Defense

[CalamityX11]

I haven't looked up stats or anything, but the Cards and Packers are what come to mind. I think they both had middling defenses but had offenses get hot in the playoffs. One made it to the SB, the other got the ring. Maybe I'm wrong, though, and maybe their D's were better. I'm being lazy and not doing the research tonight.

I don't know if AZ's defense was above good, i think fair and/or average? opportunistic and def aggressive personnel.

But in addition to GBs offensive force, their D was very good in pass rush and in the secondary... a very complete team IMO.

 

[mem49er]

yes, Arizona's D may have been middling and got 'hot'? i recall they got like three turnovers a game in their march to the SB? but the question is, is this the exception or the rule?

anyways, if Arizona indicates the trend, not going to argue. there IS a trend going on just we each have an opinion of how far its gone?

last year Green Bay's D WAS good, not middling.

Alright, so you forced me to do some light digging. I'm not gonna dig into too much detail, though if someone else wants to, feel free. Here's the most recent SB teams and their respective regular season defensive rankings by yards allowed. Winners highlighted in red.

2010 GB 5th PIT 2nd

2009 NO 25th IND 18th

2008 AZ 19th PIT 1st

2007 NY 7th NE 4th.

2006 CHI 5th IND 21st

Now ranks by scoring.

2010 GB 2nd PIT 1st

2009 NO 20th IND 8th

2008 AZ 28th PIT 1st

2007 NY 17th NE 4th

2006 CHI 3rd IND 23rd

Obviously, a good defense helps but you can get there and win without a top D these days.

 

[CalamityX11]

Looking at those #s, GB v PITT was the closest in terms of defensive ranks.

 

[wartyOne]

What would lead you to believe they wont keep it up?? Just curious. I think the defense has looked really good. With Aldon Smith improving our front 7 is one of the fastest in the league. And the defense is pretty physical. Didn't like Culliver stopping and breaking down the other day instead of running through McCoy allowing a first down, but we have some DB's that like to hit.

Because we don't get to play the 29th and 23rd worst scoring offenses in the league for half the season.

The defense has played well. And despite Dallas playing well on offense, we haven't really stopped a top NFL offense yet. Stopping an inconsistent Romo (which we didn't do, for the record) isn't the same as stopping Brees, Brady and Rodgers. Yes, we beat up on Tavares Jackson and Rookie Andy Dalton. Let's see how we fare against Stafford before we annoint ourselves the 85 Chicago Bears.

Regardless, I'm thrilled we're where we are. Go 9ers.

 

[clyde_carbon]

Because we don't get to play the 29th and 23rd worst scoring offenses in the league for half the season.

The defense has played well. And despite Dallas playing well on offense, we haven't really stopped a top NFL offense yet. Stopping an inconsistent Romo (which we didn't do, for the record) isn't the same as stopping Brees, Brady and Rodgers. Yes, we beat up on Tavares Jackson and Rookie Andy Dalton. Let's see how we fare against Stafford before we annoint ourselves the 85 Chicago Bears.

Regardless, I'm thrilled we're where we are. Go 9ers.

Good thing we don't play any of those QBs this year.

 

[deep9er]

Alright, so you forced me to do some light digging. I'm not gonna dig into too much detail, though if someone else wants to, feel free. Here's the most recent SB teams and their respective regular season defensive rankings by yards allowed. Winners highlighted in red.

2010 GB 5th PIT 2nd

2009 NO 25th IND 18th

2008 AZ 19th PIT 1st

2007 NY 7th NE 4th.

2006 CHI 5th IND 21st

Now ranks by scoring.

2010 GB 2nd PIT 1st

2009 NO 20th IND 8th

2008 AZ 28th PIT 1st

2007 NY 17th NE 4th

2006 CHI 3rd IND 23rd

Obviously, a good defense helps but you can get there and win without a top D these days.

ok good, thanks for looking it up. if you had asked me to guess before you posted it, would've said two at most over 10th ranked. so first off i stand corrected, cause didn't think the trend was even that far to offense?

however, did agree there's a trend and this seems to indicate it? this is going back five super bowls and think if the sample sized increased to say 20, it would weight more defense (percentage)? anyways, not about to look so this is just conjecture.

i knew Arizona didn't have a good D going into the play-offs, but they got there with a lot of turnovers (3 games in a row?). so they were one example where a D can get 'hot'?

i'll still stick with D but not be adamant, for those who want offense no problem, all you need is for the 49ers can get a Peyton or Drew.

 

[bing_blunt]

Arizona's strategy that resulted in consecutive trips to the playoffs is not something other teams should try to copy. In the regular season for those two years, they went 19-13, and then relied on Warner/Fitz/Boldin to turn every important game into a shootout.

