http://sfo.scout.com/story/1462366-staley-faces-another-big-test-in-quinn?s=69
STALEY FACES ANOTHER BIG TEST IN QUINN
Rick Eymer Associated Press
The stats might not say it, but the Rams still have one of the league's best defensive lines. Especially at defensive end, where Robert Quinn will give 49ers left tackle Joe Staley all he can handle.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco left tackle
Joe Staley thinks sacks can be a deceiving statistic and he points to St. Louis right defensive end
Robert Quinn as an example.
Quinn set the Rams' franchise record with 19 sacks last year. The fourth-year veteran has yet to record a sack this season. In fact, rookie defensive tackle
Aaron Donald has the Rams' only sack.
"Numbers don't tell the whole story," said Staley, who will be lining up against Quinn most of the time Monday night in St. Louis. "He looks pretty good. He has a fast first step and uses his speed to his advantage. He's also added to his change of movement."
Quinn has drawn extra attention this year, especially with defensive end
Chris Longout with an injury. Just don't tell Staley that Quinn is not as effective as he has been.
"They're pass rush is very good," he said. "Those numbers are misleading when it comes to sacks. There's pressure, there's hits and there is just being disruptive."
Quinn has nine quarterback hits and five quarterback pressures this season, an indication he's getting penetration. The Rams also own the best pass defense in the league.
"When you watch the tape, the quarterback is getting rid of the ball or something happens or he just dishes it, it's just getting out of his hand," 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. "We will not be lulled into that trap because all you've got to do is watch the film. (Quinn) is playing better than he did last year."
Staley anchors an offensive line that has been in flux early in the season, with a few setbacks leading to personnel changes. The line has gotten better and Staley said they played their best game Sunday in a win over the
Kansas City Chiefs.
"We made great strides, especially in the running game," he said. "The other stuff we just have to deal with. Last week was a good building block."
This week's trip to St. Louis begins a stretch of road contests in four of the next five weeks.
"Any time you are on the road is a challenge because of the crowd noise," Staley said. "We're good at the silent count and we trust our center to snap the ball at the right time."
Wide receiver Anquan Boldin thinks it's even more than dealing with the noise.
"It's a chance to see what we're made of," Boldin said. "It's a chance to see what kind of players we are. On the road, we take an 'us against the world' mentality. We play our best when we feel that way."
Boldin criticized the officiating the last time the 49ers were on the road: a loss at the
Arizona Cardinals. He has no complaints about the officials the past two weeks at home.
"It's been fair the last two weeks," he said. "Maybe we're getting better officiating crews. All I wanted to say was that whether you call a bad game or a great game, just call it the same both ways."
NOTES: The 49ers signed WR
Kassim Osgood to a one-year deal. To make room on the roster, the team has released QB
Josh Johnson. Osgoods been released and resigned three times this year. .. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said CB
Perrish Cox has blossomed this season. "He's got good instincts as a corner. This is his first opportunity, at least with us, to have extended action as a corner. He's taken full advantage of it." ... Boldin has six career 100-yard games against the Rams, his most against any team.
http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=555240&start=60
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS @ ST. LOUIS RAMS(MNF)
Does anyone think Lynch will soon go on a run with like four sacks in the next four or game games? He reminds of Aldon in his rookie year where early on he was getting close but the QB would just get the ball away. But after the first few weeks it all changed and he just flat out went crazy. Now, I don't expect Lynch to do that but this guy has been getting a lot of heat.
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I think he is getting his first this week. Once Aldon gets back I can see him getting a few. I've never been more excited for a players return. Aldon was amazing at the end of last season, and all the reports out of camp have me hyped up. If he is training and watching film he's going to go to work.
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Kap is still reverting to his bad habits at times are predetermining where he is to go with the ball and has missed some open guys down the field, but he has definitely gone to his second and third reads more than ever. I really can't even sya anymore the OL will get it together because I've been thinking that since the preseason.
