Have we lost our edge?

Um... we never HAD an "edge".

Also, I'm not sure it's the Seahawks we need to worry about. I think we need to focus on winning and closing out games that are on the road and games that are out of our division.

If we do those two things, along with having a winning record in our division, we should be going to the playoffs next season.

We're going to be fine.

We haven't lost our edge, I believe that we were just getting started last year. Our players now have more experience under their belt which will translate to winning close games in 2010.

An upgrade on special teams and OL, an already stout D, and continuity on the offense? We're playoff bound in 2010.

BTW - NFL Network says that we're the team to beat in the NFC this year.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d817d089b/NFC-West-draft-grades

we had an edge?

Damn, I missed it

NFL Total Access had us "Winning the West, hands down" earlier today. We still have it, if we lose the west, we suck.

We had the edge?

Arizona is in a 'transition' mode, and I highly doubt Leinert will come in and be as effective as they need him to be to defend their NFC West title. They'll likely greatly change their offensive approach, becoming more run-oriented rather than pass-happy, and WHO KNOWS how effective that can be. They had a seemingly great draft but nobody they're bringing in scares me this year.

Seattle also made some great moves this offseason, at least on paper. They've also been injury-plagued the last couple years at key positions which has greatly hurt their efforts. Until they show they can shut down our running game, though, they don't scare me anymore. And based on OUR offseason moves, I see our running game becoming even better.

I won't even start with St Louis, I just regret we don't get to play them til the second half of the year.

The Niners are not without questions either though, so I can't honestly say we ever had an 'edge' to begin with. That being said, I agree with a majority of analysts out there that the Niners are in the best position to claim the division in 2010, although I'll be approaching with guarded enthusiasm until I see them produce on the field.

If you look at 2009, we were just a couple points away from being in the playoffs. We were just a couple plays away from winning the west. We played hard againts Indy, Minnesota, beat AZ twice (no other team did that I don't think). This will be the first time in a LOOONG time that the OC remains the same. Each year the defense just gets better and better. Steve Young said it during the draft that the Niners defense will only get better, its just that the offense just couldn't score points when they needed. With the OC back again, with Smith more comfortable in the offense, with the addition of Davis/Iaputi, Crabtree getting better, the offense can only get better. I think we have one of the best young WR crops in the NFC, its just we could hardly get the ball to them when needed. The issue with Smith was the LINE. No time to throw, no time to really think. If the line can keep him upright, he will do great things. Its not his fault he had a different OC each year since he came into the league. He started to get comfortable with Norv then he left for SD.

AZ is still going to be AZ. Seattle has gotten better for 2010. The Rams, well we'll see how they turn out. I think it'll be the Niners and AZ again fighting for the West and this time, with the niners winning some key road games and beating out AZ twice once again....the Niners will win the west this year.

Originally posted by YouGotGored:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I will be completely honest here. I am very impressed with what the Hawks have done this season and there seems to be a strong sense of enthusiasm in Seattle. They still have the most established QB in the NFC West and have made some nice pickups. They still have some gaps obviously but don't be surprised if Seattle is very competitive and even wins the NFC West, as hard as it is to say. Pete has a very strong offensive mind and he WILL get the absolute most out of his offense. He's extremely creative and creating mismatches and many of the players he has now are familiar with his system; a system that did bring much success. On the other hand, we don't have a HC with an offensive mind and offense, clearly, has been our weakness whether we've had weapons or not, creativity has not existed in our system since Martz left, good or bad. Raye flat out scares me and I'm afraid we are going to force feed NFL defenses Gore and our o-line all day again. We keep hearing "balance" but with Singletary and Raye's track record, does anyone fully have confidence this is a staff who can game-plan properly, make in-game and half-time adjustments and essentially, outcoach an opponent by getting the max out of all our offensive weapons? Let's just say that I'm cautiously optimistic even with the help of Johnson's knowledge of the spread and Alex getting more input into game planning. Will he ever be allowed to call an audible and get out of a run up the gut when clearly, the defense is run blitzing with 8 and 9 men in the box? The Niners have the potential to run away with this division no matter how much Seattle has done this offseason but now it's up to the philosophy and coaching staff to put it all together. We shall find out in a few months!

Good post. However, I need to make a few points:

1) Having a "great draft" according to all the pundits and fans doesn't really mean anything. All it means is that on paper the draft looks good. In reality, Seattle could have walked away with the worst draft in the league. Maybe their percentages of succeeding are higher because they have better players on papar, but that is not necessarily something tangible, YET.

2) When I compare our two teams I don't see one position that I would swap with the Seahawks. LBs...NO, RBs...NO, Oline and Dline...NO, WR...NO, and so on. I think our teams is better all around with more continuity.

3) Finally, isn't Carroll a defensive coach? I know he was a defensive backs coach before and I always thought defense was his specialty (not offense).

Good points, However instead of comparing position to position with Sea. I would compare who they are going against.
OL- I am happy with the moves with our OL but, assuming both of our pics start, 2/5 of them will be rookies and they will have some work to do as a unit to be successfull. The Hawks have a decent DL and they can cause issues.

QB & WR- Seattle's secondary will be much improved with Thomas there. It is scary to think about Smith or Carr putting the ball up deep with him there. The rest of their DB's arn't that bad and in reality Crabtree and Davis are our two real threats in the passing game (outside of the occational Gore screen or dump off).

Don't have time to go into all of the rest but, the point is that the Hawks could give us a good game and maybe a run at the West.

I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see the niners deep in the playoffs.

[ Edited by aclarke49 on Apr 27, 2010 at 11:36:31 ]

I just have no respect for Pete Carrol, he got SC into hot water, then pulled a Calipari and bailed before the punishment came down.

Seattle's draft will make the relevant sooner than people expected and they could make a little noise this year but I don't anticipate them to do a complete 180 in one year and suddenly take the west by storm.

Despite how you feel about Smith there is no reason to not expect him to play better this season than he did last. Assuming our 1st round haul pans out our offense in general should play much better especially our running attack.

Our defense is pretty much intact from last year and if our offense is more productive the defense should improve by virtue of not being on the field 90% of the time (exaggeration I know).

So if we can go 8-8 last season which had it's share of drama (New OC again, Crabtree, mid season QB change) that featured a couple of close tough losses we should be good for at least 2-3 wins this season.

Nothing has changed, IMO. We were always going to have to play at a consistently high level to win the west. Nothing was and nothing is going to be handed to us. We're are in a great position to make a push into the playoffs, and Seattle's great draft hasn't changed that. In fact, it might benefit us. We overlooked them last year and it bit us in the ass.

If Matt Leinart does not pan out, the Cards could be terrible. Warner made the offence click, and the defense is missing some good pieces.

I will never understand how games are played on paper...what edge are you talking about sir??

Originally posted by boast:

Ohhhh that edge!

Originally posted by ktate14:
I will never understand how games are played on paper...what edge are you talking about sir??

Not really saying we had a clear edge but prior to the draft AZ had lost allot and Seattle had made some chenges but not many.

However, after the draft, IMHO, Seattle made some really good moves and improved allot....on paper mind you but what else are we going to talk about right now.