2008 NFL Season Thread- The Road to Super Bowl XLIII

[Darth Fanboy]

I stand corrected. So what scheme would work best with what SF has now in terms of players?

A scheme where we can put four or five extra guys on the field unfortunately.

[Havok]

I stand corrected. So what scheme would work best with what SF has now in terms of players?

A scheme where we can put four or five extra guys on the field unfortunately.

A straight 4-3 would be the easiest way to go. With Justin Smith in his natural position at end, and with Franklin and Sapoaga cloging up the middle, allowing Patrick Willis to roam free in the middle and the rejuvenated Takeo Spikes to be able to make more plays as well. The defenses biggest problem, outside of pass rush, is safety play. Quite a few of those big plays the 49ers have given up have been because the safeties have been out of position. Micheal Lewis is a good player, but he has lost speed from his days in Philly and Brian Dawkins made him look a little better than he actually was.

It is also easier in this defense to drop the safety down and go into a 46 for a more solid run defense. Something I think Singletary may know a little something about.

[Elfdart]

Well actually, the D that is in SF is not what he likes or runs. Nolan likes a pure 3-4. The hybrid that SF has right now is a necessity based on personnel. (smaller middle linebackers that are faster and not as strong and have a harder time shedding blocks of interior offensive lineman and not an effective enough nose tackle)
He has already shown, that with talent, he is an excellent coordinator and he has an aggressive attitude that SD could use.

I stand corrected. So what scheme would work best with what SF has now in terms of players? Franklin was supposed to be that good nose tackle we needed, but that hasn't worked out, and I somehow doubt the middle linebackers will be going anyway anytime soon. Would the 49ers benefit from a switch to a straight 4-3, or is there some other scheme they can use that might actually be effective?

Thanks to hovokeff for answering the question. I'd also point out that he has worked with Norv Turner before and the two get along well, unlike Ted Cottrell, who was foisted on Turner by management.

I haven't seen much of the 49ers but what I have seen is that their defense is essentially running a 3-4 with players better suited for a 4-3; only they don't have enough DTs to run either. And defensive tackle is a hard position to fill. If they should scrounge up two decent ones, I think they would be best suited for an over-shifted 4-3 (a 4-3 with one of the DTs lined up on the nose and two inside linebackers). This formation is more effective against the run than the straight 4-3, but lends itself to launch the 46 defense (which also features LBs shifted to one side).

The team is just talent-poor where it hurts most -the offensive and defensive lines.

[Havok]

Basically ED. Although, I'm not totally down on the O-Line. Quite a few of the 29 (yeesh) sacks that have been given up are coverage sacks and I.N.T. O'Fumblin holding on to the ball too long.

Albert Hainesworth is coming up on free agency next year. I would love for us to grab him. I think Roy Williams may be leaving the Cowboys as well, and he would be an upgrade to the safety position which would help our run defense.

[Dark Flame]

7-7... Again.

Not to rip on the Redskins, but honestly if we'd had good QB play the Browns should have won by a TD, if not a bit more. The defense somehow held the Skins to only 14, and the offense gave them no help at all. If DA would complete his fucking passes then we'd be fine right now at 3-3. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

[Havok]

7-7... Again.

Not to rip on the Redskins, but honestly if we'd had good QB play the Browns should have won by a TD, if not a bit more. The defense somehow held the Skins to only 14, and the offense gave them no help at all. If DA would complete his fucking passes then we'd be fine right now at 3-3. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Fuck man. Get your shit together. I was hoping DA would knock it out of the park this year, sos we could trade for Brady Quinn.

[Dark Flame]

Hell, I was hoping the same thing.

Now we have this whole Kellen Winslow thing going on. I probably don't have even close to all the facts, but I think the Browns need to get this staph shit under control. K2 needs to quit whining aobut being treated "like a piece of meat," but he has a point about them trying to cover up the staph. And we fucking need him on the field! Dammit!

[Qwerty 42]

Any Brits, could you tell me how much attention is being paid to Saints/Chargers? Merely curious.

EDIT: Oops, just saw Crown's topic.

[Qwerty 42]

Oakland at Baltimore
Arizona at Carolina
Tampa Bay at Dallas
Washington at Detroit
Buffalo at Miami
St. Louis at New England
San Diego at New Orleans
Kansas City at New York Jets
Atlanta at Philadelphia
Cleveland at Jacksonville
Cincinnati at Houston
New York Giants at Pittsburgh
Seattle at San Francisco
Indianapolis at Tennessee

[Dark Flame]

Oakland at Baltimore
Arizona at Carolina
Tampa Bay at Dallas
Washington at Detroit
Buffalo at Miami
St. Louis at New England
San Diego at New Orleans
Kansas City at New York Jets
Atlanta at Philadelphia
Cleveland at Jacksonville
Cincinnati at Houston
New York Giants at Pittsburgh
Seattle at San Francisco
Indianapolis at Tennessee

This will really be an interesting week. Most of these matchups have at least one subplot going on, and some have even more. The NYG-Steelers game is being advertised as a Super Bowl preview, so that should be good. And hopefully my Brownies will overcome their recent distractions and beat up on the solid Jaguars.

[Elfdart]

I'll take:

Ravens
Chargers
Panthers
Cowboys
Redskins
Patriots
Eagles
Jets
Texans
Steelers
Jaguars
49ers (Looks like they also fired their OL coach, a move that was long overdue.)

[Dartzap]

Its getting shown on BBC2. I tuned in for a short while before they when they started stopping every other injury I'm sure quite a few people are watching though.

Allright, decided to give it a go: Is it always this slow? Seems to be quite allot of stopping involved.

