Are we or are we close to being a complete team?

We need a monster at the WILL spot, hopefully in the draft.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Five question marks that would decipher this:

1. Smith - Can he even further up his game?
2. Rookie OL - Can they gel with and solidify our line for years to come?
3. Pass Rush - What will Manny and Brooks do this season -- can they up their game?
4. Corners - Can Nate and Spencer stay healthy?
5. Safeties - After Michael Lewis goes, will Mays or Smith be able to fill the spot and play even better?

I don't think pass rush should be on that list at all. I am a strong believer that most of our sacks are a result of Manusky's schemes - to the point that he can compensate for lack of talent.

The first two questions are legitimate. And the answer to those questions will determine if we make the playoffs or not.

Depth at CB is a concern. And safety play improves automatically improves since Mark Roman is no longer on the team.

-9fA

We are close to being a complete team but not there yet. I would see next year as our super bowl potential team. This year we are suspect in the following areas:
1. Smith needs to prove that he has above average abilities.
2. Oline needs to mature.
3. WRs need to mature with Smith.
4. RBs we are Super Bowl ready.
5. TEs we are Super Bowl ready.
6. Dline - Franklin is SB caliber as is J. Smith. We need McDonald/Sop/Mitchell to step up and then our Dline would be ready.
7. LBs - Willis is SB ready, Spikes is on the decline, Bowman could surprise us, Brooks/LaBoy/Briggs may surprise us and increas our sack potential. Lawson/Harolson are suspect - average as of today. So pretty close but we need development throuh the season.
8. Backfield is our weakest link. On the other hand Adams may surprise us. Spencer Adams as our starting CBs would be interesting. Also May replacing Lewis with Goldson/Smith would be interestin as well.

So we are closing in on being a complete team. Much depends on the development of our rookies and our budding stars. If all things developed ideally yes we area SB ready by the end of the season. If not then next year, and another quality draft especialy backfield heavy we could be quite the team.

The above is also predicated on Raye being able to run a NFL ready offense. So a few great questions but definitely moving in the right direction.

Originally posted by NCommand:
That would mean we are superbowl bound b/c we have top talent, coordinators, coaching, scheming, depth, etc.

I think we have a "shot" at making the playoffs but we still have a lot of ?-marks and one-dimensional players.

We still don't have one or two dominant evey down OLB's; we are forced to generate pressure using a sack-by-committee approach which dumb-downs this defense and makes it very predictable for the offense to block against us. We could have every down players in Brooks and LaBoy and an emerging Briggs. Haralson could turn it around now that he's healthy too. Lawson will have his best year most likely b/c it's his contact year or he could be benched after a few games.

NT's are both one-gap specialists. We have depth here but in short yardage and goal line situations, we fail. Always.

Speed is beyond suspect with Michael Lewis, Clements & Spikes. No-name TE's and crossing WR's have field days against us esp. in the middle of the field. We play down hill well but are suspect in retreat and even sideline-to-sideline is OK. I still don't see a lot of "team tackling." It's usually Willis of a RB has over a 5+ yard gain. Coverage on screens, swing passes to RB and in the middle of the field. Horrible no matter how you look at it.

Coaching; under Singletary, I have yet to see a coach game plan properly coming into a game and make early adjustments. We need X's and O's guys who can target an opponents weaknesses. Period. We are still terrible on the road and are pop warner when it comes to managing the clock, TO's and getting play calls in.

Injuries are something we always seem to have esp. on the o-line. Part of that is b/c of the predicatbility of the offensive play calling and trying to run up the middle against 8-9 men blitzing fronts

Special teams is still a huge question mark, even more so with Nedney hurting some and a year older.

So are we a complete team> Heck no! We still have the same major question marks that we started out with in preseason; though, there appears to be some solid hints we'll be better and with more depth.

Coaching the right players up appears to be the difference between good teams and playoff bound/super bowl bound teams. This year will be no different.

