It is strange to me how things have gone for the 49ers defense. There have been changes of personnel from last season. Clements was replaced by Carlos Rogers. Takeo Spikes was replaced by NaVorro Bowman. Manny Lawson was replaced by Ahmad Brooks. Aubrayo Franklin was replaced by Ice Sopoaga, and Ray McDonald took over Soap’s LDE spot on the line.
Beyond that, Tarell Brown took over for a hobbled Shawntae Spencer, and 3rd round draft choice Chris Culliver has bumped our ‘best’ cover guy from last year to 3rd string. The addition of Madieu Williams and Donte Whitner has really solidified a secondary that had a hard time stopping 3rd down passes the last few years. The guys from last year have been playing outstanding football. Justin Smith has played out of his mind. Rookie Aldon Smith has played extremely well for a 20 year old raw pass rusher. He’s been held in check these last couple games, but looks to hit a few sacks against AZ’s weak tackles. Bowman has been lights-out. He’s second in the league in tackles. Willis is his solid high-motor self, but is being overshadowed by all the excitement going on around him. 9th in tackles with 71.
As it stands the defense gives up a lot of yards in the air (26th), but that stems from the run defense being the best in the NFL, and the fact that the Niners are getting a lot of early leads. Along with the yards given up, the Nniners lead the NFC in interceptions with 12, have the league leader in INTs in Carlos Rogers with 5, and are number one in the turnover ratio at +13 (12 INTs, 9 fumble recoveries against 3 INTs [should be 2] and 5 fumbles lost).
All in all, heady stuff for first year Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio. Fangio has had fair to middling success as a DC in his NFL travels, but maybe it’s Harbaugh, maybe it’s the talent on this team that he inherited, maybe it’s the learning curve of being in the game so long, or maybe it’s the mixture of all these things that have coalesced this defense into a top flight unit. Regularly is heard that this front 7 is the toughest in the NFL.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
Crazy stat I cribbed from Matt Barrows.
Here’s the week-by-week “longest run” tally for opposing tailbacks.
Week 1: Marshawn Lynch: 12 (WR Ben Obomanu: 13)
Week 2: DeMarco Murray: 8
Week 3: Cedric Benson: 10 (QB Michael Vick: 24)
Week 4: Ronnie Brown: 15
Week 5: LeGarrette Blount: 9
Week 6: Jahvid Best: 13
Week 8: Chris Ogbonnaya: 7 (QB Colt McCoy: 9)
Week 9: Roy Helu: 16
Week 10: Brandon Jacobs: 15
The 49ers have held opposing teams to a league low 73.2 rushing yards a game. The Eagles were the only team to even combine for more than 100 rushing yards. They had 108.
By contrast, Frank Gore has runs of 55, 47, 40, 27, 26, 25, 24, 21, 19 and 18 yards, and Kendall Hunter has broken off runs of 44, 26 and 17 yards.
Wow, looks like we got us a pretty good team.
I for one don’t think this week is gonna be a cake walk. I hope we give Gore some rest and give Hunter and Dixon the majority of carries. Hope Smith goes downfield a little more than usual. If nothing else it should clear out some territory where our TE’s and RB’s can work. This is a do or die game for AZ and it’s this kinda game where injuries can happen.
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Chuck, to me, your posts are right on the money. You are doing a real good job with this blog. Thanks.
Second that
Thanks, Winder . . .
I really thought this would be a work-in-progress season. Rebuilding? Sure I called it that. I figured, we’d be about 5-4 at best by now, and be poised to win the division by winning these NFC west games. These might as well be tune-up games, to tell the truth. I really didn’t think the defense would have gelled the way it has.
