“Major Challenge”
September 11th, 2019
Love from afar
The 49ers have one of the top-paid centers in the NFL in Weston Richburg.
A former defensive tackle, one of best NFL analysts around, watched him struggle against the Bucs.
Since leaving his job as co-host of arguably the greatest football radio show known to man, former Bears defensive lineman Tim Ryan has been immersed in all things 49ers as an official team radio analyst.
Is there a better Xs and Os guy out there?
After the 49ers victory, Ryan hopped on the team flight to Ohio, where they headed from Tampa to prepare for their next game with the Bengals rather than go all the way back to California. He did find a little time to share his 49ers thoughts with KNBR Radio.
Ryan talked a little Bucs and seemed most impressed by Vita Vea.
“The running game was tough sledding,” Ryan said. “Trying to block that fire hydrant from Milpitas in the middle of that defense was a major challenge, Vita Vea a south Bay kid, all 347 pounds of him. He was hard to move out of there for Richburg.”
Joe’s impressed that Vea looked solid after missing an entire preseason. It was a great first game back but just good overall.
Joe will take it. On one snap, the Bucs had Vea rushing off the right edge, which felt like a waste.
Ryan went on to rave about defensive end Nick Bosa ripping past Donovan Smith and owning Ali Marpet on a key play but getting juked by Jameis Winston.
Ryan said he warned Bosa before the game about how Jameis is a very “tough sack” because of his footwork and overall strength. And the first time Bosa got through Smith, he ended up on his butt.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:36 am
I didn’t like the Vita pick but it doesn’t matter what I like this guy is dominant has rare elite strength
September 11th, 2019 at 12:56 am
Ryan went on to rave about defensive end Nick Bosa ripping past Donovan Smith and owning Ali Marpet on a key play but getting juked by Jameis Winston.
Pre season the major concern was the right side of the line. Not saying those concerns were unwaranted or invalid. But the left side is the side with both Donavan and Marpet being paid on a second contract and although there have been concerns they’ve not reached the levels of concern of the right side .
In my opinion, it’s rather alarming that a rookie, one who missed almost all of training camp, playing in his 1st NFL game was able to outplay with both speed and power, seasoned veterans. Highly paid veterans no less, right out the gate.
If Winston wasn’t so difficult to corral and sack imagine how the focus would shilft to the that point on the line. Now I know there’s plenty a QB can do to help his line, examples being the 2 costly holding penalties attributed to the line that cost the team TD’S, those penalties occurred after 3 seconds had elapsed.
Meaning they could have been avoided if the ball was out sooner rather than later. If your line is struggling, it’s the QB who must shorten the time of the play. Get the ball out quickly. Can’t do it every play but I don’t see that as part of Winston’s play at present.
If the strength of the offensive line is as demonstrated this game, no good,
Winston will have to adjust. I’m not suggesting or saying it’s on winston and not with the oline, to improve the situation. Rather it’s up to winston to do what he can to help the situation. It won’t solve the problem. But it’s possible to improve it to some degree.
Again, that’s not blaming winston or absolving poor protection. It’s acknowledging where the team is at the moment and looking for help wherever it can be found. Simply accepting the line is sub par is going to make for a long season and it will result in fans prematurly, even for buc fans, looking forward for help in the draft. It’s the next 15 games I would like to see improvement not next year.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:28 am
@D1. You’re reading way too much into what was said. Marpet wasn’t beaten on that play. Marpet was beaten once the entire game which was that play. Marpet’s name didn’t get called all game and he helped create some running lanes. Dude is a bonafide stud. Let’s take Marpet’s name away from any problems. D Smith on the other hand is serviceable. Nothing more, nothing less. He gets beat at least a handful of times every game but he can be streaky good also. Dotson is old and more geared towards run blocking (that first penalty nullifying a TD was straight horsedung) and the jury is out on Cappa. I actually thought he was impressive in this game. I can see what the coaches like about him especially in the run blocking department. I see potential with Cappa but, as much as I like the guy, we desperately need help at RT. DOT is not terrible but he’s a liability in pass protection. I have no beef with Jensen especially considering his strong performance Sunday. At worst, the right side needs to be replaced but the O Line isn’t what took us down in Game 1. If they play this well or better, it’s up to J Dub and this offense to get it figured out quickly. If we can win Thursday, the taste in our mouths gets much sweeter.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:30 am
I meant to say Marpet was beaten on that play
September 11th, 2019 at 2:38 am
Cmurda,
You know, you’re probably right. I read the quote and yes, overreacted.
True, winning Thursday will go a long way to get that awful performance out of our minds
There was a few things that I took away as a positive. But none compared to Richie James TD. He’s a local kid that I have known since He was a 9th grader. I know firsthand how hard that kid trained and all the extra hours He dedicated to getting into the league.
Seeing him get that TD was bittersweet, happy for him personally, but not for the team.
September 11th, 2019 at 3:33 am
I may have to stand corrected on my assessment on Vita this past game. I honestly kept seeing him being eaten up at the line and stymied. But, maybe part of his role is just that. Occupy blockers for the other guys. He was flying around a bit but I was really looking for sacks, QB hits/pressures, and batted balls – which I really didn’t see. But, he did gobble up some OL. I guess it really depends on what his role is. But, in my opinion, if he’s giving Weston hell, that shouldn’t be the icing on the cake.
But, if he’s not getting sacks, someone else should have been.
September 11th, 2019 at 3:41 am
D1…that would mean an adjustment to the play calling would have to be made to adjust the route running against certain defenses. In my opinion, this was the first game of the year that will give use plenty to learn from. I’m sticking with FAMOUS to pull his game around, we will learn from the first two weeks on fri., sat., and sun. LETS GO BUCS…LETS GET A WIN!!!
