Is there a Silver lining?

I find myself sitting here in disbelief and disgust. It was supposed to be different than this. We have dropped 4 straight after opening 3-1. Of the 5 losses 4 of those games were of the could have, would have, should have variety.

So I find myself wondering if we are actually about to turn the corner with this team or if we are doomed to more of the same.

I can't help but feel that we should be winning these games. Especially the Titans. It was a simple matter of taking care of the football. To me three of the close losses came down to one guy and one guy only. Alex Smith. Yet at the same time I have to admit that he was the only reason we were in those games.


Texans, 3 second half touchdowns punctuated by needless delay of game penalties and an unfortunate sack.

Colts-promising first half punctuated by an incredible scoring drive by smith at the end of the first half. Story of the game. We don't score in the second half.

Bring in the Titans. We should have brutalized this team. 24 points off of short fields and Alex Smith turnovers. All of which were maybe somewhat lucky? It's a matter of debate.

QB Situation-

To me Alex Smith has to be the guy (Right now). At least with him under center we have an offense. Let's just pray that he can start being better with the football. If we put Hill back in we'll eat more clock but still end up with close games that come down to defensive heroics.

QB- Silver linings?
Is Smith actually getting better? Or is it more of the same? Is this team actually talented enough to win with a competent signal caller? YES I think so. Between Crabs, VD, Gore, and some other role players I think the offense has the talent. Even our hodgepodge line suddenly doesn't look woeful. So there are one of two possible silver linings here. 1) Smith just needs to take a couple more steps in the right direction. 2) I think we are finally to the point where QB is actually our only glaring need on offense.

RB- I think we are clearly better running the ball than we were at the beginning of the season. It was too bad we couldn't quite establish the run yesterday when we had the lead. Turnovers tend to do that to you though. I think Gore has a few years left in him. Coffee has not proven to be an heir apparent though. Gore I think is still a silver lining. The question is how much longer can he stay a top runner?

Defense-Even banged up we were able to mostly shut down Tenessee. The problem to me here goes back to Smith giving up all the short fields. A healthy secondary would not have been exposed yesterday. You can argue about how good or not we are. However, you can't expect the defense to win when they constantly face short fields. This is a unit that held Peyton Manning without a Touchdown but only got 14 points from its offense. I still say if it ain't broke don't fix it. We are generating pressure and do manage to get off the field enough to give the offense a chance to do its job.

WR's/TE-OK I have to admit this unit seems better all the time.

Crabs- he is a legitimate Target and doesn't even know what the heck is going on with the offense. The sky seems to be the limit here.

Morgan-He clearly is an athlete. ? Why is he not stretching the field. Maybe it is just my memory but having him run a comeback route 90% of the time doesn't seem like the best way to use him. This is the guy I want making moves for jump balls on deep passes. When is the last time he got a shot at a ball over 20 yards?

Bruce-Time to go buddy. Bruce has been on the decline. I can think of at least 5 drops in critical situations this year. Anybody with HOF talk about their career should not be dropping balls. Which leads me to

HILL! Seriously. This guy needs to be on the field. Did he make the most of his chance yesterday or what? If we are truly about having our best people out there then to me its Crabs, Morgan, and Hill.

I'm not going to discuss the other wideouts. They can be shown the door as far as I'm concerned right now.

TE's. Walker is an awesome second option and to me does all the things we ask MROB to do better than MROB does them. (with the exception of KR duties.).

VD-He is clearly now the player we all hoped he would be.

To me the Defense is fine. The question is that we have not exactly figured out who we are on offense. I'm happy Singletary is willing to tinker with it.

My question is this. Are we really just a couple plays away from being a top tier team? It seems that in every game we have found a way to loose instead of being beaten. I just feel like we need to be a team that finds a way to win and that we have the talent to do it. An upgrade at QB, I feel is the only thing in the way of that. We can hope Alex wakes up but if not I hope we can find "the guy" out there in the draft, or free agency.

I have a silver lining...our Dline is becoming awsome. Next year if we can keep the same guys they could end up dominating. And maybe a switch to the 4-3 because our LB's can't get pressure on the QB to save their lives.