Still and all Harbaugh’s taking the right approach by calling these games doubly important as they are division games. Just by looking at the fates of Detroit and Buffalo (and to a lesser extent, Cincy), you never can tell when the wheels are going to fall off, and the team loses momentum. Someone else can easily catch fire and put the heat on. Look at the Denver Tebows. Left for dead a couple weeks ago, they are 0.5 out of 1st place. KC has died, been reborn, and died again. Philly? Same thing. Dallas, was left for dead as well. They are only a game out, and they have a favorable schedule in front of them. Balt is a study in inconsistency. Pittsburgh looks great one week, and then old and slow the next. NE can’t play defense worth a damn. Houston just lost Schaub.
Crazy shit going on this year. Such unsettled shit leaves the path open for a long playoff run.
Yeah, and Houston just lost their QB, it should be interesting going into the stretch. For now we gotta play like our lives depend on it, but down the road when we can see where the top seeding goes we can inject some of our back-ups for longer periods of time. Not only for the sake of giving them valuable playing time but also to keep our core guys fresh and injury free. We got some potential here. To bad it wasn’t like the September call ups and we could add to our roster. It would be great to be able to play our PS too.
The teams in the division are all playing better than they were, and I just don’t see a let down for those games. The defense is just too solid and the key guys for the offense- Alex and Harbaugh ( yes, Smith is the MVP on that side of the ball) have too much to prove to be over confident.
Excerpts from the article in Cold Hard Football Facts: Is Tebow a legitimate (triple) option?
http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_4680_Is_Tebow_a_legitimate_%28triple%29_option%3F.html
With many references to Bill Walsh’s West Coast Offense, similarities to the college triple option, Tebow’s winning his last 3 games and why that might be:
“In a 17-10 win over Kansas City last Sunday, Denver quarterback Tim Tebow achieved one of the most amazing statistical days in NFL history.”
“The quality of Tebow’s play is accurately reflected in his passer rating.
What did Denver do on the 55 offensive plays it did not pass? The Broncos ran, of course. Frequently, Tebow ran a form of the triple option similar to the design he executed at the University of Florida.”
“What most people do not realize is that, from the production perspective, the wishbone triple option and Bill Walsh’s West Coast Offense have much in common.”
“Like the wishbone triple option, the options that Walsh’s West Coast Offense provided its quarterback created valuable production leverage.
Where Walsh’s design was far superior to the triple option was in risk management, not production. An incomplete pitch in Walsh’s design usually was a relatively harmless incomplete forward pass, not a back-breaking turnover.”
“While many wondered whether Tebow might be the guy to bring the spread option to the NFL,” Brown wrote, “few thought it would be because his team was terrible, his coaches were too scared to let him pass, and the organization didn’t believe in him enough to care whether he got beat up doing it.”
“…the QuantCoach has seen enough in the last two weeks to predict that, using the leverage derived from his unconventional option, Tebow will deliver the 2011 AFC West title to Denver. ”
Read the whole article by Kevin Braig. You’ll be in a better position to decide for yourself whether Tim Tebow is worthy of being an object of derision (“Holy Tebow: He Has Risen”) or the QB who wins the AFC West for Denver. Me, I’m with Braig and Tebow.
It’s mainly the title of the article “Holy Tebow: He Has Risen!” that pokes fun at Tim T. The writer says things like: “For the first time since taking over as the starting quarterback, his Eminence had the national stage, and he didn’t disappoint.” Hardly a knock.
And: ” The Denver Broncos are a legitimate playoff contender now, and the New York Jets probably aren’t.”
Plus: “Everyone in the Broncos organization, from John Elway to Kyle Orton to Mitch Unrein, are swimming in the kool-aid.” Hardly sounds like disappointment much less a media manufactured “nausea” alleged for Fox and Elway.
How about this: ” The spirit and influence that Tim Tebow provides to those that buy in is like no other in the history of the NFL. He may never be a great NFL quarterback by conventional analysis, but just keep telling him that he’ll never be “Tebowing” with the Lombardi Trophy.” Sounds like a little kool-aid from the writer? That what winning does as we see with the Niners.
Well, he says Tebow will lead the Bronco’s to this year’s AFC West title. If you have money saved for little Billy’s orthodontics work, don’t bet it on Denver, Phil. BTW, word is Elway had his sports jacket de-puked at the dry cleaners today..
