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Lanky Livingston
Guest
**Disclaimer: I make no claim to be a football “expert” - these are simply my observations from watching the plays several times each. 
**
Being the diligent fan I am, I decided to break down the film play-by-play in the first half (okay, being the bored fan I am). Here are some of my observations:
QB Battle:
Rex took 4 series to heat up; his first 3 were not good. He failed to recognize pressure, threw the ball away too quickly when there was no pressure, and made some questionable throws. Yes, he made some nice ones also, but was very inconsistent. That 4th series though, he looked like Peyton Manning! This dude has a switch that flips on and off - when its on, he's a fantastic QB. When its off...ugly!
Example: 3rd & long situation on Rexy's second series. This is a play that boggles your mind with Rex; shotgun formation, the blitz is picked up exceptionally with 77 & 66 driving the blitzers out of the play, and Rex has plenty of time. Hightower sneaks out into the flat and is WIDE open, but Rex opts for a piss-poor throw on a crossing pattern to Moss, who is blanketed by Suggs. Seemed to me that Rex felt pressure that wasn't there, and rushed his decision – IMO this is his biggest weakness. He could have held onto the ball for another second and found a better option.
Another example of bad Rex is on 1st & 10 on his second series. Brown is beaten badly on this play, but Rex gets the quick slant off. He sets his feet, steps into the throw, has time, and badly misses a streaking Gaffney. Jaws describes the play as a “head-scratcher throw.” I believe he allowed the pressure to effect the toss.
Contrast these with his 4th series, where he was knocking the wings off a gnat at 20 yards! He made 4 pinpoint, ELITE throws on this drive, including the TD strike to Moss that he dropped. Also a great job of recognizing a broken coverage and hitting Moss a couple plays later for the easy TD.
Rex also needs to do a better job of recognizing the blitz - 3rd & 8 on Rex's first series: Shotgun formation. Overload blitz from the Ravens - Hightower does a good job picking up one blitzer, Fred Davis another, but unfortunately there are 3. Rex never even sees the 3rd guy (or any of them, to be honest), and gets pummeled. Armstrong points out the blitz before the play, Rex either ignores him or doesn't see him. Rex's other mistake is looking to the right side all day, another reason he never sees the hit. He has got to recognize the blitz better, or he's going to be coughing the ball up a lot more.
The other funny thing about Rex – I've noted before his tendency to throw from his back foot or not set before he throws – I think he's actually a better QB when he does this. Several times in this game he set, stepped into the throw, and threw an ugly-duckling. In his “hot” series, he had a little “hop” before he threw the ball and hit about 5 perfect throws in a row. Very strange!
John Beck didn't really have much time to make his mark, but a 3-play, 70-yard TD drive ain't bad. It was 2s on 2s in the 2nd half, but his scoring drive was very pretty. He had two big-time tosses to Terrence Austin; one of which was under-pressure to keep a drive alive.
Beck did have some poor moments - the most glaring was the McNabb impression on 3rd down to Moss. 5 step drop on 3rd & 4, has Moss on the quick slant. He did not set his feet, and threw off his back foot - this is why the throw was poor. Beck knew it too. The first play of this drive was not good for Beck either - he rolled out, but off of a very poor play action (seemed almost like a busted play) - held the ball for 5 seconds; appeared to want to go deep around the 4-second mark, but pulled the ball down. Then, BAM sacked. Needs to throw the ball away in this situation.
RB:
Hightower is the next superstar Shanahan ZBS RB. Its often hyperbole when people say "oh player X is a perfect fit in system Y," but in this case its 100% truth. He is made for this system, and will have a big year. The only dark shadow is his fumbling issues; if he can keep those in check, he'll do very very well.
OL: OL had some good moments and some bad moments also - some looked dominant one play, poor the next. I think this is a cohesion thing, and they will get better with time. Hopefully.
Example: 2nd & 14, 3 WR set. Jamal Brown dominates Johnson on this play, but Chris Chester is blasted backwards by a blitzing Ray Ray which disrupts the timing of Hightower's run. It also causes Hightower to slip, and he can only get back to the original LOS.
Excellent play, Hightower's TD run: Paulsen has a great block on Johnson, & Steiger takes out two DL (possibly on DL & one LB) with a cut block. The real star of this play is Silverback, who pancakes Ray Ray. 52 looked like a chump! This block allows Hightower to get into space, and out run Zbikowski to the end zone.
