dizzle88

Whats messed up is we do actually have the number 1 ranked D now, bet we havent done that for a long time lol

Our run D was very good, still need to stop receivers getting YAC

homerj07

Oak I love your optimism. Don't agree with you but... That's what makes this site so great. We can disagree with being objectionable.

TheOak

Not sure many would agree that
I am optimistic. In 2009 I was pointing out what we were not doing well.... That didn't go over well or get much agreement.

What I saw KC do in their opening drive was run plays they knew a basic defense the first run out would have the most trouble with. It had little to do with the game and more to do with a new QB and a new HC giving fans warm fuzzies. They knew adjustments wouldn't be made till we were off the field. They also knew what we were missing on D and capitalized.
Smith's self confidence was probably as high as Reed's confidence and cholesterol. There were no passes thrown further than 7 yards past the line of scrimmage, Smiths yards per completion are because of YAC.

I am in no way saying we looked good on their opening drive, I am saying that the first 14 plays tell a different story than the rest of the game.

Remember what RGIII did to us last year? I expected Charles to have at least one good run.

D_it_up

Yes, the opening drive was methodical. Yes they scored a TD on the opening drive. Yes, the defense needs to work on defending against screens and the short passing game. HOWEVER, they didn't allow anything deep down the field which is already a huge improvement over last year. As the article and many of us members have said in preseasons before, the playbook is very vanilla. I'm not going to gauge how our offense and defense look after the first, or any, preseason game. There were a lot of bright spots Friday night. Having said that, the special teams needs to pull their collective heads out of their asses, because there is no excuse for that.

People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.

saintfan

It was a PRE-season game. I didn't get to watch it until Sunday, and after reading stuff on the web (here and elsewhere) I was expecting the worst.

So I was surprised to see the team do what I consider to be quite well, especially with all things considered, and frankly even without.

And it doesn't really matter anyway. There are no trends. It was the first PRE-SEASON game, and so it was nothing to get excited about whether we won by 70 or lost by 70.

But I thought we did well and I'd say I'll be headed into the season, based on one PRE-SEASON game, as a "Sunshiner" yet again.

C'mon Man...

halloween 65

I think Ryan was getting his feet wet, by game 1 he will have dialed most of the D in and by game 3 we will know just about what we have. I still think the ILB needs to be addressed. The next few games I would like to see our secondary tested time and time again to see what we have there. Practice and the exhibition game do matter but I want get to excited before game 1 when it really matters. I do like our 3 man front, they look solid.

BoudinSandwich

Boy, I couldn't agree less about the evaluation of the D. The whole rating is based on 1 drive. The second drive, their offense did nothing, despite having the punt return give them the ball in excellent field position.

The D got like 6 sacks without tons of blitzes.

rezburna

Most people judge pre season games on 1st string vs 1st string. After last year, for them to drive 14 plays for a TD is discouraging. That's perfect for the other team. That's what every team wants to do. Alex Smith never goes for the big play. He played his game, and it worked. So maybe we'll get a better look when the defense isn't so vanilla, and we swap out some of the starters for a couple back ups.

But if we go off the year we won it all, we dominated 1st string vs 1st string in the preseason. Offense and defense. So yeah, seeing what the back ups did was nice, but can they do it against people who are a lock to make a 53 man roster?

"The first need of a free people is to define their own terms.” - Stokely Carmichael

Danno

Encouraging analysis.

TheOak

Exactly... We were running scripted basics... No adjustments etc...