You forgot to add that the writer says that Tebow’s productive career might not last much longer than that of one Mark Stevens, who played in 2 games for the Niners in 1987…
Anyway, as I’ve said and everyone agrees on- he’s a tough kid… hell, I can see him making it in the NFL- perhaps as a tight end or fullback. He has no future as a QB, IMO.
I’m glad you posted this thread. While I love Harbaugh, and was 110% behind this signing the moment it happened, it’s not like he’s working with a carbon copy of last season’s roster. The defense has been completely remodeled.
The O is pretty similar but Miller instead of Norris? Plus the addition of Hunter?
Harbaugh is a great coach, but it’s not like he took the same deck-chairs on the Titanic and moved them around in a way that saved the ship from sinking…….
Something saved the ship from acting like a submarine for the first time in forever. Oddly the offense turned out to be less subject to turn over than the D. I was under the (mistaken as it turned out) impression that the offense with it’s unpopular QB would see the most change. But the loss of Baas, addition of Hunter, Miller and Edwards hardly qualifies as rebuilding. Perhaps it was the keeping of AS that saved it from a major restructuring. Harbaugh kept Alex and filled a few holes but what he really did superbly was get the most out of the men he had on offense. This due to coaching, drafting, bringing in Edwards and Goodwin, the scheme / plan he uses to attack the other teams. “Intelligent Offense” we just haven’t had that since Mooch was dumped with no replacement in sight.
On D we know our DL and LBs were good. The secondary was rebuilt and upgraded far more than the offense ever was. That surprised me but again Harbaugh used the men we had in a far more effective manner. Ice, McD, Bowman, Brooks for starters. Answer this: has the JH regime made ANY bad moves? On O or on D?
You wanna talk Defense? But, but, but the topic got switched before we got Tebow outta our system. Not so fast Pilgrim…
He’s a big tough determined kid able to take a licking and keep on kicking? Exactly the qualifications of a QB needed to run the triple option offense. Could Alex do it? Yes in college, in the NFL not so much. Vick? Don’t make me sick! He would shortly be one whipped puppy, oh I’m so sorry…Elway? Slow as mud but smart enough to get his jacket cleaned and keep smiling and keep his mouth shut while his sorry assed Broncs go from 1-4 to 5-5. Due to? Yep da coach John Fox adapting the offense to the current skills of his Urban Meyer coached QB. (Like our guy Alex ‘zactly). No wonder old JF is backtracking fast as he can:
Articles I mentioned/posted above are pretty clear it takes a tough, brave man to run the ball in any way in the NFL (we love ya Frank!) so the triple option offense is gonna chew up QBs, true. So what would you rather have? Forcing the option/spread QB into the pro set from day one? (see Smith, Alex for past 6 years of futility) OR adapting the offense to the Urban Meyer big strong QB while he learns the NFL game while winning his first 4 of 5 games? As Walsh proved with the triple option “wishbone” offense against Parcells Giants in da 41-21 massacre, there is no shame in kicking butt. No apologies needed for winning.
Let’s not confuse Tim Tebow as he currently is with the media’s need to mock those who Believe.
Well, Colin “The Herd” says Tebow is a serviceable QB, not SB material. He and Mark Sanchez are about the same
Elways would swap Tebow for Sanchez in a heartbeat..and OMG, Ryan and Tebow together. The mind boggles.
Who would want to mock a True Believer? Pretty obvious this is religion, not football, for Phil.As it is for Urban and Tim..while Meyer has defended Smith to a degree, his fervor for Tebow is spooky- get a room, boys.
Hahaha, little you know
Certainly not you. And the media, pop culture, naw never happens. Not sure about Beliefs but ya got a shit load of beliefs there pardnar. One we share- that AS was a misused gem- and for that you certainly took a lot of grief from people who delighted in mocking those beliefs. But mocKing those who Believe? naw never happens.
