Biggest Shock? Defensive Line Play

Originally posted by BrianGO:

Oh ya, and one other thing...

Justin Smith is not a "pretty good" player.

Justin Smith is playing as well as any other D-lineman in the NFL right now.

He bullrushes his man into the pocket most of the time, he stuffs the run, and gets tons of pressure.

He is the MVP of our defense.

Absolutely!

He is playing at a probowl level for sure. Sometimes it hard for a 3-4 defensive end to get the "stats", but his play has been off the charts. He is constantly in the opponents backfield.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
No more coach suit. He knew the X's and O's but had no sense of game management nor did he have any leadership qualities. The guys straight up despised his ways.

Sing is more of a players coach who can lead. He is fiery, intense, and made those guys work their buts off in practice. It is showing up on the field. Its not a coincidence that our guys are manhandling people after the most brutal camp in the league. Camp Sing really whipped em into shape!

To be fair to Coach Suit, I just don't think he is cut out to be a Head Coach. I think he's been a fairly good DC wherever he's gone.

Sing though, as of now, is getting players to buy into the fact that they are just as good if not better than their opponent.

Now if we could just do that on the offensive side, we'd be a better team.

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:
What we need is to spend that Carolina pick on Eric Berry to take over our SS position...

Eric Berry is a FS bro. Move Goldston to SS he can't cover squat but sure can hit!

WOW! Now we are going to hate on Goldston??? Common man! He is a f**king star out there! First we all b***h about Roman, who does suck by the way, and we replace him with a great Safety and we still complain??

The DL is gonna wreak havoc on the poor Rams this week. Niners D has always had a field day on Bulger. Pile the sacks on!!!!

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:
What we need is to spend that Carolina pick on Eric Berry to take over our SS position...

Eric Berry is a FS bro. Move Goldston to SS he can't cover squat but sure can hit!

Originally posted by DJD:
The DL is gonna wreak havoc on the poor Rams this week. Niners D has always had a field day on Bulger. Pile the sacks on!!!!

That's assuming that Bulger even plays, which he most likely will not. It'll most likely be Kyle Boller...

Originally posted by Norcal9erfan:

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:
What we need is to spend that Carolina pick on Eric Berry to take over our SS position...

Eric Berry is a FS bro. Move Goldston to SS he can't cover squat but sure can hit!

WOW! Now we are going to hate on Goldston??? Common man! He is a f**king star out there! First we all b***h about Roman, who does suck by the way, and we replace him with a great Safety and we still complain??

Every year there has to be a whipping boy. They can't go after any D-lineman anymore and Roman isn't starting, so now its Goldston's turn.

Right now, our biggest need on defense in a pass-rushing, sack generating OLB. Safety can wait until round 2 or 3 (if we have already filled our OL, QB, and pass rusher needs).

Originally posted by 49erFan:

Originally posted by BrianGO:

Oh ya, and one other thing...

Justin Smith is not a "pretty good" player.

Justin Smith is playing as well as any other D-lineman in the NFL right now.

He bullrushes his man into the pocket most of the time, he stuffs the run, and gets tons of pressure.

He is the MVP of our defense.

Absolutely!

He is playing at a probowl level for sure. Sometimes it hard for a 3-4 defensive end to get the "stats", but his play has been off the charts. He is constantly in the opponents backfield.

Did anyone see Justin Smith working on Steve Hutchinson yesterday? Hutchinson is a pro bowl guard and Smith was bullrushing him into the backfield even though he's giving up about 30-40 lbs in weight.

While the DL has played better, the biggest shock has been the secondary, which is the best unit the Niners are putting on the field...and it may be by far.

We are still seeing teams with a lot of time to throw, and yet, frustrated by the Niners' coverage. Whatever is going on in the back four, they are really playing at a high level. Spencer has really raised his game to a new level, back to the early days of the Mike Nolan era. Michael Lewis continues to be a tackling machine, Clements is earning his money, and Goldson seems to have injected some speed and playmaking ability.

Originally posted by MadDog49er:
While the DL has played better, the biggest shock has been the secondary, which is the best unit the Niners are putting on the field...and it may be by far.

We are still seeing teams with a lot of time to throw, and yet, frustrated by the Niners' coverage. Whatever is going on in the back four, they are really playing at a high level. Spencer has really raised his game to a new level, back to the early days of the Mike Nolan era. Michael Lewis continues to be a tackling machine, Clements is earning his money, and Goldson seems to have injected some speed and playmaking ability.

