Growth Curve for Sopoaga

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
Since this years Dline was a high quality line, do you think that Sop will continue to develop and be a better balance for J. Smith? How far do you think this line can go?

its probably well documented that ive never been a big fan of Sopoaga since he got a huge extension and is starting, but i admit he played good this yr, and has looked like the DE/DT we had hoped when drafted and signed to extension.

I hope he continues his development in 2010 and beyond, he is signed thru 2012 so he is here for the long haul.

Think coaching doesn't make a difference?

If only Singletary had a Tomsula-type coach for the OL!

Some DL just seem to take a bit longer to develop, and Isaac is one of them. He should continue to get better. I'm thinking (well, hoping) that Balmer is kind of like Sopoaga...it just takes some time and then...BAM! The guy turns into near-All-Pro material.

Originally posted by jimbagg:
Think coaching doesn't make a difference?

If only Singletary had a Tomsula-type coach for the OL!

If we can find an OL coach like our DL coach it would be great.

I doubt it's a coincidence that as Smith's play has garnered attention Sopoaga has also improved. Whether Sopoaga can continue to take advantage of that and eventually return Smith the favor remains to be seen, but I'm optimistic on the matter.

What did Sop do differently that improved his play?

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
What did Sop do differently that improved his play?

He played opposite of Justin Smith

You raise a good point, though. I'm not the kinda guy that tapes games for review, but here's what I took away from the season.

The Sopoaga that ended the year was a very different animal. Especially on the pass rush. He was no longer being stood up and pushed wide. He eventually learned how to penetrate inside and, perhaps not collapse the pocket, but (with Franklin) isolate the pocket while Smith's foiled outside moves *eventually* evolved into a slashing outside-in (coverage) sack. When you consider the 3rd and 4th efforts of many of Smith's sacks, it's difficult to think that Sopoaga's phisicality didn't figure into Smith's sacks.

It was my impression that the Sopoaga/Franklin anvil allowed Smith's hammer to have an increadible year.

Originally posted by BubbaParisMVP:

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
What did Sop do differently that improved his play?

He played opposite of Justin Smith

You raise a good point, though. I'm not the kinda guy that tapes games for review, but here's what I took away from the season.

The Sopoaga that ended the year was a very different animal. Especially on the pass rush. He was no longer being stood up and pushed wide. He eventually learned how to penetrate inside and, perhaps not collapse the pocket, but (with Franklin) isolate the pocket while Smith's foiled outside moves *eventually* evolved into a slashing outside-in (coverage) sack. When you consider the 3rd and 4th efforts of many of Smith's sacks, it's difficult to think that Sopoaga's phisicality didn't figure into Smith's sacks.

It was my impression that the Sopoaga/Franklin anvil allowed Smith's hammer to have an increadible year.

Good post. I think that our D-line will continue to improve. We def need Franklin back.......TAG EM'

Originally posted by BubbaParisMVP:

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
What did Sop do differently that improved his play?

He played opposite of Justin Smith

You raise a good point, though. I'm not the kinda guy that tapes games for review, but here's what I took away from the season.

The Sopoaga that ended the year was a very different animal. Especially on the pass rush. He was no longer being stood up and pushed wide. He eventually learned how to penetrate inside and, perhaps not collapse the pocket, but (with Franklin) isolate the pocket while Smith's foiled outside moves *eventually* evolved into a slashing outside-in (coverage) sack. When you consider the 3rd and 4th efforts of many of Smith's sacks, it's difficult to think that Sopoaga's phisicality didn't figure into Smith's sacks.

It was my impression that the Sopoaga/Franklin anvil allowed Smith's hammer to have an increadible year.

That was a nice metaphor - Sopoaga/Franklin anvil allowed Smith's hammer to have an incredible year.

I do hope that Sopoaga continues to develop. I would like to see 4-6 sacks a year on Sop to show that he is able to develop some push and that they would have to put two guys on him to keep him out of the pocket. That way our Dline would be effective accross the board. That would also give more lanes for the LBs to get in as well.

I hope that they are able to sign Franklin and get the Dline settled for the next few years.

Originally posted by BubbaParisMVP:

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
What did Sop do differently that improved his play?

He played opposite of Justin Smith

You raise a good point, though. I'm not the kinda guy that tapes games for review, but here's what I took away from the season.

The Sopoaga that ended the year was a very different animal. Especially on the pass rush. He was no longer being stood up and pushed wide. He eventually learned how to penetrate inside and, perhaps not collapse the pocket, but (with Franklin) isolate the pocket while Smith's foiled outside moves *eventually* evolved into a slashing outside-in (coverage) sack. When you consider the 3rd and 4th efforts of many of Smith's sacks, it's difficult to think that Sopoaga's phisicality didn't figure into Smith's sacks.

It was my impression that the Sopoaga/Franklin anvil allowed Smith's hammer to have an increadible year.

I've always liked Icebox. He was one of the few Donahue picks that I did like and that will actually pan out. He did more than people wanted to give him credit for early on. But I do think that he benefitted from moving outside. And so definitely did Smith who had the best numbers of his career this year.

