Ping: Darkiller, Sharpieman, clintl

[Vince]

Ok, here's my take on the 49ers' season.Week Game Breakdown
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 SF 49, CHI 7 Not much to say here...
2 STL 27, SF 24 Well, botched last play or not, we should have won this game anyways...
Just watching this game, I felt we outplayed them, and that it shouldn't
have come down to that play anyways.
3 CLE 13, SF 12 Words cannot express how horrible this game was. 49ers definitely
deserved to lose this one, although I think we all know/knew that they
are a better team than this...especially because they still should have
won even though they played like absolute horse manure.
4 MIN 35, SF 7 Totally outplayed here...not sure if we even belonged in the game.
5 SF 24, DET 17 Almost lost this game, although if I remember correctly, the score
made this game look closer than it really was.
6 SEA 20, SF 19 A game we COULD have won, but managed to lose.
7 SF 24, TB 7 Great game...total domination. The only reason they scored was because
a DB made a very poor decision on a pass.
8 AZ 16, SF 13 Are you kidding me? See Cleveland game for the write up on this game.
9 SF 30, STL 10 Another statement game...this is the team that I think should have
showed up week-to-week.
10 SF 30, PIT 14 Pittsburgh sucks this year. Not much to say.
11 GB 20, SF 10 Outplayed...but not by too much. Stop Ahman Green and the 49ers win,
but that's a tall order.
12 BAL 44, SF 6 Again, not sure what happened here. Baltimore is not this good.
13 SF 50, AZ 14 ...
14 CIN 41, SF 38 Close, hard-fought game. Barlow doesn't turn the ball over in the
red zone TWICE, SF wins.
15 SF 31, PHI 28 Didn't get to see this game (damn), but it seems like the 49ers did
what they had to.
16 SF vs. SEAWell, there's what they did, and my take on their games. I think that in a normal year, the 49ers don't choke so bad, and we win at least three more games (2 @ STL, 3 vs. CLE, and 8 @ ARI). That puts the 49ers at 10-5, and with a couple more key wins (@ Sea, @ Cinci), the 49ers are one of the best teams in the league. I still don't understand the 49ers's inability to win on the road...it is rather inexplicable. The Philly game was great for relieving me of that worry, but losing to Arizona? Come on...

As such...the 49ers are one of the best teams in football at home. Pasting a good Rams team and walloping the Bears, Steelers and Cards (I don't care how bad the other team is, 42 and 36 point margin of victory is pretty impressive in the NFL) leads me to believe that the 49ers, record notwithstanding, are one of the better teams in the NFL.

Now, I understand that that's why they play the games and such, and that right now the 49ers are a sub-.500 team. I just think they are better than that, and had a couple of off games.

[clintl]

Well, they definitely took a step back from the 2001 and 2002 seasons, but they also lost several games they should have won. I think the early season problems were mostly caused by the preseason injuries to Garcia and the OL. The other thing is that I think it took Erickson a while to realize that he didn't have the personnel to run the offense he wanted to run. I think they will be in good shape going into next season, even if they lose TO. Brandon Lloyd looks like he can be a quality receiver, and if Barlow can stop fumbling, he has the ability to be one of the best RBs in the league.

[Glengoyne]

I think it is the difference between Mooch and Erickson.;)
In my book Mooch is worth at least games more than Erickson.

[clintl]

Originally posted by Glengoyne
I think it is the difference between Mooch and Erickson.;)
In my book Mooch is worth at least games more than Erickson.

I definitely think Mooch was a better coach.

[Vince]

I agree as well. Sad to see him go...but it'll be interesting to see how he does with the Lions...they seem rather off and on this year as well. One week they'll look like they're only a few pieces away from competing regularly, and then the next week, they look like absolute dog poo. I have to admit though, they've done pretty well considering the CB injuries they sustained this season.

[tucker342]

Vince,

I agree with your assessment.

It seemed like the team was very inconsistent, one week we would dominate, the next week we would get killed. Very disappointing season:(

[Darkiller]

I share your 49er analysis.

This team is worth a lot more than 7-9 or 8-8.
We're a couple of great players away from being a true SuperBowl contender.
It's too bad this team just couldn't play on the road, and that was a Playoff killer obviously.

We've had some remarkable games however (Bears, Bucs, Rams) which were proofs that, on any given sunday, we can DESTROY ANY TEAMS.

I don't know what the future holds but I'm hopeful that Brandon Loyd can become our next star receiver. He looks amazing although he'll have to bulk up a little in the next two years to be an every down player.
As for Kevan Barlow, he's the read deal of course.
I've begged for the Niners to annoint him the starter for two years now, and it finally looks like this is his job now.
What he's done in his first 3 starts was VERY impressive and watching closely, you'll see that this guy has done nothing but big plays since he entered the league 3 years ago.
He has the potential, the talent, the power, to be one of the top RBs in football.

[Vince]

Originally posted by Darkiller
As for Kevan Barlow, he's the read deal of course.
I've begged for the Niners to annoint him the starter for two years now, and it finally looks like this is his job now.
What he's done in his first 3 starts was VERY impressive and watching closely, you'll see that this guy has done nothing but big plays since he entered the league 3 years ago.
He has the potential, the talent, the power, to be one of the top RBs in football.

First off, I agree with all of your points above this, and though I'm not as sold on Brandon Lloyd as I'd like to be, I really do like him. I just hope that Tai Streets can progress to be a little better than he is...right now he's just a glorified JJ Stokes.

As for Barlow...I was also clamoring for him to be the starter for the last two years. However, I'm thinking that they did a very good job of grooming him for this position, while at the same time maintaining one of the most potent rushing attacks in all of the NFL with the Hearst/Barlow combination. I think he is ready to be an every down back now, and I think that is largely because they didn't leave it all on his shoulders for the last two years.

As for the future...I have to say that I'm a little scared about the potential loss of TO...Lloyd looks good and all, but to even COMPARE to Owens, he's going to have to be downright amazing. Getting draft picks back is all well and good, but that won't help us until a few years down the road.

The latest word I've heard is that Peterson is asking for "Urlacher Money" as opposed to "Ray Lewis Money" for his signing bonus, so we will be able to afford him and then use our franchise tag on Owens, thus securing the draft picks when (if) he leaves. Everything I read, however, says that he is leaving. Personally, I'd rather he didn't, off-the-field antics or no...in my opinion, he is one of the three best WRs in all of football, if not THE best.

Next year, if our O-Line, Garcia and TE Johnson can stay healthy, we'll have a pretty potent attack. Weaver has done admirably at TE this year, and Johnson was one of the better TEs in the league last season. When Garcia has played healthy, he has been phenomenal, so I'm not worried at all about the Quarterback position.

Basically, I think we had the talent to be an 11-5 team this year, and minus a couple of bad breaks, we could have been 13-3. Next year, with TO I think we're that kind of team again. However, without TO...I think we might be relegated to competing for the wildcard again, and with Seattle and St. Louis looking strong, that is a tough assignment in the NFC West.