I think Pagano used the time out before a FG to his advantage once earlier this year, maybe in the AZ game before OT? I forget, but anyway, it worked once.

But in general, it does nothing, even though all coaches do it, not just him.

He can call a time out before every FG for all I care if he would actually come up with a game plan and find a way to keep his teams playing the full 60 minutes.

What makes you say that?

the thing is, it only tends to work in high pressure situations when the kicker might be nervous, and giving him more time to stand around being nervous might increase the odds of a miss.
But this wasn't high pressure, it was just some free points they managed to squeeze out just before halftime. Just because there were a few seconds left doesn't make it high pressure. This is like trying to freeze a kicker in the middle of the 2nd quarter. It makes no sense.

Yes the real problem was the soft D letting the 49ers get into FG position in the first place in such a short time period.

During Girgson's time and now Ballard. Here's what I believe. If you think Pagano gets a pass because some GM tlells him who to play, I say, any coach who fields a team dictated to him by a GM, when he doesn't believe they are the best players he can put on the field is no coach at all. Do your job or get the fuck out of Dodge. Think of your top 25 coaches of all time and tell me they would let some GM tell them who to play.

I know that in the pre-season it was Pagano who called out Clark on at least 2 occasions for stupid penalties.

If Dam's mom wasn't such a fat cow, it wouldn't have been a soft D.

Because that's the lineup he settled on last year, and it worked pretty well for him. He'd have seen no need to tinker around with it...especially the move of Mewhort from one side of the line to another.

It was change simply for the sake of change, and it feels like something that would be done by someone new to the organization.

One of the criticisms I have of Pagano is that he's loyal to the guys entrenched as starters. How else do you explain the failure to replace Bostic with George? I don't see a couple of stupid penalties in the preseason as justification for demoting a starter...especially when everyone is committing them

To be clear on Bostic, his value is completely that of a communicator who can get a team in the playcall and organize.

One of the great disconnects of the Pagano era is the leadership responsibilities placed on the ILB (same thing happened with Jackson) being at odds with the talent of ILB corps.

(Which is also a lot of Pagano overvaluing Jackson, Morrison etc. types)

But I don't think George plays as much because he can't adjust to playcalls for the defense.