I hope this is the year we don't HAVE to spend a pick on the Pass Rush. I know we could definitely use another Safety or Corner.

Wow, I just had to stop and pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. Nope wide awake.

~Ceadder

Sopoaga along with the rest of the D-line are the best unit on the Niners.

I was always a huge fan of moving Sopoaga to DE in the 3-4 even though his size dictated him playing NT. The reason I felt he would be most successful outside was b/c of his size AND athleticism. Now, with Smith and with Franklin playing well, we're starting to see him evolve. Another piece is that he was able to focus on one position for an entire year instead of shifting back and forth between LDE & NT. We'll need to draft a prototypical NT this year in case Franklin goes down. Balmer can step in for Sopoaga barring an injury. But not only did Sopoaga start to develop a little bit of pass rush this last year, he helped make Lawson look like a superstar (as judged by TFL's) at the SAM position who also allowed Willis and co. to flow freely to the ball. I look forward to seeing him continue to develop next year and become an even more complete player. He's got a heck of a model at RDE to learn from!

Originally posted by NCommand:
I was always a huge fan of moving Sopoaga to DE in the 3-4 even though his size dictated him playing NT. The reason I felt he would be most successful outside was b/c of his size AND athleticism. Now, with Smith and with Franklin playing well, we're starting to see him evolve. Another piece is that he was able to focus on one position for an entire year instead of shifting back and forth between LDE & NT. We'll need to draft a prototypical NT this year in case Franklin goes down. Balmer can step in for Sopoaga barring an injury. But not only did Sopoaga start to develop a little bit of pass rush this last year, he helped make Lawson look like a superstar (as judged by TFL's) at the SAM position who also allowed Willis and co. to flow freely to the ball. I look forward to seeing him continue to develop next year and become an even more complete player. He's got a heck of a model at RDE to learn from!

As I recall, Tomsula shared your idea to re-position Sopoaga at DE, when he assessed all of the DL personel upon coming on-board. It also appears that Tomsula, Manusky and the LB coach have all worked together to put defenders into their best position among the "front 7", and synchronized the assignments for each respective player. Maybe a simplification of assignments and technique, over Nolan's penchant to adjust on seemingly every play, also helped Sopoaga and others like Franklin. I look forward to a 4th year under Manusky for this still-developing defense.

Break-out candidate for 2010? Balmer in his "Junior" year under Tomsula's tutelage.

P.S. The disaster in Haiti reminds me that Sopoaga maintained his high level of play, even while he fretted over family and friends when is native Samoa was hit with the tidal wave. Makes his performance this year even more notable, IMHO.

[ Edited by jimbagg on Jan 15, 2010 at 10:24:52 ]

Originally posted by jimbagg:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I was always a huge fan of moving Sopoaga to DE in the 3-4 even though his size dictated him playing NT. The reason I felt he would be most successful outside was b/c of his size AND athleticism. Now, with Smith and with Franklin playing well, we're starting to see him evolve. Another piece is that he was able to focus on one position for an entire year instead of shifting back and forth between LDE & NT. We'll need to draft a prototypical NT this year in case Franklin goes down. Balmer can step in for Sopoaga barring an injury. But not only did Sopoaga start to develop a little bit of pass rush this last year, he helped make Lawson look like a superstar (as judged by TFL's) at the SAM position who also allowed Willis and co. to flow freely to the ball. I look forward to seeing him continue to develop next year and become an even more complete player. He's got a heck of a model at RDE to learn from!

As I recall, Tomsula shared your idea to re-position Sopoaga at DE, when he assessed all of the DL personel upon coming on-board. It also appears that Tomsula, Manusky and the LB coach have all worked together to put defenders into their best position among the "front 7", and synchronized the assignments for each respective player. Maybe a simplification of assignments and technique, over Nolan's penchant to adjust on seemingly every play, also helped Sopoaga and others like Franklin. I look forward to a 4th year under Manusky for this still-developing defense.

Break-out candidate for 2010? Balmer in his "Junior" year under Tomsula's tutelage.

P.S. The disaster in Haiti reminds me that Sopoaga maintained his high level of play, even while he fretted over family and friends when is native Samoa was hit with the tidal wave. Makes his performance this year even more notable, IMHO.

Excellent point about the like-disaster his family and friends endured. That is a very good point and thanks for bringinig that up.

And good prediction about Balmer. I'd like to see him rotate in more with Sopoaga and Smith to gain more experience and playing time. There's only one way he will develop but it's going to be hard taking snaps from either next year esp. if Sopoaga continues to develop his game.

And you were right, I too remember that it was Tomsula making that call and I remember me saying to myself, "It's about time! Now let him STAY in that position and grow." And now we're seeing the results! I too agree that Manusky and the defensive coaching staff is still growing together themselves. They just need to add a few wrinkles and change a few things to really take this defense to the next level. This year, they were dominant against the run (save for short yardage and goal-line plays) AND even garnered some team pass rush. There was also a focus on creating turnovers. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a more exotic and less predictable blitz schemes (esp. with all 4 LBers), continued focus on the run and turnovers, a focus on short yardage and screen plays and covering RB's better and a goal of much better coverage in the middle of the field...and of course, consistency from game to game!