Billick: "...defense will only carry 49ers so far"

I have a feeling the 49ers offense is alot better than the statistics would suggest up to this point in the season. Just wait come the end of the season there will be alot of talk about how our the offense has caught up to the defense. We have so much talent on the offensive side of the ball that it's only a matter of time that we start to blow teams away (see: Tampa Bay).

Call me a homer all you want but to think that this offense is incapable of playing at an elite level is just silly. Alex Smith will continue to improve.

Originally posted by WildBill:

Originally posted by HessianDud:
it doesn't really matter how you score the points, as long as you're scoring them.

Yeah keyword is as long as-and the defense can make plays but can't rely on the D to always do this. Especially in the playoffs.

i definitely would like to see us pass the ball with more consistency. But I'm just not worried. I'm not sure why anyone else is.

Originally posted by Hopper:

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:
I agree. But, only for this year since we are lacking the depth on defense. There's no way this defense is gonna be able to play at this level all season, we just don't have the depth to keep most of these guys fresh.

Pretty much the same non sense Jim Mora was saying because we don't rotate Dlinemen in and out like Detroit. It's not true at all.

why isn't that true?

Originally posted by verb1der:
I think our offense is good because it always practices against our defense! Does that make sense?

Put a rib protector on Smith and Gore

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Originally posted by verb1der:
I think our offense is good because it always practices against our defense! Does that make sense?

Put a rib protector on Smith and Gore

I think Smith does wear one

The thing is once you get to the playoffs it's a whole new deal, you never know who's going to really step up their games. See: seahawks beating the saints last year. We're a much more talented team than them overall and definitely could have taken the bears... The cliche thing people sometimes forget is that any given sunday any team can beat pretty much any other team. That doesn't change in the playoffs and all it takes is a couple game changing plays and you're on to the next round.

The fact is if we made the playoffs we've got a roster full of highly motivated guys who have never even been there with a coach who has plenty of tricks up his sleeve and so far a quarterback who has made the plays necessary at key times period.

Why do we need a 400 yd/game QB when gore and hunter are busting out 150+ yds rushing against some very strong fronts? I'm confident at this point that the only front left that can maybe stop us is baltimore and we'll see about that.

Originally posted by mickey49:

Originally posted by dhp318:
I'd love to play the Packers or Pats just to see where we stand as a team.

That would be awesome. I think our front seven would rattle them enough to get them off their game. Brady can definitely be rattled as evidenced by the game last week against Dallas. And Rodgers, dont get me wrong, is probably the best in the league right now, but what defenses has he beaten this year? Nothing that really jumps out I don't think...

Rodgers will only play against ONE top 10 defense this year...San Diego #4...Alex has to play against Pittsburgh(1), Cincy(2), Baltimore(3), Dallas(5), Washington(6) and Cleveland(7)...i think Alex's stats would look a little better if he got to play against weaker defenses. I mean look what happened when he played Tampa(25)...

Passing offense is the only weak link on our team right now. After rewatching some of the Lions game, I noticed that there were plenty of drives where we started in great field position only to not get anything. We should have won that game by 2 TDs.

Originally posted by mike:

Why do we need a 400 yd/game QB when gore and hunter are busting out 150+ yds rushing against some very strong fronts?

Because in today's NFL, QB's are only respected by their "fantasy" points!

His statement about a QB talent vaccuum is WAY over simplyfied... while league-wide that may have been the case, that theory doesnt hold much water when it comes to the playoffs where you ignore the bottom 16 teams in the league, and of those 16 teams in the playoffs usually only 10-12 are considered legit.

During this timeframe, you had Culpepper and Manning in a race for NFL MVP and at the time putting up what was considered ridiculous stats. Gannon broke the record for consecutive 300 yard passing games. Farve, Warner, Bledsoe, and to a lesser extent Garcia and Brunell were all heading up very dynamic offenses as well and all these QB's consistently got their teams in the playoffs. So while there may have been a larger gap in talent after the top 8-10 QBs back then... once you got to the playoffs, it didnt matter cause you were playing the top QB's in the league anyways.

The playoffs will always be a gauntlet of top QB's, but if teams like the Jets, Steelers, or Giants have shown the league anything its that you can still ride a defense and ground game to the conference or NFL championship... then with a little luck and a QB who steps up big at the perfect moment anyone can still win.

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Passing offense is the only weak link on our team right now. After rewatching some of the Lions game, I noticed that there were plenty of drives where we started in great field position only to not get anything. We should have won that game by 2 TDs.

Won't disagree with this. Penalties, botched TD catches in the endzone, and the unfortunate INT when we were getting close to FG range made it closer, but .. we overcame those things to win -- something that bad teams, like the 49ers of the past, would not have done.

Originally posted by Marvin49:
Beat me too it.

This is the guy who won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer.

True. But it's also become even more of a passing league since then.

Up until now it was considered defenses won championships. I am not so sure anymore. I think we can contain Brady and Brees I am not sure about Rodgers tho. Being old school I am loving the Niners playing dominating defense and running the football. For me thats great football. I havnt been impressed with the pass happy league where defense doesnt seem to matter and cant hit the QB and cant hit the receiver after five yards.

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by 5280High:

Originally posted by mickey49:
Didn't see this posted anywhere:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8234b8f3/article/in-the-passhappy-nfl-defense-will-carry-the-49ers-only-so-far

I tend to agree. The defense has been outstanding overall, but we haven't faced a QB the likes of Brady, Brees, or Rodgers this season. Come playoff time (no jinx), we might have to deal with a QB like that. Thoughts? Think our D can contain elite QBs like those guys?

Pot meet Kettle...

Beat me too it.

This is the guy who won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer.

He addressed this point in his comments. He admitted that the Ravens could win with defense and Dilfer because there was a talent vacuum at QB across the league at that time. That's not the case right now. There are more HOF caliber QB's at the top of their games right now than any point I can recall.

On top of that, the passing game in this league is way out of control. You will not win a SB anymore if your QB can't move the ball consistently.

This is very debatable either way, but having Billick say this is a joke. QB talent Vacuum? Warner's Ram's come off a SB the previous year, Favre, Gannon,Manning, Culppeper, Mcnabb is not to shabby. What bothers me the most is that he assumes AS = Dilfer( ).

I seem to remember that Smith was the offense in the first three games of the year and our defense wasn't playing that well