Bigger,Faster,Stronger and Younger

I'd agree they're a very good team...but 'til they actually win something (division/conf/SB) they can be as big and bad as they want and it doesn't really matter. Trust me, Dec 8 is circled on the Niner schedule...especially after both Carroll and Sherman talked trash after the game. Seattle has no class...and at some point, it'll catch up to 'em.

Originally posted by CorvaNinerFan:
I'd agree they're a very good team...but 'til they actually win something (division/conf/SB) they can be as big and bad as they want and it doesn't really matter. Trust me, Dec 8 is circled on the Niner schedule...especially after both Carroll and Sherman talked trash after the game. Seattle has no class...and at some point, it'll catch up to 'em.

I'm not sure how Harbaugh and Kaep treat the SF media, but they were less than complimentary to say the least when questioned by the Seattle media this past week. Alternatively, I heard a lot of praise out of Carroll and Sherman when talking about SF.

Didn't Sherman talk about what a great QB Kaepernick was and how he deserved all of the accolades he's been getting? Unless I am deaf, I believe Sherm's gripe was with the national media that seems to want to question whether or not SEA has the best secondary.

Say what you will but it was Kaepernick who ran to the locker room before the game clock had run out rather than shaking hands with his opponents. Sherman talks trash but he shakes hands and compliments his opponents when the game is over.

Originally posted by ECLaloosh:

Originally posted by CorvaNinerFan:
I'd agree they're a very good team...but 'til they actually win something (division/conf/SB) they can be as big and bad as they want and it doesn't really matter. Trust me, Dec 8 is circled on the Niner schedule...especially after both Carroll and Sherman talked trash after the game. Seattle has no class...and at some point, it'll catch up to 'em.

I'm not sure how Harbaugh and Kaep treat the SF media, but they were less than complimentary to say the least when questioned by the Seattle media this past week. Alternatively, I heard a lot of praise out of Carroll and Sherman when talking about SF.

Didn't Sherman talk about what a great QB Kaepernick was and how he deserved all of the accolades he's been getting? Unless I am deaf, I believe Sherm's gripe was with the national media that seems to want to question whether or not SEA has the best secondary.

Say what you will but it was Kaepernick who ran to the locker room before the game clock had run out rather than shaking hands with his opponents. Sherman talks trash but he shakes hands and compliments his opponents when the game is over.

So they were humble before the game and started talking trash after they won? Its supposed to be the other way around. You build the hype then congratulate your opponent. Not build up your opponent so you cover your bases if you lose and look better if you win and then talk trash.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
So they were humble before the game and started talking trash after they won? Its supposed to be the other way around. You build the hype then congratulate your opponent. Not build up your opponent so you cover your bases if you lose and look better if you win and then talk trash.

Not sure what trash Carroll supposedly was talking and Sherman was clearly going after the media. The post-game presser by Sherm, he complimented the guy who ran off of the field and didn't have enough respect for the opposition to look them in the eye and shake their hands.

As for SEA not being worthy of your respect until they win something, I'm alright with that.

does it matter who they barely beat? they beat the s**t out of us yesterday. all this seattle sucks because theyre not good on the road is getting ridiculous. if they run the table at home, which they probably will they can win 3 or 4 games on the road they are at 11 or 12 wins. thats a good team. we have to regroup and do our part now, the game is over and a loss by 100 and a loss by 3 still counts as just one loss. they were the hardest team on our schedule, we are still in good shape. the only thing i hate is all the injuries we sustained yesterday. hopefully a few of the injured guys come back soon and are ready to kick ass. even dial and carradine coming back midseason could be huge, we took a major hit on the d-line yesterday losing williams and mcdonald

Originally posted by buck:

Originally posted by Rascal:
If we just discuss on personnel first, we need to set a single-minded new direction. Even up to this year's draft, although we did place more emphasis on physicality we are still drafting some small bodies. If Pete Carroll can come up with an idea of using 6'3"+ 220 lbs+ guys for corners and safeties, we can definitely go big too.

Starting with WRs, we go bigger, taller, faster and more physical, think Julio Jones, Roddy White, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall type guys. (as opposed to our usual smaller 5'10- 6'0" 180-200 lbs picks such as Kyle Williams, AJ Jenkins and Quinton Patton)

Size does not play football. Size does not make a football player good. Good football players come in all sizes.


I already posted on the top five running backs in NFL history

Let's look at the wide receivers. You have frequently stated you want a wide receiver at least 6 feet and 3 inches and fast.