At least we are not the Lions.

Good point. WE could be in much worse shape. I guess I'm just wondering if we are actually as close to being up there with teas like the Colts and Vickings (teams we coulda, shoulda, woulda, beat) or if we are just fooling ourselves and we are where our record has us. Down with the Lambs, Skins, and Lion Cubs?

I have to admit. Loosing in the fashion we have is better than being blown out. But when do we finally start winning?

Originally posted by jcs:
I have a silver lining...our Dline is becoming awsome. Next year if we can keep the same guys they could end up dominating. And maybe a switch to the 4-3 because our LB's can't get pressure on the QB to save their lives.

We have had plenty of sacks this season.

Great post! We really need a OLB that can put pressure on the QB & beat his man one-on-one on regular basis during game.

Originally posted by VA49er:

Originally posted by jcs:
I have a silver lining...our Dline is becoming awsome. Next year if we can keep the same guys they could end up dominating. And maybe a switch to the 4-3 because our LB's can't get pressure on the QB to save their lives.

We have had plenty of sacks this season.

Yeah...from the DLine...something that shouldn't be when you're running the 3-4.

Originally posted by VA49er:

Originally posted by jcs:
I have a silver lining...our Dline is becoming awsome. Next year if we can keep the same guys they could end up dominating. And maybe a switch to the 4-3 because our LB's can't get pressure on the QB to save their lives.

We have had plenty of sacks this season.

need more. To get this defense elite, a strong pass rush is necessary. A pass rush will make an average secondary look awesome (see: Giants, NY 2007).

The silver lining is that we can finally give up on Alex Smith (about 3 years later than anyone else would have given up on him).

Originally posted by BAD_AL:
The silver lining is that we can finally give up on Alex Smith (about 3 years later than anyone else would have given up on him).

Not gonna happen this year, and if you think he is the biggest problem with the team, you need to learn some football.

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by BAD_AL:
The silver lining is that we can finally give up on Alex Smith (about 3 years later than anyone else would have given up on him).

Not gonna happen this year, and if you think he is the biggest problem with the team, you need to learn some football.

I agree. Was it a bad game from Smith? Absolutely. Was it the end all be all "This is the real Alex Smith" type situation everyone keeps saying it is...? No.

People should have expected this. I think he'll be fine next game.

Originally posted by VA49er:
I find myself sitting here in disbelief and disgust. It was supposed to be different than this. We have dropped 4 straight after opening 3-1. Of the 5 losses 4 of those games were of the could have, would have, should have variety.

So I find myself wondering if we are actually about to turn the corner with this team or if we are doomed to more of the same.

I can't help but feel that we should be winning these games. Especially the Titans. It was a simple matter of taking care of the football. To me three of the close losses came down to one guy and one guy only. Alex Smith. Yet at the same time I have to admit that he was the only reason we were in those games.


Texans, 3 second half touchdowns punctuated by needless delay of game penalties and an unfortunate sack.

Colts-promising first half punctuated by an incredible scoring drive by smith at the end of the first half. Story of the game. We don't score in the second half.

Bring in the Titans. We should have brutalized this team. 24 points off of short fields and Alex Smith turnovers. All of which were maybe somewhat lucky? It's a matter of debate.

QB Situation-

To me Alex Smith has to be the guy (Right now). At least with him under center we have an offense. Let's just pray that he can start being better with the football. If we put Hill back in we'll eat more clock but still end up with close games that come down to defensive heroics.

QB- Silver linings?
Is Smith actually getting better? Or is it more of the same? Is this team actually talented enough to win with a competent signal caller? YES I think so. Between Crabs, VD, Gore, and some other role players I think the offense has the talent. Even our hodgepodge line suddenly doesn't look woeful. So there are one of two possible silver linings here. 1) Smith just needs to take a couple more steps in the right direction. 2) I think we are finally to the point where QB is actually our only glaring need on offense.