All god points except the highlighted, it doesn't dumb down the defense or make it predictable, it does exactly the opposite, it makes it less predictable where the rush is going to come from. Pass rusher by committee also keeps the rushers fresh, so while it would be nice to have a 12+ sack guy, as long as we are once again in the top three in passrush, we will be fine. I think we will see more of Willis rushing the passer this year though.

I don't think we're complete until we see if there is a defined offensive philosophy, and the play-calling and scheme support it.

Well some what close. We have 2 real problems, 1 being obvious we don't have a QB and 2 we don't have a dominate pass rusher.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
Maybe...

question marks:

QB
OLine
DBs

I think OL is pretty safe considering Staley and Heitman are proven and w/Davis/Iupati we're looking like we will have a solid group for a long time.

QB and DB specifically CB is our biggest weakness IMO. I really hope Nate Clements can have a monster return year and Brown/Adams can develope at CB with Mays/Goldston/Smith hopefully doing the same at S

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by NCommand:
That would mean we are superbowl bound b/c we have top talent, coordinators, coaching, scheming, depth, etc.

I think we have a "shot" at making the playoffs but we still have a lot of ?-marks and one-dimensional players.

We still don't have one or two dominant evey down OLB's; we are forced to generate pressure using a sack-by-committee approach which dumb-downs this defense and makes it very predictable for the offense to block against us. We could have every down players in Brooks and LaBoy and an emerging Briggs. Haralson could turn it around now that he's healthy too. Lawson will have his best year most likely b/c it's his contact year or he could be benched after a few games.

NT's are both one-gap specialists. We have depth here but in short yardage and goal line situations, we fail. Always.

Speed is beyond suspect with Michael Lewis, Clements & Spikes. No-name TE's and crossing WR's have field days against us esp. in the middle of the field. We play down hill well but are suspect in retreat and even sideline-to-sideline is OK. I still don't see a lot of "team tackling." It's usually Willis of a RB has over a 5+ yard gain. Coverage on screens, swing passes to RB and in the middle of the field. Horrible no matter how you look at it.

Coaching; under Singletary, I have yet to see a coach game plan properly coming into a game and make early adjustments. We need X's and O's guys who can target an opponents weaknesses. Period. We are still terrible on the road and are pop warner when it comes to managing the clock, TO's and getting play calls in.

Injuries are something we always seem to have esp. on the o-line. Part of that is b/c of the predicatbility of the offensive play calling and trying to run up the middle against 8-9 men blitzing fronts

Special teams is still a huge question mark, even more so with Nedney hurting some and a year older.

So are we a complete team> Heck no! We still have the same major question marks that we started out with in preseason; though, there appears to be some solid hints we'll be better and with more depth.

Coaching the right players up appears to be the difference between good teams and playoff bound/super bowl bound teams. This year will be no different.

All god points except the highlighted, it doesn't dumb down the defense or make it predictable, it does exactly the opposite, it makes it less predictable where the rush is going to come from. Pass rusher by committee also keeps the rushers fresh, so while it would be nice to have a 12+ sack guy, as long as we are once again in the top three in passrush, we will be fine. I think we will see more of Willis rushing the passer this year though.

I guess two sides of the same coin here? I see bringing in a pass rusher on 3rd downs telegraphs our intentions whereby in the 3-4, it's a defense designed to disguise the blitz not pinpoint it.

In short, the blitz should be coming on every down from these two positions en route to stopping the run and/or one dropping back in the zone in coverage while the other side blitzes. Pittsburgh is the best example of this right now where they have two 10+ sack guys on the outside and can bring it on any and every down (and do).

Now you add in the rest of the pressure from scheming team pressure with the d-line, ILB's, CB & Safety blitzes (like we did last year) and suddenly, you lead the league in sacks and defense.

That should be our goal not compromising b/c one guy is good against the run and the other is good at pass rushing. IMHO, of course!

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by NCommand:
That would mean we are superbowl bound b/c we have top talent, coordinators, coaching, scheming, depth, etc.

I think we have a "shot" at making the playoffs but we still have a lot of ?-marks and one-dimensional players.

