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DK - A defense rebuilt, now maybe reborn

madinsomniac said:
Watching the Steelers O last week one had the feeling they were abusing the D and just not finishing...that was even according to the announcers during the game. the 9rs were, for the most part bottled up they had a couple long drives buoyed by a lot of favorable calls, but there was not really ever a feeling they were an offensive threat, but whether that was our D or their ineptitude, I am not sure. The D got toasted on a long Td play in a D that is meant to prevent those same quick strikes, and they again had some trouble with Tes in the red zone, even if he couldn't hold on. there were red flags
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The 49ers moved the ball several times and couldn't punch it in. They had almost a 9 minute drive that they couldn't put in the EZ and had to settle for a FG. They had an 18 play 7 minute drive that they didn't get any points. They had a 15 play 5 minute drive with no points. IF you reverse teams everyone on this board would be talking about not being able to finish killing them. The defense played very well IMHO. But they gave up a ton of yards and the offense scores quickly so the defense is going to be on the field a lot. The offense didn't have one drive over 8 plays. They lost the TOP by 37 minutes to 23 minutes. The 49ers had the ball a lot but they couldn't convert when they needed too.
 
the niners hurt themselves a lot in the game. it was more on them then what we did to them. they are not a good offense at all and did move the ball with long drives and any decent team would have put some serious points on the board against us yesterday.
 
Vader said:
The 49ers moved the ball several times and couldn't punch it in. They had almost a 9 minute drive that they couldn't put in the EZ and had to settle for a FG. They had an 18 play 7 minute drive that they didn't get any points. They had a 15 play 5 minute drive with no points. IF you reverse teams everyone on this board would be talking about not being able to finish killing them. The defense played very well IMHO. But they gave up a ton of yards and the offense scores quickly so the defense is going to be on the field a lot. The offense didn't have one drive over 8 plays. They lost the TOP by 37 minutes to 23 minutes. The 49ers had the ball a lot but they couldn't convert when they needed too.
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yes but the Steelers O scored quickly while the 9rs, for the most part, tried to run it in... that's what leads to those long drives that get no points or just a field goals... Making a team have 10+ plays was a staple of the lebeau philosophy... thinking that eventually given enough plays the o will make a drive killing play. go look at the drive charts on the 17 play field goal... that ate a ton of time up, but it really accomplished little... Once they got to the red zone where the D was in tight, the run game disappeared and they couldn't score. their passing game wasn't ever a threat till we went soft at the end... By the end of the Pats game when they went prevent Ben had almost 300 yards and had several bad drops and routes....
 
Hopefully Big Dan continues to get better, so we can use him in 3 man fronts. Dude is strong, would love to see him playing pissed off. and pushing around the two guys trying to block him. It was good to see him play well on the goal line
 
One thing is for sure.. if the defense is gonna be on the field for long periods of time..we have plenty of back up LBs and McCullers to spell their positions.
 
Look at those 3 long drives... one was clearly vs the prevent at the end of the game, which did exactly what it was supposed to do with a huge lead...potentially let up the score but ate all but 2 minutes of the game clock

The second wasn't full prevent, but it was soft coverage and it too ate clock with a huge lead, It started with a fumble that the D didn't recover, and was Buoyed by an illegitimate 15 yard penalty near their own 30. Three of the plays in that 15 play drive were 4th down plays... four came after what looked like a 4th down stop that the refs gave them. If the team isn't down big, there is a 34ish yard field goal attempt after the D held on the 19

The first was a legit drive, and almost all rushing... but of that 17 play drive, 1 was an incomplete pass, 2 were off sides plays by the steelers, 3 were negative rush plays by the 49rs, one of which added a 10 yard holding penalty, and there was a sack...
 
Garbage time or not, this defense has a lot of work to do. There were plenty of flashes that shows the potential some of the players on this defense. Secondary needs an upgrade of two. I love the front 7. Lots of potential there. But at this point, that is all it is.
 
Sarge said:
Garbage time or not, this defense has a lot of work to do. There were plenty of flashes that shows the potential some of the players on this defense. Secondary needs an upgrade of two. I love the front 7. Lots of potential there. But at this point, that is all it is.
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The worse play was clearly the long TD to Smith, who split a d specifically made to not allow a deep pass play, and whom the safeties were both slow to react to
 
Say what you want about the 49ers offense, but the fact is our D dropped a mobile QB 5 times! If he wasn't mobile, it would have been more.

Front 7 is getting pressure people!
 
bigappleyinzer said:
the 49er's had a little over 100yds in the 1st half and only 3 points. Needless to say- much of their damage was done in garbage time.

Hell lets take it another step... The bills defense, which is expected to be top 5 in the nfl, just let the pats:

Put up 40 points compared to our 28.
Allowed brady to throw for 466 compared to our 288
allowed 507 yards compared to our 467

all while playing at home.

Maybe our defense isnt as bad as many of you think?
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i forgot how many Carnacs we have on this board.

