2nd Half Offense (thank Gawd for our D!)

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@Norse said:
I'm hoping that Compton isn't playing that LG spot to many more weeks. That we figure something better out.

Agreed.  Hope Elf is back soon and Jones slides to LG 

[Guest]

@kmillard said:
playing not to lose is the main problem on O. 

Wasn't DF supposed to be a change of pace from that? I get not calling risky plays, but keep your foot on the gas a little bit more...

Although perhaps some of the plays called that didn't work out because of bad execution were responsible. 

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@KingBash said:

@kmillard said:
playing not to lose is the main problem on O. 

Wasn't DF supposed to be a change of pace from that? I get not calling risky plays, but keep your foot on the gas a little bit more...

Although perhaps some of the plays called that didn't work out because of bad execution were responsible. 

I think that is part of it but I also think the OL is still a work in progress.

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@Vikergirl said:

@KingBash said:

@kmillard said:
playing not to lose is the main problem on O. 

Wasn't DF supposed to be a change of pace from that? I get not calling risky plays, but keep your foot on the gas a little bit more...

Although perhaps some of the plays called that didn't work out because of bad execution were responsible. 

I think that is part of it but I also think the OL is still a work in progress.

I don't think we're a Super Bowl team like we'd all hoped because of that OL. Let's cross our fingers for playoffs... I think that's more than reasonable still. 

[Guest]

@Tyr said:

@TBro said:
1) Cousins seemed to be looking for too many chunk yardage plays in the second half. We completely got away from the short passing game to Cook that was working well in the first half. This team needs to sustain drives and win the time of possession game. Not sure if that was Cousins' decision making or Flips playcalling.  

2) Cook was not effective running the ball in the second half, but Murray looked very good in the amount of touches he had. I would have liked to see Murray get more rushing attempts and also have some formations were both of them are in the back field at the same time. I like CJ Ham but he really wasn't much of impact today except for his blocking. 

3) Offensive line had zero push in the running game which is a major concern. It made for very predictable playcalling with 2nd and 3rd and longs every series. 

1. Yeah, Cousins was going for big chunks of yards and was not connecting on a fair amount of them. If you pick up decent yardage on 1st down, then not a huge issue, but no running game and missing on chunk plays puts you in 3rd & long way too much.
2. I'm still not sure how of the Cook's struggles running were him and how much were the OL. I think he's best utilized laterally and trying to pound the ball up the middle with him on a day when the OL was consistently getting beat was not a great decision by DeFilippo. But they did adapt and let Murray being the battering ram to finish off the game. As for Cook being shut down in the passing game in the second half, presumably SF adjusted for that and they were also collapsing the pocket in a way that took away the dump off passes.
3. Yeah, the run blocking was really bad. No push and it made it really difficult for Cook to get going. Murray handled it better, but he's also built to power his way up the belly.

Could not at agree more with you two. Even if the Niners made adjustments to the Cook screens, it's not like we were trying them and they were getting blown up. We just didn't run them anymore, which was strange.
Cook had nowhere to go up the middle, reminded me of the AP days some years with a bad line. Hopefully they can figure it out. Pass blocking did seem slightly better to me in the 2nd half, but maybe that's just because we ran less plays and I therefore watched less scrambles.

4. Special teams looked much better yesterday than in preseason! Carlson was money and Wile was good except for that one shank. No muffs or anything, although Sherels did attempt to get himself killed by not calling fair catch on that one PR.
Good win, now let's go get one at Lambeau. Skol!