Staley played a great game last week, but our guards just can't block worth crap. Maybe Boone is a bit off from his hold out, but now this will be week six so no more excuses. This is why I want Martin/Thomas to get their chance next year.
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Rams have lost 5 straight MNF games...
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I agree that he's looking a bit better this year. Not at all the "big leap forward" I was hoping for, but still, a little better than last year. On the other hand I watched Luck last night. I couldn't help but think he was standing at the line diagnosing the defense and knowing exactly what was going to unfold, what changes he should make, and where he should plan to be going with the ball.
While I do see Kap looking for secondary receivers more this year, I still have the sense that when's he's at the line surveying the defense he's still totally lost out there.
Somehow though I still think our staff and our offense doesn't count on him, or even want him, to change the play or decide on the fly where the pass should go.
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http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/10...ks-frank-gore-colin-kaepernick-rams-pass-rush
James Laurinaitis talks Frank Gore, Colin Kaepernick, Rams pass rush
By David Fucillo @NinersNation on Oct 10 2014
Dilip Vishwanat
St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis spoke with Bay Area media Thursday afternoon. He had a lot of great insight into the 49ers. We've got a transcript.
Each week, the opposing team provides their head coach and a player to Bay Area media to discuss the upcoming matchup. This week, head coach Jeff Fisher and linebacker
James Laurinaitis spoke to the media.
Fisher was fairly vanilla with his comments, not wanting to give too much away. Laurinaitis spoke later in the day, and he was still able to provide some great insight into how an opposing player views the 49ers.
Laurinaitis went into detail on what makes Frank Gore and the 49ers run game so great. He also had some comments about Colin Kaepernick, discussing where he has improved this year. He did provide some insight into the Rams, discussing the struggling pass rush. He talked about how the pass rush is about both the rush and the coverage on the back end. He pointed to some specific issues in the secondary that made it more difficult to get all the way to the quarterback. I don't think he was trying to throw the secondary under the bus, but he definitely was critical of how the secondary performed last week.
You can
listen to the audio, but I also transcribed it.
What does 49er week mean to you?
It means big boy football. I think it brings me somewhat back to my college days, in the sense that we played teams like Wisconsin, Michigan State that you get 22 personnel, 13 personnel, a lot of shifts, motions. You're gonna get power, counter, downhill and nothing but the utmost respect for
Frank Gore and what he's about, and what they do on offense. I always look forward to these matchups because you know they're going to be physical ball games. You're gonna get their best shot, and likewise from us. It's always fun football games.
On what he admires about Frank Gore:
I admire his mindset. He runs with great patience. He runs with great pad level. It's very hard to get underneath him. He breaks a lot of tackles, great balance. I love his mindset that he wants to be the guy and he almost gets stronger as games go on. He's one of those running backs where you can give him a good shot, you can give him a couple of good shots, but he's not going to shy away. There are some backs in this league and they're going to take themselves out of the ballgame. I think Frank Gore is the opposite. In the fourth quarter when you watch a Niners game, his socks could be all the way down, his pants could be ripped, but he's going to keep going until that thing hits zero. And he wants it that way, and that's the thing I think I respect the most about him.
On Gore potentially leaving after this year:
Yeah, that would be very surprising to me. Heck, over the last how many ever years, you think of the Niners and you think of Frank Gore. At least I do. You think Frank Gore and you think Patrick Willis. So I think, to me, it would be very surprising if he's not back and a part of that football club.
On Gore's use with Carlos Hyde:
I think there's little changes in what they do with both of them, but they run the same plays. A lot of power, a lot of counter, a lot of plays we call zone kick, downhill stuff. There's some stretch stuff that they'll do with Carlos as well as Frank, but the main thing to me is you try to sprinkle Carlos in, and you can kind of tell Frank's not trying to give up any carries. It's interesting to see how they use them both, but quite frankly, it's not like one guy comes in and you tell yourself I'll throw away all these plays, because they run them all with both.
