Let's talk about the 49ers (Super Bowl Edition)

[TLO]

Well Chiefs vs Packers is what I had hoped for, but that's not happening.

Let's talk about Chiefs vs 49ers here.

[FringeNC]

We need two SB threads: one where we can interact with Niners fan if we want, and one that's HIV negative. Too much mindless pollution in this thread.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

We need two SB threads: one where we can interact with Niners fan if we want, and one that's HIV negative. Too much mindless pollution in this thread.

Much like their streets, they'd shit all over that too

[Three7s]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

We need two SB threads: one where we can interact with Niners fan if we want, and one that's HIV negative. Too much mindless pollution in this thread.

I agree with this idea. Start a new thread and have mods ban any 49er fans that show up.

[Why Not?]

I agree. We need a fun, dickhead free thread.

[Pushead2]

I've never understood the "thrill" or "enjoyment" of going onto an oppositions message board.

Maybe I'm the minority in this category, but it seems like a waste of energy & time.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Sonoco

Random thoughts from a Niner fan . . .

The 49ers were in a lot of tough games down the stretch after feasting on weak sisters the first half of the season. Six of the last eight games of the season were decided on the last snap of the game. The team was clutch and is battle tested. That said, we were three plays from being undefeated and another three plays from dropping to 10-6.

With a bye after week 3, the defense started to leak oil after Halloween with injuries and better competition but has tightened up with the return of Tartt, Alexander and your friend Dee. It's a fast unit that's very disciplined.

The offense has been pretty steady all year in spite of fighting off a string of short and long-term injuries. A lot of us were very worried when we lost our center Richburg for the year in New Orleans, but Garland has been pretty impressive in relief. Garoppolo has been efficient but seems prone to one bonehead throw per game, usually early in the game, then he settles down.

Just taking a simplistic look at results vs. three common opponents, there's something to take away for both fan bases. KC beat the Ravens at home, we lost in Baltimore. KC lost at GB, we beat them at home (twice). We both handled the Vikings.

Unless the 49ers simply lay an egg (something they haven't come close to doing all year), some of you talking blow-out are dreaming. Safe to assume they stick with what's been working for us what worked for Indy in week five. Run the ball about 40 times, play clean and keep the ball the hell away from Mahomes.

As a Niner fan I think we're playing with house money because we're at least a year ahead of schedule arriving as a legit contender, but kinda caught lightning in a bottle in 2019. So here we are. The team will show up ready as they have all year.

The Chiefs are a great match-up and it's going to be a great game.

Good post - welcome.

Few things to think about from a Chiefs perspective in your breakdown:

It’s kind of impossible to draw much from the Chiefs matchups against the Vikings and Packers. KC played those games without Mahomes. The fact they managed to beat the Vikings without him kind of saved the season. The Packers game went down to the wire.

(Side note directed at Niners trolls talking about how good the NFC was... Kansas City best one of your playoff contestants with a guy who literally was coaching HS this time last year and nearly beat your No. 2 seed with that same guy - save for a few god-level, vintage Rodgers plays).

Back to the real conversation.

I wouldn’t place too much stock in what the Colts did as a blueprint for stopping KC’s offense. That was the most “injured” the offense has been all year (no Hill or Watkins, Mahomes had a bad ankle that was made worse when sub LT Cam Erving stepped on it, no starting LT).

And the Chiefs run D is especially different from that game. The addition of Mike Pennel at DT and Teresa Suggs at RE gives them a lot more pop up front vs. the run. Reggie Ragland has changed up their LB mix quite a bit (Darron Lee was atrocious against the run and an awful tackler; believe Hitchens also got hurt mid-game).

The Colts and Texans games were the “belly of the whale” moments for this team and the run defense. They are not representative of what KC is now.

The last Raiders game is probably the best thing to look at if you want to get a feel for how KC is playing against the run now. Jacobs had one big run (reason for 49ers optimism) but otherwise averaged 4.3 YPC. And even in that game, KC has yet to add Suggs.