D held up their end of the field Sunday.
 
They played the way they have to. Fast and aggressive. It is a start. But we are talking about the SF 49ers on a short week traveling across the country here. Like lets get halfway through the season and see what they look like.
 
SteelerSask said:
They played the way they have to. Fast and aggressive. It is a start. But we are talking about the SF 49ers on a short week traveling across the country here. Like lets get halfway through the season and see what they look like.
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It could have been "Little Sisters Of The Poor" and after game 1 most would have been happy with just the signs of improvement. Speaking for myself and myself only, that's what I was happy to see ... improvement. Hopefully they are able to take this performance, use it to build some confidence and continue to improve through the season. If they can, we might have something good. Hell, if the offense continues to play the way they can, a middle of the pack defense might just be good enough.
 
Step in the right direction.

Overall I think they looked much better than they did in the first game.

Now lets keep building on that.

And Bigapple those are solid arguments.
 
Our secondary is still garbage. We need more help back there. Was cool to see Boykin break up a TD pass. I believe we are going in the right direction but I will also point out that even at our best last decade, this defense still struggled with 5 wide dink and dunk type passing offenses. The Raiders started it against us and other teams like NE have followed that script for a long time. We've done better when we've jammed receivers at the LOS and stopped them from getting the 8 yard cushion coverage. We will see how this plays out over the next 14 games. I'm not convinced this defense is an elite defense after going against a mobile QB with a running game plan against us.
 
Hines57 said:
Our secondary is still garbage. We need more help back there. Was cool to see Boykin break up a TD pass. I believe we are going in the right direction but I will also point out that even at our best last decade, this defense still struggled with 5 wide dink and dunk type passing offenses. The Raiders started it against us and other teams like NE have followed that script for a long time. We've done better when we've jammed receivers at the LOS and stopped them from getting the 8 yard cushion coverage. We will see how this plays out over the next 14 games. I'm not convinced this defense is an elite defense after going against a mobile QB with a running game plan against us.
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We no longer need an "Elite" defense. We NEEDED that when we were trying to win games 3-0 with 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Those days are gone, all we need now is a few defensive stops per game, and this offense SHOULD be able to win games.
For ***** sake, some of you need to come out of the Mark Malone era.

Joe
 
I don;t think its too much to ask for a stronger secondary. The "Elite" defense expectation may be a byproduct of an era gone by, but damn if it isn't fun watching our LBs and DBs shut teams down. Also, there is nothing more exciting (next to scoring) than watching an OLB come around the corner and put the QB on his *** four our five times a game. We saw some of that against San Fran, but I want it against teams that really matter. Baltimore, New Engl*nd, Cincy, San Diego, ah hell, who am i fooling? Everyone in the league!
 
t-man said:
We no longer need an "Elite" defense. We NEEDED that when we were trying to win games 3-0 with 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Those days are gone, all we need now is a few defensive stops per game, and this offense SHOULD be able to win games.
For ***** sake, some of you need to come out of the Mark Malone era.

Joe
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Not saying we need an elite defense to win it all, however when we play a team like NE that can spread us out we have to be able to do better. Our secondary is still ****. The front 7 had a huge game and I hope that continues. At some point we will need our defense to come up big this year when our offense isn't clicking. Its a valid concern.
 
As the kids would say, "Overreact much?" Lets not look at numbers as trends just yet. UnleDo you really think DeAngelo Williams is going to score 24 TDs this year?
 
Just A Fan said:
Hopefully Big Dan continues to get better, so we can use him in 3 man fronts. Dude is strong, would love to see him playing pissed off. and pushing around the two guys trying to block him. It was good to see him play well on the goal line
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When hat on hat, he was getting 2-3 yards of penetration. When double teamed, he was still pushing them back 1.5 yards. That is impressive.
 
Butler sending the DL after the QB made a huge difference. Obviously it opens up more for the LB's and Safties to blitz and be more effective.
 
Shane Falco said:
Butler sending the DL after the QB made a huge difference. Obviously it opens up more for the LB's and Safties to blitz and be more effective.
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Absolutely agree. Not saying that using DE's to fill gaps is wrong- but it is clear that both Heyward and Tuitt are more than capable of penetrating.
 
We are seeing a little of what may become a solid "D" . I bet we see a couple early round "D" picks with talent, next year. One good game does not a season make, but it contributes to the season.



Salute the nation
 
It's nice to have that High-Octane offense option, but I still believe in my heart

"defense wins championships."

The D will need to gel and continue to improve as the season progresses if there is any hope of making a push for the playoffs down the line. Of course it's only week 3 so there's no need to get dreamy yet. It's just nice to see them have a strong game.
 
Lloyds legend said:
Step in the right direction.

Overall I think they looked much better than they did in the first game.

Now lets keep building on that.

And Bigapple those are solid arguments.
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Solid??? If the facts were any more solid - you'd need Ex-Lax to loosen them up...
 
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