The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[MW49ers5]

I guess it depends on how you view it. I'd say the 49ers won against the Bengals and Seahawks because of their defense. Holding the Bengals to two FGs is the Defense winning the game. Shutting the Seahawks out in the 1st half and keeping them behind the 49ers on the scoreboard all day is the Defense winning the game too.

The one loss was when the Defense collapsed... and chances are that if that freak play didn't happen with Brock tripping and giving up a TD at the end of the half, the Defense might have done just enough to beat the Cowboys. We can talk about the collapse in the 2nd half, but a freak play at the end of the half put the Cowboys back in the game... that game can almost be written off as a series of unfortunate events.

So, it seems to me like the 49ers might only win because of their defense.

Excellent point, Three! You're right, right now we are winning mostly or only because of our defense, the question is, can they sustain this level of performance over the next 13 games against teams much better (or in better health) than the three we have faced?

 

[deep9er]

the defense isn't good enough to win games. the secondary showed that against dallas. not to mention there isn't enough depth on the line.

its pretty obvious the offense needs changes and they started to show some things that need to be done over the past couple games. the game plan for this week needs to feature those things.

of course you can't win with just defense, but you can't put your defense in bad spots by "opening up" more than your offense can execute? you can call any play you want but what are the odds this offense executes it? i'm not for continuing this play calling, but don't want to jump too ahead of the O-line?

calling three long passess but incomplete, or sack, or holding, puts your D in even worse position. this in turn puts your team in even worse position to win.

anyways, some things such as what?

if they already showed it, then what are you asking Harbabugh to do now? call it more often or add new stuff to it?

 

[wartyOne]

I know you didn't. But the goal of the team is to win the game. I'd rather play really conservative and win then play wide open and lose.

Another thought, maybe it helps the defense to keep the games low scoring because the opposition is less likely to throw the ball and abuse our secondary? They'll stick to the run game more.

Isn't this a failure on the other team's coaching staff to recognize a weakness and attack it? Our secondary has demonstrated they can't stop the pass (for the most part; there have been glimpses of good play sprinkled in amongst the trash). Regardless of the score, aren't we inviting teams to go after our secondary?

Maybe that's overly aggressive, but I can't see a team like the Colts/Pats/Saints/Chargers relying on the run if the score is close, especially considering they're playing a secondary that couldn't cover a twin bed with a king size blanket. I don't think the Steelers or Ravens do either.

 

[Flyingiguana]

That doesn't really change the point that the defense is the only reason they win. The offense certainly can't win putting up 200 yards per game.

that is exactly what i'm talking about. need to be more aggressive on offense because the d isn't good enough. teams with a decent qb will torch our secondary making that win with d philosophy look pretty bad.

harbaugh has 3 games of tape. take what works and throw out what doesn't.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

The return of a well playing Spencer can dramatically effect our coverage. Last week was a good start. Caldwell was doing well and then Rogers was put on him. If Spencer can perform better than Brown and take the 2nd CB gig that will go a long way.

 

[deep9er]

that is exactly what i'm talking about. need to be more aggressive on offense because the d isn't good enough. teams with a decent qb will torch our secondary making that win with d philosophy look pretty bad.

harbaugh has 3 games of tape. take what works and throw out what doesn't.

we ALL want more aggression, but we have different opinions of what this means? we have different ideas of how FAST we're able to implement certain aggressive passes?

asking the O-line to protect on 5 and 7 step drops hasn't worked, so in turn throwing more than 12 yards hasn't worked for us either, so we're throwing out all passes over 12 yards, is that right?

running the ball hasn't worked......at all, so we're throwing that out too....correct?

any type of screen is out, what else?

what aggressive plays HAS worked?