UPDATE: Colin Kaepernick had a good night in St. Louis – 343 yards passing, three TD passes, no INTS. He continued to make smart plays and good decisions, not to mention he completely turned the game around with a 80-yard TD pass to Brandon Lloyd to end the first half. So, yes, Colin Kaepernick is the franchise QB and he’s only going to get better. Nice win Niners! Bring on the Broncos!
Colin Kaepernick is not your run of the mill quarterback. And I’m not talking about the tattoos because that conversation is dumb and I’m over it. I’m talking about the way he plays football. Last week, Sean Tomlinson wrote How Colin Kaepernick Controls Chaos for the San Francisco 49ers for Bleacher Report. In that story, he examines how Kaep thrives under pressure – like the actual pressure of multiple men over 300 lbs. running at him and hoping to take him down. As Tomlinson writes, Colin Kaepernick has seen the blitz 56 times this season, and he has only chosen to run four of those times. Instead, he has taken to the air to throw more touchdowns and less INTs than when he’s not blitzed.
These stats seem bizarre but they’re really not if you’re a Kaepernick aficionado. As Tomlinson writes,
“With his elusiveness, blitzing simplifies the game for Kaepernick. Once he avoids a rush there’s no reading, only reaction. The field is often cut in half with fewer passing options remaining…A blitz forces Kaepernick to be creative and improvise, which is when he’s in his natural football habitat.”
And he’s improving as a quarterback. It started in the Philly game and really showed against the Chiefs. He’s still got work to do, but he doesn’t just focus on one receiver and then try to run if it doesn’t work. He’s reading the field, reading the defense, making smart decisions. Sometimes he’s falling and the ball goes in the air – and I think I’m for sure going to have a coronary – when Brandon Lloyd jumps up between two defenders and makes the catch of a lifetime, and I realize Kaep knew what he was doing all along (and then I breathe again).
See, that’s what makes him exciting and awesome and Colin Kaepernick. It’s also what sometimes causes avoidable interceptions, but he’s maturing and those INTs are not going to come at the end of NFC Championship games anymore (because I said so). Because this is Colin Kaepernick, and these are his 49ers, and come hell or high water or the blitz, he’s going to figure out a way to win the game.
See ya after Monday Night Football. Go Niners!