Even Jerry Rice does not really fit the size specifications that want. He just was not a bigger, faster wide receiver.

The goal is to have excellent receivers and running backs. Size is not the defining characteristic of a good wide receiver or running back.

Only two of the top 5 leading receivers in NFL history match your size preferences.

Top 5 leading receivers in NFL history

1. Jerry Rice 22,895

6-2 200

2. Terrell Owens 15,934

6-3--226

3. Randy Moss 15,292

6-4 215

4. Isaac Bruce 15,208

6-0 188

5. Tim Brown 14,934

6-0 195

I know we have been through this before. You have your point of view. I have mine.

It is well documented that Rascal wants top-5 players at every skill position, which isn't remotely possible.

Calvin, Julio, & Marshall are once-in-a-generation players. They don't grow on trees. You have to have a great set of circumstances to land players like those.

Originally posted by buck:
Size does not play football. Size does not make a football player good. Good football players come in all sizes.


I already posted on the top five running backs in NFL history

Let's look at the wide receivers. You have frequently stated you want a wide receiver at least 6 feet and 3 inches and fast.

Even Jerry Rice does not really fit the size specifications that want. He just was not a bigger, faster wide receiver.

The goal is to have excellent receivers and running backs. Size is not the defining characteristic of a good wide receiver or running back.

Only two of the top 5 leading receivers in NFL history match your size preferences.

Top 5 leading receivers in NFL history

1. Jerry Rice 22,895

6-2 200

2. Terrell Owens 15,934

6-3--226

3. Randy Moss 15,292

6-4 215

4. Isaac Bruce 15,208

6-0 188

5. Tim Brown 14,934

6-0 195

I know we have been through this before. You have your point of view. I have mine.

Although I agree with the opinion that great football players come in all sizes, I think the era these HoFers played in, and who they played against is a factor.

Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Isaac Bruce for example played in an era where CBs were anywhere from 5-7 (Mark McMillan, Darrell Green, Aaron Glenn) to at MOST 6-0 (Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, Dale Carter). So for their era, Jerry & Tim WERE considered "bigger"....in comparison to their competition, NOT their peers...

T.O. and Randy Moss entered the league during the "transition" to the NFL speed/size we see today. In essence, they were the pioneers of the modern day ideal WR mold. Late 90s..Charles Woodson and Champ Bailey were the blueprint for ideal CB size but there just wasn't as many CBs that big until recently...
Teams on the defensive side of the ball hadn't adjusted to the new WR size until a few years ago.

As more and more big body WRs in the high school level, make the switch to defense, we'll start seeing more Richard Sherman type players in the draft vey soon.

Best way to beat the Seachickens is use the Falcons Gameplan from last year. The alcons spread the Squaks out. using mostly 3 wr sets along with Tony G. Forget the pistol as a base. just use it oce in a while. Forget Gore. Too slow to beatup. Put Kendall back there with Kape, Boldin, Patton, KW and VD and run crazy bunch patterns all day on these oversized defensive players, wear them out and THEN start pounding the ball in the 4th Quarter with a lead.

Originally posted by NickSh49:
It is well documented that Rascal wants top-5 players at every skill position, which isn't remotely possible.

Calvin, Julio, & Marshall are once-in-a-generation players. They don't grow on trees. You have to have a great set of circumstances to land players like those.

Give me a 5'11" WR who is tremendously skilled and can get open over a 6'5" stiff anyways. Rascal simply doesn't get it, I question his ability to analyze talent, he had an absolute man-crush on Justin Hunter, a guy who has done jack s**t for Tennessee thus far, meanwhile we saw Deandre Hopkins, at 6'1" a veritable midget according to Rascal, absolutely bust out and do well against a quality defense, make some huge plays, even when Andre Johnson went down.

Originally posted by ElephantHaley:
Best way to beat the Seachickens is use the Falcons Gameplan from last year. The alcons spread the Squaks out. using mostly 3 wr sets along with Tony G. Forget the pistol as a base. just use it oce in a while. Forget Gore. Too slow to beatup. Put Kendall back there with Kape, Boldin, Patton, KW and VD and run crazy bunch patterns all day on these oversized defensive players, wear them out and THEN start pounding the ball in the 4th Quarter with a lead.

The Falcons have much better WRs than us...

Originally posted by SaksV:
Although I agree with the opinion that great football players come in all sizes, I think the era these HoFers played in, and who they played against is a factor.

Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Isaac Bruce for example played in an era where CBs were anywhere from 5-7 (Mark McMillan, Darrell Green, Aaron Glenn) to at MOST 6-0 (Rod Woodson, Deion Sanders, Dale Carter). So for their era, Jerry & Tim WERE considered "bigger"....in comparison to their competition, NOT their peers...

T.O. and Randy Moss entered the league during the "transition" to the NFL speed/size we see today. In essence, they were the pioneers of the modern day ideal WR mold. Late 90s..Charles Woodson and Champ Bailey were the blueprint for ideal CB size but there just wasn't as many CBs that big until recently...
Teams on the defensive side of the ball hadn't adjusted to the new WR size until a few years ago.

As more and more big body WRs in the high school level, make the switch to defense, we'll start seeing more Richard Sherman type players in the draft vey soon.

Yet little Wes Welker gave Seattle some of the most problems they had on defense last season. Just because the defensive backs are big, doesn't mean you need massive WR's to beat them. The bigger the defensive backs get, the more important quickness and over-the-top vertical speed becomes on offense. You can't defend a receiver that you can't catch. At some point, how much bigger can your wide receivers get...6'6"....6'7".....at that point, you've got guys who are simply largely uncoordinated as receivers with poor hips and agility.


Richard Sherman is not a good cornerback because he's big, he's a good cornerback because he's extremely skilled, he worked his ass off, he was a former wide receiver and he has put in the work to play at the level he is at. He could be 5'10" and would still be a damn tough matchup for anyone.

Skill still dominates over everything else. You need guys who are outstanding route runners above all, who don't necessarily need to rely on their athleticism to make plays, guys with quickness and the ability and desire to simply go up and get the ball no matter what the defense is doing.

Originally posted by Kaepernick2014:
The Falcons have much better WRs than us...

Irrelevant. Atlanta schemed well against Seattle, they still weren't able to rake up huge yards because against a top secondary, you'll be limited in what you can do but they found a way to get the ball to their playmakers and scheme them to get open. Guys like Tony Gonzalez and Harry Douglass made big plays when Jones and White were covered. 49ers are much better defensively than Atlanta, they don't need huge numbers to beat Seattle, it comes down to scheme and being able to move the ball at least somewhat consistently.


You simply can't look to pass the majority of the time and only have 2 WR's out there, it makes it far too easy for them. Sherman locks down Boldin 1 on 1, then you have Williams getting locked down by their other CB along with help from the FS and a linebacker and SS keeping an eye on VD and that is all she wrote at that point. Unless the 49ers FORCE Seattle to change what they do defensively by spreading them out, they will always be at a disadvantage defensively and always running into the teeth of a pretty good 8 man front.

I have to say I'm INCREDIBLY disappointed at the lack of preparedness on the part of the coaching and offensive gameplan. The defense looked great, lost in the shuffle is the fact that the 49ers defense made Russell Wilson look like a 3rd round rookie starting his first NFL game for the vast majority of the game. Having a healthy Aldon and Justin certainly helped but the gameplan was to keep Wilson contained and keep him in the pocket as much as possible and it worked, damn well, like a blueprint for the rest of the NFL in shutting that offense down. However, a defense can only do so much when they keep being put in bad positions because of offensive turnovers and bonehead penalties. Looking at the turnover situation, this defense played REMARKABLY well last night, a hell of a game overall.


But the offense, that was an embarrassment. Roman looked like he was simply winging it, no innovation, no creativity, absolutely nothing to challenge the defense or to get Seattle out of their comfort zone. Seattle imposed their will on this offense and they looked utterly pathetic, like they were happy to rest on their laurels after the Green Bay game. Roman seemed like he had bought into the hype and seemed to be trying to replicate the gameplan against Green Bay....against a FAR better secondary. It was an absolute joke, this was a team that had curb-stomped the 49ers the last time they played and the offensive gameplanning was essentially mailed in.


It's results like last night's why I think Roman is incredibly overrated. He'll put together some tremendous gameplans against flawed defenses such as Buffalo last year, as well as Chicago, who in spite of their success and racking up turnovers early on, were highly overrated defensively. Green Bay this year, I'm sure he'll put together a brilliant gameplan to light up a spotty Colts defense this weekend, but when this guy gets put on the spot, when he truly has to gameplan against a high quality defense, he routinely craps his pants and puts together a mediocre gameplan. You can't say that isn't true either, this team simply goes into the fetal position against top-tier defenses, doesn't even look like the same team out there, just highly predictable playcalls that good defenses eat up. You can only get away with that so much.