As nice as it is to Smith improve his play, he's no Manning, Brees, or Warner. Which is what it takes to win big without a top defense.

Also, how bad are the niners' opponents this year? Joe Flacco could be the second best QB remaining on the schedule... and we still have yet to play the 0-4 Rams.

 

[mem49er]

ok good, thanks for looking it up. if you had asked me to guess before you posted it, would've said two at most over 10th ranked. so first off i stand corrected, cause didn't think the trend was even that far to offense?

however, did agree there's a trend and this seems to indicate it? this is going back five super bowls and think if the sample sized increased to say 20, it would weight more defense (percentage)? anyways, not about to look so this is just conjecture.

i knew Arizona didn't have a good D going into the play-offs, but they got there with a lot of turnovers (3 games in a row?). so they were one example where a D can get 'hot'?

i'll still stick with D but not be adamant, for those who want offense no problem, all you need is for the 49ers can get a Peyton or Drew.

Arizona's strategy that resulted in consecutive trips to the playoffs is not something other teams should try to copy. In the regular season for those two years, they went 19-13, and then relied on Warner/Fitz/Boldin to turn every important game into a shootout.

As nice as it is to Smith improve his play, he's no Manning, Brees, or Warner. Which is what it takes to win big without a top defense.

Also, how bad are the niners' opponents this year? Joe Flacco could be the second best QB remaining on the schedule... and we still have yet to play the 0-4 Rams.

I'm not arguing that the team shouldn't have a good defense or that I don't want one; hell, I want a dominating, step-on-their-throat defense. That said, the old adage "defense wins championships" isn't as true as it used to be; much like the fact that you don't have to have a dominating rushing attack to set up your pass. They have evolved the game (with a lot of help from rule changes) to feature offense and specifically the pass. Bottom line, there's multiple ways to get there, I just wanna get there!

 

[deep9er]

I'm not arguing that the team shouldn't have a good defense or that I don't want one; hell, I want a dominating, step-on-their-throat defense. That said, the old adage "defense wins championships" isn't as true as it used to be; much like the fact that you don't have to have a dominating rushing attack to set up your pass. They have evolved the game (with a lot of help from rule changes) to feature offense and specifically the pass. Bottom line, there's multiple ways to get there, I just wanna get there!

yes of course, we all agree there's a change (trend to offense) in that adage. never said its still 100% absolute today? we MAY disagree on how far this trend has come?

i might say it trended 15% to offense, you might say 30%? there's no correct answer, just discussion.

the "multiple ways" to get there are lean D, lean O, or 50/50? for me its lean D, what do you say?

 

[mem49er]

yes of course, we all agree there's a change (trend to offense) in that adage. never said its still 100% absolute today? we MAY disagree on how far this trend has come?

i might say it trended 15% to offense, you might say 30%? there's no correct answer, just discussion.

the "multiple ways" to get there are lean D, lean O, or 50/50? for me its lean D, what do you say?

Yea, I'm sure you agree it's not worth splittin the hairs on percentage trend. If true, the next 5 years will show more of the same.

As for lean on O or D, do you mean in general or our present team? For our present team, I think we have to lean on D.

In general, if I could have a dominating O with a decent D or a dominating D with a decent O I would go with dominating O and decent D. Though I enjoy a nice defensive effort, I say O because then you never feel like you're out of a game. Decent for these discussions is top 15.

 

[deep9er]

Yea, I'm sure you agree it's not worth splittin the hairs on percentage trend. If true, the next 5 years will show more of the same.

As for lean on O or D, do you mean in general or our present team? For our present team, I think we have to lean on D.

In general, if I could have a dominating O with a decent D or a dominating D with a decent O I would go with dominating O and decent D. Though I enjoy a nice defensive effort, I say O because then you never feel like you're out of a game. Decent for these discussions is top 15.

sorry, i did mean in general. yeah, this current team is definitely "lean D".

ok, so you're for lean O and thats fine. its funny you say because "you never feel out of a game", thats my reason for "lean D".

 

[CalamityX11]

Remaining Schedule QBs

Freeman
Stafford
McCoy
Grossman
Eli Manning
Kolb
Flacco
Bradford
Kolb
Big Ben
TJ
Bradford

Not really afraid... scary defense behind Flacco though. Stafford is the only guy HOWEVER, Dallas D did stop the Lions for nearly 3 Qs.

 

[deep9er]

Remaining Schedule QBs

Freeman
Stafford
McCoy
Grossman
Eli Manning
Kolb
Flacco
Bradford
Kolb
Big Ben
TJ
Bradford

Not really afraid... scary defense behind Flacco though. Stafford is the only guy HOWEVER, Dallas D did stop the Lions for nearly 3 Qs.

didn't the Vikings stop Detroit for almost 3 qtrs?

 

[bigpb72]

YES