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http://mmqb.si.com/2014/11/03/nfl-week-9-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/
Getty Images (2) || AP (2)
Where to Begin?
Week 9 had no shortage of big-time storylines. Let’s examine each of them, from Big Ben's second straight six-spot, to the Patriots’ punishment of Peyton, to the Cards’ continued dominance in the NFC
By Peter King
Rams/49ers game mentions:
“I was stunned … that they didn’t use Frank Gore.” Gut Punch Loss of the Day: San Francisco can’t get the ball into the end zone for the win on three tries from inside the two-yard line in the final minutes, and Colin Kaepernick fumbles on a quarterback sneak on the third play. Rams middle linebacker James Laurinaitis recovers. St. Louis 13, San Francisco 10. Laurinaitis said he was “stunned” that Gore, the Niners’ power-running back, never got a touch in the final minute. “He’s one of the best backs in football at falling forward,” Laurinaitis told me from California. The Niners (4-4), three games and a lost tiebreaker behind Arizona in the NFC West this morning, now realistically have to play for a NFC Wild Card.
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The Niners gave one away with a botched final series. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
The 49ers had no business losing that game.
There have been agonizing losses in the NFL this year, as always. Miami losing on the fake spike to Green Bay in Week 6. Atlanta blowing the 21-point second-half lead and losing to Detroit in London. And then there’s the Niners on Sunday. They had the ball, first-and-goal at the Rams two-yard line, with 42 seconds and one timeout left. San Francisco trailed 13-10. The Niners had three shots for the win, and a chippy field goal to force overtime if they couldn’t punch it in. Or four shots, if Jim Harbaugh was feeling lucky.
First down: Short pass to the right to Michael Crabtree, close to the goal line. Marked down at the one.
Second down: Play-action rollout to the right. Colin Kaepernick, pressured by James Laurinaitis, threw it away.
Third down: Heavy formation. Kaepernick under center. He took the snap, fumbled it in his hands, grabbed for it and started moving forward. Fullback Bruce Miller bear-hugged him and pushed the quarterback forward. But the replays showed Kaepernick, in mid-scrum, losing the handle totally and the ball falling to the turf, just over the goal line.
“I was shocked to see it there, of course,’’ said Laurinaitis. “The whole play was surprising. The play before, they go play-action and don’t give it to Gore. Then on the last play, they don’t give to Gore either. But I could sense when they got on the ball they were probably going to sneak it. You could just tell in their mannerisms, their body language, the formation. I figured if Kaepernick is going to sneak, he’d just put the ball over the line, like Tom Brady or Drew Brees. But I think what happened is he never really had good possession of it. He didn’t catch it clean from the center. So he just barreled forward.
“As soon as I saw the ball on the ground, I just grabbed and tried to spin around right away to show the umpire. Like, ‘Ball’s loose! I got it! I got it! Our ball! Our ball!’ They looked at me and ruled it was our ball, which obviously was the right call. That ball was on the ground.’’
On replay, it was impossible to tell when Kaepernick last had any sort of possession. But once it was ruled a fumble on the field, it is impossible to overturn because there were no views of the play that showed Kaepernick with possession past the plane of the goal line. And that muffed snap is the kind of painful play that could come back to haunt a team that now will have almost zero margin for error if it wants to be playing in January.
One final point about the Rams here: They had eight sacks after having but five in the first seven games… in part because of changeups defensive coordinator Gregg Williams threw at San Francisco. “We spied them,” said Laurinaitis, “and we had a couple of sacks from blitzes. We blitzed from the left a lot [opposite Robert Quinn’s side]. And we won the one-on-one matchups a lot. There’s no magic potion sometimes—you just have to win the battle with the guys across from you.”
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Coach of the Week
Mike Waufle, defensive line coach, St. Louis. Rams sacks in the first seven games: five. Rams sacks Sunday: eight. Sacks by the defensive line Sunday: six, plus one team sack. Waufle and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams shifted some of the pressure away from Robert Quinn on the right side and got great penetration from Aaron Donald—who is getting Sapp-like disruption in the middle of the line—and end Williams Hayes. Waufle, 60, is a coaching lifer who kept telling his line the sacks would come—just keep rushing hard. On Sunday, the advice paid off in a great rush day and a 13-10 win.
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Goat of the Week
Colin Kaepernick, quarterback, San Francisco. You cannot fumble the game-deciding quarterback sneak. You simply cannot.
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“Communications. Is that a surprise?”
—San Francisco’s oft-answer-challenged coach, Jim Harbaugh, on what his college major was at Michigan.
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I think this is what I liked about Week 9:
Austin Davis continues to show he belongs, and not just as roster filler. As does Kenny Britt, who caught a second-quarter touchdown from Davis at the Niners.
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I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 9:
Terrible non-safety call by the Jerome Boger crew in the Niners game, just before the half, when Tavon Austin clearly was trying to bring the ball out of the end zone on a missed field goal, and he was tackled two yards deep, and the officials gave him progress just beyond the goal line. Fiction.
Cannot believe Colin Kaepernick fumbled the quarterback sneak. That’s the difference between being in the pennant race in the West and being out of it.
