Is Trent Baalke Andy Reid 2.0

[imac_21]

Yardage rankings are a largely useless stat IMO. I've written at length as to why in the past.

But keep in mind, I'm talking about the Niners' postseason offense. The one that had a healthy Crabtree and Vernon Davis. And a healthy Iupati for 10 quarters of the postseason.

Any offense that has Kyle Williams starting is going to limp along.

Well, given that a healthy Crabtree all season may have led to the result you desire (beating either Carolina or New Orleans would have given us home field). A healthy Crabtree and Davis for those games likely gets a win in at least one of them. Then we host the NFCCG and who knows what come from that. . .

 

[NinerSickness]

Well, given that a healthy Crabtree all season may have led to the result you desire (beating either Carolina or New Orleans would have given us home field). A healthy Crabtree and Davis for those games likely gets a win in at least one of them. Then we host the NFCCG and who knows what come from that. . .

That's a good point. And all 3 of the Niners' teams from 2011 to 2013 were realistically capable of winning a SB. Especially 2012. Just like I think 2014's team is.

I just think that at least one of those teams (with the finishing-touch move I proposed) and maybe 2 would have been so much more talented than anyone else it would almost been a slam dunk to have won a SB. The following year or 2 / 3 years down the line would have suffered a bit. It would have been well worth it IMO.

I think it was a HUGE mistake that one of the most talented teams in the NFL with a glaring need at one particular starting position (CB) didn't sign Darrelle Revis. Huge. I thought it was a huge mistake the year before to have not signed DRC to a long term contract. And I think they didn't make these kinds of moves because they're strictly sticking to a philosophy rather than making an exception when the team is on the verge of a 6th trophy.

Granted, whatever they "lost" in these years is "gained" in other years, and if they win a SB I have absolutely no room to complain. But I don't think they will (at least not this year). I hope I'm wrong.

 

[imac_21]

That's a good point. And all 3 of the Niners' teams from 2011 to 2013 were realistically capable of winning a SB. Especially 2012. Just like I think 2014's team is.

I just think that at least one of those teams (with the finishing-touch move I proposed) and maybe 2 would have been so much more talented than anyone else it would almost been a slam dunk to have won a SB. The following year or 2 / 3 years down the line would have suffered a bit. It would have been well worth it IMO.

I think it was a HUGE mistake that one of the most talented teams in the NFL with a glaring need at one particular starting position (CB) didn't sign Darrelle Revis. Huge. I thought it was a huge mistake the year before to have not signed DRC to a long term contract. And I think they didn't make these kinds of moves because they're strictly sticking to a philosophy rather than making an exception when the team is on the verge of a 6th trophy.

Granted, whatever they "lost" in these years is "gained" in other years, and if they win a SB I have absolutely no room to complain. But I don't think they will (at least not this year). I hope I'm wrong.

Here's the other thing:

It's possible we had a dominant defense and failed to win the Super Bowl (at least in 2013) because we played another dominant defense with a similar offense to what we had in 11 and 12 (dominant run game and RB, mediocre WRs and a game manager QB (yeah, I said it)).

We basically played a team as close to us as possible, and in their house (which is clearly a huge advantage for them). The NFCCG was basically a coin toss, and the Broncos got smoked in the Super Bowl.

Not winning the Super Bowl doesn't mean we didn't have a team capable of winning the Super Bowl. One or two bounces in the NFCC game and we play in the Super Bowl. The biggest killer was the failure to scoop and score on the Russell Wilson fumble after Bowman's injury. Was it Willis and one of the DBs (Whitner) that both had a chance to scoop it running toward the Seahawks' endzone?

 

[NinerSickness]

Not winning the Super Bowl doesn't mean we didn't have a team capable of winning the Super Bowl.

We're in agreement on that. But if the Niners had DRC last season I think getting the 1 seed would've been a slam dunk. And I think Revis would make the 1 seed a slam dunk this season.

 

[imac_21]

We're in agreement on that. But if the Niners had DRC last season I think getting the 1 seed would've been a slam dunk.

I think if we had a healthy team it would have happened. I don't think we needed any additions. The defense was not the issue. I think it's a flawed approach to look at how we could have improved our defense last year rather than our offense - and that boils down to stay healthy.

 

[NinerSickness]

I think if we had a healthy team it would have happened.

The Niners weren't extremely unhealthy in 2013 overall. They were early on, but later on the team was pretty healthy.

And if in this hypothetical the Niners were healthy, wouldn't it be fair to throw in a healthy Seattle team too? They lost Harvin, a pro bowl left tackle & 2 other starting O-linemen if memory serves. They lost more than the Niners did early on. And the Niners played 'em minus Harvin & still lost.

