ESPN.com Power Rankings

Yeah, the whole addition by subtraction argument requires that the replacement be better than the guy you lost. I'll buy that for Akers obviously, and Boldin is a clear upgrade over Moss, but Ginn leaving means an impact on the return game (not saying it's huge), I don't buy Walker as a total bum, and Sopoaga and his backup left. I don't care how bad we're saying Sopoaga was, until we know who the answer at NT is we can't shout "addition by subtraction!!!"

As far as the NT only playing 30% of the snaps, perhaps that percentage changes now because you...don't have a nose tackle.

The Niners are a great team, and I don't think they've been decimated here, the point that's being challenged is that Boldin doesn't erase everything else and so the Niners may have taken a very slight step back depending on whether they can fill the needs with the draft. Lord knows they have plenty of picks to do it in. But as of this very moment, they have some new holes to fill in the draft, that's all.

The Hawks didn't lose anyone of note and added 3 impact players (one high-impact player in Harvin), and the power rankings reflect this.

Now we get to see how the Niners draft. We know Schneider can build a championship caliber roster from scratch in 3 years, we'll see how the Niners do without years and years of first round picks from sucking so hard and underperforming.

I think Disp might have sold his car for gas money.

RichNhansom":34wygdef said:

Your cherry picking in an attempt to discredit the player but lets say they were all the worst in the history of the sport
It doesn't change that they were the best player (walker being best #2) on your team and you don't have an answer for any of them right now.

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So your point boils down to regardless of how poorly a player plays, if they're a starter or backup it's bad to lose them and teams should overpay to keep them. That sounds like a stark contrast to the Seahawks' philosophy seeing how they've flipped almost the entire roster over the past 4 years. What are you basing "you don't have an answer for any of them right now" on? There are young, developing players on the roster at the positions they lost, and they have plenty of draft picks. They may work out and they may not, but the odds are good that they'll be better than the players they replace. They only need to be average to be an improvement.

When a player is on the roster for 1 reason only and performs that duty poorly, that's not cherry picking stats. Moss was brought in for one reason only, to catch balls, and he caught less than 2 a game. Ginn was on the team for one reason only, punt returns, and he fumbled almost 1/4 of the punts he returned. Akers' only role was kicking the ball, and he was 31/32 in the league at field goals. Walker had 2 roles, blocking and receiving. He was a good blocker, but the worst receiver in the league. Sopoaga had a more complex role, but was rated worse than most teams' 2nd and 3rd string interior linemen.

RolandDeschain":2appg5k0 said:

60niners":2appg5k0 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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The facts don't bear this out.

http://www.nfl.com/teams/statistics?sea ... onType=REG
http://www.nfl.com/teams/statistics?sea ... onType=REG

The 49ers defense had 3 more passing attempts against it over the course of the entire season than the Seahawks defense, (567 attempts to 564 attempts) but 407 rushing plays against you, compared to 368 against us. However, your average yards per rushing play was way better. It tells us teams should have passed more against you, but they didn't. They ran more. Congrats on dumb game planning by several teams, I guess? :229031_shrug:

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I don't actually have any stats to back up that comment, it was just something I remember hearing sometime along nearing the end of the season. Something like they had only given up one passing play over 40 yards up to that point or some such stuff.

As for the rushing attempt totals, i wouldn't be at all surprised if the 40ish attempt difference was made up (maybe 80%ish) from the two extra quarters we played against the Rams. They definitely like to run the ball and... yea.

Disp":1y5ljl6l said:

RichNhansom":1y5ljl6l said:

Your cherry picking in an attempt to discredit the player but lets say they were all the worst in the history of the sport
It doesn't change that they were the best player (walker being best #2) on your team and you don't have an answer for any of them right now.

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So your point boils down to regardless of how poorly a player plays, if they're a starter or backup it's bad to lose them and teams should overpay to keep them. That sounds like a stark contrast to the Seahawks' philosophy seeing how they've flipped almost the entire roster over the past 4 years. What are you basing "you don't have an answer for any of them right now" on? There are young, developing players on the roster at the positions they lost, and they have plenty of draft picks. They may work out and they may not, but the odds are good that they'll be better than the players they replace. They only need to be average to be an improvement.

I notice you didn't provide any names for any of these young developing players. Is that because you have no idea who those guys might be? Most Niner fans I've talked to seem to have at least a rudimentary grasp of their own team.

By better than the players they replace, do you mean like Alfed Alonzo was an upgrade? That's AJ Jenkins for those lacking that rudimentary grasp of their team.

Your also placing alot of confidence in this upcoming draft. It's much less likely that even a first rounder will have immediate impact let alone the rest and even if you hit on a good player, they will still have a learning curve to the NFL and your schemes. The odds of you upgrading all positions of need this off season are probably zero but you go on thinking you can just grab new players and they will be better. If that is the case and all these guys are so poor why didn't they upgrade the positions before? Kind of a ridiculous stand point isn't it?

When a player is on the roster for 1 reason only and performs that duty poorly, that's not cherry picking stats. Moss was brought in for one reason only, to catch balls, and he caught less than 2 a game. Ginn was on the team for one reason only, punt returns, and he fumbled almost 1/4 of the punts he returned. Akers' only role was kicking the ball, and he was 31/32 in the league at field goals. Walker had 2 roles, blocking and receiving. He was a good blocker, but the worst receiver in the league. Sopoaga had a more complex role, but was rated worse than most teams' 2nd and 3rd string interior linemen.

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Ginn can be a game changer and was against us a couple years ago. Moss was brought in to catch balls but also draw coverage and he did that. Walker will be a starter this year and you didn't just lose Sop you lost his back up too. What about Goldson? Just grab the next pro bowler?

You only have two guys returning that have caught passes from Kaep and Boldin won't be wide open. Kaep will have to learn how to get the ball to him and that means throwing to him when he looks like he is covered. It will also require a great amount of touch and accuracy that has yet to be displayed.

New players means new chemistry and that isn't as simple as you apparently think it is. Your front seven and your secondary are currently weaker than they were last year. There is no debate about that and not even your blind faith can make up for it. You can bury your head in the sand and tell yourself everything will be fine but the reality is, right now you don't have those answers and you are hoping beyond hope that everything works out.

Good luck with your fairy tale. PS I don't think your gonna like the ending.

60niners":18mfyclh said:

RichNhansom":18mfyclh said:

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

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My comments in technicolor.

But to keep on topic, I don't think I have a problem with the Seahawks being power polled number 1... Of course I think the Niners are better but who cares lol... Power polls are fun for fans, that's why they exist.

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Very good post 60Niner,

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I was reading most of this on my cell on my breaks at work and your technicolor killed me. I couldn't read it at all because of the color. I had to wait till I got home and even then had to highlight the red to see it. Green works real well on .nets blue back ground, for the record but well thought out post.