49ers Review: Week 3 | 24greaterthan23's Blog

Well it was good while it lasted. Good Effort today Niners but damn those Steelers. They look pretty nice. Although I really want to see this "official rewiew" on NFL Network, Explain how Vernon Davis didn't have a catch. O well. Anyway other thoughts from Early football before I hand out the Grades.

- The Patriots will have the '72 Dolphins Shakin in thier boots. They look insanely good. Week 9 is going to be the only big test for them. Although I wouldn't sleep on week 14

- You can't go from a coach that was 200-126 to a coach that is 59-83 and expect to see improvement. If Brian Griese was the quarterback of the Bears, the Chargers might be 0-3 right now. Thats way to much talent on one team to be 1-2 and let Brett Favre in company drive down the field. Although the Packers look....nice. Kudos to Brett Favre. He is still one of the most entertaining QB's to watch when he is on fire just as long as it isn't against the Niners.

- A lot of fantasy "Experts" owe Randy Moss an apology.

- Kurt Warner you son of a b**** I still Believe Kurt Warner sold his sole to the Devil. Also any team thats lets a back-up Qb throw for 258 yards in 20 minutes is not a superbowl contender. Espically if its the same team that lost to a team that allowed 51 points to Derek Anderson and Crew. The Ravens have no shot going to Indy or New England in January.

- Donovan Mcnabb you black son of a b****. Good game.

- I can't wait for October 6th. Tigers-Gators. #2-#3. I think that will be the Game of the Year. Well besides 0-7 Notre Dame pulling off the Biggest upset of all time, in South Bend. They don't call him Football Jesus for nothing.

Now I'm done avoiding talking about the Loss. Lets get out the red pen.

Passing Offense: C-

Alex Smith threw for his 1st Touchdown hooray. Too bad it was after his first pick. Good hustle on the tackle their Alex. Anyway not a lot of downfield passes in the first 3 quarters when the Niners should have been attacking. Nice Working with Vernon Davis, but come on, 1 catch by a wideout going into the the 4th quarter? Did we get Darrell Jackson for 3 catches a game? I know its a work in progress, but we need to show progress with out work. The end of the game looked nice but it was garbage time. The pass offense still has work to do.

Rushing Offense: D-

Its never a good thing when Alex Smith has 7 less yards than Frank Gore. If you take out Alex Smith and Arnaz Battle you have 20 carries for 58 yards. Not a lot of 5+ runs. I think I counted, 7 in all. The Steelers ate the Niners backfield alive.

Passing Defense: C-

160 yards allowed, a Forced fumble, 2 sacks, and holding a number 1 reciever to 2 yards sounds good on paper but this team had trouble all day. It just looked easy for the Steelers. The didn't throw the ball alot(not that they needed to) but when they did throw the Steelers look extremely effective. Roethlisburger was just sittin back, picking and choosing in the pocket. The pressure was nice, but what's the point if you can't tackle? It just seemed to easy for the Steelers. They didn't make homerun plays, but they keep making plays that they needed which is something you defense just can't allow. Good effort bad exacution.

Rushing Offense: D-

Willie Parker ran wild today. No push up front, I think maybe 3-4 tackles for loss against Willie. Bad game on the Rush D fault. But hey they didn't allow 4 TD's which is an upgrade from last season. Also Nate Clements had a sick TD-saving play in the backfield on that trick play they tried. Thats about it with the positives. Bad game on the Rush D faults.

Special Teams: D-

I hate Kickoff Returns. Espically if it is the other teams 1st play of the game. Their has to be some W-L stat that is bigger than people expect. 98 yards....

Coaching: C+

The whole game went pretty okay I guess. When the Niners added pressure on the QB, they failed alot on the tackling. When The Niners played Pass D, They kept missing pass break up by inches. The Offense looked slow, but when you can't get a running game going, its hard to throw espically when pressure keeps coming. I think the play calling was good, 2-2 in Challenges is also nice (although one was terribly overturned), all in all the game wasn't that badly coached. I think it came down to one thing....

Oppenents Grade: A

...one team was just better than the other. I know it seems I'm complaing about how the Niners didn't do a lot well, but you have to give credit to the Steelers. They stepped up whenever they need to. They Simply played a better game than the Niners Did. And They looked really good doing it. They will compete with the Ravens for the AFC North crown. I think a lot of people who wrote predictions may want to change them in the Bengals at least...

Positive Note: With all the bad things, the Niners didn't give up. At the end of the half they went downfield. At the end of the game, they kept throwing the ball. They actually somewhat opened up. It work in spurts. Also good job gettin Vernon Davis Involved. The game would have been different if they allowed him to have that catch. O well can't complain.......

Negative Note: 7-12 3rd down conversions. Yeah about that.....

FINAL GRADE FOR WEEK 3: C-

Wow the best grade of the season comes in a loss. The Niners are a Work In progress, and despite the loss they should some improvement. But Don't sleep on the Steelers.

Predictions for Week 4 vs. Seahawks: 24-20 W

The Niners have had pretty good success against the west this season and I don't expect it to change. I think they got some things goin on offense that will continue to keep devolping going into to next week. Plus Frank Gore has to be salivating for a 100 yard game. I think he has a break out game

Sorry No game balls in 21 point losses. Bring on the Hawks.