defense has regressed

P. Haralson is more important than we thought.

You Know what I Hate the Most Carlos Rogers Getting Beat on Big Plays..Victor Cruz and Now Danny Amendola he needs to speed it up

The D has been invisible at times this season. They are a good group, not dominant. I think the issue is there is absolutely no depth. Guys get winded. Also, Bowman, Justin Smith, Carlos Rodgers all had career years last year. Rodgers and Smith have had their play drop off. Sounds crazy to say but they need to address the defense early and often in the offseason.

Originally posted by DKPthe49erfan:
P. Haralson is more important than we thought.

He is a good player. He excels against the run and made Aldon basically just a pass rushing specialist which kept him fresh. Haralson just would have been a spot player this year but it would have helped keep guys fresh

I think you can blame it on the long bye week. They looked like they haven't played in a couple of days.

Defense hasn't regressed. It just isn't consistent. Perhaps we need to give other D-lineman some reps to allow Sopoaga, McDonald, and Smith to get a breather. Perhaps more exotic blitz calls. It's not that they are necessary because our defense does a fine job of stopping teams (for all of their poor play yesterday, they only allowed 10 points after they spotted the Rams 14 in the first quarter. And 7 of those points wouldn't be there if special teams falls doesn't fall for the fake punt again). We are just missing the big play element that our defense had last year. Turnovers and sack numbers in general are down. Perhaps we can generate some by creating more pressure, sacks, and bad decisions by QBs with blitzing.

Originally posted by sachie23:
The D has been invisible at times this season. They are a good group, not dominant. I think the issue is there is absolutely no depth. Guys get winded. Also, Bowman, Justin Smith, Carlos Rodgers all had career years last year. Rodgers and Smith have had their play drop off. Sounds crazy to say but they need to address the defense early and often in the offseason.

I agree. Last year we had plenty of fresh bodies in the rotation. Depth is a major concern and hopefully we address that in the offseason.

Sadly the run defense has regressed some. We were getting gashed for 5 yards a carry in the first half.

lol, we've still allowed the fewest points scored against.

Our D has played bad against:
Minnesota - largely because Ponder was killing us with his mobility

Giants - Off an Alex Smith INT, they got their 1st TD by moving it with a couple of deep passes (2 against Culliver). We then go 3 and out on next possession and they got a FG on next drive with 2 deep throws against Brown. 3rd Quarter they get a TD right away because of lousy special teams giving up a 60 yard return...Alex Smtih then throws another pick and Giants get a FG. Later on they get another FG off of an Alex Smith's 3rd FG. So against the Giants they scored 13 points off of turnovers, and 7 pts off of a breakdown in Special teams. Otherwise the Giants only got 6 pts off of their other drives.

Rams - I think it was crystal clear our team wasn't prepared on either side of the ball to start the game off. Ram were fired up. Other then the first 2 TD's, I thought our D played well. Also there were the 2 special team plays that kept our D on the field.

IMO, our D is still playing great. But our Special Teams and offense have put them in some really bad spots this year.

We also have a much tougher schedule this year. Last year in our first 8 games we faced 3 teams with QBs not even starting this year (Tavaris JAckson, McCoy, Beck).

Edit: And a good comparison is how our D did against Detroit and NY Giants this year and last year. About the same. Main difference against the Giants was our 3 turnovers and our offense just sucking.

before last game

we were 4th in yards per drive allowed

1 in TD per drive allowed


we were pretty good easily a top 5 D even top 3

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:
before last game

we were 4th in yards per drive allowed

1 in TD per drive allowed


we were pretty good easily a top 5 D even top 3

I agree. I just think people have unrealistic expectations. We're not going to shut out every team we play. Any CB is going to get beat in man-to-man coverage eventually. You can't sack the QB every play. ect.

If you look around the league, our D is still one of the best. But our ST are really hurting us in some games, and we are turning the ball over more (at least I think we are? I didn't check stats).

Offense, Defense and Special Teams were still on vacation mode. Only till the latter part of 3rd and 4th Quarter that they woke up.

I expect Harbaugh cracking the whip which will get them fired up by next Monday's game.

Baake really failed in the draft because he could have gotten us some quality d linemen but instead we got a couple of stiffs who cant even dress for games.

Originally posted by susweel:
Baake really failed in the draft because he could have gotten us some quality d linemen but instead we got a couple of stiffs who cant even dress for games.

i can not disagree with this , esp after yesterdays fiasco

Panic? I think NOT they just relaxed too much off the bye they will be back against Bears and Jason Cambell!