Having speed at FS makes a huge difference. Now factor in a little bit of ball skills as Goldson is still learning and you have a vast improvement from Roman.

Good post, and I agree. The D-line isn't getting gashed in the running game and we're constantly getting a good push on opposing offensive lines on pass downs.

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Originally posted by Norcal9erfan:

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:
What we need is to spend that Carolina pick on Eric Berry to take over our SS position...

Eric Berry is a FS bro. Move Goldston to SS he can't cover squat but sure can hit!

WOW! Now we are going to hate on Goldston??? Common man! He is a f**king star out there! First we all b***h about Roman, who does suck by the way, and we replace him with a great Safety and we still complain??

Every year there has to be a whipping boy. They can't go after any D-lineman anymore and Roman isn't starting, so now its Goldston's turn.

Right now, our biggest need on defense in a pass-rushing, sack generating OLB. Safety can wait until round 2 or 3 (if we have already filled our OL, QB, and pass rusher needs).

Its pretty damn ignorent to call Goldston out though... The guy is 1 of the 3, maybe 4, real play-makers on our secondary. Clements, Goldston, Spencer, and sometimes bly are all over the place!

Originally posted by billbird2111:
I would say that I've been most surprised this year by the play of our defensive line. Now, I already knew that we had a pretty good player in Justin Smith. His impressive play so far this season has not been a surprise.

But Ray McDonald? Aubrayo Franklin? Isaac Sopoaga? Kentwan Balmer?

I mean -- people -- I'm not all that far removed from seeing posts where poor Isaac's name was tortured into such meanings as "Suckoaga." Remember that? Now the dude is just a BEAST on the line. Did you see him completely destroying double-team efforts against Minny? And Franklin? How much room did the supposed "best running back in the NFL" get up the middle last weekend? How about none?

Time and time again I saw AP traverse the line -- looking for an opening -- only to be met by the likes of Bam Bam, laying down the Lawson, etc. He got loose ONCE. Just ONCE people. That's pretty darn impressive.

I haven't seen a 49er defensive line play this well since the glory days of Bill Walsh. Not George Seifert mind you -- but the venerable one -- Walsh. That was a long time ago kids. Think Michael Carter.

So -- what's the deal here? Are the kids finally beginning to come into their own? Is it the presence of Tomsula as the DL Coach? Motivation by Singletary? A combination of all three?

I know our pass rush isn't all that great -- YET -- but so far I'd have to rate the D-Line play as ABSOLUTELY STELLAR.

Question is? How did this happen?

Good post...

I hate to beat a dead horse...but I distinctly remember saying that our defensive line is one of the best in football at stopping the run. I got BLASTED. 3 games into the season...you are seeing exactly what I meant. Our defensive line is one of the overall best DL's at plugging the running lanes. They control their gaps, they get good penetration and they are very good tacklers. It's a testament to coach Tomsula and the work he has done since coming to San Fran. Keep up the good work.

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by MadDog49er:
While the DL has played better, the biggest shock has been the secondary, which is the best unit the Niners are putting on the field...and it may be by far.

We are still seeing teams with a lot of time to throw, and yet, frustrated by the Niners' coverage. Whatever is going on in the back four, they are really playing at a high level. Spencer has really raised his game to a new level, back to the early days of the Mike Nolan era. Michael Lewis continues to be a tackling machine, Clements is earning his money, and Goldson seems to have injected some speed and playmaking ability.

Having speed at FS makes a huge difference. Now factor in a little bit of ball skills as Goldson is still learning and you have a vast improvement from Roman.

In my opinion, we've got FOUR good cover CBs in Clements, Spencer, Bly, and Brown. When you mix that with the pass rush that the d-line is generating, we are finally seeing results.

I think it has alot to do with Coach Sing... He's just got the guys wanting to play and give it their all when they're playing for Coach Sing...

I mean you look at Nolan who only coach for himself, wanting power and only blames the players for not getting it done. I know internally, the players questions his leadership. You got Nolan who fights to wear a dam suit coaching? come on gimme a break!!! This is football not Americas Next Top Model!

anyhow the players you see on the field is definitely playing with a passion and with that said it's a coach who's coaching these guys with a passion!