Lady Talon":2yxcaqp5 said:Giedi":2yxcaqp5 said:Against Atlanta - both offenses scored 28, but the 49er defense was still better than the 'Hawks by 6 points, and keep in mind *both* Justin and Aldon were hurt, and the starters played about 90% of the snaps throughout the year. Clemons was hurt too, but other than Clemons, I don't recall any other significant 'Hawk injuries. Defense clearly is the issue for the 'Hawks, however I don't think you adequately addressed it in the offseason. Again, just my opinion.
Jones had been on IR since 12/28. Red was dealing through a plantar fascia injury. So we had to take a situational rookie DE and plant him in Clemons spot and expect him to anchor the run (a weakness for Irvin all season) with nobody to relieve him AND Red but a player that hadn't played a NFL football down in 5 years and whose name rhymes with Chupacabra. Now, I like Irvin, but he isn't a world beater, and rookie Dlineman take quite awhile to get used to regular season games much less get thrown out of position and expected to hold 3 downs against a good O line in a Divisional playoff game.
Small wonder it didn't work? If anything, gambling that Clemons wouldn't get hurt and not adequately addressing depth was more the problem with the defense in that loss. We did address that in the offseason with Avril and Bennett. Whether or not they'll be world beaters remains to be seen.
As for the 6 points, lol. Seattle was the only west Coast playoff team to visit an east coast stadium with a 1 pm ET kickoff time. There's just no excuse for that in the playoffs, IMO. Out of three regular season 1PM ET starts the 9ers endured in 2012, their only win was at the Jets.
Despite all that, 28 seconds and 2 points short of a road playoff win after being down 27-7 in the 3rd quarter is hardly anything to be ashamed of, considering our dline issues.
Jones and Red seem to have durability problems, from your info above. If 'Hawks are going to be a championship team, they have to have championship depth. The 49ers, back in their heyday had Hall of Fame players backing up hall of fame players. Of course, that's drastically changed with the Salary cap. But take the NY Giants, they won the superbowl because they had sufficient depth to get through the rough spots during the season, and weather the storm. When their stars came back - it was just in time for a superbowl run. I think it's the same with Baltimore. They suffered losses to Ray Lewis and I believe Ed Reed and still were able to make the playoffs and make a superbowl run. I just don't think this years draft added much to your defensive depth.
As for regional time zone differences, if the effect is 2.5% - in a 70 play game that's a difference of 1.75 plays. If your team can't overcome one or two good plays by the opposing home team, you don't deserve to be in the Playoffs or Superbowl. Laofo and I had an extensive discussion on this and that's why defense is so important in playoff or big game scenarios with regional time zone differences.