ESPN.com Power Rankings

rjdriver":rkukpic1 said:

Lady Talon":rkukpic1 said:

Why do you think they were close to winning the Superbowl? Even if they scored a touchdown they'd have led by two points (unless they converted a two point conversion) with a minute and a half left against a team with all it's timeouts, a great kicker, and a passing attack that proved it could burn their secondary.

Seahawks proved against Atlanta it was unwise to go up by less then 4 pts with 30 seconds left in the game in the same situation.

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Well, regardless of what would have happened, I think leading the Superbowl with 1:30 left can be considered close to winning it.

We were close to winning the Atlanta game. We didn't win, but we were close.

But I digress.

You guys are right. We are head and shoulders better than them. We are in a totally different league than the defending NFC champs. Anybody who thinks they are even competition for us is crazy like me.

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Lady Talon":m910h86r said:

rjdriver":m910h86r said:

Lady Talon":m910h86r said:

Why do you think they were close to winning the Superbowl? Even if they scored a touchdown they'd have led by two points (unless they converted a two point conversion) with a minute and a half left against a team with all it's timeouts, a great kicker, and a passing attack that proved it could burn their secondary.

Seahawks proved against Atlanta it was unwise to go up by less then 4 pts with 30 seconds left in the game in the same situation.

Click to expand...

Well, regardless of what would have happened, I think leading the Superbowl with 1:30 left can be considered close to winning it.

We were close to winning the Atlanta game. We didn't win, but we were close.

But I digress.

You guys are right. We are head and shoulders better than them. We are in a totally different league than the defending NFC champs. Anybody who thinks they are even competition for us is crazy like me.

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Lol I didnt mean to pile on the avalanche on you. It's just amusing because Niner fans dismiss us because of the Atl loss (and they didn't want to play us, even in their own house), then they pretty much barely escaped with a win in Atl, then they lost the Superbowl in similar fashion. Are they dangerous? Yeah. Are they God's gift to football and forever a target the Hawks will never reach? Lol no. Superior? My lily white ass.

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FlyingGreg":2ap04ezv said:

The comments following the article are great. Typical crap.

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rjdriver":3i07ootb said:

Lady Talon":3i07ootb said:

Why do you think they were close to winning the Superbowl? Even if they scored a touchdown they'd have led by two points (unless they converted a two point conversion) with a minute and a half left against a team with all it's timeouts, a great kicker, and a passing attack that proved it could burn their secondary.

Seahawks proved against Atlanta it was unwise to go up by less then 4 pts with 30 seconds left in the game in the same situation.

Click to expand...

Well, regardless of what would have happened, I think leading the Superbowl with 1:30 left can be considered close to winning it.

We were close to winning the Atlanta game. We didn't win, but we were close.

But I digress.

You guys are right. We are head and shoulders better than them. We are in a totally different league than the defending NFC champs. Anybody who thinks they are even competition for us is crazy like me.

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rjdriver":znqbt1et said:

titan3131":znqbt1et said:

Is this the very first time the seahawks have ever been number one in the power rankings?

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http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings/_/year/2006/week/1

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volsunghawk":181w789s said:

Damn East coast bias rearing its ugly... wait, what?

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CALIHAWK1":1s7fdb2j said:

Weren't the Chiefs ranked really high last preseason?

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titan3131":gopth4of said:

Is this the very first time the seahawks have ever been number one in the power rankings?

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Seahawks GM John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll are keeping the rest of the NFL on its toes. By trading for Harvin and signing defensive end Cliff Avril, Seattle arguably added the two most explosive players to change teams since the transactions period began. The Seahawks now boast dynamic playmakers at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver.

The Seahawks fielded a top-four defense in 2012. It's gotten better. All-purpose lineman Bennett will replace Jason Jones as Seattle's inside-outside utility man with superior run-stopping ability.

Dripping with talent, the Seahawks have SB48 written all over them.

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RichNhansom":17u3c6jg said:

Rjdriver I don't mean to come off sounding like I am attacking you. Sorry if I did. I recently read a Niner board out of boardom but I won't post on their boards and so many of them are completely ignoring everything and using the Boldin signing as a reason they are better than last year. It's kind of mind numbing to think fans know so little about their own organization and can be so over the top arrogant at the same time.

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Disp":2d5nx6iu said:

RichNhansom":2d5nx6iu said:

Rjdriver I don't mean to come off sounding like I am attacking you. Sorry if I did. I recently read a Niner board out of boardom but I won't post on their boards and so many of them are completely ignoring everything and using the Boldin signing as a reason they are better than last year. It's kind of mind numbing to think fans know so little about their own organization and can be so over the top arrogant at the same time.

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Here's why the roster "losses" actually make the Niners better from a personnel standpoint. Outside of Goldson and Jean Francois, every player the Niners lost was a liability to the team. Sopoaga was one of the worst rated NT's in the league, Walker had the highest drop rate of any receiver or TE in the league (over 30%), Akers made under 70% of his FG's, Ted Ginn was non-existant as a WR and he single-handledly almost cost the team 3 wins due to fumbles, muffed punts, and a general lack of of ball security, and Moss was the poster child for lack of effort, especially in the playoffs. Every single one of them was inconsistent and unreliable at the position they play, and at their age will only get worse.

The 49ers could have made no trades or moves this offseason and come out a stronger team just from the dead weight they lost. Goldson brought hard hits and splash plays which are difficult to replace, but his coverage skills aren't great, and there's no way he's worth being the highest paid safety in the league. Walker is a solid blocker, but completely unreliable as a pass catcher. So they lost a backup lineman in RJF, and Goldson, a good but overrated safety and purged every bad player on their starting roster other than Donte Whitner.