When he and Clark are on the field together, the edge gets set really well on both sides of the line.

[MOARGore]

Originally Posted by Pushead2

I've never understood the "thrill" or "enjoyment" of going onto an oppositions message board.

Maybe I'm the minority in this category, but it seems like a waste of energy & time.

Honestly, this is the first time I’ve done it all year.

I’m just hyped for the game, and want to learn more about the Chiefs.

Have any teams tried running a base dime defense against you guys? Our third safety is a 4.32/40 guy but he doesn’t always take good angles in pursuit.

We might have to put him out there out of necessity.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Good post - welcome.

Few things to think about from a Chiefs perspective in your breakdown:

It’s kind of impossible to draw much from the Chiefs matchups against the Vikings and Packers. KC played those games without Mahomes. The fact they managed to beat the Vikings without him kind of saved the season. The Packers game went down to the wire.

(Side note directed at Niners trolls talking about how good the NFC was... Kansas City best one of your playoff contestants with a guy who literally was coaching HS this time last year and nearly beat your No. 2 seed with that same guy - save for a few god-level, vintage Rodgers plays).

Back to the real conversation.

I wouldn’t place too much stock in what the Colts did as a blueprint for stopping KC’s offense. That was the most “injured” the offense has been all year (no Hill or Watkins, Mahomes had a bad ankle that was made worse when sub LT Cam Erving stepped on it, no starting LT).

And the Chiefs run D is especially different from that game. The addition of Mike Pennel at DT and Teresa Suggs at RE gives them a lot more pop up front vs. the run. Reggie Ragland has changed up their LB mix quite a bit (Darron Lee was atrocious against the run and an awful tackler; believe Hitchens also got hurt mid-game).

The Colts and Texans games were the “belly of the whale” moments for this team and the run defense. They are not representative of what KC is now.

The last Raiders game is probably the best thing to look at if you want to get a feel for how KC is playing against the run now. Jacobs had one big run (reason for 49ers optimism) but otherwise averaged 4.3 YPC. And even in that game, KC has yet to add Suggs.

When he and Clark are on the field together, the edge gets set really well on both sides of the line.

To save alot of time for our new 49er friends my recommendation is ignore anything before Week 15 or Week 16. Heck just look at what we done in the playoffs because this is the healthiest this team has been except for Week 1, Quarter 1.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by MOARGore

Honestly, this is the first time I’ve done it all year.



I’m just hyped for the game, and want to learn more about the Chiefs.



Have any teams tried running a base dime defense against you guys? Our third safety is a 4.32/40 guy but he doesn’t always take good angles in pursuit.



We might have to put him out there out of necessity.

I don’t remember that happening. Patriots ran some 3-2-6 looks, which is similar, if I recall correctly.

You’re thinking they’d do that against 11 personnel?

It could be effective if they can control the Chiefs run game with the front four.

[MOARGore]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I don’t remember that happening. Patriots ran some 3-2-6 looks, which is similar, if I recall correctly.

You’re thinking they’d do that against 11 personnel?

It could be effective if they can control the Chiefs run game with the front four.

I don’t think we’ve run much dime, but could be a wrinkle to get some more speed on the field.

If the Chiefs can run, we’d obviously have to abandon.

[DJ's left nut]

So I re-watched the game again last night and had one major takeaway from it:

The Titans actually played pretty damn well in that game. I noticed it most obviously (weirdly enough) in the Chiefs running game. The Chiefs were blocking their asses off in that game. They were actually doing a damn nice job of holding their ground and getting to their assignments. The combo blocks were great and there were holes that would just barely open up right as Williams got there. But the Titans were playing physical and really smart. They were flowing into gaps extremely well and snuffing plays for 4-5 yards that in many cases would've broken for long runs.

Now that's not to say that the 49ers will be worse at it - the almost certainly won't be. But Williams was just one half step away or one slightly longer block away from breaking 3-4 runs last Sunday. It doesn't take a bad play by SF for one of those to pop, maybe just a little bit of odd luck.