Smote me if needed

[CmdrWilkens]

The stopping is somewhat intentional. Certainly the constant TV timeouts are excessive (and the NFL should probably have foregone some of them for the overseas game as the US is so indoctrinated to them its a nuisance complaint rather than a barrier to acceptance) but the game as a whole tends to move along but not at the pace of sports like soccer, basketball, rugby, or even hockey. That said its shitloads faster than baseball.

[Havok]

AAAAANd Elfdart probably just broke something. 3-5 at the halfway point is not a fun hole to dig out of. At least the field looked a little better this year. Still looked like a highschool field though.

[Elfdart]

Digging out of the hole? I think not. They're digging all the way to China.

There's no excuse for scoring 30 points and losing. The Chargers' defense blows. Ted Cottrell has got to GO!

[Havok]

Wow. How bad are the 49ers. Well I just saw the first facemask penalty I have ever seen... AGAINST A RUNNING BACK during a straight arm. And I.N.T. O'Fumblin, already has fumbled twice. *sigh*

[Medic]

Digging out of the hole? I think not. They're digging all the way to China.

There's no excuse for scoring 30 points and losing. The Chargers' defense blows. Ted Cottrell has got to GO!

*sigh*

Of course I'm in Kansas still so I don't have the luxury of making the sort of judgments I have in the past but I have to wonder, are we still giving wideouts 10 yard cushions what seems like 3/4 of every play?

Only good thing about this game is it looks like LT might finally be close to %100. Not a moment too soon.

[Havok]

Pressure on the QB disrupts the offense?!?! Who knew?

[Havok]

FUCK!! Can one of these fucking Seahawks please break O'Fumblins leg! ANOTHER interception thrown at the end of the half. This one returned for six. Fuck Mike Martz and his "best QB I've ever coached" BULL FUCKING SHIT!. FUCK THEM BOTH!

Good. Shawn Hill is on the field.

[Flagg]

Fucking Garcia played like shit today. The Cowboys should have been easy to beat instead we get Garcia throwing to Groundie McTurf and Michael Clayton dropping more balls than Havs mom in a Tijuana whorehouse.

[Elfdart]

Digging out of the hole? I think not. They're digging all the way to China.

There's no excuse for scoring 30 points and losing. The Chargers' defense blows. Ted Cottrell has got to GO!

*sigh*

Of course I'm in Kansas still so I don't have the luxury of making the sort of judgments I have in the past but I have to wonder, are we still giving wideouts 10 yard cushions what seems like 3/4 of every play?

Yep. Third and long: rush three, give 10-yard cushions. There's a reason Trent Edwards completed 83% of his passes last week. The defense can't get off the fucking field.

[Falkenhayn]

Well, sombody replaced Dick Jauron with Mike Mularkey and the Bills with Clowns. Or Children. Because we played like Clown-Children today.

Jason Peters loves Joey Porter so much, he decided to send him to the Pro Bowl.

[Havok]

So I figured it out. The Niners need to trade this years and next years #1s and 3s for Carson Palmer and Chad Ocho-Cinco. It will solve the problem of stability at QB and open up Martz's offense properly. It will also get Palmer and Cinco a fresh start away from Cincinatti as well as giving the Bengals a large draft class for two years for with which to rebuild the franchise after they fire Lewis at the end of the year.

[Havok]

Heh. I think that I already love Mike Singletary as a head coach Vernon Davis, one of the Niners best players, commits a stupid foul and gets a 15 yard penalty. He comes off the field and either goes over and sits down like a spoiled little kid or he is very unapologetic about the incident. Probably both. Either way, Singletary gets pissed and basically says "get the fuck off my field". Davis gets up and walks away and Singletary stops him and makes him come pick up his helmet and take it with him.
The best part is that Singletary stares him down, and I mean STARES HIM FUCKING DOWN, the entire time. Not like some other loud, emotional coaches, like John Gruden where they will yell and belittle for a minute until they remember they are doing that to a 260lb man of solid muscle and speed that is paid to hurtle his body into other men of the same stature if not bigger, IN BODY ARMOR, and once they realize this begin to walk away and move behind other players and coaches (you know what I'm talking about). I mean it was just him and Davis, and Davis left without saying a word, not even making eye contact. Awesome. I hope this attitude starts rubbing off on the team and fucking soon.

And as a side note, I also love Deion Sanders. He has, IMO, some of the best commentary on the NFL, the games and the players and coaches. It is a realistic take that wraps the business and game aspects of the NFL all in one and you just have this feeling that when he says certain things it is what players and coaches are actually thinking and would say so if it were appropriate.

[Elfdart]

I saw Singletary play in college when I was a kid and he scared the shit out of me back then. Every hit had the crowd saying "OOOWWW!". He's vicious and more importantly, smart.

I saw the video and it's hilarious. It reminds me of what Jimmy Johnson said to Curvin Richards, a running back who had just fumbled and casually strolled off the field like nothing had happened:

"Don't you EVER leave the ball on the ground and walk off the field with a smile on your face!"

When Richards fumbled again, Johnson cut him. Vernon Davis is a punk and half and richly deserved to be humiliated.

So I figured it out. The Niners need to trade this years and next years #1s and 3s for Carson Palmer and Chad Ocho-Cinco. It will solve the problem of stability at QB and open up Martz's offense properly. It will also get Palmer and Cinco a fresh start away from Cincinatti as well as giving the Bengals a large draft class for two years for with which to rebuild the franchise after they fire Lewis at the end of the year.

The Bengals want a pair of #1 picks just for Chad Johnson, and Palmer won't be traded. What the 49ers need is to spend picks on an offensive line. O'Sullivan had no chance on that fumble: the DE was in the backfield before he was.