Spencer wins #2 corner spot

So Spencer won the job based on his experience in Manusky's D? What about skills? Shouldn't that count for something? I disagree with Sings choice. Leave Spencer as the Nickel back and start Bly.

Originally posted by NJNiner:
So Spencer won the job based on his experience in Manusky's D? What about skills? Shouldn't that count for something? I disagree with Sings choice. Leave Spencer as the Nickel back and start Bly.

Example
Say Bly has a little better coverage skills and can read the offense a little faster but his lack of knowledge in the system puts him out of position too often that he becomes a liability.
That’s why.

Originally posted by swim4speed:
I watch ALL of the Niner games. I remember Spencer as being only a decent corner. He covers decently, but still gives up completions. The only interceptions he gets are the ones that are thrown right to him......they fall into his hands instead of him aggressively going after a ball and making a nice pick.

If the Niners want turnovers, then they should have started Bly or Brown.

I'm not sure of your definition of "decent." However, before his leg injury two years ago, he was rated as one of the better young corners in the league. If he is now playing back to that level, Singletary has made the right choice.

No team should have to rely on a corner with a reputation for gambling in order to force turnovers. Bly has always been a gambler but has also given up a lot of big plays.

I didn't say Bly is not a gambler of is the best corner in the world. But yes, Spencer was only a decent corner. Nobody EVER talked about Spencer like he was a pro-bowler. Nobody ever called him a ball-hawk.

Spencer was decent at best. Even before his injury, the Niners signed Clements and Harris to play in front of Spencer. How much confidence did the coaches and front office have in Spencer to be a starter? Spencer was the #3 CB even before his ACL injury!

If healthy, it seems like Brown should be the starter.

Originally posted by WheresWaldo:

Originally posted by Izyniner:
Sad to say but breaston would be our number1>

If Breaston is so great then why is Arizona keeping Boldin?

maybe because Boldin is an elite WR...

thats terrible logic. they wouldnt just dumb Boldin if they thought Breaston might be good. right now they have all 3.

Originally posted by swim4speed:
I didn't say Bly is not a gambler of is the best corner in the world. But yes, Spencer was only a decent corner. Nobody EVER talked about Spencer like he was a pro-bowler. Nobody ever called him a ball-hawk.

Spencer was decent at best. Even before his injury, the Niners signed Clements and Harris to play in front of Spencer. How much confidence did the coaches and front office have in Spencer to be a starter? Spencer was the #3 CB even before his ACL injury!

If healthy, it seems like Brown should be the starter.

I don't care to debate this ad nauseum but Harris was signed because Spencer's hamstring was very slow in healing, and those things can be a permanent issue for the speed guys.

Brown was picked because Harris is older and Spencer was coming off an ACL.

Clements was signed because he is one of the top 10 corners in the league, some might say top 5, he was certainly rated that high when he was signed.

So mix that all up and you can see why Spencer might be a #3 at the time but it was all injury related. When he was healthy, he was the guy the other team avoided so he stayed out of the spotlight. Let's hope he is that good again.

Wondering about this one bc Spencer didn't exactly play vs. 1's in PS. He must have shown a lot of skills and heart to win Sing over. I was pretty sure Bly would win the job, but that just makes it better for us cuz now we have 2 solid CBs that can play nickel and dime. I sure hope the coaches are right on this one bc I can remember Spence being an up-and-down player like Clements.

This is what I think about the reasoning behind Spencer starting.

Spencer is very good at keeping receivers in front of him whereas Bly is more of a gambler. I would rather have a gambler or a guy who is willing to jump routes as a nickel corner because he will mostly be covering shorter or middle routes.

Our pass rush doesn't look to be great so Spencer can keep receivers from getting deep on him much better. I remember when he was healthy, that he broke up a bunch of deep balls on occasion.

Bly and Brown seem to be better at breaking on routes which is mostly required of a nickel back. They are pretty much like a 3rd safety/MLB on passing downs.

Maybe he won the spot because he played the best and showed the most throughout OTAs, training camp, and the preseason games?

dj43: Sounds like you think Shawntae Spencer is shutdown corner...a Pro-bowler....a future Hall of Famer...etc.

You said he shuts down one side of the field so opposing QB's don't throw there. Hmmm, ala D Sanders? ala Champ Bailey in his prime? I have never seen that from Spencer! I have never heard the TV analysts say that or the 49ers beat writers write that. I believe you are the first person to ever say that.

