Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

[dannydyn]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

At this point, I'd say the best thing that has happened to us when it comes to this game is the fact it's a home game for us in December. We'll be playing a mild-climate team that will be travelling eastbound through 3 time zones to play in the New England tundra.

Let's hope for some heavy snowfall....

 

[dannydyn]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

One last thought…. With regards to the Niners win over the Saints…. If you take those 2 Breese picks, and the Saints would have won – even if you replace those picks with 3-and-outs.

So to say that CK gave them the win is a stretch.

I really hope the Pats take a good look at the Rams @ Niners and Giants @ Niners game tapes.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

82 and 96 yard drives in the first quarter. There's nothing the Bears offense could have done to help with that. Kaepernick was great. Maybe getting film on him will change the results but arguing against how he did in the Bears' game is a losing battle.

Maybe the NFL and pro-football-reference sites are wrong, but they show drives of 68 and 63 yards. To me it looked like Chicago got caught off guard by Kaepernick airing it out early allowing him to go 3 for 3 for 100+ yards on deep passes, and then made some poor adjustments and got ran over. Kaepernick had a great half in that game, but in his last 6 qtrs have only been decent.

 

[Kontradiction]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

82 and 96 yard drives in the first quarter. There's nothing the Bears offense could have done to help with that. Kaepernick was great. Maybe getting film on him will change the results but arguing against how he did in the Bears' game is a losing battle.

The first drive yielded a field goal. The ensuing Bears drive went 3 and out and produced a total of 3 yards. The ensuing 49ers drive went for a touchdown. The next Bears drive took 8 plays to get from the Chicago 19 to the Chicago 43 before an incomplete pass by Campbell forced Chicago to punt again. So, out of the 32 points allowed, 10 came in the first two drives where Kaepernick was clearly the better quarterback of the two. On those two drives, the Bears mustered 11 plays which went for a total of 20 yards. After the touchdown drive, the Bears defense yielded two more field goals, then crapped out in the second half.

And, again, I'm not arguing against what Kaepernick did. He took what was available to him in that game. The only thing that you could argue is that maybe the Bears weren't prepared for him with a lack of film. What I argued initially is that the Bears offense really didn't do anything to keep their defense off the field. How that's a losing battle, I'm not sure. The drive chart shows as well as viewing of the game itself shows that argument to be correct.

 

[patchick]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

I personally still don't see how you can justify benching a guy playing as good as Smith at this point in the season. Off-season I would see no issue with it. But right now, even Harbaugh admitted that Smith's done nothing to lose his job, and is having his best year.

As a Patriots fan, I'm conditioned to recoil at the idea that a starter has to do something to lose his job.

You play the guys who give you the best chance at winning, and at setting you up for playoff success. Kaepernick needs the experience now to give him a chance come January. (Aside from his athleticism, I get the impression that Kaepernick may be a better leader, too, which will also count for a lot in the playoffs.)

 

[Deus Irae]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

I hate to be rude but did you watch the game ? In the first quarter the 49ers had two drives each longer than 80 yards - 82 and 96. The Bears defense wasn't tired at that point, I would hope.

Harbaugh would be a fool not to go with Kaepernick. Maybe he'll start to struggle and Smith can go back in. But Kaepernick is a potential game changer. He threatens the defense down the field. He threatens the edge with his running. And he can fit the ball into tighter spaces in the midranges.

Maybe the NFL will catch up to CK and they go back to Smith. But until then the 49ers are vastly improved. No longer is their offense playing in a box with a power running game and a limited short yardage passing game.

We're watching different 49ers games.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

The first drive yielded a field goal. The ensuing Bears drive went 3 and out and produced a total of 3 yards. The ensuing 49ers drive went for a touchdown. The next Bears drive took 8 plays to get from the Chicago 19 to the Chicago 43 before an incomplete pass by Campbell forced Chicago to punt again. So, out of the 32 points allowed, 10 came in the first two drives where Kaepernick was clearly the better quarterback of the two. On those two drives, the Bears mustered 11 plays which went for a total of 20 yards. After the touchdown drive, the Bears defense yielded two more field goals, then crapped out in the second half.

And, again, I'm not arguing against what Kaepernick did. He took what was available to him in that game. The only thing that you could argue is that maybe the Bears weren't prepared for him with a lack of film. What I argued initially is that the Bears offense really didn't do anything to keep their defense off the field. How that's a losing battle, I'm not sure. The drive chart shows as well as viewing of the game itself shows that argument to be correct.

He was something like 12 for 15 for ~180 yds in the 1st half and 4 for 8 for 60 yds in the 2nd half. I'd be fine writing that off as playing conservatively if the NO game didn't look a lot more like the 2nd half of the Bears game. We'll see how the situation plays out, but right now the average play by Kaepernick seems to be markedly worse than Smith's, but it's being propped up by an amazing 1/2 of a game.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

As a Patriots fan, I'm conditioned to recoil at the idea that a starter has to do something to lose his job.

You play the guys who give you the best chance at winning, and at setting you up for playoff success. Kaepernick needs the experience now to give him a chance come January. (Aside from his athleticism, I get the impression that Kaepernick may be a better leader, too, which will also count for a lot in the playoffs.)

