The Big Question. Can we win it all?

If our receivers learn how to catch. Yes.

Here's why we can:
Harbaugh and Co.--These coaches know how to teach and focus on the details of a play. They know how to reach them with respect and understanding like great teachers do. Fangio, Roman and Seely all have the skills to show a player what he did wrong and how to correct it. They're a confident group who work together to bring out the best in our players, IE: Alex Smith.

This Defense--Wow! I haven't seen D like this since back when Seifert was DC, just intense on all phases of the D. Our front seven is something special with those front three bulls in Smith, Ice and McD just taking on dbl teams and breaking them. Then, you have this fundamentally quick LB core, they all are: Brooks, Willis, Bowman and Smith. They can rotate Smith with Haralson and Brooks to keep these three fresh as possible. Yet, the jewel sparkling the most right now is Aldon in the pass rushing dept. He's getting to the QB in the limited amount of snaps he has. Finally, some pass rush.

The great thing about the front seven is that it allows the DBs to cover better. They know the front will apply pressure and can get the QB to make mistakes. These guys are covering like blankets, loved Culliver over Megatron. Beast mode. Rogers is having his best year cause of Donatell, they all are. Goldson making woooo hits. Whitner knifing in the run game. Even Brown is breaking up some plays. The stats speak for themselves. In six games we are tied for FIFTH with eight INTs and THIRD with 17 sacks. The leaders have 12 INTs and 21 sacks, we're not that far behind.

The Offense
Run, Forest, run!!!!! This offense is a spitting image of the one from Stanford when Gerhart was there. All those formation shifts and then using Walker as the wild card most of the time as a TE, FB, OT, and of course WR. These three TE sets are going to become the new offensive formula that works, contradicting the pass happy approach by other teams like the Packers. We can run and we can pass at ANY TIME. It just depends on what the D gives. This OL gets all the credit in the world for blocking, opening holes and protecting Alex. Gore and Hunter will take time away from the opponents churning first downs and eating clock.

With that, Alex can manage the game. Sure he's not Rodgers, he doesn't have to be. He can be Alex. He can be Mr. Efficient like in the TB game or he can even have his worse outing like against Detroit. Bottom line is that when we needed him to make a play in these last SIX games, he came through. Nothing more evident than the clutch throw to win the game against the Lions. Oh and it was to Delaine, imagine that? With Alex being able to read Ds very well, he can audible more often. That's why homefield advantage is so key right now. Whoa, wait a minute! Homefield advantage? Well, we're going to need it for Alex to do better. Just a fact.

Special Teams--Ginn is THE man! Seely is THE coach. He single-handedly fixed this squad and made them Pro Bowl material. The speed and execution of tackles from the players on this squad allow Ginn to find those seams. He can juke and move his way for those extra 10-20 yards. Field position is crucial in any game, but especially in the playoffs. We have the best punter to get us out of deep territory with very solid coverage to keep them there. Seriously, how awesome is that?! We have Akers who can boot 55 yarders, heck didn't he make a 59 against NO in preseason? 59!!!

So to conclude, we can win it all. We have the coaching. We have the players. We have the belief and we are executing when needed to with a toughness and intensity not seen over 10 years.

It all starts and ends with Harbaugh. Not a bad starting point, says I.

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:

Originally posted by 80sbaby24:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:
Hearsay. Those are all opinions from you. You said he is the weakest link on this team and I asked you to support it with facts/stats. I am still waiting.

No one said AS is in the elite pantheon of QB but he is playin like one his year. No one said he will be a HOF type of QB but he sure is winning games for us this year. The fact that you and sus cannot see that he is NOT the weakest link to this team is sad and born out of hatred you guys have for AS.

- 98

Yo Kid just for the record I dont hate anyone. From all accounts Alex seems like a good dude, its just my opinion he is not good enough to win a super bowl. He has improved into maybe the 15th best QB in the league but I just don't see him carrying a team to a world championship.


I think your taking this a bit personal.

Mah bad for lumping you along with this guy, should have known better.

I apologize.

- 98

It's all good bro.

I hope Alex proves me wrong and does lead us to super bowl. He has improved and I hope he gets even better and we keep winning.

98...just curious. What is the weakest link to our team then? Its not special teams. Its not defense. Its not the running game. Its not our gameplan/scheme. Its not our coaches.

