CMC

[Harbingers]

Unfortunately I'm no big expert on long write ups with pictures, gifs and free beer. 

CMC mere presences completely changed the dynamic of our offense vs. San Fran, even when he was nowhere close to the ball. They spent more time spying him than they did Cam. His usefulness was unprecedented.

That being said, he did seem to have the rookie jitters. More often than not he did seem to spend more time trying to do to much and spinning than going forward on pure RB designed plays. He was loose with the ball and it cost him. 

My question is; do you all think he was overloaded with responsibility. Having to remember so many different facets of our offense, as well as special 'teams, do you think we asked him to do to much his first game? Or was it really just rookie jitters. 

And how do you see him improving this week in front of our home team crowd? 

[top dawg]

I will agree that perhaps he was trying to do too much with the happy feet in the beginning, but he quickly settled down. I don't see it as a problem.  That seems to be his style, and it has largely worked for him. He's going to break some ankles, break off some big runs, and break some hearts during this season sooner rather than later. Watch what I'm saying.

I could be wrong, but it appeared to me that he only got too cute when the opposition was already basically in the backfield by the time he got the ball. He was trying to make some things happen. I'm not worried. 

[Dex]

Trial by fire worked for our rookie DBs. Paying dividends this year. Will it work for CMC? Who knows.

[pantherj]

I love our front 7, but you can see clearly we're vulnerable in the secondary. The 49ers passing offense was just too incompetent to really harm us. It's good that we're playing the Bills next because their offensive strength plays to our defensive strength.

CMC must have terrified the 49er defense because they watched him the way a gazelle keeps an eye on a lion. CMC has great vision and he's looking at the blocking in front of him and hoping for a slight improvement to spring him out. But sometimes you just need to get the yardage rather than diagnose when you're space. Part of the problem is that CMC doesn't know which of our guys are limp dicks at blocking, so he'll wait on limpy to win a block, he doesn't win, and we lose out of yardage because CMC believed in limpy. As soon as he gets his bearings he won't wait for a weak blocker to win, he'll recognize the guy is weak and just get what he can right away. And that includes our incompetent special teams where guys give up or shove in the back in plain view of a ref. 

 

 

[ecu88]

The 49ers had 3 men at all times keeping account of CMC almost the whole game. I have never seen a rookie being the sole focus of the defense as much as CMC in the rooks first game. 

[panthers55]

Much of the over reliance on CMC was Cam using him as a checkdown which is exactly what we have criticized Cam for not doing. Sure we had designed plays for CMC and used him as a decoy very well, but several times Cam had other guys open and instead dumped it down to CMC. I can't criticize Cam for playing it safe or taking the easy yards, after all a big part of the evolution was getting running backs involved in the passing game and taking what he was given by the defense.

Will it change. Of course as folks concentrate on the short game it will open up other folks downfield.

[Harbingers]

@Lumps I'm in shorthand. On a forum. I don't really care if my grammar's  is's perfect. 

Thank you for your wisdom though. 

[thefuzz]

Yes, he is overloaded, and that's fine.

We will need him later in the year when the games really matter..and he will be ready for whatever we throw at him by then.

He has a pretty good football mind...evidenced by him missing almost all OTA's, and coming in and contributing right away.  Even the vets were complimenting him on it.

[panthers55]

13 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Yes, he is overloaded, and that's fine.

We will need him later in the year when the games really matter..and he will be ready for whatever we throw at him by then.

He has a pretty good football mind...evidenced by him missing almost all OTA's, and coming in and contributing right away.  Even the vets were complimenting him on it.

Given he was 70% of Stanford's offense for 3 years I don't think you could overload him.  He is a stud who can break any play for the distance.

[thefuzz]

2 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

Given he was 70% of Stanford's offense for 3 years I don't think you could overload him.  He is a stud who can break any play for the distance.

Oh, I agree, he can handle it all....I'm just not sure I have ever seen a rookie in his first game line up in 3-4 different positions before.

I love it, this is what this offense needed....and an upgrade at LT.

[panthers55]

Just now, thefuzz said:

Oh, I agree, he can handle it all....I'm just not sure I have ever seen a rookie in his first game line up in 3-4 different positions before.

I love it, this is what this offense needed....and an upgrade at LT.

I told everyone who would listen that he was special before the draft. This is exactly what I envisioned he would do.

[thefuzz]

Just now, panthers55 said:

I told everyone who would listen that he was special before the draft. This is exactly what I envisioned he would do.

I think there were a few of us who were really hoping that he would land here....I know that I was one of them, you and a few others as well, but I can't remember everyone.

I thought he was the 3rd or 4th best player in the draft last year...loved the guy.

[Harbingers]

7 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Oh, I agree, he can handle it all....I'm just not sure I have ever seen a rookie in his first game line up in 3-4 different positions before.

I love it, this is what this offense needed....and an upgrade at LT.

RB 1, RB 2, Fullback, H back, Shotgun, Outside, Inside, Slot, QB, Offset and kick returns. 

We basically asked him to remember 11 positions. That's a lot.

[Jimmy]

I think he had the rookie jitters as well, tried to do a little too much...but you couldn't have asked for a better opponent for him to get his feet wet and work those things out. I am sure they have already looked at film this week and are working to correct those things.  Teammates say he is a film junkie like Luke so that's great.  I expect a little more polished performance (if I'm being picky) because this kid seems to be sponge when it comes to perfecting his craft.  You never know what to correct until you are thrust into the fire...he got singed but not burnt...excited for the Buffalo game.