Seattle simply had a better team than the Niners did last year. I don't think they would have with DRC starting. He wouldn't have let Doug Baldwin make the Niners' corners look stupid like he did in the NFCCG.

 

[imac_21]

The Niners weren't extremely unhealthy in 2013 overall. They were early on, but later on the team was pretty healthy.

And if in this hypothetical the Niners were healthy, wouldn't it be fair to throw in a healthy Seattle team too? They lost Harvin, a pro bowl left tackle & 2 other starting O-linemen if memory serves. They lost more than the Niners did early on. And the Niners played 'em minus Harvin & still lost.

Seattle simply had a better team than the Niners did last year. I don't think they would have with DRC starting. He wouldn't have let Doug Baldwin make the Niners' corners look stupid like he did in the NFCCG.

I'm talking about getting home field though. A healthier team likely gets another win (in the NO/Car games) as I suggested earlier. I think that's the difference. The Hawks took their losses when they were healthy (minus Harvin). We took our losses minus Crabtree, and two of them with a banged up Davis.

I would say Baldwin had a pretty good Super Bowl too. As did Kearse. Baldwin had basically one play on us, and it was more about not getting to Wilson than it was covering the receivers.

The NFCCG was a coin flip. I think most would agree that had we won that game, we would have won the Super Bowl as well.

 

[NinerSickness]

I'm talking about getting home field though. A healthier team likely gets another win (in the NO/Car games) as I suggested earlier. I think that's the difference. The Hawks took their losses when they were healthy (minus Harvin).

Seattle wasn't healthy for the Colts' game they lost.

Niners were minus Crabtree & Vernon / Iupati were "banged up" early on.

Seahawks were minus Harvin, Okung, Breno Giacomini and also a starting guard if memory serves. They also lost Sidney Rice later on, which was when they lost 2 of their games.

Seattle had worse injury problems in 2013 than the Niners did (the Harvin injury was enormous, and he was out for all 3 matchups).

Seattle barely lost to the Niners by 2 points in SF. They obliterated the Niners in Seattle. They were simply a more talented team than the Niners were last year. And the weakest link on the team was easily the CB when Crabtree was playing.

 

[imac_21]

Seattle wasn't healthy for the Colts' game they lost.

Niners were minus Crabtree & Vernon / Iupati were "banged up" early on.

Seahawks were minus Harvin, Okung, Breno Giacomini and also a starting guard if memory serves. They also lost Sidney Rice later on, which was when they lost 2 of their games.

Seattle had worse injury problems in 2013 than the Niners did (the Harvin injury was enormous, and he was out for all 3 matchups).

Seattle barely lost to the Niners by 2 points in SF. They obliterated the Niners in Seattle. They were simply a more talented team than the Niners were last year. And the weakest link on the team was easily the CB when Crabtree was playing.

The Harvin injury isn't the same. They knew he was injured when they acquired him, and knew they weren't going to have him. I disagree they had the worse injury problems. We also went the entire season without Culliver, missed Aldon for a good chunk of the season (different sort of injury), lost Ian Williams for the season in week 2, lost Brown for a few games, lost Bruce Miller late in the season. . .

Anyway, I'm done for tonight. Take care guys.

 

[NinerSickness]

The Harvin injury isn't the same. They knew he was injured when they acquired him, and knew they weren't going to have him. I disagree they had the worse injury problems. We also went the entire season without Culliver, missed Aldon for a good chunk of the season (different sort of injury), lost Ian Williams for the season in week 2, lost Brown for a few games, lost Bruce Miller late in the season. . .

Anyway, I'm done for tonight. Take care guys.

That's a fair point about Harvin, but the Niners were 1 game away from facing him in the NFCCG.

Let me put it this way:

Both teams had significant injuries early on, and Seattle was the better team by a gargantuan margin. You could argue the Niners had more injuries, but did they really have 26 more points worth of more injuries than Seattle did? They won 29-3.

Late in the season, both Seattle and the Niners were a lot more healthy. Both teams were missing some players, and the Niners won by 2 points in SF.

Injuries & luck play a part no matter what the front office does with the roster. But I think it's fair to say that Seattle's roster was simply better than the 49ers' roster in 2013. Their backups stepped up better than the Niners' backups did, and they simply out-played the Niners. It was close, but it's my opinion that Seattle clearly had an edge. And I think the biggest reason for that edge was the CB position.

A starting CB like DRC would have easily put the Niners in the driver's seat IMO. Of course there's no way to know for sure, but simply looking at it from a 53-man point of view I think that team (w/ DRC) would've been kind of like this year's team would've been if they had Revis.

The Niners were this close last year (holding fingers closely together). You don't think a CB like DRC would have been enough to make up that difference? I do.