Just curious to your thoughts sir....

On topic......yes.

IMO, there is no clear weak link per se but certain things stand out to me. Our o-line is still suspect. Detroit had a dominating line and it took the help of our TE's to stop them. We need consistency from them and seriously, I am worried with Staley's play as of late. We are also weak in our receiving corps and damn glad that we have a week of bye so B Edwards can come back. Although we played well against TB and Detroit with our secondary, we still got burned the first few games in the air. Vick had 420+ yards against us. Yeah we won, but as a lot of the posters in here already pointed out, this is a passing league and we cannot win every game giving up yards in the air.

Everyone is contributing and it showed with us winning the game but we are not there yet. There are still a lot of phases of our game we can improve on and all it takes is a good coach who can game plan against our weakness to show everyone in this board where were at. Are we competitive? Sure... Bar none! But we are still not there yet.

- 98

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:
IMO, there is no clear weak link per se but certain things stand out to me. Our o-line is still suspect. Detroit had a dominating line and it took the help of our TE's to stop them. We need consistency from them and seriously, I am worried with Staley's play as of late. We are also weak in our receiving corps and damn glad that we have a week of bye so B Edwards can come back. Although we played well against TB and Detroit with our secondary, we still got burned the first few games in the air. Vick had 420+ yards against us. Yeah we won, but as a lot of the posters in here already pointed out, this is a passing league and we cannot win every game giving up yards in the air.

Everyone is contributing and it showed with us winning the game but we are not there yet. There are still a lot of phases of our game we can improve on and all it takes is a good coach who can game plan against our weakness to show everyone in this board where were at. Are we competitive? Sure... Bar none! But we are still not there yet.

- 98

Sorry to jump in, but...the receiving corp is clearly the weak link. Injuries have put a microscope on the lack of quality depth on QR. When VD has to stay in to block, there is no one that gives DCs the slightest concern in the passing game. Hopefully Edwards can come back fully healthy after the bye. Without him this team will not go far against a quality opponent in the playoffs. This lack of depth was confirmed by the rumor that the 49ers tried to land Brandon Lloyd but he turned them down. Obviously Baalke and Harbaugh are aware of the problems at WR.

Although that is really just stating the obvious, very few teams go more than one game deep in the playoffs without good balance in offense.

Originally posted by kemp_j:

Originally posted by PatrickWillisHOF:
We can't get past Green Bay.

Why do you believe that? If the 9ers defense can shut down or slow down Aaron Rodgers enough to stay in the game, anything can happen. They just proved that against Detroit. Green Bay's defense is good, but they have weaknesses like all teams and this coaching staff seems to have a way of sniffing things out.

A lof of teams under estimate the 9er's and believe they can beat them like they've done in the recent past. Green Bay is one of those teams. IMO the 9er's have a good chance of beating the Packers.

What weaknesses do you see in Green Bay?

Green Bay has Rodgers but they have a defense that is inferior to what the Lions have so it's a toss up really if you can slow down Rodgers its a very winnable game but good luck with that the guy is a machine lol

No. While our defense has played well, they can't continue to allow so many yards and keep teams from scoring touchdowns. Eventually the quality offensive teams will translate those yards to points, and we won't be able to keep up.

Originally posted by Otter:
No. While our defense has played well, they can't continue to allow so many yards and keep teams from scoring touchdowns. Eventually the quality offensive teams will translate those yards to points, and we won't be able to keep up.

Why?

It's working. Our secondary has gotten better. We can tighten down when in the red-zone. I don't understand why you think this can't continue.

I guess no one will believe we can until we face a team like the Packers or the Pats who can throw you to death. I still say we can, but I hear what you're saying.

Don't agree. All we heard about this last week is how Detroit's offense was going to be too much for us. It wasn't and we dominated them in the fourth when they had to. Sure CJ had over 100 yds, but no TDs.

To be honest, I really think you're underestimating our secondary and Ed Donatell's coaching skills especially with this front four. If we were not pressuring the QB, oh hell ya, we would be in trouble.

That is not the case. We have done this consistently through these last four games starting with Cincy. We let Seattle and Dallas come back, but that was the beginning of the season. With an "Improvement Week", these guys will only get better.

IMO, the yards don't count in the larger picture. Can they contain and stop opponents when they get into our red-zone?

