CheezWizHed

I'm not sure we disagree on safety, but I gave too much ink to the current starters and gave the wrong impression. I advocated looking at what we could get in FA and drafting a safety pretty high. The ideal would be to get someone like Winfield and a high draft pick, that would probably help greatly. At worst, having Savage starting, then let Owens, Johnson, and a draft pick go after the other starting spot. That would also be an upgrade, though a smaller one. Savage has been decent this year. Johnson has some upside and starter potential. Obviously, a first or second round pick should have upside. And as a safety valve, Owens establishes the "floor". I'd be surprised if they went after a 1st round RB, but a 2nd or 3rd... yeah, it is going to be needed.

QB: Extend Love, but no other capitol needs to be spent (save for an UDFA if you like someone for the PS). RB: Keep Jones and Wilson. Need to consider a mid-round draft pick. WR: Not much of a need, but one of those spots where you can't pass up someone special either. TE: Like WR, not much of a need. Could add a late round pick for depth. OL: Walker and Tom are solid. Nijman is gone. Need some depth. Ideally drafting an LT. Certainly need one or two at G and C. Myers has stepped up a bit, but needs a push. Rhyan likewise. Runyan should be let go. DL: Really not much of a need. Not much of any opportunities for roster spots either with our youth. OLB: Probably will keep Smith after his season. Gary and VanNess. Maybe Cox. A mid round draft wouldn't be crazy. MLB: Campbell - not sure what to do with him. Ok, but making more than OK money. Smaller cap savings to cut him, unless after 6/1. I'd probably go another season with what we have. SS: Savage looked decent out there frankly. Owens was a bit of up and down, but decent for the $$. I'd see what we can get in FA, but it wouldn't be the end of the world to run back those two, Johnson, and a high draft pick. CB: Jaire, Stokes?? Valentine, Ballentine - a good group, but you grab another high CB if one is available. ST: Ok, hate me, but I'd guess Carlson is back. His brother (and may other kickers) took a couple years to perfect the craft. A long snapper is probably due though. I don't think Orzech was very consistent. I'd bring in a legit K to compete with Carlson, but I'm thinking he returns.

Was the loss on the kicker? One Love? On the defense? In reality... yes. Carlson - Yes, he has missed many kicks this year. But how much of it was on the long snapper? Whelan saved an XP one a bad snap. The missed FG wasn't as bad... but it wasn't good either. I know that there were several other snaps through the year that were at least contributors to misses. Offense - Yeah, not Love's best game. Not MLF's either. Love did well moving the team down the field for the first half, but no TDs. There were some questionable play calls along the path... too many play calls behind the LOS with the 49ers team speed. Then of course, the 4th quarter had a lot of offensive struggles. Seemed like the last INT was scripted the way the reporters talked about Love feeling like he could make throws they teach QBs not to make... and then boom. Defense - Played strong initially (especially the end of the half and beginning of the second), but slowly lost momentum as the game went on . But all that faded as the 49ers came back in the 4th Quarter. Basically the same thing against the Cowboys, but we didn't have the lead to sustain the W. All we had to do was prevent a TD at the end of the game and we didn't even make it hard. Can't really pin that loss on only one person.

Ty Sommers should've never seen the defensive side of the football field, so your take a is a bit laughable there. Martinez comp isn't horrible, but Walker is faster and can cover sideline-to sideline better. Both do better with the play in front of them. Neither covered the pass well. McDuffie and Martinez are probably even a better comp, but that isn't what we are talking about. I think the Chicago game showed Walker's best side. He needs to attack the LOS... either going after the run, spying the QB, or blitzing. Moving backwards is just not his forte. So I do agree with the first part about him playing deeper and using his speed to move forward instead of moving backwards.

Any thoughts on why Harold Ramirez's trade value is so low in that trade? Obviously the web site isn't perfect but that seems like a big disparity in the numbers.

No worries. It is like watching a reality game show. The people that get the most air time are the people eliminated that round. 😂

Runyan is a FA this year and has been rated as below average for a couple years. A nice pickup as a 6th rounder, but time to move on. Hopefully Rhyan will take his "second year jump" in his third year, but he is certainly improving as we go. C and G depth is another need, but probably our normal 4th round target. OLB: It depends on what they do with Smith. Given his play recently, I suspect they keep him. Having Gary, Smith, and Ness is a pretty good rotation. Cox probably steps easily into the 4th OLB, so I don't think the need is very high. But if someone really good falls to you at the OLB, CB, or WR position, I think you grab them despite the need.

I was just thinking about the improvement and the solid job that Rasheed Walker did at LT this year. Much (appropriately) has been said about Tom at RT (who has a huge challenge with Bosa this week). But Walker has shown strong and steady improvement as the year went on. Seems like the rotation with Nijman was a kick-in-the-pants he needed as he took off after that. I would still count LT and S as our two biggest targets for draft day, but I'd think that Walker's improvement prevents us from needing to go after an LT if there isn't a good one within reach.

