Please tell me the defense is the problem.

Couple of stats for you statistical junkies.

TOP vs Seattle 24min
3/13 3rd down conversion

Offensive snap count vs Seattle - 53
Defensive snap count - 76

TOP vs Colts 23 mins
3/12 3rd down conversions

Offensive snap count vs Indy - 53
Defensive snap count vs Indy - 72

The defense is giving up 333 YPG/999 total yards which is 21st in the league. The defense is giving up 5.3 YPP. If Seattle snap counts were switched around the defense gives up 119 yards less.If Indy snap counts were switched around the defense gives up 104 less yards. Logically you can say more time equals more snaps equals more yards. So instead of 999 yard on the season we have 777 on the season which is 259 YPG. That's #3 in the league.

We controlled the clock against GB. 38min of possession and we gave up 3.2 YPC. That's a top 3 number. I believe 100% this is a top 5 defense but the lack of offense has allowed teams to run the ball/run the clock. The offense is allowing the other team to control the rhythm of the game, and this has never been a winning formula for the Niners. The offense is 29th in the league in offensive plays. 23rd in TOP. 29th in 1st downs made. 2nd in penalties. 29th in TO margin. 29th in PPG.

I welcome anyone to convince me the defense is the problem.

Defense is on the field too much because the offense sucks. But we are in trouble with Aldon in Rehab now.

I'd be interested in seeing the numbers per quarter 1-3 vs 4th quarter from the last two games as well

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Defense is on the field too much because the offense sucks. But we are in trouble with Aldon in Rehab now.

I don't think the offense is incapable of scoring. In fact I think we're very capable of managing the TOP. The coaching staff just needs to take a step backwards.

I don't think we're lost with 99. What about 94,91,90,52,53,35,22,25,26? Asomugha and Brown are ranked #3 and #5 in the league according to PFF. Reid will only get better as the season progresses. Carradine,Dial, and Wright in 3 weeks hopefully. Things are low now but we have to stay at .500. I hate referencing the Giants but they are the poster child of the late season run. If everyone can stay healthy and the offense can win some games we can peak at the end of the season. PLEASE BELIEVE!

I blame Kyle Williams for missing tackles and failing to stop teams on 3rd down.


No, but seriously... the defense has not nor ever been perfect. There are some missed tackles that are uncharacteristic of this team, though we do and always have given up some 3rd downs that piss me off. Still, in the last 2 games, our defense was very effective in preventing points... which is what really matters. Holding Indy to 13 pts throughout 50 minutes... containing Seattle to 5 pts in the first half despite those points being handed over by the offense.

Bottom line is, our offense hasn't been handling their business. It's bad enough that they are not generating production and points. It's even worse that they are giving away free points to the opponent... so it isn't that they are not being helpful.. they are actually hurting us on top of that.

This this situation that we're in, where the D is banged up.....this was suppose to be the time that the offense is suppose to carry the slack. Until the offense can fix whats wrong with it, it will be hard to win the next 2 games (@ St Louis, vs Houston).

The initial outlook was that the offense was going to put up 20+ points per game because of Kaep and the D was going to continue doing what they do. But the offense is screwing up that plan.

The offense is the problem! TOP is the offense responsibility.

Originally posted by Mr.Mcgibblets:
I blame Kyle Williams for missing tackles and failing to stop teams on 3rd down.


No, but seriously... the defense has not nor ever been perfect. There are some missed tackles that are uncharacteristic of this team, though we do and always have given up some 3rd downs that piss me off. Still, in the last 2 games, our defense was very effective in preventing points... which is what really matters. Holding Indy to 13 pts throughout 50 minutes... containing Seattle to 5 pts in the first half despite those points being handed over by the offense.

Bottom line is, our offense hasn't been handling their business. It's bad enough that they are not generating production and points. It's even worse that they are giving away free points to the opponent... so it isn't that they are not being helpful.. they are actually hurting us on top of that.

The defense had 6 3 and outs against Seattle in the 1st half.

13 points in 50 minutes is doing your job. Plain and simple. If sustain that 3rd/4th qtr drive and score we most likely win.

Originally posted by Mr.Mcgibblets:
I blame Kyle Williams for missing tackles and failing to stop teams on 3rd down.


No, but seriously... the defense has not nor ever been perfect. There are some missed tackles that are uncharacteristic of this team, though we do and always have given up some 3rd downs that piss me off. Still, in the last 2 games, our defense was very effective in preventing points... which is what really matters. Holding Indy to 13 pts throughout 50 minutes... containing Seattle to 5 pts in the first half despite those points being handed over by the offense.

Bottom line is, our offense hasn't been handling their business. It's bad enough that they are not generating production and points. It's even worse that they are giving away free points to the opponent... so it isn't that they are not being helpful.. they are actually hurting us on top of that.

The defense had 6 3 and outs against Seattle in the 1st half.

13 points in 50 minutes is doing your job. Plain and simple. If sustain that 3rd/4th qtr drive and score we most likely win.

Anyone who tells you the defense is the problem hasn't been watching the games.

When the defense starts giving up leads, i'd say its the problem.. but they've never been in the lead in 2 weeks and that defense actually gives the team hope to win but the offense cant score or move the ball.

Originally posted by eonblue:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Defense is on the field too much because the offense sucks. But we are in trouble with Aldon in Rehab now.

