The Niners' Year is Coming....in 2010

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Decent read, but it feels rather incomplete. No mention of the CB or NT situation? Did you really call Roman solid at some point?

As a deep defender. Surely not as a playmaker. As for CB, this is a question mark down the road. It all comes down to the development of Tarel Brown. If he is not ready to step in as a starter, they will need to look elsewhere in 2010. At NT, I think the Niners are projecting Balmer to play in this spot as early as mid-2009. Surely a question mark at this point, but I think the Niners will not rush address the issue next season. It could be a NT by committee, for better or worse.

As usual, MD makes a number of great points. However, Singletary is the X-factor in this whole thing, especially for 2009. Any objective fan can see that we clearly have talent-gaps and/or question marks at many key positions (namely QB, pass rush, NT, S and RT) and that alone makes it tough to project a playoff run for this season.

But there's something about Singletary that made this team gel towards the end of last season when he took over for NoWin...the personnel was the same, but they just seemed to rise to another level of play/effort when he took over, and that's what got us those key wins down the stretch. If he can maintain that level of inspiration and get this team to believe in themselves, it could cover a multitude of sins.

In fact, I think that's the only way this team can win this year. They're going to have to seriously buy what their coach is selling and take it on the field every week...if not, it's going to be a long year since we're still lacking big-time playmakers at the most critical positions.

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
Part of me wants to agree, part of me doesn't.

The truth is, there are going to be questions at some position or the other going into EVERY season.

The thing is though that sometimes it can all come together but more often than not it can fall apart. Look around the league, how confident did you think that fans of the Dolphins, Cards and Falcons were?

Probably not a lot.

-9fA

I am surely not discounting the Niners having a chance to make the playoffs, don't get me wrong. There are always surprising teams that emerge out of nowhere. I just do not think the Niners will be that team this season. I believe the pieces will come together next season, not in 2009.

Originally posted by GoFD74:
As usual, MD makes a number of great points. However, Singletary is the X-factor in this whole thing, especially for 2009. Any objective fan can see that we clearly have talent-gaps and/or question marks at many key positions (namely QB, pass rush, NT, S and RT) and that alone makes it tough to project a playoff run for this season.

But there's something about Singletary that made this team gel towards the end of last season when he took over for NoWin...the personnel was the same, but they just seemed to rise to another level of play/effort when he took over, and that's what got us those key wins down the stretch. If he can maintain that level of inspiration and get this team to believe in themselves, it could cover a multitude of sins.

In fact, I think that's the only way this team can win this year. They're going to have to seriously buy what their coach is selling and take it on the field every week...if not, it's going to be a long year since we still lacking big-time playmakers at the most critical positions.

There clearly was an improvement at the end of last season. The question I have raised this offseason was whether this was attributed more to the presence of Singletary, or the teams we played at the end of 2009 falling into the tank. They were a sorry lot.

I guess we will soon see the answer.

maddog can you plase explain to me how you think that Roman was "solid" the only thing he did was give opposing Qb's solid numbers against us

Originally posted by MadDog49er:

Originally posted by GoFD74:
As usual, MD makes a number of great points. However, Singletary is the X-factor in this whole thing, especially for 2009. Any objective fan can see that we clearly have talent-gaps and/or question marks at many key positions (namely QB, pass rush, NT, S and RT) and that alone makes it tough to project a playoff run for this season.

But there's something about Singletary that made this team gel towards the end of last season when he took over for NoWin...the personnel was the same, but they just seemed to rise to another level of play/effort when he took over, and that's what got us those key wins down the stretch. If he can maintain that level of inspiration and get this team to believe in themselves, it could cover a multitude of sins.

In fact, I think that's the only way this team can win this year. They're going to have to seriously buy what their coach is selling and take it on the field every week...if not, it's going to be a long year since we still lacking big-time playmakers at the most critical positions.

There clearly was an improvement at the end of last season. The question I have raised this offseason was whether this was attributed more to the presence of Singletary, or the teams we played at the end of 2009 falling into the tank. They were a sorry lot.

I guess we will soon see the answer.

Down the stretch, the only team that really seemed like they mailed it in was Buffalo...the rest were pretty good games. More importantly though, you could clearly see the level of play was raised from where they were under Nolan, and we were in every single game down the stretch (even the Dallas game which eventually became a laughter).

So Singletary was able to elevate the on-field play somehow, and that has to be factored in to this season too. To what degree, I have no idea, but it's a definite factor.

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:
Smart analysis. Here's the positive spin.
(First of all you mis-typed Dashon and studly).

The argument that a team will be better next year doesn't preclude success this year. This applies to most of your points.
1. Hill has already won as QB.
2. Bruce is proven. Morgan has shown enough for us to believe he'll produce again. Crabtree needs little seasoning for his favorite college paydirt play, the wide receiver screen.
3. If Marvel Smith is healthy in 2010, he'll be healthy this year.
4. Haralson and Lawson didn't play fulltime last year. Lawson barely played on passing downs and he still came up 3 sacks.
5. Roman was the prevent safety. This hurt the defense because it kept them on the field while first downs were caught in front of Roman. If teams beat Goldson, at least the defense gets off the field fast. The trade for turnovers will be an advantage this year.
6. This offense is similar to 2006, one the majority of the players already know.
7. Come on 2010.

We may have a better team next year, but we may not need to lower expectations this year.

Thanks for the grammar help. Much appreciated.

As for your points:
* The QB battle will be decided in preseason (I believe after the 3rd game). So, while Hill is in the lead, Singletary has not committed to him.

*Bruce is proven, and played well at the end of 2009. At some point, age will catch up to him. It might be this season. I don't see a major impact in 2009, just average play.

