Biggest Shock? Defensive Line Play

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.

Every x nfl player/commentartor (Eric Davis & Woodson) to name a few have said Franklin is play as well as ANY elite 3-4 NT in the game right now. Actually when reviewing the game on the NFL network Baldinger mentioned Franklin and basically said he is just swallowing up double teams and has become an unmoveable mass (pharaphrase).

To me, all of our D line has played well, but Franklin and R.Mac have been lights out. Of course Justin Smith goes without saying, but he is making way more cheddar.

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.

I agree with what your saying, but I think your missing a key ingrediant, depth. The reason why we are dominating in the back field is because we have starting quality depth when in nickle or dime (Bly, Brown and maybe even R.Smith). So now when a team goes to three WR or has a speedy back/reciever (Harvin) the guy is totally covered. In fact, our whole D is very athletic (Willis & Lawson).

has demetric evans played?