Almost Doesn’t Win Games…

Shaun Hill almost made some plays. After watching this game I noticed when Hill had the chance to air it out he wasn’t all that bad, but he wasn’t that good either. In the 4th quarter when the 49ers were throwing the ball over the field trying to save face with a meaningless touchdown Hill had some decent tosses. Of course, almost all fell incomplete, I could see where he wanted to put it but they just didn’t get there. One pass in the 4th to the end zone should have been to the outside where Vernon Davis turned, instead it was on the inside and hit the defender. That would have been a touchdown. On another throw to the end zone in the 4th to Josh Morgan, who made a nice grab but only got 1 foot inbounds (if that) it was placed nicely above the defender. It was also too high for Morgan to come down with inbounds. On the same drive Hill threw one that nearly killed Morgan as he ran into a camera stand at the side of the end zone. These passes, aside from the occasional bombs that he’s had this year to Isaac Bruce during the Arizona game and again in this game to Morgan, are really what is causing the 49ers offense to stall. Frank Gore was out the past two games true, Coffee did a decent job, but the 49ers offense needs to score points. Not every game is going to be a grind it out slug fest. Today should have been a shootout, with or without Gore and Crabtree, the defense will surrender points on occasion and when that happens it’s up to the offense to match the opposition.

Am I saying I want Alex Smith to come off the bench and rescue this putrid offense? God no! And I suppose Nate Davis’ time hasn’t come yet, although if this season somehow spins out of control then I’d like to see him out there. Crabtree has a couple weeks to learn some plays and at the least be a decoy for the opposing defenses to be aware of. Right now they are blitzing the hell out of the 49ers because the offensive line can’t handle it, Shaun Hill can’t counter it with quick strikes to open receivers, and our running game hasn’t exactly worked the way we thought it would either. I’m not basing the season off this blowout game, just the fact that the same worries that most fans and media types saw coming are still there and are glaringly obvious. Shaun Hill is supposed to be a game manager, on a running team-except out running back is hurt and you can’t manage 20-30 point comeback victories. Hill can’t do it alone, everyone needs to step it up. If a defense can shut your quarterback down it’s not going to take much more to stop the rest. My suggestion is to make a highlight reel of Shaun Hill’s best plays this season and make him watch that 3 minute video over and over until he sees what he does right. Then send him out on the field to mirror what he just witnessed. If it’s all really just smoke in the mirrors than give it up and put someone else in there.