xbaywarrior wrote:

slicksteven wrote:i think gore's overrated and last season was a fluke, he's probably not gonna avg that many yards per carry now that opposing defenses know to focus on him

i really dont know what to expect of this team. alex smith has grown at a pretty slow pace and his ceiling's not that high, whereas gore probably had one of his best seasons over with already

so i dunno, hopefully i can be proven wrong, and a smith will show skill and poise this year while gore continues his success

vernon davis for 4 yds, lol that made me chuckle

Gore's not overrated. And of course he won't average what he did last year now that defenses are more focused on him. This is why Alex must develop a consistent passing game with strong chemistry between him and his receivers or else Gore's going to get eaten up every time he touches the ball.

But to me, it was all on the o-line last night. Our offense had no blocking whatsoever. There was some, during key plays... but other than that, there was none.

I wouldnt blame the O-Line. I would actually blame the tight ends and the backs for the blocking. When a defense is blitzing 7 guys, you need to have some good blocking skill position players. Moran Norris is normally dependable, Bajema is on the team just to block, and Frank Gore can lay a lick on you, as well. They just didnt play it well yesterday. One on one, our O-Line can handle almost any rush. I think that we have the best line in the league, actually.

Jonas Jennings: Dependable pass blocker, who will stop his man fundamentally every time. Wont dominate. Great run blocker, as well.

Larry Allen: One of the best offensive lineman ever. Get behind him, and let him push you up the middle. Great mentor

Eric Heitmann: Great leader who does everything well. Has guard speed because he was a guard, and is one of the best pulling centers in the league.

Justin Smiley: Like Heitmann, can do a little of everything. Very dependable, though is the worst out of the five O-Lineman.

Joe Staley: Great pass blocker, and Alex Smith's best friend this year. Needs to work on his run blocking, and will have growing pains, but is a huge step up over Kwame "I like to false start" Harris.

well when i said that a smith's ceiling wasnt very high, i meant relatively. he's been in the league for 2 full years now, whereas last year vince young and matt leinart came in and outdid him as rookies during his second year. he still has a chance to be good, but i feel bad we didnt get a potential superstar with our #1 pick (which i understand is b/c the draft was weak, but when you have the top pick in the draft you'd be dissapointed if a smith is the best u can get). instead, we got only a potential star, and if he doesnt make big strides this season, i'd lower my expectations even further

also for gore, i believe last season was a fluke because noone knew about him. it's different for people like LT, cuz they have 'leet physical traits that help them stand out even when defenses focus on them. gore isnt extremely fast, hes short (right? i cant remember), and he's not as strong as some of the other rbs. when i think of gore, i cant imagine him being someone like LT who can just hurdle his way past defenders, or someone like reggie bush who can dance his way out of a crowd. gore is just the typical good rb who picks up yards and has some good plays here and there, but not a superstar who can make a regular run into something dazzling

then again i'm gonna admit right now i havent followed football that closely ever since bay area teams started sucking, so i dunno if my physical descriptions of gore are accurate. i basically just stated my impression of him, so correct me if im wrong

Well, if you dont watch college football, you dont know it, but Frank Gore was a hot shot recruit in high school, and was a superstar in college. He would have been a top 15 pick if he didnt have this catastrophic knee injury. They never thought that he would play football again. Remember Willis McGahee's injury in college, that last game? That was sort of what it was like. Gore has always been a far above average player, and he has just never gotten a chance to prove it.

Gore is about 5-9 and 210. He is undersized, but he runs hard, and is really strong. I would actually call him pound-for-pound the strongest running back in the league. He isnt really fast, and he has the tedency to slow down on a long run because he doesnt have the stamina.

About that 2005 draft, we could have gotten Matt Leinart, and everyone expected him to come out after his junior year. Rumor has it that when he saw the 49ers go out and get the first pick, he didnt want to play for us, and that's why he decided to go back to college.

Comparing Matt Leinart and Vince Young in their rookie year to Alex Smith isnt fair. Leinart has the best recieving core in the league, and a good running back. Vince Young is physically built and can create for himself. Alex Smith, in his rookie year, handed the ball off the Kevin Barlow, who would get two yards a carry, and throw the ball to B-Lloyd who couldnt catch it, and Antonio Bryant, who couldnt keep out of trouble. I bet you that if Smith was on the Cardinals, he would be an entirely different player than he is now. The 49ers are trying to build the team around Smith's strenghts. Thats what they need to do. They are making strides in the right direction, and that's all you can ask of a team. Now, it's Smith's time to show that he can play.

I'm not saying that Smith is going to be a superstar. I'm not sold on him yet either. I wasnt happy that Smith was a first overall pick, but it was a terrible draft class. We needed a quarterback, and Smith was the best option. It comes down to this, who would you rather have: Smith or Aaron Rodgers. I would love to see the Cal guy, but skill-wise, Smith is farther along than Rodgers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_NFL_Draft

yeah i know about that draft and how leinart wouldve gone #1 had he declared, that's why i dont really feel like alex smith is a true #1 pick...he feels more like leftovers to me

but like you said, gore is undersized and not especially fast. i didnt know that info about him from his high school and college days so thanks for bringing that up. i guess learning that does give him more crediblity in my eyes, now that hes not just some random guy who popped into the scene, rather someone who had the potential all along and just got burned by injuries along the way. nevertheless, i dont see him being anything more than a steady rb in the next few years. if he cant outrun or outmuscle guys, he's not gonna be in the league of LT and reggie bush (once he gains some experience). sure, almost noone else is a member of that league, but the way ive heard alot of ppl talking about gore after last season, it seems they think he's rising into that top teir too

slicksteven wrote:yeah i know about that draft and how leinart wouldve gone #1 had he declared, that's why i dont really feel like alex smith is a true #1 pick...he feels more like leftovers to me

That's probably right. It was just a bad draft to have the #1 pick. Still, I think he can be a decent QB. People just can't expect him to be the next great Niners QB.

