(UPDATED)Front Seven Good, The Rest of the D???

****UPDATE DEC. 8TH****
DEFENSE IS 5TH in league in rushing yards allowed. 4th in Rushing yards per carry. 7th in the league in SACKS. The Front Seven has owned up to there promises as being a top defense this year.
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The 49ers Secondary has struggled all season. There is zero depth and the personel goes from solid to awful really fast. Dre Bly has not been the ball hawk that you hoped for, and Terrell Brown has looked bad all year. Mark Roman still has to be on the field all the time and he is up to his old ways in pass coverage. Nate Clement has just looked lazy at times and found himself benched and reduced to punt returns, that's why he's hurt.


Needs to Step there Game Up

Dashon Goldson - have heard about his ball hawking skills but it seems his attempts to be aggressive has taken away from his ability in the pass. Has missed tackles supporting the run, but he is young and you can see the effort in his play.

Nate Clement - Has been lazy in coverage, underestimates people on the field, still has the ability but hasn't showed the constant focused. Getting hurt MAY have saved his contract. MAY


Needs to be a Back UP

Michael Lewis - I think his skills have diminished, he isn't getting to the play like he used to. He is still a good tackler and aggressive but he should probably be in the Mark Roman role as the 3rd or 4th safety. Plus with all the injuries it can be any day and his career is over.

Terrell Brown - Young and has not learned his trade thats the only reason I consider keeping him around. CB can be as slow coming around as any other position. But I am still shaky at saying he should stay, because I don't know if he is physical enough for his size to make the plays needed even if he does have good coverage.

Marcus Hudson - has been a good special teams player and will always be a back up, hasn't made any big mistakes when he has been in on the defense so I see no reason to get rid of him.

Curtis Taylor - Had been putting in the effort on special teams and possibly can be an 8th man in the box type of guy or possibly play the linebacker position in the nickel in the future.

NEEDS TO GO!!

Mark Roman - He just can't cover at all. Solid tackler but no speed. Always seems to be around when the big play is given up. Should have been gone last year but the 49ers didn't pick up a safety in draft or free agency.

Dre Bly - Often gives up short passes, doesn't seem to have any pride in the defense, which I feel is the reason he has dropped at least 3 interceptions this season. (1 against the Vikings would have ended the game. ) Too confident in his skills which he no longer has. Is not fast enough or quick enough anymore to be the player he was in this league, and doesn't have the physical attributes to become a more physical player.

NO JUDGMENT ON ANYONE I DID NOT MENTION

[ Edited by tmg808 on Dec 15, 2009 at 07:44:51 ]

This whole team needs to step up. We will be a lousy team until we play consistently on both ends of the ball... That is why we are 5-7

No.

It's not good at all. We don't have any pass rush. Your front 7 can't be good without a pass rush. And it's directly responsible for a lot of our struggles in the secondary.

You are dead right in your analysis. Our CBs and safties are good hitters but cannot cover.

Besides Clements (even though he is over paid) and Spencer, we do not have good cover DBs' Goldson, Roman, M.Lewis, T.Brown, Bly, Hudson, R.Smith, K.Smith, are all liabilities in coverage. They consistently get burned by other teams' second, third, and even fourth string WRs (See MN, GB, HOU, SEA 2, ATL, JAX, IND). It should not surprise us because we have been neglecting to draft safeties and corners in higher rounds ever since we signed Clements.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

It's not good at all. We don't have any pass rush. Your front 7 can't be good without a pass rush. And it's directly responsible for a lot of our struggles in the secondary.

Our pass rush is not always that bad. It saved us in the JAX game. The DBs were getting burned then too.

We had a pass rush this past week in SEA. Their recievers got open. On Branches TD the corner wasn't even looking at anything, just running with the WR.

11 Sacks in the last two weeks,Secondary still hasn't looked good

Finally somebody posts athread about the real reason we have been losing all these games......THE PASSING DEFENSE! Thank you!

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

It's not good at all. We don't have any pass rush. Your front 7 can't be good without a pass rush. And it's directly responsible for a lot of our struggles in the secondary.

Our pass rush is not always that bad. It saved us in the JAX game. The DBs were getting burned then too.

We had a pass rush this past week in SEA. Their recievers got open. On Branches TD the corner wasn't even looking at anything, just running with the WR.

THAT WOULD BE MARK ROMAN...

Yea front 7 still missing pass rush overall. i'm not taking 2 games as an example of the pass rush getting better. Til i see it consistently throughout a season it needs to be upgraded. I still havne't seen a big sack in a tough spot when this team needs one. Every team's last drive always leads to there qb never getting hit.

Back to the subject both safeties need to be replaced. But we all knew Lewis couldn't cover when they signed him. the problem with the corners is that they are slow, and not aggressive. therefore they play so far off the WR that it's basically pitch adn catch half the time.

"And the receiver is WIDE OPEN!"
I am so sick of hearing that....

We have a young and inexperienced FS which is crucial in pass defense with the style of defense we play. Even though they had man coverage on the play Seattle put up to the rookie WR Goldson should have been over there. Any safety worth his salt would have picked that off. I do not think our corners are that bad. I know Lewis is not known for his coverage skills. Goldson in my mind is the weakest link on our defense. We need a FS that can be a great center fielder and Goldson so far isn't the answer. This is what I gather from the games but it isn't like I can watch film and see exactly what the problem is.

Eric Berry would look really good playing center field for us.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

It's not good at all. We don't have any pass rush. Your front 7 can't be good without a pass rush. And it's directly responsible for a lot of our struggles in the secondary.

7th in sacks = no pass rush.

Originally posted by Spoonerism:
We have a young and inexperienced FS which is crucial in pass defense with the style of defense we play. Even though they had man coverage on the play Seattle put up to the rookie WR Goldson should have been over there. Any safety worth his salt would have picked that off. I do not think our corners are that bad. I know Lewis is not known for his coverage skills. Goldson in my mind is the weakest link on our defense. We need a FS that can be a great center fielder and Goldson so far isn't the answer. This is what I gather from the games but it isn't like I can watch film and see exactly what the problem is.

As far as film, the people who are watching the film have replaced the corner opposite of Spencer because of play 3 times this year so that's a good indicator there. That's the only position in the starting secondary that has been replaced all season because of bad play not because somebody is stepping up.

Originally posted by tmg808:

Originally posted by Spoonerism:
We have a young and inexperienced FS which is crucial in pass defense with the style of defense we play. Even though they had man coverage on the play Seattle put up to the rookie WR Goldson should have been over there. Any safety worth his salt would have picked that off. I do not think our corners are that bad. I know Lewis is not known for his coverage skills. Goldson in my mind is the weakest link on our defense. We need a FS that can be a great center fielder and Goldson so far isn't the answer. This is what I gather from the games but it isn't like I can watch film and see exactly what the problem is.

As far as film, the people who are watching the film have replaced the corner opposite of Spencer because of play 3 times this year so that's a good indicator there. That's the only position in the starting secondary that has been replaced all season because of bad play not because somebody is stepping up.

That makes sense. Clements going down really hurt us and it's going to be even more apparent this week because his style of play is kryptonite for Larry Fitz. That being said, I don't think we have anyone to play FS better than Goldson right now but I don't think he is getting the job done. I've seen him blow a ton of coverages and tackles this year.