What they've been doing against Seattle the last two times, flat out has not worked. I'm hoping, that they don't plan on hitting their heads against a wall the third time and expecting that the possible return of Manningham and Crabtree will all of a sudden make everything alright. They need to attack Seattle in a vastly different fashion than they do against a majority of teams. Seattle's defense is ideally setup to shutdown this team's normal offensive playcalling and that defense gets up for games against the 49ers like crazy.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
I have to say I'm INCREDIBLY disappointed at the lack of preparedness on the part of the coaching and offensive gameplan. The defense looked great, lost in the shuffle is the fact that the 49ers defense made Russell Wilson look like a 3rd round rookie starting his first NFL game for the vast majority of the game. Having a healthy Aldon and Justin certainly helped but the gameplan was to keep Wilson contained and keep him in the pocket as much as possible and it worked, damn well, like a blueprint for the rest of the NFL in shutting that offense down. However, a defense can only do so much when they keep being put in bad positions because of offensive turnovers and bonehead penalties. Looking at the turnover situation, this defense played REMARKABLY well last night, a hell of a game overall.


But the offense, that was an embarrassment. Roman looked like he was simply winging it, no innovation, no creativity, absolutely nothing to challenge the defense or to get Seattle out of their comfort zone. Seattle imposed their will on this offense and they looked utterly pathetic, like they were happy to rest on their laurels after the Green Bay game. Roman seemed like he had bought into the hype and seemed to be trying to replicate the gameplan against Green Bay....against a FAR better secondary. It was an absolute joke, this was a team that had curb-stomped the 49ers the last time they played and the offensive gameplanning was essentially mailed in.


It's results like last night's why I think Roman is incredibly overrated. He'll put together some tremendous gameplans against flawed defenses such as Buffalo last year, as well as Chicago, who in spite of their success and racking up turnovers early on, were highly overrated defensively. Green Bay this year, I'm sure he'll put together a brilliant gameplan to light up a spotty Colts defense this weekend, but when this guy gets put on the spot, when he truly has to gameplan against a high quality defense, he routinely craps his pants and puts together a mediocre gameplan. You can't say that isn't true either, this team simply goes into the fetal position against top-tier defenses, doesn't even look like the same team out there, just highly predictable playcalls that good defenses eat up. You can only get away with that so much.


What they've been doing against Seattle the last two times, flat out has not worked. I'm hoping, that they don't plan on hitting their heads against a wall the third time and expecting that the possible return of Manningham and Crabtree will all of a sudden make everything alright. They need to attack Seattle in a vastly different fashion than they do against a majority of teams. Seattle's defense is ideally setup to shutdown this team's normal offensive playcalling and that defense gets up for games against the 49ers like crazy.

Good post.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Richard Sherman is not a good cornerback because he's big, he's a good cornerback because he's extremely skilled, he worked his ass off, he was a former wide receiver and he has put in the work to play at the level he is at. He could be 5'10" and would still be a damn tough matchup for anyone.

Skill still dominates over everything else. You need guys who are outstanding route runners above all, who don't necessarily need to rely on their athleticism to make plays, guys with quickness and the ability and desire to simply go up and get the ball no matter what the defense is doing.

Take the idea one step farther.

If you think that size and speed make a wide receiver good, you are sorely mistaken.

Calvin Johnson simply is not an elite wide receiver because of his physical dimensions or his speed.

If you think that, you are ignoring the skill set he brings to the game, but even more importantly you are ignoring the hours and hours of hard work that Johnson endured to develop that skill set.

The excessive stress on his physicality, on his combination of height, weight, and speed, is demeaning and almost insulting.

This simplistic focus on his physical tools ignores the intelligence, the exhaustive concentration to the details of the game, the disciplined work ethic, and rare desire to be great that Calvin Johnson and other elite players bring to the game.

There is no denying that most elite players have very good physical tools, but there are many players with very good physical tools that never even become good, much less, elite players.

At the end of the day what really distinguishes the elite players can not be found in numbers from the combine or numbers gotten with a tape measure, a scale, and a stop watch.

If you want to find the characteristics that distinguish the elite, you must look in their minds, their heart, and their guts.

This is not complicated. Anyone who has played the game or understands football knows this.