Originally posted by tmg808:
Originally posted by Niners99:
our glaring team needs are clearly OL on offense and DB on defense. but thats surprisingly about it.
Because of Alex Smith coming on and looking like hes going to work out for us, i think we have to shift our focus on using those two 1st rounders on a T and a DB. honestly, hindsight being 20/20, signing Clements was pointless. he is clearly getting older now, and isnt what he used to be at CB. he will probably make the jump to safety next year.
theres nothing wrong with Clements and Goldson/Lewis at S, but will Tarell Brown be ready to start full time next year? Spencer has been around longer than people realize, so he might need to be replaced sooner than youd think as well.
our secondary got old really fast somehow...the last end of the prime part of Clements career was wasted on rebuilding years.
but my point is, outside maybe replacing Franklin at NT when he leaves, CB is really the only area of need on defense, and OL is the only real area of need on offense. so were getting close to being a playoff team imo.
for the first time in years, i can look at both offense and defense and say were only a couple players away from being a solid playoff team. unfortunately, OL and Secondary are both HUGE parts of the success of the unit. a better secondary would allow us to blitz more, and vice versa.
there has to be a common reason why our OL draft picks have been letting us down. usually 1st day OL turn out the majority of the time. after Kwame, Baas, and Rachal, im beginning to wonder about our OL coaching. it shouldnt be taking this long to improve the unit. letting Smiley and Kosier leave also killed us.
I support your theory about the CB being a much bigger need than the pass rush. By sight CB seem good, and pass rush seems bad, but by stats which is more fact than anything its the opposite. 49ers' ranked 7th (10% coming from secondary) in the NFL in Sacks before the week started, and hits on the QB is 71 which is the same amount as the 6th worst team in the NFL has allowed.
That being said there is no stat that support the CBs are doing a good job. The best stat is interceptions 11, that ranks right in the middle of the league 18th (more than 25% by non secondary players) . Pass defended 47, which ranks 24th in the league, which tells me they aren't in position to make plays. This shows why the pass is ranked 26th overall in the league (secondary not doing there job) and the run is ranked 5th in the league (front seven doing there job) . The stats are clearly saying to me more often than not the secondary is in trouble more than the pass rush.
Look at the Giants SB, they won because the passrush upset Brady he had t throw it before he wanted, he did not have time to throw deep.
It's also easier for the secondary to defend the pass when the QB does not have time to throw the perfect pass.
The Vikings were not able to get to Warner so he had time and he picked them apart.
In week 1we did not gave Warner time and he made mistakes.