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To read the entire article click the link -
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/11/03/nfl-week-9-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/
Getty Images (2) || AP (2)
Where to Begin?
Week 9 had no shortage of big-time storylines. Let’s examine each of them, from Big Ben's second straight six-spot, to the Patriots’ punishment of Peyton, to the Cards’ continued dominance in the NFC
By Peter King
Rams/49ers game mentions:
“I was stunned … that they didn’t use Frank Gore.” Gut Punch Loss of the Day: San Francisco can’t get the ball into the end zone for the win on three tries from inside the two-yard line in the final minutes, and Colin Kaepernick fumbles on a quarterback sneak on the third play. Rams middle linebacker James Laurinaitis recovers. St. Louis 13, San Francisco 10. Laurinaitis said he was “stunned” that Gore, the Niners’ power-running back, never got a touch in the final minute. “He’s one of the best backs in football at falling forward,” Laurinaitis told me from California. The Niners (4-4), three games and a lost tiebreaker behind Arizona in the NFC West this morning, now realistically have to play for a NFC Wild Card.
----------
The Niners gave one away with a botched final series. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
The 49ers had no business losing that game.
There have been agonizing losses in the NFL this year, as always. Miami losing on the fake spike to Green Bay in Week 6. Atlanta blowing the 21-point second-half lead and losing to Detroit in London. And then there’s the Niners on Sunday. They had the ball, first-and-goal at the Rams two-yard line, with 42 seconds and one timeout left. San Francisco trailed 13-10. The Niners had three shots for the win, and a chippy field goal to force overtime if they couldn’t punch it in. Or four shots, if Jim Harbaugh was feeling lucky.
First down: Short pass to the right to Michael Crabtree, close to the goal line. Marked down at the one.
Second down: Play-action rollout to the right. Colin Kaepernick, pressured by James Laurinaitis, threw it away.
Third down: Heavy formation. Kaepernick under center. He took the snap, fumbled it in his hands, grabbed for it and started moving forward. Fullback Bruce Miller bear-hugged him and pushed the quarterback forward. But the replays showed Kaepernick, in mid-scrum, losing the handle totally and the ball falling to the turf, just over the goal line.
“I was shocked to see it there, of course,’’ said Laurinaitis. “The whole play was surprising. The play before, they go play-action and don’t give it to Gore. Then on the last play, they don’t give to Gore either. But I could sense when they got on the ball they were probably going to sneak it. You could just tell in their mannerisms, their body language, the formation. I figured if Kaepernick is going to sneak, he’d just put the ball over the line, like Tom Brady or Drew Brees. But I think what happened is he never really had good possession of it. He didn’t catch it clean from the center. So he just barreled forward.
“As soon as I saw the ball on the ground, I just grabbed and tried to spin around right away to show the umpire. Like, ‘Ball’s loose! I got it! I got it! Our ball! Our ball!’ They looked at me and ruled it was our ball, which obviously was the right call. That ball was on the ground.’’
On replay, it was impossible to tell when Kaepernick last had any sort of possession. But once it was ruled a fumble on the field, it is impossible to overturn because there were no views of the play that showed Kaepernick with possession past the plane of the goal line. And that muffed snap is the kind of painful play that could come back to haunt a team that now will have almost zero margin for error if it wants to be playing in January.
One final point about the Rams here: They had eight sacks after having but five in the first seven games… in part because of changeups defensive coordinator Gregg Williams threw at San Francisco. “We spied them,” said Laurinaitis, “and we had a couple of sacks from blitzes. We blitzed from the left a lot [opposite Robert Quinn’s side]. And we won the one-on-one matchups a lot. There’s no magic potion sometimes—you just have to win the battle with the guys across from you.”
----------
Coach of the Week
Mike Waufle, defensive line coach, St. Louis. Rams sacks in the first seven games: five. Rams sacks Sunday: eight. Sacks by the defensive line Sunday: six, plus one team sack. Waufle and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams shifted some of the pressure away from Robert Quinn on the right side and got great penetration from Aaron Donald—who is getting Sapp-like disruption in the middle of the line—and end Williams Hayes. Waufle, 60, is a coaching lifer who kept telling his line the sacks would come—just keep rushing hard. On Sunday, the advice paid off in a great rush day and a 13-10 win.
----------
Goat of the Week
Colin Kaepernick, quarterback, San Francisco. You cannot fumble the game-deciding quarterback sneak. You simply cannot.
----------
“Communications. Is that a surprise?”
—San Francisco’s oft-answer-challenged coach, Jim Harbaugh, on what his college major was at Michigan.
---------
I think this is what I liked about Week 9:
Austin Davis continues to show he belongs, and not just as roster filler. As does Kenny Britt, who caught a second-quarter touchdown from Davis at the Niners.
----------
I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 9:
Terrible non-safety call by the Jerome Boger crew in the Niners game, just before the half, when Tavon Austin clearly was trying to bring the ball out of the end zone on a missed field goal, and he was tackled two yards deep, and the officials gave him progress just beyond the goal line. Fiction.
Cannot believe Colin Kaepernick fumbled the quarterback sneak. That’s the difference between being in the pennant race in the West and being out of it.
----------
To read the entire article click the link -
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/11/03/nfl-week-9-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/