And against the pass the Titans weren't just going out there and blowing coverage. They were assignment sound and almost to a man did their jobs well. There was a physical gaffe here and there (like the bomb to Watkins where the NCB fell), but they played a damn smart, disciplined game. I couldn't figure out how PFF had Mahomes just wrecking the field in their grading until I really started watching what the Titans were doing. It seemed like a pretty ordinary 'Mahomes is amazing' sort of game, but then I looked more closely and realized that PM's ball placement and timing was just off the scales good despite typically excellent play from the Titans. His grade was that high because the Titans were playing really well and it just didn't matter.

And man oh man did that Chiefs defense come to play. Pennel really does jump off the screen when you start looking for him. And he wasn't playing weak sisters on that Titans OL - he was simply dominating them. Ragland was constantly coming downhill, Clark and K-Pass were doing a great job with their assignments.

I know the Titans lost, but as I watched that game for the 3rd time on TV (4th overall) I think I decided that they simply cannot play a much better football game than they did. They played REALLY well. The Chiefs were just better.

These guys are playing some pretty great football right now.

[FringeNC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I know the Titans lost, but as I watched that game for the 3rd time on TV (4th overall) I think I decided that they simply cannot play a much better football game than they did. They played REALLY well. The Chiefs were just better.

I agree and mentioned it in the game thread. Vrabel had those guys ready to play. We had to earn that victory -- good execution on most 3rd down and the only 4th down attempt or the game could have gone differently. Titans played so much better that game on D than they did the first game.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

The Chiefs have been extremely physical the past couple weeks for a ‘finesse’ team. That much is clear.

They’ve won the LOS the past two weeks on both sides of the football. It shouldn’t be true but it looks to me like the focus and effort of our offensive line has went up across the board. They’ve just been kicking ass. I’ve saw a few clips and from Sunday and those guys are trying to protect Mahomes like their own life depends on it. Gotta have that again.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

I agree and mentioned it in the game thread. Vrabel had those guys ready to play. We had to earn that victory -- good execution on most 3rd down and the only 4th down attempt or the game could have gone differently. Titans played so much better that game on D than they did the first game.

Yeah, in person all you really notice is energy. You can tell when an opponent comes out fired up but not really how they're executing. I could tell in the Week 17 game against LAC that the defense was playing their tails off, but couldn't really tell if they were playing well (apart from Derwin James). I never bothered to re-watch because ultimately I didn't care that much.

And on Sunday I could tell that the Titans weren't laying down, but I didn't see just how close they were coming to making plays on balls that would've been incomplete but/for amazing manipulation of the pocket and/or throwing lanes by Mahomes. He was just making subtle changes on throws left and right and sneaking them just a bit past defenders. Or on the rare occasion that the Titans would try a zone, Mahomes would just know exactly where to go with the ball and exactly when to go there. I only saw a single play where he lost Robinson(?) on the backside of a play that took awhile to develop before he just kinda gave up on it and fired one into the ground. Maybe it was Williams. But he had a gods-eye view of the field and was playing that defense like a fiddle.

I kinda feel like Vrabel is a bit of a mongoloid but I'll give him a lot of credit - those cats absolutely thought they were going to win that game and you can see it in their focus and their execution. They definitely didn't see that as 'house money' - they went out there with a job to do and ultimately I thought they made a pretty incredible effort.

Mahomes was just next-level great and the defense was playing with a ferocity we just haven't seen from them since the Schottenheimer days.

[Pushead2]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

The Chiefs have been extremely physical the past couple weeks for a ‘finesse’ team. That much is clear.

They’ve won the LOS the past two weeks on both sides of the football. It shouldn’t be true but it looks to me like the focus and effort of our offensive line has went up across the board. They’ve just been kicking ass. I’ve saw a few clips and from Sunday and those guys are trying to protect Mahomes like their own life depends on it. Gotta have that again.

The switch to Wiz has been clutch.

I didn't think Andy was going to make the switch, but he makes the line much more stable.