What do you want first? Elite offense or elite defense?

I'm a defense guy , always have been

but these past few seasons have me yearning for the razor sharp precision and aggressiveness of our passing attack, from the 80's and early 90's , I seriously miss having an elite, accurate passer and a stable of weapons that can hurt you on any given play , hopefully we hire the right man for the Job, and start developing a wicked dangerous offense

Elite defense usually is easier to get first. Niners are closer to that happening than the opposite.

If we're just talking elite--it's gotta be defense. That's what wins (see SEA vs DEN super bowl, '00 Ravens, '85 Bears, '07 Giants, almost '11 Niners )

If you have that, you can win with just a functioning, solid offense. Nothing spectacular.

I think the best model these days is elite offense and good defense.

Pat's just won with an elite offense, but typically I'd go with the defense. It's more consistent.

If we're talking about a new HC and his expertise, it's got to be offense. A GM and a DC can build a stout defense. It's rare to have a strong offense without an offensive-minded HC.

I want both. I want the 9ers to crush every one like 55 to 10, straight through the reg season and to the super bowl. Fvck everyone else.

Right now NO opposing teams are scared of the 49er's offense. If you look at the last 10 games, they have not scored more than 20 points with the exception of the Bears game. In fact they had the lowest team point average this year 14.9.

You can't possibly win many games scoring less than 23 points per game which is probably the mid range scores of all teams averages.

The Defense though not great is OK for now, so the first priority is to figure out a way to score more points. ABOVE 23 POINTS!
Then they have a real shot of winning more games.

Defense > offense

But line of scrimmage on both sides is critical.

I think that our defense is few steps away from being great again. We were terrific at home and sucked away mainly because most guys are inexperienced(another reason why I think we should keep Williams).

Our offense need major fix in some positions. Gabbert is a good backup but is not even near to great.
Smith is a great deep treath, Boldin is a good possession(but is getting older and may not be here next season) and Patton has made some plays but we lack of a true good WR that can do it all(like Julio Jones, Brown, Hopkins or even Edelman).
Celek is our only TE that can block and receive. McDonald is a pure blocker and Bell right now can't block but has made some good plays receiving.
RB is by far our best position. Hyde is a beast but needs to stay healthy. Harris was a monster in the last 2 games. Draughn was solid.
Staley-Tiller-Kilgore-AD(Boone)-Brown would be very good but AD must come back in good form if Boone sign elsewhere.

I prefer having a great defense than a great offense because offense win games but defense win championships. Look at the top-12 defenses in points, 11 are in the playoffs(Redskins is only in the playoffs because NFC East sucks).

Originally posted by Marty:

Defense wins championships.

True. Better defense and the same offence would've netted the Niners 2-3 more wins easily.

Something the Melbourne Storm pride themselves on and why we are so good.

And what the hell is this word 'elite' being used? Its either good or it's not.

We haven't had a top 10 offense since 2003. That's pitiful.

Having an absolutely stacked defense was nice for those 3 years, but I'd like to see a big-time offense here again.

Originally posted by strickac:
Pat's just won with an elite offense, but typically I'd go with the defense. It's more consistent.

If we're talking about a new HC and his expertise, it's got to be offense. A GM and a DC can build a stout defense. It's rare to have a strong offense without an offensive-minded HC.

This is interesting. I wanna test this theory. Let's look at the top 10 offenses...

1. Arizona - Arians, offense
2. New Orleans - Payton, offense
3. Pittsburgh - Tomlin, defense
4. Seattle - Carroll, defense
5. Tampa Bay - Lovie Smith, defense
6. New England - Belichick, defense
7. Atlanta - Quinn, defense
8. Giants - Coughlin, offense
9. Chargers - McCoy, offense
10. Jets - Bowles, defense

4 offensive guys and 6 defensive.

I still think there's something to your idea and we need an offensive-minded HC. That said, the most important ingredient for sustained offensive success is having a big-time QB.

Originally posted by Kuya:
Bowman, Lynch, Armstead, Tartt and Ward all have potential to be absolute studs next season. I think we can have an elite defense again pretty soon. I would love to focus on inside ILB and DE early to solidify the D

Tartt must become MUCH more consistent. He has some splash plays but also a lot of bad mistakes. Of course he was a rookie but he actually regressed a bit as the season went along. I HOPE he comes on. He needs to.

Bowman needs to regain his coverage speed and agility. He got beat too much this past year. Even in the second half where his run defense was outstanding, he got beat in coverage too much.

Armstead, Williams, Ward and Reid are a solid group to build around. Lynch was the 4th most productive pass rusher in the league but needs a running mate.

It is hard to be elite but an upgrade over Brooks along with a DE would make the rest of the unit much better.

While it's true that defense wins a lot of games, it's also true that you can't possibly keep your defense out on the field too long. Doesn't matter how good they are ... they are going to get tired.

So for all of you supporting a stronger defense, you're NOT going to win a lot of games if your offense CAN'T score enough points to win games.

Even the lowly Dallas Cowboys, Rams and Browns averaged 17 points .. the Titans 18 points and the 49er;s ... a mere 14 points.

Keep in mind that the low 17 points were averages of the weaker teams which also includes playing against good defensive teams.
The general average of all teams are around 23 points and that doesn't bode well for the 49'ers EVEN if they had a stronger defense.

Even the best defensive teams last year: Seattle, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Denver gave up over 17 points per game average.

So don't get caught up in thinking that with a stronger defense, the 49'ers can keep ALL opponents from scoring more than 17 points.