It seems as if the Cardinals showed the blueprint for stopping the 49ers offense. Stack the box to stop the run, play man coverage and dare the 49ers WR's to beat them. Seeing as the 49ers are without Kittle, and Sanders was limited, it was working really well for a while. The 49ers WR's are just not great. It looks like Deebo is starting to break out which is great, and I hope he keeps it up. The guy reminds me a lot of Anquan Boldin. But against teams with a better secondary and a good pass rush, it is going to be a huge problem for the 49ers moving forward. If they can't get the running game back on track I think it could spell big trouble for them. The hope is with Kittle and Sanders healthy it will open everything up a bit more, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Now I am wondering if I am just too harsh a critic of Jimmy G. The picks he is throwing are so awful, that maybe it just makes him seem worse than he is. I mean he was 26-30 for 305 yards, 3TD's and 2 INT's in the 2nd half. You take away those picks and that is quite the stat line. My problem is the 1st pick was SO bad, I mean just completely missed the underneath defender (which seems to be his major issue) that it really takes away from the rest of his performance. The 2nd pick was just an awful throw to an open TE that once again was deflected to a defender.
So is it that Jimmy G is only good because of Shanahan and his scheme, and at times receivers appear to be wide open? I think the argument against that is Mullens had roughly the same cast of pass catchers last year, and didn't have nearly the success. Is it the fact that Jimmy G has only started 20 games, and these are the kinds of things that only game time can teach you, no matter how much you understand the offense?
I just don't know if I am an overly harsh critic of him, and his mistakes just seem so much worse because they appear to be really awful. Anyway, just my rambling thoughts on the 49ers. The remaining schedule for the 49ers is rough. With Atlanta suddenly playing real football again, the 49ers don't have a single easy game left on the schedule. Should be fun to watch!