Chris Chester - I'm am starting to agree with Ryman that we overpaid this guy. He has done some good things, but also has some really bad moments also.
Steiger: This kid is good, and you can tell he's been in the Shanahan system for awhile. I think he's our best interior lineman.
Montgomery: Not bad, pretty average. Some have said he's no better than Rabach, but I disagree. A trash can would have been an upgrade over Rabach.
Brown & Williams: Silverback still has some growing up to do, but shows flashes of brilliance (like his domination of Ray Lewis). Brown was also up and down, but shows flashes of brilliance like his domination of #95 Johnson. Both were beaten badly a couple times also. I think these two will be nice bookends, once the OL has time to gel and they get some more practice in.
TE:
Fred Davis appears to have worked really hard on his blocking, both run blocking and pass-pro. He has definitely improved in this area. He still gets blown up a bit, and stands too high, but he is effective in getting between the defender and the ball carrier. Its not ideal, but he can block for a couple seconds, long enough for Hightower to zip past.
I'm not sure why Paulsen doesn't get on the field more with the 1s. Kid blocks really well, and can also catch the ball. I think he definitely has earned a spot on the final 53; he really impressed me.
Defense:
Rocky looks lost at times in this defense, but Fox is not much better. He overpursues too often, and is inconsistent with his tackling. On the first play after the pick-6, Rice got a 18-yard gain because Rocky & Fox overpursued way too much. Doughty has a bead on him, but gets shaken out of his jockstrap and ended up being able to only get one arm on him, and he predictably blew by. These types of plays is where we miss Fletcher and Landry big time.
The big men (DL) were up and down. For the most part, the starting DL did their jobs absorbing the OL so the LBs could swarm and make plays. Cofield gets blown back more than I would like, but takes on double teams pretty well. He can also get pressure when required. The DL I was most impressed with (besides Jenkins, sigh) was Darion Scott, who came in after Jenkins went down. He looks to be a player.
After watching a half of football with our best vs. a very good team, I think the weaknesses that are most glaring are at safety (if Landry misses significant time, its gonna be hard to stop people) and ILB (will be much better with Fletcher back). On offense, the pieces are there. Just need one of Rex or Beck to step up and take the reins. I would grade Rex slightly higher for this game (b/c Beck's best drive was against 2nd-stringers).
**Being the diligent fan I am, I decided to break down the film play-by-play in the first half (okay, being the bored fan I am). Here are some of my observations:
QB Battle:
Rex took 4 series to heat up; his first 3 were not good. He failed to recognize pressure, threw the ball away too quickly when there was no pressure, and made some questionable throws. Yes, he made some nice ones also, but was very inconsistent. That 4th series though, he looked like Peyton Manning! This dude has a switch that flips on and off - when its on, he's a fantastic QB. When its off...ugly!
Example: 3rd & long situation on Rexy's second series. This is a play that boggles your mind with Rex; shotgun formation, the blitz is picked up exceptionally with 77 & 66 driving the blitzers out of the play, and Rex has plenty of time. Hightower sneaks out into the flat and is WIDE open, but Rex opts for a piss-poor throw on a crossing pattern to Moss, who is blanketed by Suggs. Seemed to me that Rex felt pressure that wasn't there, and rushed his decision – IMO this is his biggest weakness. He could have held onto the ball for another second and found a better option.
Another example of bad Rex is on 1st & 10 on his second series. Brown is beaten badly on this play, but Rex gets the quick slant off. He sets his feet, steps into the throw, has time, and badly misses a streaking Gaffney. Jaws describes the play as a “head-scratcher throw.” I believe he allowed the pressure to effect the toss.
Contrast these with his 4th series, where he was knocking the wings off a gnat at 20 yards! He made 4 pinpoint, ELITE throws on this drive, including the TD strike to Moss that he dropped. Also a great job of recognizing a broken coverage and hitting Moss a couple plays later for the easy TD.
Rex also needs to do a better job of recognizing the blitz - 3rd & 8 on Rex's first series: Shotgun formation. Overload blitz from the Ravens - Hightower does a good job picking up one blitzer, Fred Davis another, but unfortunately there are 3. Rex never even sees the 3rd guy (or any of them, to be honest), and gets pummeled. Armstrong points out the blitz before the play, Rex either ignores him or doesn't see him. Rex's other mistake is looking to the right side all day, another reason he never sees the hit. He has got to recognize the blitz better, or he's going to be coughing the ball up a lot more.
