Originally posted by johnnyredneat:
Totally agree with this. I'm kind've shocked to see a niner fan calling Bowman a luxury. IMHO that's crazy talk.
We do things schematically that no one else in the league can mimic. That ability is due to special talents in our front six (our base defense so far has actually been a 3-3-5. Sopoaga has just 15 snaps in two games). It's not due to our defensive backs and definitely not due to Goldson. We heap about 3x the responsibility on our front six than we do our back five.
Goldson is a fine player, in his prime, who to his great credit came into camp in tip-top shape after a long holdout. But in our scheme he is way more replaceable than anyone in the front six. To me it's clear as day.
Bowman has the look of a perennial all-pro. If things break right for him, perhaps more than that. He's that good. Losing him as he hits his prime would be madness.
Our front seven gets all the credit for this defense and its a load of bs. They are the best in football yes, but in gameplans such as the ones you saw the past two weeks when we're in strickly nickel and dime situations Bowman or Willis isn't even on the field. We're rushing 3 or 4 guys at the most. There was minimal pressure on both Rodgers, and Stafford yet nobody was gettin open. Why? Because our DB's are studs. That gameplan doesn't work without top notch safeties. I'm sorry it just doesn't. Its not like Bowman is a pass rusher anyway. He's not responsible for that pass rush that everyone says is what makes our secondary look so good. He's an inside backer. When you have Willis on the field it is a luxury having Bowman. I'll take the elite FS. YOU can have the the elite LB. Watch the the deep TD's start mounting up on blown coverage.
[ Edited by NinerG94 on Sep 19, 2012 at 10:11 AM ]