*I don't think anyone knows what we've got in M. Smith. This year will say a lot about his chances to bring stability going into 2010.

* Lawson did play first and second downs, and was taken out in most passing 3rd down situations. He just has never been a good pass rusher, let alone great. Haralson had a very quiet 8 sacks, and is simply not a consistent enough presence on defense. For a 3-4 defense, we simply do not have a dominent rush backer, and that continues to be a weak area for this team.

* There has been dramatic turnover on offense since the 2006 season. About half of the offensive starters are new. The change in systems from 2008 to 2009 is pretty striking. There will be growing pains.

* I agree with your comments about Roman. My only concern is Goldson's health, and ability to limit big plays in the secondary. It is a risk I am willing to take, but he is going to need some time to adjust as the starter.

Originally posted by FederalAgent49:
maddog can you plase explain to me how you think that Roman was "solid" the only thing he did was give opposing Qb's solid numbers against us

Here was my quote:
"Roman was a solid, steady and seasoned deep defender"

I am very happy to see Roman replaced. However, youthful and playmaking FS, who have a knack for gambling will also be roasted more often than conservative FS's like Roman. That is my biggest fear with Goldson early in 2009. I think we are going to see him roasted a bit too often for our liking in the first half of 2009. He simply needs to learn the art of playing free safety, something he did part time at Washington, and part time with the Niners.

I DON'T WANNA WAIT!! Let's do it this year.

I get a lot of your points and agree on some of them. but at the same time i can see a lot of those potential question marks coming together this year. i can see us getting good qb play and wr play right off the bat and if marvel smith is good to go at the start of the season then i can actually see that being enough to get us some wins. if we get good play by goldson and brown/bly, or manny plays well then thats gravy imo.

Originally posted by MadDog49er:

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:
Smart analysis. Here's the positive spin.
(First of all you mis-typed Dashon and studly).

The argument that a team will be better next year doesn't preclude success this year. This applies to most of your points.
1. Hill has already won as QB.
2. Bruce is proven. Morgan has shown enough for us to believe he'll produce again. Crabtree needs little seasoning for his favorite college paydirt play, the wide receiver screen.
3. If Marvel Smith is healthy in 2010, he'll be healthy this year.
4. Haralson and Lawson didn't play fulltime last year. Lawson barely played on passing downs and he still came up 3 sacks.
5. Roman was the prevent safety. This hurt the defense because it kept them on the field while first downs were caught in front of Roman. If teams beat Goldson, at least the defense gets off the field fast. The trade for turnovers will be an advantage this year.
6. This offense is similar to 2006, one the majority of the players already know.
7. Come on 2010.

We may have a better team next year, but we may not need to lower expectations this year.

Thanks for the grammar help. Much appreciated.

As for your points:
* The QB battle will be decided in preseason (I believe after the 3rd game). So, while Hill is in the lead, Singletary has not committed to him.

*Bruce is proven, and played well at the end of 2009. At some point, age will catch up to him. It might be this season. I don't see a major impact in 2009, just average play.

*I don't think anyone knows what we've got in M. Smith. This year will say a lot about his chances to bring stability going into 2010.

* Lawson did play first and second downs, and was taken out in most passing 3rd down situations. He just has never been a good pass rusher, let alone great. Haralson had a very quiet 8 sacks, and is simply not a consistent enough presence on defense. For a 3-4 defense, we simply do not have a dominent rush backer, and that continues to be a weak area for this team.

* There has been dramatic turnover on offense since the 2006 season. About half of the offensive starters are new. The change in systems from 2008 to 2009 is pretty striking. There will be growing pains.

* I agree with your comments about Roman. My only concern is Goldson's health, and ability to limit big plays in the secondary. It is a risk I am willing to take, but he is going to need some time to adjust as the starter.

It will be by the 3rd game/after the 2nd game.

Oh hell yeah 09 is the yr!
We will be back to respectability! That's what im f**kin talkin about

Originally posted by MadDog49er:

Originally posted by FederalAgent49:
maddog can you plase explain to me how you think that Roman was "solid" the only thing he did was give opposing Qb's solid numbers against us

Here was my quote:
"Roman was a solid, steady and seasoned deep defender"

I am very happy to see Roman replaced. However, youthful and playmaking FS, who have a knack for gambling will also be roasted more often than conservative FS's like Roman. That is my biggest fear with Goldson early in 2009. I think we are going to see him roasted a bit too often for our liking in the first half of 2009. He simply needs to learn the art of playing free safety, something he did part time at Washington, and part time with the Niners.

IMO, your assessment on Goldson is spot on. Goldson is going to need to learn to pick his spots otherwise we're going to be remembering how we took Roman for granted.

We will experience growing pains.

-9fA

I can appreciate the analytical analysis, but seriously, the parity in the NFL is such that every team is pretty equal in talent and deficiencies with the exception of a few. In other words, you can probably pick apart 25 teams in the same way.

My overly simplistic take is this: Sing will have the team ready to play. We won’t be worst than last year, this I'm sure of. If we can at least pick up where we left off we can easily be .500.

I wouldn't say the seahawks are weak. a healthy hassellback is pretty good against us always. and they have a stingy d too. basically they play us tuff.

I agree Crabtree is a project. 2 years away. Don't count out Jones. He will be our sleeper wr. I truly see it being (next year / future) Morgan, Crabtree, Jones as our main 3. jones will be a pimp to come.

We need USC's Taylor Mays to shore up our safety corps. By the way Roman is horrid every which way you put it. Wow he knows how to call a defense, but he can't play defense let alone cover a man to save his life.

good post though