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Posts: 6693
01/11/13 05:40 PM
Grand Poobah
Colin Q. Just wondering if you could comment about Colin Kaepernick, generally about his upside, the dimension he brings, the arm and the mobility. YOUNG: A rhetorical question, you hit it all right there. But I think the thing that surprised me and it came out right away when he replaced Alex against Chicago was the accuracy and the ability to make a lot of different throws. There's a lot of throws that if you are going to make them really precisely, it really is this kind of a special ability and a risk to be able to still forcefully throw a ball with a touch that comes out the last second as you release the football. There's a lot of arm‑throwers out there that the ball starts in motion and the arm is moving and it's going where it's going, and it's going to go at the trajectory it's going. There's not a lot of intricate adjustments that the guy can make. So to me, the great throwers are the ones that can make the intricate adjustments and make a lot of different throws. And so that was great to see. That tells you that the upside for Colin is large, because now you know that not everybody has to be open all the time and he can pull the string when he needs to and he can place the ball where he needs to, and that's a big deal, and probably the biggest deal of all the aspects you just mentioned. Because certainly having the ability to run around and move always served me well. People have all kinds of arguments with the guys playing today. If you have learned the position, which is to deliver the ball from the pocket, if you've mastered it, you're on your way, or close to it; moving around, being able to move around, just a huge advantage, just the bottom line: fact. So that's always a positive, as long as you're making the transition to the job, which is to deliver the ball from the pocket. Colin, certainly think about it, almost no playing time under the pressure that Jim put him in. Hey, look, you have this other guy, and people have developed a real appreciation for because of the things he's been through and what he's done for the team. You're now in it. You're in the middle of that. Go win. Go make it look great. And you've got to give Colin a tremendous amount of credit for the moxy to kind of be so far pulling it off and that's a tough spot. Certainly legs, certainly size, but the delivery and the moxy to stand in and do what is not easy to do, I've got to give him a lot of credit.
Colin versus Green Bay YOUNG: He gets a lot of help, and I think that's the pact that Jim Harbaugh made when he made the controversial switch, because his defense was so good and his offensive line was so good and his runners were so good, and his philosophy was not that demanding compared to other teams that they could protect him enough from having to do the difficult things that just are difficult. Even Andrew Luck, with the amazing season he had, turned the ball over a bunch, threw it into peoples' chests some. It's just the nature of the difficulty and that's going to be obviously the degree of difficult in the playoffs. I think that the calculus for this game and the playoffs for Colin is they cannot put him in a situation where he's deep in a hole and he's got to throw his way out of it. They are going to try to prevent that. They are going to try to make sure that they do what they have done before: didn't turn the ball over a bunch in New Orleans, didn't turn the ball over a bunch in New England, because you saw when they didn't turn the ball over a bunch, the defense - and get the ball back to Colin, and then they had to come back in Seattle - that's not the scenario he wants obviously. I think if Colin is forced to see the full measure of all of the defenses and coverages that Green Bay has in the arsenal it is going to be tough on him. I think the idea is that he's going to be protected from that and Jim is probably hoping that he sees full‑field reads, reads where he has to take all that in and deal with that maybe five times in a game. That would be optimal, right, where you just don't get in those situations too often. I think that's how he always thought this would go, and now his dream is that doesn't break down and then he has Colin take 25, 30, 40 snaps of pure, unadulterated read the defense, figure out where everybody is, safeties are raining down and now it's on you.
Jim Harbaugh YOUNG: Jim went all‑in, you know, but that's Jim. That's his nature. So when Colin played well at Chicago, his reaction was, ‘I've been looking for this'. I think he was looking for this and found the opening and went to full speed. I don't think he looked back. And people questioned him or talked to him, even internally, I would assume this would go to the owner and this would go all the way to the top. I'm sure he just said, ‘this is where I'm going'. So he's all‑in with it. I think that the pressure is, absolutely on there, but he's got a lot of built‑up goodwill in the bank with everyone in San Francisco because of what you mentioned in the record. Now, losing playoff games, ask Lovie Smith, you can win a bunch of games, but you'd better win in January. So far, everyone is kind of all‑in with him.
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