I know you are all giddy, but...

i'm going to have to disagree, only in the first time we played the 9ers our interior run D was exploited, but every game where we were owned by RB's like AP, The guy from the Bills, Reggy Bush, Morris and Turner they gashed us on outside runs particularly to Red Bryants And Irvins side. Clems usually would hold his on. At least to the point he wasn't a liability.

Scottemojo":2p5aj2kr said:

Our run defense up the middle is still not right. That is a defect a handful of teams can exploit.

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I agree wholeheartedly. Except I think more than a handful of teams are capable of exploiting it. Bottom line is, our secondary will prevent us from getting smoked from passing, (in terms of whole games, no secondary will ever effectively stop the passing game from teams game in and game out) but we're definitely vulnerable in the run game in a couple of ways. I also think that, until proven otherwise, we are vulnerable to the quick & short passing game. Look what Welker did to us; we won that game, but Brady had over 400 yards and a LOT of it was comprised of quick slants and the like, burning our linebackers. Do you agree or disagree about the passing?

One thing that needs to be understood about that SF game is that Bane and Branch weren't in for the big runs. We were in nickel with Jones and McDonald at DT. The first one Jones fell flat on his face. Just tripped over his own shoelaces and fell down and allowed them to double Wright. The 2nd one wasn't all that different. Wagner hit the A Gap left of center and they doubled McDonald and ran right of center.

Partially personnel and a whole lotta bad playcall.

We do need someone to compete at 3 tech and despite a lot of hogwash said about Red playing that spot it still might be the best move. He plays it once in a while anyway, if people would pay attention. Beyond that though I think we'll add a DT in the draft. I like Sylvester Williams or Kawann Short in the 2nd or 3rd respectively. Short is stricly a 3 tech, but Sly Williams can play 1 or 3 and would prefer the latter.

Scottemojo":3r5okk19 said:

Our run defense up the middle is still not right. That is a defect a handful of teams can exploit. San Francisco can still push our guys around with their offensive line if they make it a game priority.

Re-signing Branch would retain last year's status quo, which was only OK the last half of the year. I am open it ideas that improve Branch's spot, but don't say rookie. What veterans can upgrade Branch's run stopping spot?

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This won't happen if Red gets right and we either draft a big 2 gap DT or re-sign Branch... A couple ifs, but I think JS figures this one out.

RolandDeschain":2m0kviz4 said:

Scottemojo":2m0kviz4 said:

Our run defense up the middle is still not right. That is a defect a handful of teams can exploit.

Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartedly. Except I think more than a handful of teams are capable of exploiting it. Bottom line is, our secondary will prevent us from getting smoked from passing, (in terms of whole games, no secondary will ever effectively stop the passing game from teams game in and game out) but we're definitely vulnerable in the run game in a couple of ways. I also think that, until proven otherwise, we are vulnerable to the quick & short passing game. Look what Welker did to us; we won that game, but Brady had over 400 yards and a LOT of it was comprised of quick slants and the like, burning our linebackers. Do you agree or disagree about the passing?

Click to expand...

Definitely agree there too, so as it stands two down run stopper, nickel, and a replacement for Leroy Hill who can cover are needed.

Yes but with DVOA on injured reserve we couldn't stop squat the last half the year.

If we can get interior pressure we will be golden. That's what I seen that we needed all last year. If QB's can't step up in the pocket we're gonna get em.

Axx":22r44rxz said:

i'm going to have to disagree, only in the first time we played the 9ers our interior run D was exploited, but every game where we were owned by RB's like AP, The guy from the Bills, Reggy Bush, Morris and Turner they gashed us on outside runs particularly to Red Bryants And Irvins side. Clems usually would hold his on. At least to the point he wasn't a liability.

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Minnesota stopped running AP because he was mostly ineffective outside about 5-6 big runs.
He had a 77 yard run from sick juke (also because Sherman was held just before he could get to him).

But if you look at the runs he broke off the yards on you can see two things:

(14:21) 28-A.Peterson right end to SEA 1 for 74 yards (39-B.Browner).
(8:46) 28-A.Peterson left tackle pushed ob at MIN 46 for 16 yards (39-B.Browner)
(8:36) 28-A.Peterson up the middle to SEA 44 for 24 yards (39-B.Browner, 69-C.McDonald).
(7:52) 28-A.Peterson up the middle to SEA 29 for 15 yards (29-E.Thomas).
(4:04) 28-A.Peterson right tackle to MIN 47 for 28 yards (54-B.Wagner).
(13:06) 28-A.Peterson left end pushed ob at MIN 20 for 12 yards (39-B.Browner).

First: that 169 of his 182 yards on 6 plays. Irritating to say the least, but much more preferable to losing 5-6 yards on every carry.
Maybe once per drive he gets a first down, but the rest of the running game is so ineffective that it forces them into 3rd and long situations too, that's why the Vikings went away from him in the second half.

Second: 2 runs to the left, 2 runs to the right, 2 runs up the middle. You can't blame any one player for those runs, AP just does that to everyone.

I buy that Red can play inside more then people think. I watched half the Home SF game last night, need to catch the other half still, but Red was effective when he was inside. He's just so strong and I think his burst off the line is better than it used to be. It's shown in a lot of games.

I think we'll see it a little more often, not that they would scrap his spot at 5 technique, but I think he'll do it some times. Particularily if we don't bring Branch back and if we're playing pass heavy teams. Run a lot of Avril, Red, Mebane, Bennett lines against that.