The answer is an infatic yes!

Originally posted by ninertico:

Why?

It's working. Our secondary has gotten better. We can tighten down when in the red-zone. I don't understand why you think this can't continue.

I guess no one will believe we can until we face a team like the Packers or the Pats who can throw you to death. I still say we can, but I hear what you're saying.

Don't agree. All we heard about this last week is how Detroit's offense was going to be too much for us. It wasn't and we dominated them in the fourth when they had to. Sure CJ had over 100 yds, but no TDs.

To be honest, I really think you're underestimating our secondary and Ed Donatell's coaching skills especially with this front four. If we were not pressuring the QB, oh hell ya, we would be in trouble.

That is not the case. We have done this consistently through these last four games starting with Cincy. We let Seattle and Dallas come back, but that was the beginning of the season. With an "Improvement Week", these guys will only get better.

IMO, the yards don't count in the larger picture. Can they contain and stop opponents when they get into our red-zone?

The answer is an infatic yes!

Awesome post barney! Why don't you write blog's for the main page?

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:

Originally posted by 80sbaby24:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:

Hearsay. Those are all opinions from you. You said he is the weakest link on this team and I asked you to support it with facts/stats. I am still waiting.

No one said AS is in the elite pantheon of QB but he is playin like one his year. No one said he will be a HOF type of QB but he sure is winning games for us this year. The fact that you and sus cannot see that he is NOT the weakest link to this team is sad and born out of hatred you guys have for AS.

- 98

Yo Kid just for the record I dont hate anyone. From all accounts Alex seems like a good dude, its just my opinion he is not good enough to win a super bowl. He has improved into maybe the 15th best QB in the league but I just don't see him carrying a team to a world championship.


I think your taking this a bit personal.

Mah bad for lumping you along with this guy, should have known better.

I apologize.

- 98

It's all good bro.

I hope Alex proves me wrong and does lead us to super bowl. He has improved and I hope he gets even better and we keep winning.

98...just curious. What is the weakest link to our team then? Its not special teams. Its not defense. Its not the running game. Its not our gameplan/scheme. Its not our coaches.

Just curious to your thoughts sir....

On topic......yes.

IMO, there is no clear weak link per se but certain things stand out to me. Our o-line is still suspect. Detroit had a dominating line and it took the help of our TE's to stop them. We need consistency from them and seriously, I am worried with Staley's play as of late. We are also weak in our receiving corps and damn glad that we have a week of bye so B Edwards can come back. Although we played well against TB and Detroit with our secondary, we still got burned the first few games in the air. Vick had 420+ yards against us. Yeah we won, but as a lot of the posters in here already pointed out, this is a passing league and we cannot win every game giving up yards in the air.

Everyone is contributing and it showed with us winning the game but we are not there yet. There are still a lot of phases of our game we can improve on and all it takes is a good coach who can game plan against our weakness to show everyone in this board where were at. Are we competitive? Sure... Bar none! But we are still not there yet.

- 98

Originally posted by KDTMDSFC:

IMO, there is no clear weak link per se but certain things stand out to me. Our o-line is still suspect. Detroit had a dominating line and it took the help of our TE's to stop them. We need consistency from them and seriously, I am worried with Staley's play as of late. We are also weak in our receiving corps and damn glad that we have a week of bye so B Edwards can come back. Although we played well against TB and Detroit with our secondary, we still got burned the first few games in the air. Vick had 420+ yards against us. Yeah we won, but as a lot of the posters in here already pointed out, this is a passing league and we cannot win every game giving up yards in the air.

Everyone is contributing and it showed with us winning the game but we are not there yet. There are still a lot of phases of our game we can improve on and all it takes is a good coach who can game plan against our weakness to show everyone in this board where were at. Are we competitive? Sure... Bar none! But we are still not there yet.

- 98

Sorry to jump in, but...the receiving corp is clearly the weak link. Injuries have put a microscope on the lack of quality depth on QR. When VD has to stay in to block, there is no one that gives DCs the slightest concern in the passing game. Hopefully Edwards can come back fully healthy after the bye. Without him this team will not go far against a quality opponent in the playoffs. This lack of depth was confirmed by the rumor that the 49ers tried to land Brandon Lloyd but he turned them down. Obviously Baalke and Harbaugh are aware of the problems at WR.