The other funny thing about Rex – I've noted before his tendency to throw from his back foot or not set before he throws – I think he's actually a better QB when he does this. Several times in this game he set, stepped into the throw, and threw an ugly-duckling. In his “hot” series, he had a little “hop” before he threw the ball and hit about 5 perfect throws in a row. Very strange!
John Beck didn't really have much time to make his mark, but a 3-play, 70-yard TD drive ain't bad. It was 2s on 2s in the 2nd half, but his scoring drive was very pretty. He had two big-time tosses to Terrence Austin; one of which was under-pressure to keep a drive alive.
Beck did have some poor moments - the most glaring was the McNabb impression on 3rd down to Moss. 5 step drop on 3rd & 4, has Moss on the quick slant. He did not set his feet, and threw off his back foot - this is why the throw was poor. Beck knew it too. The first play of this drive was not good for Beck either - he rolled out, but off of a very poor play action (seemed almost like a busted play) - held the ball for 5 seconds; appeared to want to go deep around the 4-second mark, but pulled the ball down. Then, BAM sacked. Needs to throw the ball away in this situation.
RB:
Hightower is the next superstar Shanahan ZBS RB. Its often hyperbole when people say "oh player X is a perfect fit in system Y," but in this case its 100% truth. He is made for this system, and will have a big year. The only dark shadow is his fumbling issues; if he can keep those in check, he'll do very very well.
OL: OL had some good moments and some bad moments also - some looked dominant one play, poor the next. I think this is a cohesion thing, and they will get better with time. Hopefully.
Example: 2nd & 14, 3 WR set. Jamal Brown dominates Johnson on this play, but Chris Chester is blasted backwards by a blitzing Ray Ray which disrupts the timing of Hightower's run. It also causes Hightower to slip, and he can only get back to the original LOS.
Excellent play, Hightower's TD run: Paulsen has a great block on Johnson, & Steiger takes out two DL (possibly on DL & one LB) with a cut block. The real star of this play is Silverback, who pancakes Ray Ray. 52 looked like a chump! This block allows Hightower to get into space, and out run Zbikowski to the end zone.
Chris Chester - I'm am starting to agree with Ryman that we overpaid this guy. He has done some good things, but also has some really bad moments also.
Steiger: This kid is good, and you can tell he's been in the Shanahan system for awhile. I think he's our best interior lineman.
Montgomery: Not bad, pretty average. Some have said he's no better than Rabach, but I disagree. A trash can would have been an upgrade over Rabach.
Brown & Williams: Silverback still has some growing up to do, but shows flashes of brilliance (like his domination of Ray Lewis). Brown was also up and down, but shows flashes of brilliance like his domination of #95 Johnson. Both were beaten badly a couple times also. I think these two will be nice bookends, once the OL has time to gel and they get some more practice in.
TE:
Fred Davis appears to have worked really hard on his blocking, both run blocking and pass-pro. He has definitely improved in this area. He still gets blown up a bit, and stands too high, but he is effective in getting between the defender and the ball carrier. Its not ideal, but he can block for a couple seconds, long enough for Hightower to zip past.
I'm not sure why Paulsen doesn't get on the field more with the 1s. Kid blocks really well, and can also catch the ball. I think he definitely has earned a spot on the final 53; he really impressed me.
Defense:
Rocky looks lost at times in this defense, but Fox is not much better. He overpursues too often, and is inconsistent with his tackling. On the first play after the pick-6, Rice got a 18-yard gain because Rocky & Fox overpursued way too much. Doughty has a bead on him, but gets shaken out of his jockstrap and ended up being able to only get one arm on him, and he predictably blew by. These types of plays is where we miss Fletcher and Landry big time.
The big men (DL) were up and down. For the most part, the starting DL did their jobs absorbing the OL so the LBs could swarm and make plays. Cofield gets blown back more than I would like, but takes on double teams pretty well. He can also get pressure when required. The DL I was most impressed with (besides Jenkins, sigh) was Darion Scott, who came in after Jenkins went down. He looks to be a player.
After watching a half of football with our best vs. a very good team, I think the weaknesses that are most glaring are at safety (if Landry misses significant time, its gonna be hard to stop people) and ILB (will be much better with Fletcher back). On offense, the pieces are there. Just need one of Rex or Beck to step up and take the reins. I would grade Rex slightly higher for this game (b/c Beck's best drive was against 2nd-stringers).