This is the part that gives me hope that he will part with Barry in the offseason regardless of the playoff outcome. I often have to give people I manage "special attention"... and it means they aren't doing their job. Sometimes they "get it" and improve. Most the time, it just means they aren't capable. Unfortunately, we don't have contracts that expire and firing someone takes a mountain of work to prove. Only the internal GM leadership team know how much Barry has contributed to our defensive improvement and how much is being propped up by MLF and others.

But, but, but... Griffin is a defensive coach! It is still a stinker of a game, but I feel slightly better knowing the Antetokounmpo brothers played a total of 6 minutes. And Giannis had none of them.

It is lopsided on paper, but you play the game for a reason. Any given Sunday. The Packers are hot; they are underdogs and have nothing to lose. Like the Cowboys, all the pressure is on the 49ers. We shouldn't be here. The bye week gave the 49ers a chance to heal. And Purdy is the type of QB we typically struggle against. They have a good running game and McCaff is healthy now. But Purdy doesn't have much experience in the playoffs.. if he throws picks, we have a good chance (vs Bengals 2 INTs, Ravens 4INTs, Vikings 2INT, Browns 1 INT) The bye week hasn't always been the Packer's friend though in the past. And some 49ers haven't played for 2 weeks. Maybe the 49ers come out a little cold and sluggish? Though Shanahanahan seems to always have his team ready for us. But time for MLF to break that hold on us.

It is a bit of a conundrum for MM. He is one of the better coaches in the NFL (I think top 10 is about right). But he has a history of playoff chokes (not just losses, but really embarrassing ones). So Jones either has to roll the dice on someone new and upcoming or convince a Belichek or similar coach that comes available to run the show. He has a strong roster (granted, I'm not a Dak believer) and he isn't getting any younger. Sticking with MM is probably one of his better of few decent options.

If we play lock down defense (i.e. less than 20 pts) for the next three games and MLF chooses to bring Barry back with a Super Bowl victory, I think people will be OK, but leery about that. But more likely if we win the SB, it is an offensive led team and an "ok" defense that gets us there. And I'm with @BrewerFan... something stinks in the state of Denmark... I don't think this is just Joe Barry "figuring it out". Seems like he is getting more direction and "help". Perhaps behind the scenes another position coach is getting more responsibilities in the game plans? Or just MLF himself...

I live in the country so there are fewer driveways per mile/block/cm/(insert your favorite measure of distance). So out here, I have seen them angle the plow to dump less snow (sometimes). But I can't imagine that would work in a city block area with a driveway every 50 feet. But yes, the "clean the snow to the left of your driveway" will always work no matter what the snowplow will do: There is less snow to be dumped into your driveway. The plow isn't adding snow just before it gets to you. A sudden vacancy of snow will allow the plow to dump more snow there before it gets to your driveway. Thus the plow will have less snow for both reasons. I think once the driver sees that (at least in the country), s/he is more apt to angle the plow straight simply because they don't have a full load of snow. That allows them to straighten the plow without dumping snow to the left. Otherwise, I suppose you could donate all those little arms on the side of the plows. The only other way... pay someone to come clean you out or live where there isn't snow. 😅

Didn't this happen last year too? We got a few weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting and a few big remained unsigned. So a bunch of the middling FAs finally inked deals when people got tired of waiting and feared the music would stop without them having a seat... then the final big name FAs signed a week before or a week after ST started.

We had LambeauLeap years ago and I did whatever I could to keep it alive. I had been to other Packer boards and saw the same thing. When it was clear that LL.net had died, I advocated for the "Other Sports" area here (separated from "Off Topic"). Maybe not as much traffic as a Packer board would be... but still SO much nicer than the unmanaged boards.

By that logic, Joe Barry is a better DC than Dan Quinn? I don't think so... Yes we had a good game plan and flustered Dak. But at best Barry's defenses are ranked around the 15 range. Most of the time, the are in the 20s. He has his games... and he seems to always end better than his D performs mid year. But overall, performance is just low. Time to move on.

Savage has had a solid season this year. I don't think he was quite back to his first couple years (not INT wise at least), but the secondary with him and without him were very different. Seems like his communication skills back there keeping people assignment sure is a bit unheralded. I'm conflicted if I think he should return or not. Certainly would keep the "floor" of our safety play solid.

What should we make of this? Who cares about the ranking number? Would being ranked #1 guarantee us a World Series victory?

Kind of funny what several of the Packers had on their helmets... Everyone wants to be like Jordan...

We have them just where we want them.

I just texted a friend of mine (Bronco's fan) and asked if his wife would mind it if the football game was on at her 40th Birthday party... 😂 Looks like I'll be DVR-ing the game and catching up with the in-game thread later...

The Packers and Cowboys tied a record for the most head-to-head meetings in the playoffs at 9. Among the other team pairs that have played 9 times in the playoffs are the Cowboys-49ers and Packers-49ers. So yes... the Packers-49er game will set the record with 10 playoff head-to-head meetings.

That was the most tiring 16 point win I've ever seen.

Putting in the starting offense didn't make sense. Just keep in the starting safties!