I don't think the offense is incapable of scoring. In fact I think we're very capable of managing the TOP. The coaching staff just needs to take a step backwards.

I don't think we're lost with 99. What about 94,91,90,52,53,35,22,25,26? Asomugha and Brown are ranked #3 and #5 in the league according to PFF. Reid will only get better as the season progresses. Carradine,Dial, and Wright in 3 weeks hopefully. Things are low now but we have to stay at .500. I hate referencing the Giants but they are the poster child of the late season run. If everyone can stay healthy and the offense can win some games we can peak at the end of the season. PLEASE BELIEVE!

this x100000000000000000

The defense is not the problem, the problem is, the play calling. Kaepernick is a great young QB, but he is throwing the ball way too much. With the lack of talent at the receiver position, we should get a little more creative with our run game considering we have three backs (not including DIXON) that can start on a lot of NFL teams, not to mention, a QB who had 4,000+ yards rushing in college. We should be throwing the ball to LMJ not Bruce Miller! We should be running sweeps with LMJ or Hunter not Dixon. We should be running draw plays or throwing screens. More play action. I'm not seeing any of this. It seems that we are trying to use the passing game to open up the run, but I think we should flip that over and do the opposite since our passing game is not much of a threat right now. Take a look at the NFC Championship game against the Falcons, we got behind early, but we never abandoned the run. The run game is what created the spark we needed to win that game. To sum it all up, I think we would have won the Super Bowl last year if we had run the ball on that last set of downs. We need to get back to what we do best, and that's running the ball down the throat of the opponent.

Originally posted by eonblue:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Defense is on the field too much because the offense sucks. But we are in trouble with Aldon in Rehab now.

I don't think the offense is incapable of scoring. In fact I think we're very capable of managing the TOP. The coaching staff just needs to take a step backwards.

I don't think we're lost with 99. What about 94,91,90,52,53,35,22,25,26? Asomugha and Brown are ranked #3 and #5 in the league according to PFF. Reid will only get better as the season progresses. Carradine,Dial, and Wright in 3 weeks hopefully. Things are low now but we have to stay at .500. I hate referencing the Giants but they are the poster child of the late season run. If everyone can stay healthy and the offense can win some games we can peak at the end of the season. PLEASE BELIEVE!

Great points -- we do have reinforcements coming. Like you said -- Carradine, Dial, Wright... also a week or two later Manningham and (hopefully) Crabtree late in the season.

I also agree the defense is not the problem. I wrote up a long post here (RE: the defense not being the problem):
http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/niners/174924-our-two-most-glaring-but-correctable-flaws/

Originally posted by eonblue:
Couple of stats for you statistical junkies.

TOP vs Seattle 24min
3/13 3rd down conversion

Offensive snap count vs Seattle - 53
Defensive snap count - 76

TOP vs Colts 23 mins
3/12 3rd down conversions

Offensive snap count vs Indy - 53
Defensive snap count vs Indy - 72

The defense is giving up 333 YPG/999 total yards which is 21st in the league. The defense is giving up 5.3 YPP. If Seattle snap counts were switched around the defense gives up 119 yards less.If Indy snap counts were switched around the defense gives up 104 less yards. Logically you can say more time equals more snaps equals more yards. So instead of 999 yard on the season we have 777 on the season which is 259 YPG. That's #3 in the league.

We controlled the clock against GB. 38min of possession and we gave up 3.2 YPC. That's a top 3 number. I believe 100% this is a top 5 defense but the lack of offense has allowed teams to run the ball/run the clock. The offense is allowing the other team to control the rhythm of the game, and this has never been a winning formula for the Niners. The offense is 29th in the league in offensive plays. 23rd in TOP. 29th in 1st downs made. 2nd in penalties. 29th in TO margin. 29th in PPG.

I welcome anyone to convince me the defense is the problem.

Not much of a big-picture perspective here. Everyone acknowledges that the offense is the worst of the two units by far right now and there is no question the offenses ineptitude is greatly affecting the defense as a result BUT don't discount the fact that this defense has some serious issues as well. We went through all of this in the Alex years as well. The "tired" excuse is just that...an excuse.

We have far more depth than we did last year, we're only 3 games into the season, we are probably the most well-conditioned team in the NFL yet the defense can't get off the field against power running teams (perpetual problem of ours dating back 3 years now) and as a result, don't help their own cause. If they completely imploded late in the 4th quarter, this would be more believable but they are consistently getting pounded throughout. As a result, both Smith's have been neautralized in the pass rush department b/c teams run right at them, they have a knack for getting the worst kinds of penalties at the worst times, it's an easy run right up the gut for a TD every time inside the 10, constant missed tackles, ILB's getting washed out d/t the push from the OL's against our DL, Brown getting schooled and stiff-armed by Luck, Whitner is a sift in coverage, Rogers continues to play half-assed and aside from Reid, has anyone else even knocked down a pass let alone come close to an INT or strip? And d/t the vanilla scheme and next-to-nothing rotation, guys are starting to get hurt b/c they are desperate and taking chances, getting worn down, (Nnamdi, Willis, Williams, etc.).

We get it...the offense blows right now...but if you want to ignore the defensive woes b/c the offense is more salient right now and isn't putting up the 34+ points a game to mask it, go for it...but to me, that's just repeating history here.