Biggest Shock? Defensive Line Play

Originally posted by ninerempire25:
What's up w/ our whole D-Line at times standing up to rush the passer ??

It's a trip to see that.

Manusky taking a page from the Steelers there... they show a standing DL at times in an effort to confuse opposing OLs.

I wouldn't call it a big shock, but the defensive line play has been a very pleasant surprise. It just goes to show you that you really have to take the preseason with a grain of salt because the D-line back then had zero pressure on the QB all sixteen quarters.

Goes to show all the hard work the guys put in during training camp, Singletary and his staff have developed an aggressive and smart Defensive Line, I look forward to see further improvement from the D

Originally posted by teeohh:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:
How about Franklin? He is playing as good as anyone on the line right now. I bet there are a lot of guys that were critical of his play last year that have changed their tune this year.

He was playing better towards the end of last season as well. Do we really need another NT? I think Franklin has stepped up.

Yes. This could be a big part of the improvement in all. Franklin, in the center, has stepped it up. That has helped out tremendously on the flanks of him. I've been keying in on him the slow mo on my DVR, he is making a lot of things happen on the field this year.

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!

wrong. He plays SS for UT, I think he could play SS in the NFL as well.

Originally posted by fzrdave:
I wouldn't call it a big shock, but the defensive line play has been a very pleasant surprise. It just goes to show you that you really have to take the preseason with a grain of salt because the D-line back then had zero pressure on the QB all sixteen quarters.

I have thought about that preseason vanilla thing. And I don't think it has to do with trying to hide scheme that much. When you think about it...because teams only have a relatively short period of time to get the team ready for the season (training camp) teams focus on playing as team, that means they are practicing their scheme's all the time in camp because the priority is to get them functioning as a team, not to improve their one on one ability's. So where do find the time for player's to improve their one on one skills? You use the games for that. That's because the pre-season games don't count, therefore, it's a freebie time period to turn the player's loose as individuals and let them go out and work on their individual match up's, instead of wasting valuable TC time to work on it.

Franklin, McDonald and even Balmer have all stepped up thier game to another leval
that has alot to do with how D' is playing

Originally posted by CoachSingletary:

Originally posted by nvninerfan1:

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.

I will second that....Nolan has been doing a good job with the Broncos. Remember the Broncos were one of the worst Defenses in the league last year and cost Shanahan his job!!

I'll 3rd that, Bronco's have the #1 defense this year. sure its only been three games, but Nolan definitely turned around that defense. Helps when you have Bailey, Dummervil and Dawkins there too. And will our defense ever get pass ranking #13??

Originally posted by jta854:

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!

wrong. He plays SS for UT, I think he could play SS in the NFL as well.

Berry does play SS for UT, but he would be wasted at SS in the NFL imo. He's more in the mold of Ed Reed than Michael Lewis. Let him play FS where he can roam the backfield without having quite so much run support duties.

The success of the 49ers DL relies on rotating guys in and out (except for Justin Smith for the most part). They will get burned against the Colts no huddle offense unless they can figure something out between now and then.

Originally posted by bergy07:
The success of the 49ers DL relies on rotating guys in and out (except for Justin Smith for the most part). They will get burned against the Colts no huddle offense unless they can figure something out between now and then.

Good point!

T-O-M-S-U-L-A!

Lots of factors are contributing to the strong DL play to this point. But I want to highlight the outstanding job that Tomsula has been doing. He's the guy who has been developing these players on a daily basis. He is the guy who recommended Sopoaga's move to DE, after assessing the strengths and weaknesses of each player. He is the guy who noted that Franklin would be most disruptive as a 1-gap penetrator on the nose. He has been the guy entrusted to develop #1 and #3 draft picks (Balmer and McDonald). And now that the meddling Nolan is gone, Tomsula is on the same page with Manusky in utilizing these DL players so that each can maximize their effectiveness.

Keep an eye on Tomsula. He has a lot of John Madden-type qualities and talents.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by bergy07:
The success of the 49ers DL relies on rotating guys in and out (except for Justin Smith for the most part). They will get burned against the Colts no huddle offense unless they can figure something out between now and then.

Good point!

Man, how are we going to beat the Colts in Indy? Colts are aggressive. They play to destroy you. That's what we need to do in order to pull out an upset. You can't relax against these guys. He beat Miami despite Miami having the ball 3/4 of the game, so I don't think being conservative and running the ball with Gore and Coffee all day guarantees a victory. We need to run, but we need to pass and exploit their secondary. Keep them on their toes.

Anyway, that game is too far ahead to be worrying about now. Let's take care of the Rams first.

Originally posted by B650:
Man, how are we going to beat the Colts in Indy? Colts are aggressive. They play to destroy you. That's what we need to do in order to pull out an upset. You can't relax against these guys. He beat Miami despite Miami having the ball 3/4 of the game, so I don't think being conservative and running the ball with Gore and Coffee all day guarantees a victory. We need to run, but we need to pass and exploit their secondary. Keep them on their toes.

Anyway, that game is too far ahead to be worrying about now. Let's take care of the Rams first.

Living here in San Diego, watching the Chargers too, I can tell you with conviction that you beat Indy by being VERY aggressive. That is, you bring a big-time pass rush and beat the hell out of Manning. But, to back up, it's starts at the LOS where the DB's get VERY fysical with the WR's and completely rape them and throw them off the timing routes that their offense is predicated upon. With that, and within his 4-5 seconds, you HAVE to get there and harrass Manning and frustrate him. The ONLY teams who have had success against the Colts are 3-4 defenses b/c they are bigger, stronger, aggressive and more fysical.

We aren't the Dolphins and we won't be to own the TOP for over 45 minutes. Period.

So this is the ONLY way to beat 'em IMHO.

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?

Two words, my friend: One Gap.

Our base is simpler now. Almost every man on our line is ridiculously fast for his size (Soap and Franklin included). Those who were not fast were let go (See: ROn "fatboy" Fields).

Off of the snap, there is no read for our linemen...just a gap to cover. Every gap has a man, and our guys are step quicker than those blocking them. The results obvious: If we maintain gap discipline, and our guys play their assignments instead of hot dogging, we will be fundamentally sound.