RB- I think we are clearly better running the ball than we were at the beginning of the season. It was too bad we couldn't quite establish the run yesterday when we had the lead. Turnovers tend to do that to you though. I think Gore has a few years left in him. Coffee has not proven to be an heir apparent though. Gore I think is still a silver lining. The question is how much longer can he stay a top runner?

Defense-Even banged up we were able to mostly shut down Tenessee. The problem to me here goes back to Smith giving up all the short fields. A healthy secondary would not have been exposed yesterday. You can argue about how good or not we are. However, you can't expect the defense to win when they constantly face short fields. This is a unit that held Peyton Manning without a Touchdown but only got 14 points from its offense. I still say if it ain't broke don't fix it. We are generating pressure and do manage to get off the field enough to give the offense a chance to do its job.

WR's/TE-OK I have to admit this unit seems better all the time.

Crabs- he is a legitimate Target and doesn't even know what the heck is going on with the offense. The sky seems to be the limit here.

Morgan-He clearly is an athlete. ? Why is he not stretching the field. Maybe it is just my memory but having him run a comeback route 90% of the time doesn't seem like the best way to use him. This is the guy I want making moves for jump balls on deep passes. When is the last time he got a shot at a ball over 20 yards?

Bruce-Time to go buddy. Bruce has been on the decline. I can think of at least 5 drops in critical situations this year. Anybody with HOF talk about their career should not be dropping balls. Which leads me to

HILL! Seriously. This guy needs to be on the field. Did he make the most of his chance yesterday or what? If we are truly about having our best people out there then to me its Crabs, Morgan, and Hill.

I'm not going to discuss the other wideouts. They can be shown the door as far as I'm concerned right now.

TE's. Walker is an awesome second option and to me does all the things we ask MROB to do better than MROB does them. (with the exception of KR duties.).

VD-He is clearly now the player we all hoped he would be.

To me the Defense is fine. The question is that we have not exactly figured out who we are on offense. I'm happy Singletary is willing to tinker with it.

My question is this. Are we really just a couple plays away from being a top tier team? It seems that in every game we have found a way to loose instead of being beaten. I just feel like we need to be a team that finds a way to win and that we have the talent to do it. An upgrade at QB, I feel is the only thing in the way of that. We can hope Alex wakes up but if not I hope we can find "the guy" out there in the draft, or free agency.

yes there is a silver lining. we are a young team not finishing games with a new qb who hasn't played in a few years just working his way back. we are starting to open up the offense with that qb and a new wr in crabs. it will all come together as the D is very good and would be great if it didn't constantly have their backs against the wall because of stupid offensive or ST mistakes that cause TO's.
once it does come together and Smith shaves the rust, Crabtree hits his stride this offense will be very good and the team will be a contender.

That's just this season, IMO the 9ers have a great opportunity to plug every single hole next season with the 2 first round picks and their 2nd. This is a very deep draft and a 2nd round pick this year likely would have been a 1st in most other drafts. we also have a good bit of cap $ after using some to extend Willis/Davis/Gore/Smith we need to renegotiate Clements contract to get some more $$ and sign 1 or 2 big time FA's.

A silver lining you ask? Another top ten draft pick if things don't change real soon, like by Thursday night.

Originally posted by matt49er:

Originally posted by VA49er:
I find myself sitting here in disbelief and disgust. It was supposed to be different than this. We have dropped 4 straight after opening 3-1. Of the 5 losses 4 of those games were of the could have, would have, should have variety.

So I find myself wondering if we are actually about to turn the corner with this team or if we are doomed to more of the same.

I can't help but feel that we should be winning these games. Especially the Titans. It was a simple matter of taking care of the football. To me three of the close losses came down to one guy and one guy only. Alex Smith. Yet at the same time I have to admit that he was the only reason we were in those games.


Texans, 3 second half touchdowns punctuated by needless delay of game penalties and an unfortunate sack.

Colts-promising first half punctuated by an incredible scoring drive by smith at the end of the first half. Story of the game. We don't score in the second half.

Bring in the Titans. We should have brutalized this team. 24 points off of short fields and Alex Smith turnovers. All of which were maybe somewhat lucky? It's a matter of debate.

