What can we take from the NFC Championship game?

[Future]

i can only hope you are not being serious
if we were going into a game against the niners with our starting DL but without Dez and Witten (our top 2 receivers) you would not hear the end of the litany of excuses

Dallas is built much different than Seattle. Dez and Witten being gone would be like Marhsawn and one of those receivers being out.

They can get by without great WRs because they would run the ball 50 times a game if they could and they don't need to score a lot of points to win. The Seahawks...and even the 9ers...are drastically different if they lose 3/4 of their starting DL

 

[fanfromvirginia]

Great defense will keep you in a game even when your QB is not playing high quality football.

That being said, their defenses were not built overnight. It took them a couple of years, so it will take Jerry at least that and probably more considering he's not finding Shermans and Chancellors in the mid-rounds of drafts. We are in for a 2-4 year rebuild.

For once, I'm more pessimistic than you. We are in for another series of unsuccessful rebuilds lasting 15+ years because what I got from last night's games is that very good teams aren't perfect but they're put together professionally within a system under a strong head coach and good GM. I think Aikman at one point pointed out that both GMs had done a great job of identifying and acquiring talent. It was mentioned multiple times how simple and un-deceptive the Seattle D is. It's in a sense predictable but it is still great because the talent is there.

Our 'GM' is not good at acquiring talent. For every player he hits on (Ware, Smith, Frederick, Ratliff, Romo), there are four or five he misses. His draft day wheeling and dealing, which doesn't have a strong track record in the end, sets him apart from most GMs. And every six or seven years he mis-analyzes his team's capacity and needs, and trades multiple high draft picks for a WR. At the same time, he doesn't seem to choose coaches well and is limited on the coaches he can lure for reasons that have been stated on this forum 10,000 times.

What I took away from last night's game (which was awesome) was that we are categorically different, in a bad way.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

We learned that we're not anywhere near the level of Seattle or SF.

Seattle is just flat fun to watch. I love their defense. Richard Sherman is by far my favorite defensive player in the league right now.

 

[The Natural]

Demonstrating this rugged technique, Sherman drops into his stance and instructs a 5'9", 150-pound reporter to run a slant through his living room. "A lot of corners will back up and give you room to move," Sherman says, planting a forearm in the reporter's neck. "Seahawks corners don't back up. We don't give you room. We stay in your face all day long."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1208083/1/index.htm

Why do we have to get the DB's who are allergic to contact instead of guys like this

 

[JackWagon]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1208083/1/index.htm

Why do we have to get the DB's who are allergic to contact instead of guys like this

because all of our corners ar 5"9' and like to play patty cake.

 

[visionary]

Dallas is built much different than Seattle. Dez and Witten being gone would be like Marhsawn and one of those receivers being out.

They can get by without great WRs because they would run the ball 50 times a game if they could and they don't need to score a lot of points to win. The Seahawks...and even the 9ers...are drastically different if they lose 3/4 of their starting DL

we can go back and forth about this all day and i have no interest in doing that (waste of time)

will just say 2 things:

1. cant change the goal posts, top 2 receivers were out basically all year for seattle but they found a way against possibly the best defense in the NFL their than their own

2. the seawks and the niners value the lines too much to go into a season relying on several old players who were injured and missed significant playing time recently and it was not clear they would be healthy with only a hope and a prayer at back up. We dont value DL as much and therefore made our bed.

 

[visionary]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1208083/1/index.htm

Why do we have to get the DB's who are allergic to contact instead of guys like this

we are a finesse team
we know how to talk the talk but cant walk the walk
we are a reflection of our HC and GM, all flash and no substance

 

[Future]

we can go back and forth about this all day and i have no interest in doing that (waste of time)

will just say 2 things:

1. cant change the goal posts, top 2 receivers were out basically all year for seattle but they found a way against possibly the best defense in the NFL their than their own

2. the seawks and the niners value the lines too much to go into a season relying on several old players who were injured and missed significant playing time recently and it was not clear they would be healthy with only a hope and a prayer at back up. We dont value DL as much and therefore made our bed.

1) They found a way by running the football, not throwing it. And the offense didn't really win the game for them anyways.
2) Ratliff was the only guy on the Dallas Dline with any history of injuries.

 

[theSHOW]

My take. Richard Sherman has been watching a lil bit too much Steven A. Smith. Other than that he is the best.

 

[visionary]

1) They found a way by running the football, not throwing it. And the offense didn't really win the game for them anyways.
2) Ratliff was the only guy on the Dallas Dline with any history of injuries.

1) how do you know how much they would have thrown if rice and harvin had been there?

2) rat and ware were both hurt last year, ware has been "dinged up" last 2 years and rat has been a shell of himself. all of these guys and spencer and hatch were above 30 and spencer was scheduled to have knee surgery in the off season. there is a reason why other teams dont pay players above 30 on their DL.... older players get injured and that is exactly what happened. that is not the way to build your DL and certainly cant go into a season relying on them in a defense that is heavily reliant on that position. was it bad luck? sure, but that was precipitated by horrible planning.

 

[Miller]

1) how do you know how much they would have thrown if rice and harvin had been there?

2) rat and ware were both hurt last year, ware has been "dinged up" last 2 years and rat has been a shell of himself. all of these guys and spencer and hatch were above 30 and spencer was scheduled to have knee surgery in the off season. there is a reason why other teams dont pay players above 30 on their DL.... older players get injured and that is exactly what happened. that is not the way to build your DL and certainly cant go into a season relying on them in a defense that is heavily reliant on that position. was it bad luck? sure, but that was precipitated by horrible planning.

