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

If it only takes Alex Smith to pick his game up a notch for us to be a SB caliber team, then with me.

I have no problem with what Billick said at all.

Laughable considering he won a superbowl with Trent Dilfer

Originally posted by PhillyNiner:
He is not wrong, we are playing very good, but to be great the passing game needs to get where the defense and running game are. We could keep a Rogers or Brady down, but if we cant, there needs to be enough bullets in the gun to win a shoot out.

cosign

Originally posted by hondakillerzx:
billick can suck one.

my sentiments exactly

Billick is the perfect former-coach to write this article; he was fired specifically because he couldn't win with a great D/weak O. The one time he did win was at a time where he had a once in a generation defense and a few-year gap where there was a real dearth of championship caliber teams. Even with a competent Offense featuring Rice and Flacco, the Ravens havent been able to compete for the championship.

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?

While I agree with Billick that the 9ers have shielded Alex Smith from being the guy that has to win on his own... I do have to disagree with a few things. They are expecting Alex to manage the game in a basic WCO system. That is go to the line in a formation and audible changes based on what the defense is showing/giving. If the D lines up 8 in the box, Alex is going to call for protection and he's going to pass. If the 9ers spread things and the D spreads with... they'll do what they can to exploit that too. It's worked... it worked in the early 80s, and it is working now. As the offense gets more confident they can look to expand on that and be more attacking... but overall I think the team has done well. Let's not forget that the 9ers could've/should've beaten Brees last year on Monday night. This defense is better and I think the offense is as well. In terms of Brady and Rodgers... well... those guys are great. The Pats would have to figure out how to stop Gore. Their Run D kinda sucks. The 9ers could potentially keep Brady on the sidelines and force him to open things up when on the field. He's thrown a lot of picks this year. Rodgers is on a much more complete team. I see the 9ers as having no answer for them right now.

This year when the 9ers needed to open things up Smith has been up to the task. Heck... he was pretty good last year and in other years when the team had to open things up (down a lot and in a spread offense). The key is the 9ers offense is built to maintain long drives and keep opponents O's off the field... and their defense is built to help keep games low scoring. For the first time in a long, long while both the offense and defensive strategies seem to work well together for the 49ers. I think Billick is right to suggest that the 9ers haven't blown teams out by hurling the ball with reckless abandon, but at the same time... that's by design and the design is/has been working. I haven't heard on one pundit, football insider or expert suggesting that Jets were a beatable team because Sanchez can't beat you on his own... the Jets have gone pretty far doing exactly what the 9ers are doing... it's just the 9ers seem to be doing it better now.

Originally posted by sincalfaithful:
Laughable considering he won a superbowl with Trent Dilfer

In comparing those 2 teams, that defense will go down as one of the best ever.

I think our defense is great, but not at that level.

Originally posted by Niners99:
Last time i checked we have scored the 6th most pts in the NFL so far....

Same thing I saw when I last checked. Fugggin' A!

Originally posted by DertyDonahue:

Originally posted by Niners99:
Last time i checked we have scored the 6th most pts in the NFL so far....

Same thing I saw when I last checked. Fugggin' A!

The thing that sets us apart is special teams and our running game.

It's still hard to believe that we're 6th in points scored though!!

Originally posted by mickey49:

Originally posted by Joecool:
I agree. As good as the Lions offense is, Stafford <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Brees, Brady, or Rodgers.

There were quite a few passes Willis defended that, if thrown more accurate, would have been completions.



HOWEVER, if we bring the rush, then all of them will be inaccurate.

Yah, I thought it was an interesting article coming from Billick, lol. We might look more like the Ravens West...

Considering how they dumped Dilfer after winning the Superbowl, I bet Billick was probably thinking, "This is crazy - I can't believe we won a Superbowl with this offense."

I think the Defense will be good as long as the offense takes care of the time of possession. I still have my doubts until they play an elite QB. I'm looking forward to when they play the Giants and the Steelers. Those are the only teams with an elite QB that we will play this season.

Originally posted by hondakillerzx:

Originally posted by TheGoldDiggerrrr:

Originally posted by HessianDud:


same dumb qualifiers everyone uses to describe the 49ers.

we have the #7 scoring offense. call me crazy, but i think you can win a lot of games when you score more points than the other team.

Say What!!! Defense won the packers a superbowl. And the bucs, and the ravens.

and the niners two SBs vs the bungles save for a few miraculous drives by Joe lol

This. Also people forget during those years years Marino had better stats than Montana. Guess who got 4 rings?

I agree with Billick in the sense that our offense does need to keep up but I disagree with the notion that you absolutely have to have a gun slinger type QB to win it all. Montana vs Marino, Manning (Eli) vs Brady (who threw 50 TD passes en route to 16-0), Dilfer vs Collins, Johnson vs Gannon, etc.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to coaching. Even in those "shoot outs."

I was watching "Americas Game" on the 94 49ers and even Young was commenting on how WELL Shanahan game planned. Young had literally memorized EVERY play, scheme, etc etc. They knew EXACTLY what the Chargers were going to do at all times on defense and capitalized. It's easy to sit back and say "well they won because Young threw 6 TD passes." Fair enough but the HOW is way more important IMO. Even Young will say that.

makes sense. At some point, our O will have to turn it on. I don't think they're doing that bad of a job at this point.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Psinex:

Originally posted by 49ersMan420:
IMO we could dismantle the saints, Its the Pats/Packers im worried about.

Yes, I'm worried about the Pats and Packers, but as we've shown against a one-dimensional team that does not run well...we can generate a good pass rush with only 3 or 4 linemen while dropping everyone else back into coverage. Culliver neutralized Calvin Johnson, and Carlos Rogers is good on smaller veteran type (ala Welker and Jennings) receivers. Willis and Bowman are great at limiting gains on short dumpoff type passes and streaks. I think we will match up better than others think.

If we study the film and our DB's and safeties figure out Brady and Rodger's tendencies, I'm sure Fangio will come up with a good strategy on how to bottle them up. The problem with those two QB's is that they pass into double and triple coverage and still complete passes because they lead their receivers and have excellent recognition.

Neutralized? A clue: No.

Our D kept him out of the endzone, but he still had big numbers against us.

Uh...When you keep a guy who has 9 touchdowns in 5 games out of the endzone, I think that's neutralized.

Just wondering, do yards win games? Or do touchdowns? If yards won games Vick throwing over 400 on us would have lost us the game. Stafford also put up a respectable 290 yards.

Joe Montana - 1982 Superbowl -

49ers quarterback Joe Montana was named the Super Bowl MVP, completing 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 18 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

The Bengals gained 356 yards of total offense to the 49ers' 275.

There is a reason I have always been glad Billick was never our coach. Did I spell his name right? Probably not.