This move smells a lot more like something Rex Ryan would do than BB.

 

[patchick]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

This move smells a lot more like something Rex Ryan would do than BB.

Because Belichick has remained a staunch supporter of a clearly ineffective starting quarterback, while Ryan left a seasoned, big-name QB on the bench in favor of a lightly regarded second-year nobody?

 

[RobertWeathers]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

This move smells a lot more like something Rex Ryan would do than BB.

If you look closely at it, from a business-standpoint it is almost exactly like the Patriots/BB/Kraft/Brady/Bledsoe situation.

Bledsoe's 10yr $103m deal had out-clauses, cap-hits that were reasonable and guarantees that went into effect if he was on the roster. BB and Kraft found common ground on how to deal with their franchise QB. There were a number of rumors that BB pretty much knew Brady was the future at the end of the 2001 training camp.

This 49ers/Smith/Harbaugh thing has been tenuous since last March when they were talking contract extension, then Manning becomes available, Smith goes to Miami and the comes back to SF for essentially a 1yr- $9m contract. York agreed with Harbaugh's assessment of Smith and the contract structure was a reflection of that. I would not be surprised of Harbaugh knew that CK was better than Smith at the end of TC also.

Harbaugh uses the Smith injury as a way of improving his team. If CK cools off and doesn't cut it, then hes got Smith- who the players respond to. Just like if Brady fell flat in 2001...he had Drew, who the team liked and respected.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

Because Belichick has remained a staunch supporter of a clearly ineffective starting quarterback, while Ryan left a seasoned, big-name QB on the bench in favor of a lightly regarded second-year nobody?

Man I miss when I could get day drunk.

If you look closely at it, from a business-standpoint it is almost exactly like the Patriots/BB/Kraft/Brady/Bledsoe situation.

Bledsoe's 10yr $103m deal had out-clauses, cap-hits that were reasonable and guarantees that went into effect if he was on the roster. BB and Kraft found common ground on how to deal with their franchise QB. There were a number of rumors that BB pretty much knew Brady was the future at the end of the 2001 training camp.

This 49ers/Smith/Harbaugh thing has been tenuous since last March when they were talking contract extension, then Manning becomes available, Smith goes to Miami and the comes back to SF for essentially a 1yr- $9m contract. York agreed with Harbaugh's assessment of Smith and the contract structure was a reflection of that. I would not be surprised of Harbaugh knew that CK was better than Smith at the end of TC also.

Harbaugh uses the Smith injury as a way of improving his team. If CK cools off and doesn't cut it, then hes got Smith- who the players respond to. Just like if Brady fell flat in 2001...he had Drew, who the team liked and respected.

Looking at Smith's contract this decision definitely makes sense from a business standpoint. However I have some very real doubts about how much sense this makes on the football side of things. Maybe I'm forgetting some teams, but I'm having a hard time remembering the last team to make some real noise in the POs after swapping QBs down the stretch.

I understand the Brady/Bledsoe comparisons, but there are some pretty big differences: BB stuck with the guy who had been the starter for most of the season, Brady had adequate time to prove himself, and the Pats were going from the big armed play maker to the game manager. Kaepernick might very well be the future of that franchise; I just don't buy that changing QBs week 11 is a key to PO success.

All of this is clearly conjecture since no one really knows what's the motivating force in all of this. My gut has just been telling me this is more of a Rex Ryan standing by his guy move than a BB I'm going to field the best team I possibly can under the cap move. It could also be a business move or more realistically some mixture of motivations. The only thing I know for sure is I'll be shocked if they win a PO game with Kaepernick at the helm.

 

[RobertWeathers]

re: Jim Harbaugh: "Colin Kaepernick is our starter this week"

Looking at Smith's contract this decision definitely makes sense from a business standpoint. However I have some very real doubts about how much sense this makes on the football side of things. Maybe I'm forgetting some teams, but I'm having a hard time remembering the last team to make some real noise in the POs after swapping QBs down the stretch.

There aren't many thats for sure. Maybe when Trent Dilfer took over for Tony Banks in 2000...

I understand the Brady/Bledsoe comparisons, but there are some pretty big differences: BB stuck with the guy who had been the starter for most of the season, Brady had adequate time to prove himself, and the Pats were going from the big armed play maker to the game manager. Kaepernick might very well be the future of that franchise; I just don't buy that changing QBs week 11 is a key to PO success.

I don't want to split hairs but at the end of the day both QB moves were made part of of necessity (injury) and sustained because the play of the new QB made the team better (in their own way...assuming CK actually makes the the team better).

All of this is clearly conjecture since no one really knows what's the motivating force in all of this. My gut has just been telling me this is more of a Rex Ryan standing by his guy move than a BB I'm going to field the best team I possibly can under the cap move. It could also be a business move or more realistically some mixture of motivations. The only thing I know for sure is I'll be shocked if they win a PO game with Kaepernick at the helm.

Perhaps but two things are irrefutable.. Harbaugh wants the QB of the SF 49ers to be CK and not Smith and since March the 49ers have not been 100%- all in with Smith being their franchise QB.