Thank you. I'm so tired of the Dline injury excuse when Jerry made that bed going into the last draft by relying on a bunch of older guys and no backup plan. NE made a championship game with worse injuries across the board. This stuff just gets old. The 49ers and Seattle are vastly better teams when it comes to being built for a long season and going somewhere up and not in the middle.

 

[Future]

1) how do you know how much they would have thrown if rice and harvin had been there?

2) rat and ware were both hurt last year, ware has been "dinged up" last 2 years and rat has been a shell of himself. all of these guys and spencer and hatch were above 30 and spencer was scheduled to have knee surgery in the off season. there is a reason why other teams dont pay players above 30 on their DL.... older players get injured and that is exactly what happened. that is not the way to build your DL and certainly cant go into a season relying on them in a defense that is heavily reliant on that position. was it bad luck? sure, but that was precipitated by horrible planning.

They are a running team, they aren't simply going to change because they have a new toy. The Harvin addition was to supplement the run game, not replace it.

Spencer wasn't over 30 and Ware didn't miss any games.

Injuries and age have little to do with each other. I don't care how deep a team thinks it is, you can't replace virtually the entire starting DL and two starting LBs. That would be like Seattle replacing Mebane, Bryant, Clemons, Wanger, and Malcolm Smith. No way are they as successful.

Also, ages of starters on the Seattle Dline - 29 (Bryan, McDaniel, Mebane) 32 (Clemons) Avril is 27 and Bennett is 28. Its not like they are all young guys. They just didn't get hurt.

 

[bysbox1]

They also haven't had the injury bug that plagued teams like Dallas and NE this year either.

Why do people keep classifying Dallas in the same breath as NE? Two totally different teams. NE worked around their injuries and got to the AFC Championship. Dallas totally collapsed.

 

[visionary]

They are a running team, they aren't simply going to change because they have a new toy. The Harvin addition was to supplement the run game, not replace it.

Spencer wasn't over 30 and Ware didn't miss any games.

Injuries and age have little to do with each other. I don't care how deep a team thinks it is, you can't replace virtually the entire starting DL and two starting LBs. That would be like Seattle replacing Mebane, Bryant, Clemons, Wanger, and Malcolm Smith. No way are they as successful.

ok, spencer was 29 but was undergoing off season knee surgery
point is all these players that we were supposedly relying on to start for 16 games at a key position had major major warts
no way you go into the season with this 'starting' DL and with completely unproven backups if you value the position

please dont tell me that losing these players would be like seattle losing the players you listed above. if you had offered seattle our DL in exchange for theirs at the start of the season, they would have laughed in your face.. old, injured, overpaid players are a recipe for disaster at DL over a grueling 16 game season. it comes down to planning, as I said.... seattle and SF would never go into the season with the hodge podge we had at DL. they value that position too much.

 

[DoctorChicken]

We learned that Sherman is the best CB in the league, and he is not afraid to tell you about it.

 

[car351]

It would need to start with a commitment to a defensive-minded team...right now, the team is not that...by the time those 2-4 years are gone, tony's time as QB will have expired and then Jones will look to improve the offense again....a cyclical issue that has no apparent end

Nailed it.

 

[car351]

For once, I'm more pessimistic than you. We are in for another series of unsuccessful rebuilds lasting 15+ years because what I got from last night's games is that very good teams aren't perfect but they're put together professionally within a system under a strong head coach and good GM. I think Aikman at one point pointed out that both GMs had done a great job of identifying and acquiring talent. It was mentioned multiple times how simple and un-deceptive the Seattle D is. It's in a sense predictable but it is still great because the talent is there.

Our 'GM' is not good at acquiring talent. For every player he hits on (Ware, Smith, Frederick, Ratliff, Romo), there are four or five he misses. His draft day wheeling and dealing, which doesn't have a strong track record in the end, sets him apart from most GMs. And every six or seven years he mis-analyzes his team's capacity and needs, and trades multiple high draft picks for a WR. At the same time, he doesn't seem to choose coaches well and is limited on the coaches he can lure for reasons that have been stated on this forum 10,000 times.

What I took away from last night's game (which was awesome) was that we are categorically different, in a bad way.

Nicely said.

 

[Future]

ok, spencer was 29 but was undergoing off season knee surgery
point is all these players that we were supposedly relying on to start for 16 games at a key position had major major warts
no way you go into the season with this 'starting' DL and with completely unproven backups if you value the position

please dont tell me that losing these players would be like seattle losing the players you listed above. if you had offered seattle our DL in exchange for theirs at the start of the season, they would have laughed in your face.. old, injured, overpaid players are a recipe for disaster at DL over a grueling 16 game season. it comes down to planning, as I said.... seattle and SF would never go into the season with the hodge podge we had at DL. they value that position too much.

I didn't say Dallas' players were better.

I'm saying that injuries to the same positions to Seattle would be just as crippling as they were to Dallas

 

[visionary]

Injuries and age have little to do with each other. .

this is just not true

also, seattle already had one of the best DLs last year but do you know what they did in the off season? signed avril and bennet, 2 players who would be starters on most teams

they understand the importance of the position and they understand that injuries are a part of the game and they plan accordingly

BTW, avril and bennet combined cost then less than spencer cost us

once again, our plan is a hope and a prayer

 

[visionary]

I didn't say Dallas' players were better.

I'm saying that injuries to the same positions to Seattle would be just as crippling as they were to Dallas

but it goes to poor planning
see my other post, DL was already a strength in seattle last year but they still signed avril and bennet (2 potential starters) in the off season to bolster it