And don’t fucking compare Tebow to Alex. Alex can throw and always could. Tebow can’t. He will never be successful long term until/if he can. Obviously he’s a polarizing figure, and not just for his play and religious fervor. When Orton wasn’t traded, he was bitter, saying his dream of being an NFL starting QB was taken away from him. Nice, Timmy.
But let’s pretend that Tebow really could be a long term success- Denver would have to have two totally different sytems or a reserve QB who could also run the spread option- ain’t happening. Tebow should start thinking about his next career,
Hmmm, this is quite a few demands, vast predictions, rips and assumptions there sir. Luckily you don’t command the universe!
The hoopla around Tebow is mainly driven by him because of his outspokenness. There are hundreds of religious players, however, they don’t wear it on their sleeve so loudly. That he catches ridicule for it is just a byproduct of flaunting it so much.
It’s actually funny that he’s winning. It’s hysterical to see Ryan (and everyone else in football) call Tebow’s game a joke or whatever, and then have him do what he did running the empty backfield on the 95 yard drive. THAT is their strategy. keep it close, and run the empty backfield for the last drive. They beat Miami the same way. All NY had to do was set the edge, and they would have stopped Tebow’s bootlegs, but they bit on the fakes, or overcommitted inside. In every game, he’s overcome deficits to win. You can say the opponents haven’t been great, but Oak is in 1st, the Jets are decent, KC? Hot and cold. Detroit stomped him. You’d think teams with disiciplined defenses would beat them easily.
At the risk (irrelevant as that may be) of being accused of being religiously involved with TT-obviously!- I’ll point out he had a 16 point deficit to overcome when they put him in at halftime (?) against Chargers. Now the Chargers aren’t the best but didn’t they whip our sorry asses last year? Same team this year.
Chuck the spread / option is designed in part to defeat blitzes and pass rushes as Saint Timothy my hero has proved. If the pathetic Bronco receivers would hold on to the ball his passing would be a lot better. Gee where have we heard that before? But yeah he needs coaching on pass game no doubt.
It won’t last for the reasons given. Only a complete nitwit thinks they won’t eventually have to be able to throw the ball consistently to win, That doesn’t mean 44 percent…
Take a deep breath my friend. No one is saying that the triple option does not include a passing game.
At best, I see them beating Minnesota and KC, for 7-9. That will not take the West and will end the Tebow era.
Justin Smith has been a monster, but I’m tired of hearing that he won the Philadelphia and New York games. He helped win them- on either play it cannot be said that we would have lost had he not made the play. Both games were won by key performances and plays by several players.The Philly game in particular featured far more key plays by the offense. His strip was a great effort and served to help preserve a comeback fueled by Gore and ASmith.
Tru dat. Everyone contributes with this team and we seem to play better under pressure. Attitude is the key, confidence is the lock. Even people who doen’t really like the Niners are enjoying watching them this year. What fun.
Well, whatever the difference is (and yes, it is the coaching), these are exactly the game that Nolan and Singletary consistently lost. That Harbuagh and co. are getting the right players in the right spots at the right times pretty much sums up the fact of how this team is getting it done. As has been true for the last 4.5 years (about the length of time I’ve thought this team had playoff talent), every season has been defined by maybe 4 or 5 plays during those seasons that determined the wins and losses, and thus the outcome of those seasons. The Favre Minn game, the Atl Clements fumble, the NO game, and others like that had one play that determined the outcome. This season as well. The difference being, we’ve come out on the right side of those plays this year.
Yes, there are 119 more plays in the average game, but it’s amazing to think that you flip the outcome of 5 plays out of 2200 plays during a typical season, and the difference can be from 5-11 to 10-6.
We don’t know that the plays by Justin determined the outcome. We know that they preserved the leads, we know they were great plays, we don’t know that they determined the outcome.
We can certainly know that without those critical plays (ESPN measures these ‘game changers’) the percentage odds of us winning will be much lower- and much higher after they are made. That we can know, not absolutely but that our chances of winning are now X% better.
