ESPN's Clayton thinks SF will be 3rd in NFC West

Until the niners have a winning season, and make the play offs, they will never be considered to be contenders. Seems pretty straight forwarfd to me. What is Clayton supposed to say.

"I know the Cardinal kept Warner, Boldin, and Fitgerald, added Beanie Wells to replace Edge," but I think the niners with their 6th offensive coordinator in 6 years will win the west.

Remember when ESPN would have Clayton and Salisbury(SP?) debate current NFL issues????? Salisbury would clown the hell outta that goofy looking mofo. Man, it was great to see Clayton's whole head turn red! And whenever Clayton got the better of Salisbury, you could see the hate in his eyes.

I wonder why they quit putting him on with Clayton?

I've always liked Clayton, especially over Salisburry... he was an obvious hater and d-bag. But this is the same old song 'n dance... until we prove all the doubters wrong, we will come into this season looking like mediocrity to everyone else. I feel really good about our chances though.

I'm surprised about his pick of Seattle... w/ Mora in charge, you don't know what to expect in a coaches' first year.

Originally posted by Tyler82:
Q: How is Alex Smith coming along and does he have a shot to be the 49ers' starter this year? Do you think the 49ers have a shot to make the playoffs this year?

Mike in Mexico City

A: Smith is throwing but he hasn't made a move yet to win the job. Shaun Hill heads into training camp with the edge. Still, Smith does have a shot because he's still young and has plenty of talent. [b]The Seahawks clearly had a better offseason than the 49ers, and the Cardinals are a better team right now as long as Kurt Warner stays healthy. The return of Matt Hasselbeck should allow the Seahawks' offense to improve by five to six points a game. It would take a great season from Michael Crabtree to cause such a jump in the 49ers' offense. I'd say going in that the 49ers are third in the NFC West and not ready to be a winning team -- yet.[/b]
John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.



WOW Im alittle suprised that he can so easily write us off in the NFC West. WELL SHOW HIM
[url=null]null[/url] Claytons Mailbag

this is how i look at it , untill we prove it on the field they have the right to predict whatever they want . our best season in the last years 5 years are 7-9 !

Originally posted by cNiner:

Originally posted by Tyler82:
Q: How is Alex Smith coming along and does he have a shot to be the 49ers' starter this year? Do you think the 49ers have a shot to make the playoffs this year?

Mike in Mexico City

A: Smith is throwing but he hasn't made a move yet to win the job. Shaun Hill heads into training camp with the edge. Still, Smith does have a shot because he's still young and has plenty of talent. [b]The Seahawks clearly had a better offseason than the 49ers, and the Cardinals are a better team right now as long as Kurt Warner stays healthy. The return of Matt Hasselbeck should allow the Seahawks' offense to improve by five to six points a game. It would take a great season from Michael Crabtree to cause such a jump in the 49ers' offense. I'd say going in that the 49ers are third in the NFC West and not ready to be a winning team -- yet.[/b]
John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.



WOW Im alittle suprised that he can so easily write us off in the NFC West. WELL SHOW HIM
[url=null]null[/url] Claytons Mailbag

this is how i look at it , untill we prove it on the field they have the right to predict whatever they want . our best season in the last years 5 years are 7-9 !

That's the bottom-line right there, but i am still surprised all the "experts" seem to throw away our strong finish last season and the way Hill finished w/a 5-3 record.

The difference between 1st and 3rd place will be how we fair against Seattle and Arizona head to head. You can't blame Clayton for taking Hassleback and Warner over Shaun Hill.

Originally posted by tjd808185:
The difference between 1st and 3rd place will be how we fair against Seattle and Arizona head to head. You can't blame Clayton for taking Hassleback and Warner over Shaun Hill.

We will see when the season starts.

Originally posted by Tyler82:
Q: How is Alex Smith coming along and does he have a shot to be the 49ers' starter this year? Do you think the 49ers have a shot to make the playoffs this year?

Mike in Mexico City

A: Smith is throwing but he hasn't made a move yet to win the job. Shaun Hill heads into training camp with the edge. Still, Smith does have a shot because he's still young and has plenty of talent. [b]The Seahawks clearly had a better offseason than the 49ers, and the Cardinals are a better team right now as long as Kurt Warner stays healthy. The return of Matt Hasselbeck should allow the Seahawks' offense to improve by five to six points a game. It would take a great season from Michael Crabtree to cause such a jump in the 49ers' offense. I'd say going in that the 49ers are third in the NFC West and not ready to be a winning team -- yet.[/b]
John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.



