San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals: West Coast Offense Taking Shape

Sunday November 19, the San Francisco 49ers face off against familiar divisional foe, the Arizona Cardinals. Divisional games are never easy, but the 49ers should not need any luck in this one. 

Recent history shows us that the 49ers have owned the Cardinals. I predict this will continue (as if this were a bold prediction...).

Last week against the Giants, I watched in amazement as an old, familiar friend made an appearance. Ladies and gentlemen, the West Coast offense is taking shape right in front of our eyes. 

As I watched the game with my wife and my cousin, Keith, my wife turned to me and said, "Alex Smith throws like Brett Favre." I quickly scolded her for her blasphemy, explaining that, while Smith is really getting good, it was sacrilege to compare him to Favre. 

She kept telling me she knew that he didn't compare, but she wouldn't relent about what she was trying to express. After a little digging, I realized that she was seeing the same plays that Brett used to run in the same system in Green Bay. It all made sense.

Everyone and their mother has been expressing frustration here in the Bay Area about wanting to see the offense "open up." The players kept saying after every game, with a sort of twinkle in their eyes, that the team had only really installed a small portion of the playbook. They told us to have patience.

Ugh. Most fans in San Francisco know of this word. It was the byword of this past offseason. Have patience. Just wait, as we wrung our hands in frustration about the big-name players going elsewhere.

Well, general manager Trent Baalke's plan seems to have produced some juicy fruit. 

In looking back at the games the 49ers have played, you get the sense that maybe they just didn't really install very many passing plays. I think that they understood the impetus had to be on the run for the short term, while the passing game could develop on the practice field to be brought out when the team really needed it later in the year. 

Last week's game plan on offense by head coach Jim Harbaugh was a statement to the rest of the NFL: You all think we are only good at two things, but we are going to prove to you our dominance in all three phases of the game.

Alex Smith is on pace to have a year similar to Steve Young's 1992 campaign, in which he won the MVP award. 

The West Coast offense is alive and well, and it resides in San Francisco.

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