If you look at the bench, you have a player Smith can relate to. Trent Dilfer. A good QB that never was between the top 10 of the league, but still was good enough to win a SB. That's what I think people should expect from Smith.

slicksteven wrote:but like you said, gore is undersized and not especially fast. i didnt know that info about him from his high school and college days so thanks for bringing that up. i guess learning that does give him more crediblity in my eyes, now that hes not just some random guy who popped into the scene, rather someone who had the potential all along and just got burned by injuries along the way.

Yeah, Gore, like McGahee, was expected to be a top RB in his draft. Injuries just killed his options. McGahee was lucky the Bills decided to invest heavily on him, but that doesn't happen often. Just look at Michael Bush this year.

TMC wrote:

slicksteven wrote:yeah i know about that draft and how leinart wouldve gone #1 had he declared, that's why i dont really feel like alex smith is a true #1 pick...he feels more like leftovers to me

That's probably right. It was just a bad draft to have the #1 pick. Still, I think he can be a decent QB. People just can't expect him to be the next great Niners QB.

If you look at the bench, you have a player Smith can relate to. Trent Dilfer. A good QB that never was between the top 10 of the league, but still was good enough to win a SB. That's what I think people should expect from Smith.

Yep. You look at the shoes he has to fill in just to become the next great Niner QB... Y.A. Tittle, Joe Montana, Steve Young. It's just crazy to have high expectations for this kid when he was picked based on a need, not because he was the best player available. I think he'll be a real good one, just not a great one. But he will have the intangibles to go Tom Brady or Peyton Manning down the field and win the game.

TMC wrote:

slicksteven wrote:but like you said, gore is undersized and not especially fast. i didnt know that info about him from his high school and college days so thanks for bringing that up. i guess learning that does give him more crediblity in my eyes, now that hes not just some random guy who popped into the scene, rather someone who had the potential all along and just got burned by injuries along the way.

Yeah, Gore, like McGahee, was expected to be a top RB in his draft. Injuries just killed his options. McGahee was lucky the Bills decided to invest heavily on him, but that doesn't happen often. Just look at Michael Bush this year.

Gore was deadly as a high school RB. Then came sophomore year at the U. He blows out one knee, then his junior year... he blows out the other. If it wasn't for us, Gore would've been in Denver because they were high on him in the 3rd round.... higher than us.

slicksteven wrote:yeah i know about that draft and how leinart wouldve gone #1 had he declared, that's why i dont really feel like alex smith is a true #1 pick...he feels more like leftovers to me

but like you said, gore is undersized and not especially fast. i didnt know that info about him from his high school and college days so thanks for bringing that up. i guess learning that does give him more crediblity in my eyes, now that hes not just some random guy who popped into the scene, rather someone who had the potential all along and just got burned by injuries along the way. nevertheless, i dont see him being anything more than a steady rb in the next few years. if he cant outrun or outmuscle guys, he's not gonna be in the league of LT and reggie bush (once he gains some experience). sure, almost noone else is a member of that league, but the way ive heard alot of ppl talking about gore after last season, it seems they think he's rising into that top teir too

See, the thing with Gore though is that he doesnt run through everyone, and he doesnt run past everyone. He just does everything well. He has a great mix of power and speed, and he hits the hole hard on every play. I think that he is a top four back, and will take over the top three in a year.

Rams CB Tye Hill broke some bones in his back at practice and it out 4-6 weeks.

Rams are completely decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball. Niners should WAX the Rams this week.

badabing8888 wrote:Rams CB Tye Hill broke some bones in his back at practice and it out 4-6 weeks.

Rams are completely decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball. Niners should WAX the Rams this week.

Ehh, yeah... I wouldnt say wax them. They could win, or they could lose, but I dont see this being a wipe out.

badabing8888 wrote:Rams CB Tye Hill broke some bones in his back at practice and it out 4-6 weeks.

Rams are completely decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball. Niners should WAX the Rams this week.

The Rams offense is still the Rams offense. Yeah, last weeks performance by Jackson was jaw dropping in terms of being disappointing but this team still has an offense that can explode. Given what our offense and defense did last week and what the Rams offense did last week, it's going to be a similar game to the Cards/Niners. Though I can't possibly imagine another dismal performance by our offense against their weak pass rush and vulnerable pass protection.

Our pass rush sucks, so no matter how bad their o-line is, our d-line is worse. We need to blitz some guys...

I'd like to have Michael Lewis be sent on a blitz like the Cards do with Adrian Wilson. If Keith Lewis or Mark Roman can make up for what Lewis leaves when going on a blitz, we'd have a safety added to our pass rush. Having Lewis, Smith or Moore(depends who's in), Willis, Lawson, Banta-Cain, BY, and Douglas all going for the QB would be great.

The reason why I think that we should blitz more is that our secondary can guard their men anyway. Dont worry about them.

xbaywarrior wrote:Yeah, last weeks performance by Jackson was jaw dropping in terms of being disappointing but this team still has an offense that can explode.

Tell me about it. Steven Jackson was my darkhorse for top RB this season (of course, after LT. LT's in another level), but his first game was just awful. Hopefully he'll improve from now on. The Rams are lucky to have Torry Holt, without him, they'd be a middle of the pack offense and a poor defense... a perfect recipe for a high draft pick.

A team with great offense, adding a top draft pick, is a scary team...