The Morning Aftermath: San Francisco 49ers

I promised, and now I must deliver (ironically at night) . Formerly titled What the Losers Are Saying I'm bringing back this series for another season. The purpose of The Morning Aftermath is to get fan reaction from the losing team both rational and irrational. I've tweaked the format to begin with the funniest comments from key moments in the game from random blogs and forums, continue with well-reasoned articles in The Post Mortem, and then finish off with people on video (either on Youtube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, whatever.) eating crow or just plain ranting. I'm trying to stay away from the "CUT ALEX SMITH OMG HE'S AWFUL!" types of knee-jerk articles written and focus on what they saw and their breakdown of how they lost to a team without the powers of Nick Reed. It's a lot to digest, so enjoy!

Best From the Comments (Smith Overthrows Wide Open Moran Norris)

"Alex blew that big time. This is feeling like it did last year. They can't beat us so we do it for them."

 

"Please tell me that did not happen"

"Great accuracy Alex"

"HS QB's make that toss but alex geeks em up"

"Alex: Morris is not Randy Moss"

"That was a terrible pass for a fullback. That was a great play call he was soo wide open"

"David Carr would've made that pass"

Best From the Comments (21-6, Trufant's Pick Six)

"2 ints, 1 fumble. Yup...Same old Alex. Not surprised."

"Horrible pass, Alex. NOW we can start hating on him."

"Alex Smith = Aaron Rowand"

"We ARE aware it is not illegal to throw a pass in the air more than five yards, don't we?"

"Its funny how people expect wideouts to be able to do the most difficult athletic feats but can't have expectations for the quarterback to throw an accurate pass with good touch."

"this is what happens when you put your faith in a 6 year bust"

Best From the Comments (28-6, Branch TD)

"This is just embarrassing now guys... I can only imagine what the defending champions New Orleans Saints are going to do to us.. man this is such a letdown..good thing for church later tonight or im pretty sure i would drink myself under a table"

"MRob gave Carroll our playbook including all 4 plays in it"

"Maybe Singletary could make another rant."

"But we were 4-0 in the preseason"

 

"Pete Carroll is so much better than Singletary"

"Get Mays in here. This is PAINFUL."

"Well that was like watching a talented boxer with no chin. Displayed the full arsenal than got clipped and could never recover."

All comments were taken (in no particular order) from Niners Nation, 49ers Forum, and Football's Future.

The Post-Mortem

The first week of the regular season is on us and it could not have started off worse for our beloved San Francisco 49ers. The team headed into this game with high hopes of having a crushing victory to start off the season en route to being crowned NFC West champions and heading into the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately it seemed that the team believed it's own hype and thought that the Seattle Seahawks would hand them the win.

There's nothing good that can be taken from this game. The offense stunk, our 3rd down conversion was atrocious just like last year and our secondary did not perform well next year. Here's hoping we rebound from this and come to play against the Saints with a vengeance. - Smileyman from Niners Nation

With not many encouraging events transpiring yesterday there are only a few Game Gold Nuggets (GGN’s) to hand out in week one.

OFFENSE: COAL

Who do you blame for the offenses horrible play?  When you have inconsistent passes, poor blocking and no run game the blame is shared by everyone and you receive no GGN’s, just coal.  I was extremely disappointed in the way quarterback Alex Smith played.  His accuracy was my biggest issue, something it seemed like he got under control in the preseason games but relented back to his old ways of looking uncomfortable and overwhelmed.  Smith’s inaccuracy led to his two interceptions and missed two touchdown opportunities early in the game with overthrown passes.  The INT returned for a touchdown in the second half was blamed on WR Michael Crabtree running the wrong route but Smith threw the football and shares the blame.

With the Seahawks defense lining up eight men in the box to slow down RB Frank Gore, who finished with 38 rushing yards on 17 carries, Smith should have had a field day passing taking advantage of limited defenders in the secondary going up against the 49ers receiving threats.  Instead Smith was off target on every possession except the first one passing 26-for-45 for 225 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, two sacks and one fumble.  The offense was 1-of-15 on third down conversions.  The negatives piled up early for the 49ers offense as their first three possessions went inside the Seahawks ten-yard line and what resulted was just six points.

Overall the offensive line was not explosive and could not handle the Seahawks pass rush.  Tackle Joe Staley gave up a sack and rookie Anthony Davis gave up two sacks along with a forced fumble.  Gore who has had his best career games come against the Seahawks was not a factor nor was TE Vernon Davis, who had nothing open over the middle the whole game where he makes his living, and Crabtree who looked out of sync with Smith on the passes thrown his way.  Remember that thing Smith said about chemistry and timing being an issue because of Crabtree and Davis missing much of the preseason?

Biggest question mark: Why did Raye call a pass to fullback Norris in the 49ers second drive of the game on fourth-and-goal?  Sure, the Seahawks probably weren’t looking at covering Norris, which is why he was open, and were more worried about the other receivers but with threats like Crabtree, Davis, Morgan and Gore, why not go to your playmakers.

Of note:  The 49ers three timeouts in the first half were called to avoid delay of game penalties. - Eric Melendez, Niners Noise

Video: Eating Crow

49ers get killed 31-6/seahawks crow (via deedee777)

So there you have it. Many 49ers fans are screaming bloody murder but others are being levelheaded in their criticism. Personally I think the 49ers should still be considered favorites to win the division, especially when weeks 6-12 feature the Raiders, Panthers, Broncos, Rams, Buccaneers, and Cardinals. That alone should likely offset their likely losses to the Saints, Falcons and I guess the Eagles as well provided they don't continue to get injured. Here's to hoping Alex Smith will screw that up too and the Seahawks get back on top of the perch where they should be. The Seahawks stuffed Frank Gore and thus were able to win the game.

There were lots of positives to take if you're a Seahawks fan, but I'd rather relive the days where we were 14-0 up at home in the blink of an eye instead of Hasselbeck literally throwing interceptions 1-2 offensive plays into a game. Denver is up next, and if they lose it will be extremely hard to read Broncos blogs and sift through comments about  McDaniels being capable of leading them to victory. If the Broncos lose I may just go with a "state of denial" theme.

SEA! HAWKS!