Oklahoma pulled to 38-37 with 51 seconds left. Coach Stoopid decides to go for two ( miss it and shot at title is gone.) Motion penalty saves the dumb ass and they kick to go to OT..
Jesus, they couldn’t stop Baylor in regulation.
Everyone Believes in something. (Chuckster gonna start a new thread pretty soon I believe so I’ll get this in here while I can…) Even if it’s ‘only’ in themselves. Or that “life is meaningless”, “we’re just a dumb collection of molecules without purpose or plan much like the San Francisco Forty Niners for the past 8 years”. “There is no God or there is no god even and it certainly isn’t Tebow”. “Science is the only truth”. “There is no heaven, hell, or life after McDonalds, etc”
Really? Prove any of the above Beliefs…You can’t. They are just your favorite Beliefs. (the serious parts above I mean). So the Disbeliefs are very seriously held, religiously, and that’s just fine with me. Fortunately the thought/PC police do not have absolute control- and they never will. Just some Beliefs are more popular: :”Men are idiots; women are superior; life has no purpose/meaning”. Without clear proof these are just somebody’s Beliefs. Fine, have at it, won’t be me mocking you but I prolly won’t agree with 99%.
Yeah Tebow is a lightning rod due to being outspoken and I find that very entertaining. But there is nothing unusual about what he Believes in. Everyone’s doing the Belief thing. No exceptions seems to me.
I believe that it’s gonna be 28-10 with our noble men standing on the necks of the pathetic ‘Tards. I really really do!
I just got back from church with my new BFF, Tim Tebow. He really is the nicest guy in the world. He lit two candles for Alex Smith. He kind of had to. I blew the first one out.
LOL for real Del
On this date: Walter Peyton rushes for an NFL record 275 yards as the Bears edge Minnisota 10-7.
That is what Singletary wanted the Niners to be.
Niner history: Steve Bartowski’s desperation pass is deflected to Billy Johnson at the 5 yard line, fights his way into the end zone to give the Falcons a 28-24 win over the Niners.
KEVIN
we outplayed atlanta all game that day !
i hated that fucking fluke play so much i thought i might quit watching football after that !
nice blog post CHUCK !
imho losing manny was a loss and he’d be starting if we’d been able to keep him ! brooks would come in on passing downs imo !
harbaugh and fangio are getting the most out of our talent !
i’m saying 49ers 30 cards 9
next week 49ers 12 ravens 10
I think Tebow, who I know sucks and will be wearing a baseball cap backwards next year, catches way too much shit in general. He is what he is. And it’s not true that he’s as *outspoken* as everyone says he is. He did the super bowl commercial, that was awfully outspoken. But that’s about it. I’ve seen him interviewed lots of times, he never brings up religion unlike the players who give all the credit to God when something good happens (yet never seem to blame him when something bad happens. Curious. 🙂
Brett Butler, as a Giant, said one day after a loss that, “I guess God didn’t want us to win tonight.”
Romo to Dez Bryant for a Dallas TD. That’s how my fantasy week started last week and I still lost to Chuck. So help me Tebow I’m not taking two weeks of this shit. I’ll be the one Roaring Back today.
I find it hilarious that you lost to Chuck after all the non-stop shit you talk about him. Head to head match up is a dumb ass way to compete in fantasy sports—
You don’t play “rotisserie” in FF. It’s ALL head-to-head.
and regarding these 2 next games: I don’t think we blow out the Cards (as I posted a few days ago). There is just too much focus on the thanksgiving game. And it’s a divisional game, the Cards are as up as they’re going to get for this. I think we win by 3-7 points…..
And I feel terribly negative about the Ravens game. Shit, finish the game and assume they leave tonight (I don’t know if they are or not) then they have 3 days to get ready as well as deal with the time change. Plus, the Ravens are good. If Harbaugh pulls that game off I will call him the greatest coach of all time……..
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