This obviously doesn't mean anything since the games need to be played, but claiming Niners fans are ignoring the teams' losses is a bit naive. Addition by subtraction. You can point out Boldin/Gore/Justin Smith/Manningham's injuries or age as potentially making them worse, but that's nothing more than speculation at this point.

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RichNhansom":3aiqy9zp said:

Thanks Disp,
Could you please explain why these guys were your starters?

Funny I never heard a single complaint about any of them before their release. What players that are still starters on your team are as poor as those guys? Or are we to believe you just coincidentally purged all the rubbish this off season and without those guys in the way everyone else will now make the probowl?

Thanks for providing an example of what I was referring to.

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RichNhansom":1zos82w4 said:

rjdriver : "I think Boldan is a huge pick up that negates their losses."

All of them? All their loss's? I could see saying he replaces Manningham and would even buy he might be an upgrade but what about Moss? And the fact Crabtree will be the only returning starter from last year.

Delanie walker was used alot in their two TE sets and moved on because he wants to be a starter. Alot of members here wanted him on the hawks. He's not a giant loss in himself but take away Moss and Manningham also and I don't see how Boldin makes it an even swap.

Delanie Walker was a big loss for a backup. He played in over half of the offensive snaps and was crucial to our run blocking game. Might be hard to replace someone so versatile. I don't understand why you take away Manningham? He's on track to be ready for the first game of the season, and he's re-signed.

Kaepernick will only have two guys from last year catching pass's in Crabtree and VD. Boldin's not "that" good. Kaep will also need to learn how to use Boldin. He is not fast but he is strong. If you can place the ball properly Boldin will win most of those battles but it is not as simple as it sounds and unlike Crabtree who gets separation and is visible when he is open, Boldin rely's on the QB to place the ball were he can fight for it. By the way if he is going up against Sherman that ball placement had better be excellent and if he is going up against Browner, please try and let Boldin fight it away from him. That won't work so well. Bowner can out muscle him and Sherman can out maneuver him.

I think the key here is that Boldin came very cheap, and is an immediate upgrade to Moss. He can play most downs, and can also block very well downfield... Something that Moss wasn't really utilized for.

Last time he played against those guys Boldin had two catch's for 22 yards.

Defensively their front 7 was what kept that machine rolling and hid the fact they were pretty weak in the secondary. Now they lost their NT and his back up. Again, might not normally be a big loss but they don't have a replacement on the team right now that can play the NT position. Add in that Justin Smith is coming off injury and is turning 34 in September. Consider whoever they get to play NT will take some time to get familiar with their schemes and how will that effect Justin Smith?

Losing Sopoaga isn't actually as big of a deal as it seems on the surface. He only played in 30% of the defensive snaps last year. As the league goes more and more to the pass, Niners are playing nickel defense more often; and that takes the NT out of the game. RJF (his backup) was starter quality in my opinion, which is why another team snagged him up.

Now figure if that font seven takes a step back, how will that effect the secondary? Then remove the only probowler in the secondary from that equation. How good do you think Boldin is?

The 49ers secondary really isn't as bad as you would think. They do tend to give up a lot of yards, but that happens when teams are forced to pass because they can't run the ball. When the opposing QB routinely has to throw the ball 40 times, he's going to accrue some yardage. One key stat that I think the Niners fared well in last year was not giving up long plays. That shows that the defense really wasn't getting burned. Though they did have a bit of a lapse in the playoffs lol.

Yes they have 14 picks but last year was the first year that Balke was on his own as well as the first year in many he was picking towards the end of the draft. LMJ I think is the only draft pick that seen the field and AJ Jenkins looks like a horrible miss with zero catch's on the year and not being able to beat out even Ted Ginn for playing time.

If they lose Ted Ginn and it is looking like a real possibility, their return game will also take a big hit. LMJ might be able to step in but it is another unknown and most likely a down grade even if he is decent.

Ginn is lost, but honestly he was a wasted roster space because he really only had one purpose.

They just signed a new kicker. Do we just automatically assume he is going to be good? Can he boot it into the endzone on kickoffs? What about consistency or long kicks?

Dawson was actually one of the most accurate kickers last year. I had to research it myself but he appears to be a stud. 7/7 over 50 yards and only 2 misses on the whole year.

Glenn Dorsey might prove to be a good pick up and I am sure they are hoping he is Justin Smith's replacement but again, his track record so far doesn't guarantee success. I was hoping we would make a run at him so I won't lie, I think he has potential but still he is not the answer at NT and even if he does work out, as long as Justin Smith can play, he will be on the field.

Niners have a young player that they've just extended that I think they believe can fill the gap at NT. Ian Williams. We'll have to wait to see how that pans out.

Frank Gore also turns 30 May 14th. That is something that could very possibly come into play also.

I like Boldin but he is not the answer to all the questions they have going right now. They still have many other issues staring them directly in the face.

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60niners":38ni1byz said:

The 49ers secondary really isn't as bad as you would think. They do tend to give up a lot of yards, but that happens when teams are forced to pass because they can't run the ball. When the opposing QB routinely has to throw the ball 40 times, he's going to accrue some yardage. One key stat that I think the Niners fared well in last year was not giving up long plays. That shows that the defense really wasn't getting burned. Though they did have a bit of a lapse in the playoffs lol.

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RichNhansom":21egoamw said:

Thanks Disp,
Could you please explain why these guys were your starters?

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RichNhansom":21egoamw said:

Funny I never heard a single complaint about any of them before their release. What players that are still starters on your team are as poor as those guys? Or are we to believe you just coincidentally purged all the rubbish this off season and without those guys in the way everyone else will now make the probowl?

Thanks for providing an example of what I was referring to.

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