I think Frank's more of a downhill, inside, patient, waits for openings, kind of hides, hits it, whereas Carlos has an ability to, you see him trying to bounce some things, cut back some things. But for the most part, it's not like one guy goes in and you sort of throw out the whole playbook. It's not one of those things. They're both complementary of each other.
On 49ers using multiple looks:
Yea, they do. They give you a lot of their personnel. Against the
Cardinals, I think they went 12 GG, which means they put two O tackles at tight end positions, and then decided to run crack toss. They'll give you formations where they have 22 G, where it's an O lineman in there. 13 GG, and you know there's just places where they put extra o-linemen in for tight ends in the game, and they want to run the ball. Kind of say, hey, here's what we're going to do, we're going to run it, try and stop it. And they do that from multiple different looks.
It's just one of those things where you have ask yourself, what schemes do they like? Because you can't say, "out of this personnel they like this, out of this personnel they like that". You have to say, conceptually, what plays do they like to run over and over out of different looks. Where some teams, like last week the
Eagles, they're 12 or 11. So, 11 you like to run these plays, 12 you like to run these. I think we had maybe 9 or 10 personnel groupings, and you see similar runs showing up on all of them. You have to take what you can get when you're studying these guys, and know at the end of the day, they're coming downhill, and they want to see if you can stop them.
On Gore's long runs without being touched:
I think they have very good blocking schemes, run-wise. They change them up week-to-week, depending on the looks that they get. I think they're well-coached. I also think they do so much shifting and motioning, it gets defenders to have bad eyes at times. When a lot of things start happening in front of you, you have to make sure, hey, what are my keys? At the end of the play, before we face the hut, what are my keys, what am I looking at. And I think sometimes you see on film that at the end of the game, if guys aren't still honed in on what their keys are, they can start chasing ghosts.
So it's a combination of those things, but I believe they are well-coached, they have a great scheme. Same thing with Philadelphia. I mean there were some plays against Philadelphia where Frank's not touched until he's 10 yards downfield, and I think that's a credit to a couple different things. And gosh, there's a lot of plays where Frank breaks tackles and does what he does.
On Gore's vision:
He has great vision. That's a great point. He has phenomenal vision. As a linebacker, what you got to do is, you have to pace the ball and cancel gaps. Trust me, it looks on power, heck, a lot of times on the power plays, it looks like there's no room in there. But he's patient, gets low and kind of squeaks through these little holes. And he knows, ‘Hey, if there's only an arm in there, I can go through an arm.' He knows that, and he'll go right through it. It makes you be disciplined, and say, ‘I can't just assume that because it doesn't look open that he's not going there.' You have to be patient as a linebacker and pace the ball.
On Bruce Miller:
I think Bruce is very versatile. I think he's gotten better as he's played there. The ball follows him a whole lot. And whether that's straight iso plays up the middle, or whether it's him getting outside on the edge. You see him catching the football as well, he's very versatile for them, and I think he does a lot for them. I think also, their tight ends, their multiple tight end packages they use, a lot of those guys do multiple different things for them.
They're very versatile players, with blocking, receiving. It just makes you have to have great vision. you have to get downhill and attack. You have to try to use your hat in hand and get off blocks, but a lot of times Bruce takes you to the ball, and when he gets to the point of attack, he's a good football player. I think he springs Frank on a lot of runs as well.
On Colin Kaepernick from last year to this year:
The thing about Colin is he has great awareness of what he needs to do to get first downs for his football team. He's throwing more balls across the middle than he has, maybe, in the past. In the past you used to be able to look for Colin to throw sevens (
corner route) and things outside that are kinda pitch-and-catch things. But heck, right now you see him when he's scrambling, he's very good at situational awareness.
