Given about 40 hours to reflect, Jim Harbaugh would only acknowledge the obvious today: Why, yes, he wishes the 49ers had called a play that gained five yards during the last two minutes of the Super Bowl. Harbaugh, predictably, wasn’t in the mood for public self-flagellation when asked about San Francisco’s much-scrutinized play-calling at the end of its 34-31 loss to the Ravens on Sunday. Facing 2nd-and-goal at the 5-yard line, Colin Kaepernick tossed three straight incompletions which were intended for wide receiver Michael Crabtree. Kaepernick said he called an audible on fourth down when he saw Crabtree matched up in single coverage against Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith. Baltimore, which was without injured Pro Bowl nose tackle Haloti Ngata, allowed 129 rushing yards and 9.2 yards a carry in the second half. “Certainly, knowing how it ended up, how it finished, we didn’t get the ball in, yeah, would’ve liked to have tried a different play call, a different scenario,†Harbaugh said. “That’s the way I always feel. If you do something and it doesn’t work, yeah, would’ve liked to have done something different, at least tried it. But you can’t.†Harbaugh then trotted out one of his standard lines when a coaching strategy is second-guessed by the media: “The would’ve, could’ve, should’ve is undefeated,†he said. “That’s never failed.†Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Dont worry maybe next year... u should keep smith... but this is not the time to speak about him.... Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
I'd like Smith to stay, personally, but if they can get a 2nd round draft pick (+/-) for him, then they should run with it. Maybe give them some ammunition to target a shut-down CB, another pass rusher or a "X" WR
Really, the play calling wasn't that bad. Watch the delay of game play. Kaep gets that off and it's 6. Watch the 3rd down, Kaep looks at Walker and it's 6. 4th down- Crabs doesn't get molested and it's a possibility (oh, and Walker was getting raped on the other side, but you know, just let 'em play right?) ;-). Alright, sorry, I won't put that here. Seriously though, the opportunity was there for sure, just wasn't executed.
[MENTION=1641]The Mullet[/MENTION] - randy moss was open on the slant too...I think it was the third down play...
actually, if you read his quote, he absolutely IS second guessing the play calls ......... "Yeah, (I) would've liked to have tried a different play call, a different scenario,". the last 3 play calls were very bad. i questioned rolling kaep out on the short side of the field all night. that's not the right play for him and that was the 2nd down call. and i've never been a fan of the fade pattern but i know the coaches in the league love it because it can draw a flag. having 3 straight pass plays targeting crabtree was not smart. ignoring vernon davis was not smart. the niners had been running the ball well at that time, why not run it 4 straight times to get a measely 5 yards? i personally think the play calling on the last sequence is what cost them the lead. it was very poor.
Again, you're taking the ball out of your three best players (on the day) "hands." No gore, no Davis, no Kaepernick legs.
the niners still may not have won the game even if they scored a td. that's the thing no one is talking about. there was a ton of time left in the game and the niners would have needed to convert the 2-pt conversion or a ravens FG would have won it.
I'm glad someone finally said this. I've thought about the what-if scenario over this ever since the game ended. Should, coulda, woulda... I'm going there. And I didn't like the play calls or audibles. Who cares if they go cover zero???! We averaged 6.8 ypc in the game. Put the jumbo package out there and plug away at it. Leonard Davis, Isaac Sopoaga, B. Miller, VD and DWalk all blocking for Frank Gore. Why didn't GRo call this? Time would've come off the clock and we still had timeouts. And what if you go playfake, Vernon acts like he's blocking then sneaks into the flat.... who's going to cover him? Instead, 3 straight pass attempts that take hardly any time off the clock, with exception of the roll out. That's actually been a struggle all year is management of the clock itself. I wish there were some data on that compared to other teams, but with how good this coaching staff has been.. its a head scratcher to still have those issues.
I haven't watched it back yet. Probably won't for a while. From what you saw though, I thought I remembered Kaep calling for the ball twice after the clock hit 4-5 seconds and Goody never let it go until a little after the clock hit zero. Is that what you saw? I just remember thinking why in the hell hasn't he snapped it and when I saw the play developing, it looked like a sure TD was coming.
Exactly. Seems to happen a few times every game. I've been of the opinion for a while now that Goodwin is a real liability on that line
