Originally posted by buck:
Originally posted by Rascal:
The word is "balanced". I have argued this point before, the 49ers' O has turned from a run-first offense to a balanced offense.
Yes. You have argued that, but as of last year the offense remained pretty much a run first offense.
This is a new year. There is a good chance, given Kaepernick's passing skills, the offense will become more balanced.
The team has the whole year to develop its offensive mix. I am looking forward to seeing how the mix develops.
The offensive mix will in some fashion depend of the defenses we play.
If they keep stacking the box, I would expect an increase in the effectiveness of our passing game.
Oh well. it all begins tomorrow. Enjoy.
After Kap took over last year, we had already started that evolution from run-first to a more balanced approach. In 2011, we were definitely run-first, no argument there, our offense basically consisted of running the ball and kicking field goals. If the 9ers are not balanced, can you name me a team that is more balanced than the 9ers (as in since Kap taking over) ?
Tell you what, if you are not convinced, take it straight from the horse's mouth. Anquan Boldin says the 9ers is balanced himself :
On the relationship between the passing and running attacks?
AB: "We're going to be balanced. We're definitely going to run the ball. With the type of offensive line we have, we have to run the ball. But we also have some guys outside that can make plays. We have a couple of good running backs in the backfield who have to touch the ball. These are big-play guys. We've got some guys outside. It's a lot of guys and one ball. So we'll see how it goes."
Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/49ers/archives/2013/09/anquan-boldin-ravens-loss-serves-as-a-warning.html#storylink=cpy
Don't get me wrong, running the ball is always going to be an integral part of 9ers' offense. But, we are no longer one-dimensional as in being over-reliant on the run game. As the old adage goes, the more successful you run the ball, the more successful you are going to be with airing the ball, but it goes both ways and that is why we have to be balanced. If you project Kap's passing stats from 7 games to 16 games, it should round off at about 3,800 yards which will rank us just outside of the top 10 in passing yards which will sound about right. You can clearly see that shift. In 2011, we were ranked 29th and last year we moved up to 23rd with Kap only playing from week 9 onwards. I predict this season it will only further go up may be to the early teens.