I had the privilege of going to my first NFL game last night at Levi's Stadium and watched the San Francisco 49ers take on the Minnesota Vikings. As a 49ers fan, I was thrilled for the opportunity and took note of some key takeaways:
Colin Kaepernick...
can only make throws once he's in a rhythm. This point is proven as the few throws that he did miss were when he had no momentum. To gain the needed cadence, Colin got himself involved by rushing the ball and successfully completing short pass plays. The good thing about this "problem" is that it is typical for raw athletic players, and is something that should improve with more game reps. Remember, the quarterback only has two full seasons under his belt, so don't be worried if you think he's developing slowly. Something else that'll help him with finding a rhythm is the faster pace that head coach Jim Tomsula wants to instill.
Last night Kaepernick proved that he progressed a lot by not having any negative plays. On top of not committing a turnover, he avoided sacks (only happened once) by scrambling and throwing the ball away when necessary. Another feat he accomplished is completing passes to eight different receivers. Spreading the ball around is a good way to keep defenses guessing.
Carlos Hyde...
has the burst to get around the edge on outside runs, something Frank Gore lost years ago. It's now becoming apparent to everyone that Hyde is a talented back who somehow fell in the draft after dominating the college level at Ohio State. His running on the left side was fantastic, but he wasn't provided a whole lot of holes on the opposite side. I wouldn't consider this to be a problem though, as Clinton Portis, who plays very similarly, had a successful career by predominantly sticking to the left. This has more to do with the offensive line than anything else, but I'll talk about the linemen a little later.
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| Carlos Hyde displayed explosiveness, power, and a strong cutback ability. Last night he amassed 168 yards and collected 2 touchdowns. |
is a fan favorite but is also overhyped. Last night he fumbled his first punt and showed that he couldn't judge the high airborne kicks on two occasions. He was eventually relieved of his punt return duties as the 49ers turned to WR Bruce Ellington. Even as a RB, he failed to find holes and didn't do more than just follow his blockers. Without any agile cuts, Hayne never got it going on the ground. Now all of this rambling doesn't mean that Hayne is incapable. He has all the physical tools needed to dominate in this game, but he still has a lot to learn. Granted this was only his first game, so there is still a lot of upside.
The Offensive Line...
looks much improved from last year.
i. LT Joe Staley is in top form
ii. LG Alex Boone having a full training camp helped a ton
iii. The former Patriot, Jordan Devey, plays RG well. This is especially critical because the right side of the line has
always been an achilles heel for the niners in years past.
C Daniel Kilgore's return from injury will also give a huge boost to this unit too.
The Defense...
still has a talented front seven despite losing Justin and Aldon Smith. This is in large part to Navarro Bowman rebounding well after tearing his ACL nearly two years ago, as he accumulated 7 solo tackles and recorded a sack. Eric Mangini also proved that he is still a great defensive coordinator, although he is most known for his shortcomings as a head coach. His blitz packages took advantage of Minnesota's banged up offensive line (missing 3 players there) and kept young QB Teddy Bridgewater pressured all game as he was sacked 5 times.
The 49ers have a lot of noteworthy players on their defense who haven't had a chance to make a name for themselves before this season. Lesser-known players like Tank Carradine, Quinton Dial, and Kenneth Acker will all start to find popularity soon.
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| Navarro Bowman brings talent, energy, and life, which can propel the defense to be amongst the league's best. Last night the team only surrendered 3 points. |
picked the right time to start their conservative approach. Once San Francisco had a 2 possession lead in the second half, the team elected to orient their play selections around running the ball and short + intermediate pass plays. This was a humongous problem for them last year as Gregg Roman wanted to play slow and conservative with no worry about the time left and score.
Pacing...
was much better in terms of time needed to select plays and line up to scrimmage. The team never had a delay of game penalty and wasn't forced to burn a timeout due to a play clock that was running low. They did, however, take one timeout to look things over when they were in the red zone, which I believe to be a good idea.
The San Francisco 49ers can improve...
by finding ways to get more versatility in the offense. At the beginning of the game, it seemed as if they wanted to take advantage of backup RB Reggie Bush's speed, but he suffered a calf injury (fortunately, the 49ers don't deem it to be serious). They should also run more posts with Torrey Smith and Vernon Davis, as the two of them have the speed to take the tops off of defenses. Lastly, the team could cut down on unnecessary penalties.
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