Don't get me wrong...I HOPE Spencer plays like a Pro-bowler or future hall of famer. My guess is we'll see him make good tackles, give up lots of completions, and make less than 10 deflections or picks, including maybe 3 or less picks that actually just fall into his lap.

Originally posted by Xestenz:
Maybe he won the spot because he played the best and showed the most throughout OTAs, training camp, and the preseason games?

ok, now that's just silly

Originally posted by dj43:

Originally posted by swim4speed:
I didn't say Bly is not a gambler of is the best corner in the world. But yes, Spencer was only a decent corner. Nobody EVER talked about Spencer like he was a pro-bowler. Nobody ever called him a ball-hawk.

Spencer was decent at best. Even before his injury, the Niners signed Clements and Harris to play in front of Spencer. How much confidence did the coaches and front office have in Spencer to be a starter? Spencer was the #3 CB even before his ACL injury!

If healthy, it seems like Brown should be the starter.

I don't care to debate this ad nauseum but Harris was signed because Spencer's hamstring was very slow in healing, and those things can be a permanent issue for the speed guys.

Brown was picked because Harris is older and Spencer was coming off an ACL.

Clements was signed because he is one of the top 10 corners in the league, some might say top 5, he was certainly rated that high when he was signed.

So mix that all up and you can see why Spencer might be a #3 at the time but it was all injury related. When he was healthy, he was the guy the other team avoided so he stayed out of the spotlight. Let's hope he is that good again.

I think Spencer got hurt that year in preseason. During the preseason he was shutting people down playing with the 1s. Let's see how he does against AZ, that will be a pretty good test.

Originally posted by Afrikan:

Originally posted by Gore_21:
FROM CBS SPORTSLINE RAPID REPORTS:

One reason 49ers coach Mike Singletary might have elected to start CB Shawntae Spencer over veteran Dre' Bly is that Bly isn't very physical. Bly has acknowledged that he's not an enthusiastic tackler, and he allowed 254 yards after completions last season, according to Football Outsiders Almanac. That was seventh worst in the league.

thankx....this is what I was speculating earlier... when I saw Bly let a RB get right past him in preseason I was worried that he might be to fragile to tackle these huge RBs we have in our division....

but its nice to have a gambling type cb on passing situations.... I believe Bly will get us a number of turnovers this year.

I think we as a fan based have been spoiled with DBs that can tackle and have took it for granted..... from Plummer & Webster to Spencer and recently Nate and Walt....

Also with Micheal Lewis injured, imo, it is important that we have another person on the starting D to tackle consistently.....I'm not too confident with Roman against the run..... but with Goldson, Nate, and Spencer we have a physical secondary.

I hate to quote myself again...but some seem to have missed this Sportline's report right here....

we have Steven Jaskson (his thighs broke Mike Rumph's arm...when Rumph tried to tackle him), Beenie Wells, Jones, James

as well are big receivers with Bolden, Fitz....

all in our division...who we face 2 times a year....

if Steven Jackson broke Rumph's arm....God help Bly's soul.

I don't care if Spencer was hurt years ago. He was never better than Clements or Harris!

I've never seen or heard anybody say Spencer was shutting down a side of the field or even his man. Never.

Do you want to bet money on whether or not Spencer makes it to the Pro-bowl? I would love it if he did make it......but I would bet against it.

Originally posted by swim4speed:
dj43: Sounds like you think Shawntae Spencer is shutdown corner...a Pro-bowler....a future Hall of Famer...etc.

You said he shuts down one side of the field so opposing QB's don't throw there. Hmmm, ala D Sanders? ala Champ Bailey in his prime? I have never seen that from Spencer! I have never heard the TV analysts say that or the 49ers beat writers write that. I believe you are the first person to ever say that.

Don't get me wrong...I HOPE Spencer plays like a Pro-bowler or future hall of famer. My guess is we'll see him make good tackles, give up lots of completions, and make less than 10 deflections or picks, including maybe 3 or less picks that actually just fall into his lap.

I think you took more from my statement than I intended.

At the time Spencer was healthy, he was the better of the 49ers CBs at that time. Hence, he saw less action. That's all.

What I have seen from Spencer is that he is a very good tackler and takes very good angles in run support. So if Clements is on the other side of the field, that should help shut down running attacks. Now if they can both play back to form, and Singletary's decision on Spencer sounds like he is going that, then the 49ers should be substantially improved in the secondary. Walt Harris was a good cover guy but run support was not as good.