QB Situation-

To me Alex Smith has to be the guy (Right now). At least with him under center we have an offense. Let's just pray that he can start being better with the football. If we put Hill back in we'll eat more clock but still end up with close games that come down to defensive heroics.

QB- Silver linings?
Is Smith actually getting better? Or is it more of the same? Is this team actually talented enough to win with a competent signal caller? YES I think so. Between Crabs, VD, Gore, and some other role players I think the offense has the talent. Even our hodgepodge line suddenly doesn't look woeful. So there are one of two possible silver linings here. 1) Smith just needs to take a couple more steps in the right direction. 2) I think we are finally to the point where QB is actually our only glaring need on offense.

RB- I think we are clearly better running the ball than we were at the beginning of the season. It was too bad we couldn't quite establish the run yesterday when we had the lead. Turnovers tend to do that to you though. I think Gore has a few years left in him. Coffee has not proven to be an heir apparent though. Gore I think is still a silver lining. The question is how much longer can he stay a top runner?

Defense-Even banged up we were able to mostly shut down Tenessee. The problem to me here goes back to Smith giving up all the short fields. A healthy secondary would not have been exposed yesterday. You can argue about how good or not we are. However, you can't expect the defense to win when they constantly face short fields. This is a unit that held Peyton Manning without a Touchdown but only got 14 points from its offense. I still say if it ain't broke don't fix it. We are generating pressure and do manage to get off the field enough to give the offense a chance to do its job.

WR's/TE-OK I have to admit this unit seems better all the time.

Crabs- he is a legitimate Target and doesn't even know what the heck is going on with the offense. The sky seems to be the limit here.

Morgan-He clearly is an athlete. ? Why is he not stretching the field. Maybe it is just my memory but having him run a comeback route 90% of the time doesn't seem like the best way to use him. This is the guy I want making moves for jump balls on deep passes. When is the last time he got a shot at a ball over 20 yards?

Bruce-Time to go buddy. Bruce has been on the decline. I can think of at least 5 drops in critical situations this year. Anybody with HOF talk about their career should not be dropping balls. Which leads me to

HILL! Seriously. This guy needs to be on the field. Did he make the most of his chance yesterday or what? If we are truly about having our best people out there then to me its Crabs, Morgan, and Hill.

I'm not going to discuss the other wideouts. They can be shown the door as far as I'm concerned right now.

TE's. Walker is an awesome second option and to me does all the things we ask MROB to do better than MROB does them. (with the exception of KR duties.).

VD-He is clearly now the player we all hoped he would be.

To me the Defense is fine. The question is that we have not exactly figured out who we are on offense. I'm happy Singletary is willing to tinker with it.

My question is this. Are we really just a couple plays away from being a top tier team? It seems that in every game we have found a way to loose instead of being beaten. I just feel like we need to be a team that finds a way to win and that we have the talent to do it. An upgrade at QB, I feel is the only thing in the way of that. We can hope Alex wakes up but if not I hope we can find "the guy" out there in the draft, or free agency.

yes there is a silver lining. we are a young team not finishing games with a new qb who hasn't played in a few years just working his way back. we are starting to open up the offense with that qb and a new wr in crabs. it will all come together as the D is very good and would be great if it didn't constantly have their backs against the wall because of stupid offensive or ST mistakes that cause TO's.
once it does come together and Smith shaves the rust, Crabtree hits his stride this offense will be very good and the team will be a contender.

That's just this season, IMO the 9ers have a great opportunity to plug every single hole next season with the 2 first round picks and their 2nd. This is a very deep draft and a 2nd round pick this year likely would have been a 1st in most other drafts. we also have a good bit of cap $ after using some to extend Willis/Davis/Gore/Smith we need to renegotiate Clements contract to get some more $$ and sign 1 or 2 big time FA's.

Originally posted by NinerGM:
Baas may not play Thurs night?

Ding ding ding! We have a winner.

Perhaps the WORST top of the 2nd round offensive lineman in the history of the NFL.

Rachel is runner up.