WOW Im alittle suprised that he can so easily write us off in the NFC West. WELL SHOW HIM
[url=null]null[/url] Claytons Mailbag

I don't know if this has been pointed out yet or not, but What team did Clayton cover before he signed on at ESPN? Wait for it.......That's right the Seahawks. Who knows how objective he is. The Seahawks have even more transition than we do. Add that Arizona made the Super Bowl last year of course everyone is still going to be in love with them. Not to menion that the loser of the Super Bowl the las however many number of years don't make the playoffs the next year.Those two things considered this opinion does not reall supprise me. I also think it's funny how at the end of every article Clayton lists his accomplishments. As if to say " How dare you think of disagreeing with me I'm John Clayton look what I have done". Expectations for this year are all over the board. I'm taking a wait and see approach so far. As of today I will be happy with anything between 8-8 and 10-6 the more wins the better of course.

Originally posted by Tyler82:
Q: How is Alex Smith coming along and does he have a shot to be the 49ers' starter this year? Do you think the 49ers have a shot to make the playoffs this year?

Mike in Mexico City

A: Smith is throwing but he hasn't made a move yet to win the job. Shaun Hill heads into training camp with the edge. Still, Smith does have a shot because he's still young and has plenty of talent. [b]The Seahawks clearly had a better offseason than the 49ers, and the Cardinals are a better team right now as long as Kurt Warner stays healthy. The return of Matt Hasselbeck should allow the Seahawks' offense to improve by five to six points a game. It would take a great season from Michael Crabtree to cause such a jump in the 49ers' offense. I'd say going in that the 49ers are third in the NFC West and not ready to be a winning team -- yet.[/b]
John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.



WOW Im alittle suprised that he can so easily write us off in the NFC West. WELL SHOW HIM
[url=null]null[/url] Claytons Mailbag

Seems right on to me. More proof that those OUTSIDE the 'zone including various beat writers are rightfully skeptical of MS and able to accurately evaluate the current team.

Originally posted by PRIMETIME21:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:
What a buncha bulls**t,the shehawks are as bad as than they were last year,we have improved(fired Nolan and Martz the moron).

we did nothin really to improve this offseason,and a martz system is better for crabtree because he ran the spread offense with the red raiders so our run first offense won't really benefit our first round pick. marvel smith for jonas jennings is about gettin the same player really. brandon jones ? give me a break. seahawks had both starting WRs out last year and Hasslebeck and still kicked our ass on our home turf. they gettin TJ housh, Deon branch , Hasslebeck and now Curry , they would have easily won the NFC west last year if they stayed healthy and i dont see us having a better record than zona. im not being a downer i really hope we win the superbowl every year but being realistic here. i see it ending like this

1. Seahawks 10-6
2. Arizona 9-7
3. 49ers 8-8
4. Rams 4-12

Great post! BRAVO...realistic and objective..what a thought. I hope the nut riders read this several times.

Originally posted by 9erluv415:
Im sorry, but I have to disagree. Clayton doesn't even take into account, our Defense that will be much better than 13th next year. All we need is 10 wins and we're in, especially in our division. Why is everyone forgetting that we should have at least split with the Tards last year. I dont think we took a step back talent wise, if anything, we got better!!! We just have to wait. I like being the underdog!!!

10 wins is ALL they need?? That's a lot more difficult than you make it out to be. AZ will still very likely throw all over us even if we hold Fitz in check again and MS will have no answer for it or any opponent who scores quickly early and often through the air. No reason to think Seattle won't bomb it away on the niners too with Hasselback and Housh... MS's going to find out that smash-mouth, run-first garbage can't keep up with a productive passing game.

Originally posted by Tyler82:
Q: How is Alex Smith coming along and does he have a shot to be the 49ers' starter this year? Do you think the 49ers have a shot to make the playoffs this year?

Mike in Mexico City

A: Smith is throwing but he hasn't made a move yet to win the job. Shaun Hill heads into training camp with the edge. Still, Smith does have a shot because he's still young and has plenty of talent. [b]The Seahawks clearly had a better offseason than the 49ers, and the Cardinals are a better team right now as long as Kurt Warner stays healthy. The return of Matt Hasselbeck should allow the Seahawks' offense to improve by five to six points a game. It would take a great season from Michael Crabtree to cause such a jump in the 49ers' offense. I'd say going in that the 49ers are third in the NFC West and not ready to be a winning team -- yet.[/b]
John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.



WOW Im alittle suprised that he can so easily write us off in the NFC West. WELL SHOW HIM
[url=null]null[/url] Claytons Mailbag

Why would you be surprised? He's expressing nothing more than a realistic and objective opinion that's shared my most ppl and niner fans OUTSIDE the 'zone. Because of the unsubstantiated MS nut-riding that dominates the 'zone, it's difficult if not impossible for those fans to view the niners in this more realistic and appropriate light (i.e. w/o the rose-colored glasses on). You guys need to get out more.

If the Niners get 10 wins or more, and I agree that's hard to do, Singletary will be in the discussion for Coach of the Year.

Originally posted by jays9ers:
Sounds about right to me folks.... Were still a 7 or 8 win team... Probably third in the division

Word. Don't see the tough love approach working miracles. The bottom line is talent. Niners don't have it. Aside from Willis, maybe Gore, nothing to scare people. Let's hope the direction is positive.