Although that is really just stating the obvious, very few teams go more than one game deep in the playoffs without good balance in offense.

To me, that is just one of our weak link and although it is the most obvious not the only one. I stated a few of the worry I see but there is not just one weak link, IMO.

- 98

Originally posted by dj43:
Sorry to jump in, but...the receiving corp is clearly the weak link. Injuries have put a microscope on the lack of quality depth on QR. When VD has to stay in to block, there is no one that gives DCs the slightest concern in the passing game. Hopefully Edwards can come back fully healthy after the bye. Without him this team will not go far against a quality opponent in the playoffs. This lack of depth was confirmed by the rumor that the 49ers tried to land Brandon Lloyd but he turned them down. Obviously Baalke and Harbaugh are aware of the problems at WR.

Although that is really just stating the obvious, very few teams go more than one game deep in the playoffs without good balance in offense.

Not many - On defense they're stout against the run and they're secondary is good but not great and they're getting older.
On offense Green Bays OL is suspect, and if our defense can get after Rodgers there's opportunity there. 9er's can shut the run down no problem.

Niner's lost to them last season 34-16, but they competed and they are beter this year. With more offensive schemes under thier belt and an improving OL, I believe the 9ers can beat them. Like I said before keeping it close is key to beating them.

My point is Green Bay is not going 16-0 and thier not invincible.

Originally posted by NONAME:
Awesome post barney! Why don't you write blog's for the main page?

Thanks man!

I guess I never thought of it. It would be an honor, but I'll let AJ take care of it. He's got such a colorful way with words, don't you agree?

It's possible but not probable.

The way the team have been playing and if Morgan hadn't got injured and getting Braylon back... I would have said yes with high confidence. Not so much anymore. But if Braylon can get back 100% and D. Walker continued to emerged, I'd say yes too. Would be nice to have one more guy at WR to step up -- Ginn, Williams, just anyone. The Bucs game gave us a view of what this offense can be.

Our defense is good enough to carry the offense when it flounders, but I'm not sure our offense can return the favor. I don't think we have the bullets to survive a shootout with the Saints or Packers, if it came to that.

So...

Originally posted by ghostrider:
It's possible but not probable.

Originally posted by ninertico:
Why?

It's working. Our secondary has gotten better. We can tighten down when in the red-zone. I don't understand why you think this can't continue.

I guess no one will believe we can until we face a team like the Packers or the Pats who can throw you to death. I still say we can, but I hear what you're saying.

Don't agree. All we heard about this last week is how Detroit's offense was going to be too much for us. It wasn't and we dominated them in the fourth when they had to. Sure CJ had over 100 yds, but no TDs.

To be honest, I really think you're underestimating our secondary and Ed Donatell's coaching skills especially with this front four. If we were not pressuring the QB, oh hell ya, we would be in trouble.

That is not the case. We have done this consistently through these last four games starting with Cincy. We let Seattle and Dallas come back, but that was the beginning of the season. With an "Improvement Week", these guys will only get better.

IMO, the yards don't count in the larger picture. Can they contain and stop opponents when they get into our red-zone?

The answer is an infatic yes!

We're only 6 games in to the season, that is a fairly small sample size. Historically teams that have that bend but don't break approach, meaning giving up lots of yards but keep the opponent out of the endzone, eventually break. I don't think we'll see a dramatic dropoff the rest of the regular season because we benefit from 5 games against the Rams, Cardinals, and Seahawks. But when it comes to the better teams in the playoffs, I would expect that if they can move the ball up and down the field, they will eventually push it in for the score.

Going in to the Detroit game the 49ers were one of the top, if not the top, teams in the league as far as redzone defense, allowing 4 TDs in 15 trips. They allowed Detroit to score two touchdowns. Detroit scored TDs on 50% of their red zone trips. Against the better offenses, I think our defensive red zone percentage goes up.

Overall the defense is #13 in terms of yards, but 24th in terms of passing yards. They struggle against the pass. If the rookie continues to improve and they generate a pass rush, that will likely go up, but our secondary is the weak link on this defense.

Detroit's success, our overall struggles against the pass, just seem to be bad omens to me for our future success. But again, 6 games is a small sample size and a lot can happen. Culliver may come on and prove to be an effective corner opposite Rogers. Goldson may finally learn to wrap up someone on the tackle.