What I mean by that is, 'Hey, it's third and 2 to 6, OK, my first read isn't open, well I know that I'm fast, and so I can get the first down with my legs.' On other plays, heck, the Philadelphia play where he throws across the field to Frank Gore, you see his awareness for where his escape guys are, his check downs. That's better than maybe it has been in the past. He seems to be finding the third read better than he has in the past. Before you could say, he's going to one read, maybe two, and if not, he's taking off. There are some where you can really see that he's finding the third and fourth guy, so he's grown a little bit.
I think that's a good thing for them. We gotta be disciplined. We have to be able to try and keep him in the pocket, not let him get outside. That's what every defense in the NFL says when they play him. But we have to try and execute that, and try and get after him a little bit. It's easier said than done.
On lack of sacks for Rams:
We'd be lying if we said it wasn't a concern. It's something that we talk about, we talk about effecting the quarterback. I know last week we had a lot of QB hits. And that's more than just rush. When you get sacks, it's rush and coverage. You look last week against Philly, there are a couple plays where we're draped all over Foles, and he throws it and we got guys in coverage, in man coverage, that don't keep their eyes. You gotta have great eyes when QBs start moving around.
Especially with a guy who is way more athletic in Colin Kaepernick. If he starts scrambling around and you're in man coverage, you gotta find your guy and keep your eyes locked on him because they're gonna uncover. They're not just going to stay plastered with you. Quarterback's not throwing you the ball. A couple of those plays if our guys just keep their eyes on their man, and make the guy hold it a little bit, those are sacks vs. QB hits. And a lot of them, I think two of them ended up in pass interferences, and the other one or two were completions downfield for explosive passes.
We need to do a better job in coverage to allow that one more half second to get the guys down. And that always goes together. I think if you asked our whole defense, ‘hey, we have one sack after four ball games this year,' we'd be disappointed, and we are. That's way below our expectations. We're trying to figure it out, but it's way more than the rush. Rush and coverage go hand in hand when it comes to things like that.
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Kap has been playing a lot better this season.
It’s just that the offensive line has taken a couple of steps backwards in pass blocking.
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Kap is playing better, but I'd like to see a few things happen.
A lot of the 49ers passing plays take too long to develop. I’d like to see more 2 second drop backs. Sometimes Kap drops so far back it almost looks comical. I think that coupled with doing some quick snaps would help the offensive line and throw off defenses. I find our snap count to be somewhat predictable.
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Play design
From what I’ve seen most of the routes the WRs are running are short routes. Thing is they are easily covered and no one gets open even on plays where Kaep has time or has a big drop back no one is open. Then factor in that the line gives him no time. Lose-lose there. Even if the line gave him time CBs are just sitting on every route because Roman sends 3 WRs out there and then has them all run 5 yd hitches.
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Kap hasn't played poorly...
…but I can’t say that he’s playing a lot better this season either. He’s been challenged so far with inconsistent pass protection to which he’s done a very good job in handling IMO. Evading the rush and extending plays continues to be his strength.
The downside is that he continues to rely a little too much on his arm strength and he’s been bailed out at least once a game it seems by a defender failing to make a play on what could easily have cost him a INT. His receivers have also made several spectacular grabs on throws that should have been more accurately thrown. His decision making appears to be speeding up a bit, still looks to be a very gradual work in progress.
I’m not sure if Roman’s so called simplification of the play calling language finally took hold VS the Chiefs or what, but that aspect of the offense was much improved last Sunday. It will be interesting to see how it goes in the dome in St. Louis.
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Niners have lost when they went pass first
Establish the run, then sock the pass. Don’t be predictable – in the past a common error. Forget the 8 lineman plays. Play straight up and force the D to defend the whole field. That works a lot better than bully runs.
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Always liked James L
For me, he is one of those players, even though he is on a "rival" that I like. S-Jax was one of those guys as well.
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Jeez.
This it literally the polar opposite of a Jim Harbaugh interview. Laurinaitus sounds like a guy tailor made for the switch to the broadcast booth when his playing days are over.
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Damn u Laurinaitis..
I dislike you a little less.. rather have read that from a 9er fan!
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+1
Dislike him a lot less. Smart guy, great responses.