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Subject: Not enough offense to erase questions.

Author:
Sydney From Syd's Corner.

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Date Posted: 23:26:26 12/23/02 Mon

The victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Sun Devil Stadium reminded us of how the regular season has been for us, too close to call. Winning this game marginally was another indication that our offense was not clicking on all cylinders. Even with Terrell Owens out and resting his bruised heel and groin it was a performance that left our scoring offense just floating above water.
The victory is simply symbolic having no real circumstances on our own playoff picture but important from the standpoint that morale needed to be elevated and a victory was needed after a bust against Green Bay. Again the San Francisco offense seemed to be a dog with a big bark rather than a dog with a big bite. Even though we had 358 total yards of net offense we only managed to put 17 total points on the board.
Not enough in my view against a team floundering at (5-9), we should have been able to dominate this game and take the game right to this team in the scoreboard category regardless of being without No.#1 playmaker in Terrell Owens. Tai Streets was impressive with eight receptions for 90 total yards and Cedric Wilson in my mind has established just cause for making the third receiver slot with four receptions for 56 total yards.
I really like the play of Wilson not only from a receiving threat standpoint but also from a kick return standpoint as well; he had three kick returns for 79 total yards and a long run of 37 total yards. I think he has shown marked improvement on special teams and should be considered a shoe in for the position. He seems to be able to be in the right place at the right time with the timing routes and audible calls and can create separation.
J.J. Stokes on the other hand mystifies me as to how he can have such a meaningless effect on a game from dropped and missed passes to just not being creative enough to gain separation from aggressive defensive backs. His performance in this game like others is something to be desired, I really am disappointed with his overall efforts as I believe that he has fallen out of grace with this offense and now with many fans as well.
Stokes had only four receptions for 48 total yards with a long reception of 21 total yards not bad you may say for this game but for someone trying to elevate their play to the second tier receiving slot and making big plays consistently he has not existed. He will have to make a big splash in the Monday Night Game in my opinion to start turning the doubters into believers in my opinion.
The San Francisco defense is what kept this game in check and in the end was responsible for delivering this win against Arizona. Tony Parrish surprisingly played while wrapped up from the elbow to the shoulder on one arm and made big stopping hits and a great interception to boot. He really has defined himself in more ways than one and carries the leadership of this defense on his shoulders. The tackles and ends along the defensive line established great pressure on Plummer with a total of five sacks recorded.
Jeff Garcia played exciting football and was successful in third down efficiency turning 55% of those plays as he passed for 256 total yards and established a quarterback rating of 76%. Not bad but completion wise it could have been better had certain receivers caught the ball as passed to them deemed receivable. The offensive line was also solid in protecting him allowing only one sack to seep through the line and allowing him time to make plays.
In the rushing category we did an average job of turning 106 total yards with Kevan Barlow leading the pack with 50 total yards. It seemed like the Arizona defense did a very good job throughout the game of containing our running game forcing us to seek alternate plays to move the ball down the field. From a production standpoint we only averaged 3.2 yards per carry against their defense where we should�ve been averaging near 4-4.5 yards per carry in all honesty.
Jeff Chandler continued to add worry to our special teams as he missed a pair of 42-yard field goal attempts that would�ve established a comfortable lead down the stretch and would�ve helped our scoring offense efficiency overall. He continues to cast shadows on our faith in drafting him and allowing him to be the full time starter in place of fired Jose Cortez.
The concerns that were there with Cortez are identical with Chandler. He will have to shake this syndrome soon in the next game in order to instill faith again in both coaches and fans alike. Kickoff special unit coverage again is concern as the Cardinals averaged 19.8-yards on returns simply too much to be allowed and putting Arizona in favorable field position.
On defense our linebackers in Smith, Peterson and Ulbrich deserve a lot of praise for their speed and tackling abilities, they proved to be a great barrier to progress for the Arizona offense throughout the game. I came away confidant that this unit will be fine come playoff time as we mend with Rasheed and Winborn in the mix.
Overall we managed to add a win to our win column but we didn�t scare anyone either nor have we really scared any team throughout this league. It lends a strange enigma to us as leaders of our division and casts a shadow as to our dominance there as a whole. We are considered underdogs to everyone unless proven otherwise. We need to find answers to our offensive stagnation and get it moving with the most contributing personnel.

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