Steve Smith knocks the read option...

[teeray]

Gotta disagree there. The Niners did indeed make mistakes, but to say the Ravens did nothing but benefit from poor execution by San Francisco is out there.

An overthrow and a RB fumbling is an offense shooting themselves in the foot. A fumble by the QB because of a nice pass rush scheme or an interception because the defense confused the QB would be something I would attribute to a defense.

If you were a coach and the opposing team ran up and down the field on you but made mistakes, if you went to film room and thought you did a good job you would be out of a job fairly quickly.

[teeray]

I actually faulted Randy Moss on that play more than Kaepernick.

But with that said, up until Haloti Ngata went out and the Ravens defense got gassed, that offense had as many turnovers as they did scores.

Fast forward to the end, and even with the Ravens tired, they can't punch the ball in from inside the ten?

Not a performance to hang your hat on.

So they score 29 points, only punt once, pretty much dominate the game except 2 mistakes which were a product of the offensive players not the defense, and you think the Raven's defense did a good job?

Ummm... okay.

"Hey guys, we did not force any punts, and gave up 29 points tonight because we did such a good job". LOL

[top dawg]

The read option has been discussed ad nauseum. Needless to say it isn't going anywhere, but neither is it going to be relied upon as a base offense by any serious strategic football mind. Just like any play/scheme that is used too much, it can be figured out and stopped. Sprinkle it in here and there, and it can have game-changing effects.

[beastson]

2 things that were mentioned in this thread that was 100% true

Skewed cause of our lack of success

And

Cause the 49ers lost

If those 2 things didn't happen, S.S wouldn't be saying this

[PhillyB]

Nobody, in college or elsewhere, use the read option as the basis of their offense. No one run it every time or even a majority of the time. It depends on what the defense is doing.

hmm... i grant you that. base set was the wrong word... but it's clear we ran it a ridiculously high percentage of the time. i'd be interested in a breakdown of percentages by snap comparing teams and formations... i'd be willing to bet we were top three in the league in the 2012 season.

[teeray]

The read option has been discussed ad nauseum. Needless to say it isn't going anywhere, but neither is it going to be relied upon as a base offense by any serious strategic football mind. Just like any play/scheme that is used too much, it can be figured out and stopped. Sprinkle it in here and there, and it can have game-changing effects.

I have yet to see a team that uses the read option as "the basis of their offense".

[Mr. Scot]

So they score 29 points, only punt once, pretty much dominate the game except 2 mistakes which were a product of the offensive players not the defense, and you think the Raven's defense did a good job?

Ummm... okay.

"Hey guys, we did not force any punts, and gave up 29 points tonight because we did such a good job". LOL

Till they lost Ngata and got tired, yeah I think they did a pretty good job.

You can't put it all on offensive mistakes.

[teeray]

hmm... i grant you that. base set was the wrong word... but it's clear we ran it a ridiculously high percentage of the time. i'd be interested in a breakdown of percentages by snap comparing teams and formations... i'd be willing to bet we were top three in the league in the 2012 season.

Probably. But only 4 teams even ran it on a regular basis.

The way we ran it is not the way to run it. Everyone on this board seems to be basing their opinions on the read option by the Panthers success with it this season.

Unfortunately, the Chud way of using the read option is about the worst way a team can do it.

When you are running that type of offense, the defense will dictate to you before the snap when you run a read option or not. Not the original playcall.

If you are running that type of offense to it's full potential, you may run the read option 3 or 4 times in a game, or you may run it 15 times in a game. It all depends on what the defense is showing you.

[Mr. Scot]

Honestly, regardless of how anyone on here feels about it, a guy like Smith expressing this much disdain for it doesn't speak well of its chances for being seen as much next year.

[teeray]

Till they lost Ngata and got tired, yeah I think they did a pretty good job.

You can't put it all on offensive mistakes.

Why not? The Raven's forced 1 three and out. On the 49ers first series of the game. Other than that they did not "stop them" once. Not once.

An overthrow and a fumble is an error by the offense. It isn't being stopped by the defense.

The Raven's had no answer for anything the 49ers did last night. The 49ers moved the ball at will.

If you have a team that can get to the red zone anytime it wants, you aren't playing good defense. Luckily the 49ers made what I would consider "unforced" turnovers. Otherwise the 49ers would have won by a lot and probably scored 40+ points

[Mr. Scot]

Why not? The Raven's forced 1 three and out. On the 49ers first series of the game. Other than that they did not "stop them" once. Not once.

An overthrow and a fumble is an error by the offense. It isn't being stopped by the defense.

The Raven's had no answer for anything the 49ers did last night. The 49ers moved the ball at will.

If you have a team that can get to the red zone anytime it wants, you aren't playing good defense. Luckily the 49ers made what I would consider "unforced" turnovers. Otherwise the 49ers would have won by a lot and probably scored 40+ points

How many points do you get for getting to the red zone?

[teeray]

Honestly, regardless of how anyone on here feels about it, a guy like Smith expressing this much disdain for it doesn't speak well of its chances for being seen as much next year.

If I am a coach on the hot seat I wouldn't give two sh!ts about what anyone said on my team. I would do whatever I thought was best to win games.

It is up to Rivera and Shula to decide if it is going to be a big part of our offense next year. Not Steve Smith.

[teeray]

How many points do you get for getting to the red zone?

Depends. But I know this. If a team can get to the red zone at will like the 49ers. You aren't going to fare well in the long run. Hence the 29 points for the game.

You are lucky to stop a team once or twice in the red zone. But if they can get there whenever they want, and you can't force a single punt after the first possession of the game. It means your defense is not playing well.

If you think they are you don't know what you are talking about.

[Mr. Scot]

Russell Wilson chimes in (link)

A handful of NFL observers believe the read option is a fad that will eventually fade, ala the Wildcat package. That NFL defenses will “figure out” the zone read just as they did the Wildcat. And it will go away.

Quarterback Russell Wilson isn’t worried about Seattle’s read-option package being solved because the Seahawks have been careful to use it as a change-of-pace offensive play and not the foundation of their run-play design. (The Redskins and Panthers, for instance, might fall more into the latter category.)

“I definitely think it’s here to stay,” Wilson told WSCR in Chicago, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “In terms of the read option, it’s just a changeup for us. We may run 15, maybe 20 percent, of our runs are the read-options plays.”