September 11th, 2019 at 3:42 am
First, Joe’s been enjoying Tim Ryan’s analysis since before JoeBucsFan ever existed. Second, how good a player was as a professional has no bearing on Joe’s opinion of them as an analyst, just like you’ll never hear Joe say Leftwich was a bust of a first-round pick, therefore he’s not a coach or evaluator to take seriously. Lastly, if you don’t like the how the website presents material, then why keep returning? –Joe
September 11th, 2019 at 3:45 am
Marpet was fantastic in pass protection
September 11th, 2019 at 3:50 am
D1…that would mean an adjustment to the play calling would have to be made to adjust the route running against certain defenses. In my opinion, this was the first game of the year that will give use plenty to learn from. I’m sticking with FAMOUS to pull his game around, we will learn from the first two weeks on fri., sat., and sun. LETS GO BUCS…LETS GET A WIN!!! Win!! Win!!
September 11th, 2019 at 4:36 am
Bighog,
Without a doubt playcalling would have to be a big part of it. I didn’t mention it because It goes hand in hand. Definitely should have included that part of the process. Good point on your part to bring it up.
I expect Winston to come back and play better. At the end of the day, it’s just game 1. With the lack of preseason competition combined with new players and a new system I didn’t expect a very polished offensive performance week 1. In fact, I believe that it will take a couple more games before we see the offense running smoothly.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:37 am
And yes to the Wins!!!!
September 11th, 2019 at 4:44 am
D1 … I hear you about getting the ball out sooner, but like BigHog said, options to do that have to be built into the play-calls. Apparently there was a lot of max-protect called Sunday, and that right there minimizes certain quick-release options. If that’s the case, then Jameis & the Bucs are gonna have a lot of problems going forward.
A number of folks have lauded the Bucs’ OLine as having done a reasonably good job, but to me it looked as inconsistent as all git-out. On 2 plays (I think back-to-back) I saw Cappa get beaten BADLY. Saw Dotson get whooped BADLY on several plays, and the same thing with Donovan. All it takes is ONE OLineman to not DO HIS JOB and the QB ends up under pressure. Saw that quite a bit Sunday on the pass protection, but it was like guys were taking turns looking bad. Except for Marpet & Jensen … both looked quite solid IMO.
Play-calling has to change though to give Jameis more options. Only saw a couple of roll-outs & misdirections, although there might’ve been more. Still can’t remember any slants. The gameplan & play-calling looked to be just … blah. BA needs to get more involved in that aspect before it’s too late. We lost a perfectly winnable game, and Bucs aren’t good enough to let that happen again.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:53 am
I would rather see OJ used as outlet on the outside rather than across the middle. No doubt Jameis misses Hump. His running ability and vision once he got the ball
on the run was a huge plus. At this point BA might have to reevaluate how he
uses his receivers. Godwin was an effective weapon for us on the outside last year
and I believe it might allow him to get better separation. I would like to see
BoBo or even Scotty Miller take a shot at slot. Their speed might allow for quick hitting plays over the middle.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:46 am
Bucs really miss the leader of the defense last year..JPP !….
September 11th, 2019 at 7:31 am
“And the first time Bosa got through Smith…” note how we have to put a numerical qualifier there.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:37 am
Vea was not a $exy pick….but look at all the other picks that haven’t worked so well for us…especially in the second round….imagine if those picks were Oline & Dline?
September 11th, 2019 at 8:48 am
PFF ranks for Oline this week-
Marpet-top 5
Jensen-Top 2
Cappa-Top 14
Dotson-Top 20
Smith-29
O Line was fine. There was no film on Bosa so no prep for tendencies. He was a top 5 pick and a good pass rusher who was beaten in run game.
September 11th, 2019 at 9:34 am
VV & SUH will be a force….
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 11th, 2019 at 10:14 am
If Jameis didn’t throw the picks and Dotson didn’t get flagged for brates receiving TD’s then we may have won
September 11th, 2019 at 10:32 am
Vea and Suh stuffed that inside run game. That was nice to see.
September 11th, 2019 at 10:43 am
The Niner’s D is largely predicated on their very quick, fast D linemen. Their tradeoff is that all this speed comes from guys who are on the light side.
I thought our gameplan was excellent at the start. I was grousing during the first couple of series because we kept running on first down. But overall it was the right move. We were wearing down that quick light D front and dominated the time of possession. We also took JW’s passing woes out of play.
But we didn’t close them out and 7-6 was not enough of a lead to protect against our multiple second half turnovers.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:18 am
I keep seeing criticism of the defense but it is absolutely unwarranted. The defense was downright dominant. No, they didn’t get a bunch of sacks or turnovers, but what they got was many three and outs as well as great redzone performance. With an even half decent offensive performance, this D would have been able to pin its ears back and get after the QB play after play. Not all was perfect as Devin White certainly had his struggles in tackling and coverage, Anthony Nelson looked like a clear downgrade when he came in for Nassib, and Darian Stewart looked awful at times. MJ Stewart has at least one play that he’d like back… but for the most part, that was the best D that has been played here in years.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:25 am
They were even triple teaming him at times and still couldnt stop Big V…he was still pushing them back.
Now you guys see why I wanted him so bad and preached about him so much months before the draft…but na, the derwin james crowd wont have any of that lol…although James is looking good. But we needed trenches more.
I’ll be right on D. White too hopefully. His getting up to nfl speed needs to speed up. But he was still under the weather in that sanfran game and looked slow at times, so you have to give the guy a pass just a little.