Week 1: Green Bay Packers @ San Francisco 49ers

[ubernoob]

Quote: Originally Posted by mountaindew77

I don't know what you're waiting to see from Kaepernick. He has the arm strength, the accuracy, the touch on his throws, and of course his legs. Obviously he's only started 10 games, but that's not an automatic dis-qualifier for him being inconsistent. As far as being "forced into not playing his type of game," I'm not sure what you mean. If you're inferring he is only a running/read option QB , I think you're in for a surprise this season. In fact I would bet money there is going to be limited read option against the Packers. Harbaugh does not like to be predictable.

Consistency. I'm not saying he is a running/read option only QB, but to deny that that threat is part of why he's on the cover of everything/all over the media right now is asinine. His playoff game against the Packers last year is pretty much the only reason he's been all over the place. Otherwise he hasn't really been something crazy back there at QB.

Just as a passing QB he's had a very mixed bag of results. He surpassed 250 passing yards a grand total of 3 times in those 10 starts.

I like the guy and want to see him succeed... I just am not sold on him as an answer until he shows consistency - which I already said he has the tools to do, he just has to put them all together on a constant basis. He showed this a bit during the playoffs (he was almost too reliant on Michael Crabtree during the regular season and Vernon Davis became almost an afterthought, which corrected itself a bit during the playoffs) but has to continue to show improvements like that during the regular season - again, altogether doable.

This will be including playoff games from 2012.

Times under 60% Completion rate/Starts (and record in those games):
Kaepernick - 5/10 (3-2)
Rodgers - 3/18 (2-1)
Romo - 5/16 (1-4)
Brady - 3/18 (1-2)
PManning - 3/17 (2-1)
Wilson - 6/18 (4-2)
RGIII - 5/17 (2-3)
EManning - 7/16 (3-4)

[Steven78]

Focusing on only the physical gifts, some people have compared him to Michael Vick. But at this stage of his career, Vick did not have an accurate arm. His entire six seasons in Atlanta, he never completed more than 56.4 percent of his passes; Kaepernick completed 62.4 last year. Vick has also admitted he did not apply himself to studying the game. No one would accuse Kaepernick, the A student, of that.

"What I see, on top of all the talent, is football IQ," said ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski. "The ability to decode defenses, when he's at the top of his drop, to know where to go with the football. Now, is this every time? Absolutely not. But a guy as inexperienced as he is on the field, when I see grasp the concepts of the 49ers' offense, I think he has a really high football IQ."

Greg Roman, the 49ers' offensive coordinator, says that Kaepernick's study habits reinforce a gift for processing information.

"He's the kind of guy that once he sees something, it gets embedded," Roman said.

When Jaworski predicted two weeks ago on ESPN that Kaepernick "could be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever," the hyperbole police went on high alert. They skirted the "one of" phrase while chiding Jaworski for ignoring the small sample size of Kaepernick's skills.

Jaworski only said what became startlingly obvious over those 10 starts, adding the credentials of a former NFL quarterback to the observation. He saw the potential very early in Kaepernick's November debut against the Bears, replacing the concussed Smith. The first point of sale came on a 57-yard pass midway through the first quarter.

"The Kyle Williams corner route against a man-coverage press in the slot was a phenomenal throw, just a phenomenal throw," Jaworski said. "He read the coverage, anticipated the throw, threw him open, just a perfectly thrown ball and a perfect read."

The closest parallel to Kaepernick's development would be the arrival of Brady, who also became the starter early in his second season for a strong team that ended up in the Super Bowl. In 2001, Brady started 18 games for the Patriots, finished three with a passer rating over 100, came in below 70 six times, and didn't top 90 in any of his three postseason starts. In 10 starts, Kaepernick compiled a passer rating over 100 five times, hit a low of 72, and posted a rating over 90 in all three postseason games.

[Steven78]

Kaepernick is a pass-first, run-second QB. The Niners RARELY call run plays for Kaepernick, he only runs when there's nothing open.. he just happens to be an exceptional runner.*

Kaepernick led the league in down-the-field accuracy, at nearly 56%.. which is ridiculous, seeing as most starting QBs struggle to stay over 60%. Kaepernick finsihed with a 62% overall completion percentage, his QBR was ONLY behind Brady and PManning.. after not having had a training camp w/ the starters getting only 1/3 of the reps and an offense-designed for another QB w/ different skills.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by mountaindew77

I didn't say abandon, I said it would be limited. Clearly the Packers are going to focus heavy on defending the read option, specifically defending Kaepernick from keeping it. Harbaugh knows this and I expect will have something else up his sleeve.

Quote: Originally Posted by mountaindew77

I don't know what you're waiting to see from Kaepernick. He has the arm strength, the accuracy, the touch on his throws, and of course his legs. Obviously he's only started 10 games, but that's not an automatic dis-qualifier for him being inconsistent. As far as being "forced into not playing his type of game," I'm not sure what you mean. If you're inferring he is only a running/read option QB , I think you're in for a surprise this season. In fact I would bet money there is going to be limited read option against the Packers. Harbaugh does not like to be predictable.

I actually do agree with these posts, especially the bolded part. Everyone keeps talking about "Read Option this, Read Option that" and Colin Kaepernick having a field day in the last game, when there were plenty of other factors that allowed him to have that great of a performance.

We need to not sleep on Frank Gore, because in both meetings he's actually had a field day against us and people ignore that. Same for the Niners D-Line pretty much making McCarthy neutralize any run game we had.

[rkwittem]

This game is really quite simple in my mind. The 49ers have a better head coach, running game, defense and pass rush than GB and it's being played in Candlestick.

49ers 38
Packers 27

[Skyboxer]

I like SF in this one..

SF 48
GB 20

[Brandwin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

I like SF in this one.. SF 48 GB 20

Oh how I would love a blow out like that. Don't see it, but you never know.

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by DookieMowf

Oh how I would love a blow out like that. Don't see it, but you never know.

Me too. lol