We still don't have one or two dominant evey down OLB's; we are forced to generate pressure using a sack-by-committee approach which dumb-downs this defense and makes it very predictable for the offense to block against us. We could have every down players in Brooks and LaBoy and an emerging Briggs. Haralson could turn it around now that he's healthy too. Lawson will have his best year most likely b/c it's his contact year or he could be benched after a few games.

NT's are both one-gap specialists. We have depth here but in short yardage and goal line situations, we fail. Always.

Speed is beyond suspect with Michael Lewis, Clements & Spikes. No-name TE's and crossing WR's have field days against us esp. in the middle of the field. We play down hill well but are suspect in retreat and even sideline-to-sideline is OK. I still don't see a lot of "team tackling." It's usually Willis of a RB has over a 5+ yard gain. Coverage on screens, swing passes to RB and in the middle of the field. Horrible no matter how you look at it.

Coaching; under Singletary, I have yet to see a coach game plan properly coming into a game and make early adjustments. We need X's and O's guys who can target an opponents weaknesses. Period. We are still terrible on the road and are pop warner when it comes to managing the clock, TO's and getting play calls in.

Injuries are something we always seem to have esp. on the o-line. Part of that is b/c of the predicatbility of the offensive play calling and trying to run up the middle against 8-9 men blitzing fronts

Special teams is still a huge question mark, even more so with Nedney hurting some and a year older.

So are we a complete team> Heck no! We still have the same major question marks that we started out with in preseason; though, there appears to be some solid hints we'll be better and with more depth.

Coaching the right players up appears to be the difference between good teams and playoff bound/super bowl bound teams. This year will be no different.

All god points except the highlighted, it doesn't dumb down the defense or make it predictable, it does exactly the opposite, it makes it less predictable where the rush is going to come from. Pass rusher by committee also keeps the rushers fresh, so while it would be nice to have a 12+ sack guy, as long as we are once again in the top three in passrush, we will be fine. I think we will see more of Willis rushing the passer this year though.

I guess two sides of the same coin here? I see bringing in a pass rusher on 3rd downs telegraphs our intentions whereby in the 3-4, it's a defense designed to disguise the blitz not pinpoint it.

In short, the blitz should be coming on every down from these two positions en route to stopping the run and/or one dropping back in the zone in coverage while the other side blitzes. Pittsburgh is the best example of this right now where they have two 10+ sack guys on the outside and can bring it on any and every down (and do).

Now you add in the rest of the pressure from scheming team pressure with the d-line, ILB's, CB & Safety blitzes (like we did last year) and suddenly, you lead the league in sacks and defense.

That should be our goal not compromising b/c one guy is good against the run and the other is good at pass rushing. IMHO, of course!

I think the problem is that the niners don't have complete OLB'ers. They have to take certain guys out b/c he doesn't have a certain skill set. Then insert another guy b/c of his skill set. Manny and Parys just don't appear to really be great fits for the 3-4 when it comes to overall skill. They need OLB'ers that can cover stop the run and get the qb. It really is amazing how this defense holds up the way it does without real compete 3-4 OLB'ers. Just watching them neither of them have fast 1st steps which most OLB'ers use that fast 1st step to get OT's off balance then counter move them.

One of those questions will DEFINITELY be answered this year, and that's the QB position. Our DB's are also a question. Other than that, I think our line will do just fine this year and we will be a complete team.

Positions still not complete:

QB (Will find out this year)
DB's

Take a look at the secondary...

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Take a look at the secondary...

They look pretty good to me

Originally posted by BSacamano:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Take a look at the secondary...

They look pretty good to me

You need your eyes checked...

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by BSacamano:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Take a look at the secondary...

They look pretty good to me

You need your eyes checked...

Clements - solid
Spencer - solid
Goldson - solid
Lewis - good enough

What are you seeing?

Originally posted by BSacamano:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by BSacamano:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Take a look at the secondary...

They look pretty good to me

You need your eyes checked...

Clements - solid
Spencer - solid
Goldson - solid
Lewis - good enough

What are you seeing?

Complete toast vs. the Raiders who have a very poor WR corps and a very questionable QB situation. The Saints may post 50 on us in week 2.