passing.

Hasselbeck: 376 yards, 3 TD’s, 2 INT’s and 35/54 passing.

They look almost alike but this season Sanchez has made the smart decisions against a good defense in the Houston Texans and a great defense in the New England Patriots.

Hasselbeck has made poor decisions against a weak Rams defense and a great 49ers defense.

Ouch Hawkboy!
written by LouieLouie, September 22, 2009

As one who advocated drafting Sanchez on this website all last winter, I hear you. However, I am not at all disappointed with Curry. He was just as good of a choice as Sanchez. I really like that he was bestial in his first game. That's just what we need on defense.

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written by peter, September 22, 2009

when has houston had a good defense?

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written by mang'hawks.fr, September 23, 2009

Take a deep look at the Jets OL ... what a powerful protection for a talented rookie QB !!! Just a good good fit so far. Plus, when your secondary has just shut down guys like A. Johnson or the whole NE passing offense, then you could enter very confident into the field.

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written by Ryan Romano, September 23, 2009

Sando listed this post on his blog. Nice work Chris.

I could not agree with you more about the West Coast D. Where is it? Where is the pressure? Where are the creative blitz packages. When Mora said he was keeping the D vanilla for the preseason, he built up expectations that we would see more pressure and blitzes once the season started. Understandable as you don't want to give away your hand in pre season. But so far it looks like more of the same cover 2 only rushing the front 4. Those front 4 have been doing a great job with sacks. I just can't help but wonder what would happen if we blitz Curry with the front 4 more often.