Grading The Offense: Arizona Cardinals vs San Francisco 49ers

F, very humiliating. where’s the pride. it feels like very bad game planning too.

for the coaching staff.

D- for the players.

i could have sworn larry did get the catch on the 1 yard line which was ruled incomplete and yet no one seems to have mentioned it…little help?

The only Cardinals on the offensive side of the ball that should’ve been allowed to board the plane for the return flight home were Early Doucet and Fitzgerald due to his injury. The rest should have walked or hitched a ride back to Glendale Arizona, Offensive coaches included.

The OL outside of the big gains by Wells on the run plays that were successful had a miserable performance. J. Smith looked like a Pro-bowler and some guy named Ahmad Brooks looked like LT (the one retired, not the one in San Diego). Brooks owned every Cardinal responsible for blocking him. More max protections would have helped and I’m flabbergasted as to why these OT’s would be left on an island with so much on the line given what’s at stake and Warner’s health issues. Not a good decision by Whiz.

The WR corps did not play to their lofty standards either. Boldin looked frustrated and off his game. It appears that the 49er DB’s got into his head a liitle bit. Fitz made one play and that play was taken away by a bull cookies call from the Side Judge when it was called incomplete. I still don’t understand that one. Breaston had concentration lapses in this game. Boobs got to his feet in on that out route from Warner. That play could have given the offense another set of downs and an oppurtunity to gain some momentum. Doucet was the best Cardinals WR on the night.

The RB’s were below awful. Hightower lacked his usual power and pop at the point. His concentration level did not appear to be there play after play. He blew assignments in pass protection allowing Warner to take some shots from 49er pass-rushers. Beanie did run well when he got daylight. The ball security problems are a major concern. LHS fumble too so I’m not sure where Whisenhunt can go at this point.

Warner did not have a good game. He could have audibled and got into plays that would have more of chance to be successful and possibly sustained some drives. He looked hurried and clearly did not go thru his progressions. He tended to lock onto his primary read telegraphing where he was going with the football. His decision to throw into double coverage helped the 49er coverage scheme immensely.

With all that said, there is the axiom in the NFL that say’s more games are lost than won. This game was a perfect example of that axiom. A gift to 49er Nation. Merry Christmas Niner Nation.

As usual a good summary by Andrew. Can’t disagree with much here, but think the OL line play was the real key. The other letdowns seemed to flow from the fact the OL was getting blown out on almost every play. This caused a ripple effect to Warner and the receivers, who didn’t have sufficient time to get set and run routes. It looked like the running game could get going because the niner defensive line was over-pursuing and leaving themselves open to the run, but that was where the fumbles took a toll. One question I cannot answer is: why didn’t Whiz go more to some short passes to Hightower or Wells out of the backfield, since the line was clearly incapable of keeping Warner safe for any period of time. I agree with an earlier comment that the lack of help to the OL was exposing Warner big time. It’s not that he “looked hurried” but that he was hurried.

Having said all that, I must say that the Niners defense seemed like they were all on drugs, flying around the field like human missiles. It seemed like they were everywhere. Even on the pass to Fitz to the 1 yard line, there were three guys all over him. That was a blown call by the refs, in my opinion. How they could have ruled that anything other than a catch is an outrage that should be reviewed by the league. That was a play that could have changed the game quite a bit and put the niners back on their heels a bit, though the niners definitely had the intensity level going for them and may well have prevailed anyway. But the fact that deep receivers seemed to be in continual double or triple coverage makes me again wonder about the short to mid-range passing options.

As the post mentions, the Niners seem to match up well with the Cardinals, especially against the OL, so some different strategies should be in order for next year.