After the anemic pass rush during the pre-season I was sure the 9ers would be duds again this year. The current rush gives me a rush.

So far just Mike Nolan’s defense. I didn’t think he’d have anything on that line to make that unit competitive. I’m still not convinced that defense is elite. So far I think Nolan has been out scheming some pretty dim witted offenses but I didn’t expect them to even be average.

Oh wait, Nate Davis showing any kind of promise this season was the other one.

For fun I have included Fearless Frog’s response to each of my predictions. Darn those Seagulls, always flapping around! Should be fun to see how much he was out to lunch about.

My predictions are marked with a P, his response is marked with an FF.

P. Niners go 12-4 in regular season and make it to the Super Bowl.

FF. This is so idiotic that I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll remind you that the 49ers haven’t even had a single winning season in the last 6 seasons despite being in arguably the weakest division of the decade. I’ll leave it at that.

P. Three Niner WRs have 600+ Yard Seasons and at least 3 Touchdowns

FF. Possibly, but unlikely, especially when you factor in that Shaun Hill or Alex Smith will be manning the helm.

P. Gore breaks the 1200 Yard Mark this season

FF. Possible, likely even.

P. Alex Boone wins the starting RT spot

FF. Not a chance. There’s a reason the team gambled on signing Marvel Smith. And veterans always take precedence on the depth chart, meaning if Smith gets injured again or continues to be ineffective like he recently has, those two clowns Adam Snyder and Barry Sims will get the nod. Boone will be fortunate to even make the team.

P. Micheal Spurlock beats out Allen Rossum for the starting kick returner spot

FF. This is also extremely unlikely. Rossum was great last season, including taking a kick all the way to the house, he’d get the benefit of the doubt even if Spurlock was awesome in camp and preseason.

P. Niners top receivers are Morgan, Jones and Bruce

FF. I expect it to be Bruce, Crabtree, and Hill in that order, but there’s little point in arguing this.

P. Alex Smith wins and holds onto the starting spot

FF. Wins, possibly. Shaun Hill has a reputation of stinking it up in practice. Holds on? Unlikely, unless he’s highly improved since the last time he started.

P. Tarell Brown wins Walt Harris’ spot

FF. This is possible, still doesn’t bode well for the 49ers. All this would really mean is that you can confirm that Dre Bly is done.

P. Gore, Spurlock, Morgan, Jones, Boone, Staley, Haralson, Tarell Brown, Willis, and Nedney go to the Pro Bowl

FF. An absolute joke. Gore could run train over everyone and he still wouldn’t beat out Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner, or the Carolina RBs, to name a few. Spurlock probably won’t even be the starting kick returner. None of the wide receivers will have a shot in hell when you factor in who’s throwing them the ball, the run-first offense, and competition at WR. Boone will be lucky to not be stashed on the practice squad. Staley won’t solely due to established OTs who’ll get in by name recognition alone (Walter Jones, Orlando Pace, Flozell Adams, Bryant McKinnie, etc. Haralson isn’t even the best pass-rusher on the team. Tarell Brown wouldn’ t even be voted past Nate Clements even if Clements continued to suck. Willis is almost a lock at this point, so you can include him. Nedney, not a chance.

Willis and maybe Gore are the only 2 that even have a remote shot.

P. Niners sweep the Cards and the Seachickens (and the Rams of course)

FF. So they’re going to go 6-0 in division play? They couldn’t even beat the Seahawks led by Seneca Wallace, and barely beat the Rams.

P. Curtis Taylor, Scott McKillop, Bear Pascoe, Ricky Jean-Francois, Michael Crabtree, Alex Boone, and Glen Coffee all make the 53 man roster

FF. It’s unlikely all of them make it.

P. Ahmad Brooks leapfrogs Manny Lawson and becomes a starting (and dominant) OLB

FF. The organization would never give up on Lawson that quickly, especially since he’s an asset in coverage. And if Lawson hasn’t lived up to his first round status yet, how would Brooks suddenly become even a starting-caliber OLB?

P. Mike Singletary wins coach of the year

FF. Even if the 49ers made the playoffs this would be highly unlikely.

P. A Niner rookie wins rookie of the year

FF. The only one who has even a snowball’s chance in hell is Crabtree, and unless he’s channeling the spirit of Rookie Anquan Boldin, this is not going to happen.

P. Alex Smith wins comeback player of the year

FF. Absolutely not. There are about a dozen candidates who would win over Smith even if he had a Pro-Bowl worthy season. Tom Brady, Matt Hasselbeck, and Carson Palmer would win it over him even if they had barely acceptable bounce-back seasons.

P. Niners end Kurt Warner’s career with a constant barrage of monster sacks (personally I’d like to see Justin Smith or Jeff Ulbrich do it. Just seems so fitting.)

FF. They had Smith and Ulbrich last season and their pass-rush was as useless as ever, so this isn’t going to happen. In fact, it’s more likely Darnell Dockett bursts through the paper o-line and hurts Smith or Hill.

P. Niners secondary ends the season in the top ten in interceptions

FF. This is almost an impossibility.

P. Niners D ends the season in the top 5 in the NFL

FF. Won’t even be top 5 in the NFC even if everyone performs way over their heads.

P. Niners offense ends the season ranked number 8 in the entire NFL

FF. Don’t have the talent for that.

P. Niners D ends the season for at least 8 opposing players

FF. Considering how rarely a player is out for the season due to an opposing defense, this is almost impossible.

P. Spurlock runs 3 kicks back for touchdowns and ends the season as the number 1 kick returner in the NFL

FF. Just, no.

P. Niners special teams end the season ranked in the top 5 in the NFL (hardly a bold prediction)

FF. Their special teams wasn’t all that great last season aside from Lawson.

Pass rush. Could still be a little better, but it apparently does exist, sometimes makes a difference, and against teams with weak O-lines, its actually knocking the snot out of quarterbacks. The offense in general and QB play aren’t quite as crummy as I thought they’d be, and they’ve even won a game in which Frank Gore saw almost no playing time. Admittedly, it was the Rams, who’ve begun playing something that looks like Division II college football the last couple of years for some reason, but they won. Last year, the 49ers would have sunk without a trace.

I was going to post a fanpost like this in the next week or so. Beat me to it. Anyway, I’ve been wrong on too many things to remember but here’s what I can think of:

1) 6-7 wins is what we can expect. It’s still possible but I’d be pretty disappointed with either win total at this point.

2) The defense would not be much better than average. I was pretty adamant about this. Oops.

3) Nate Clements is in decline. I’ve been pretty impressed with his play so far, Vikings game aside.

4) Crabtree would sign before the season started, another thing I was adamant about.

5) Once the season started and Crabtree hadn’t signed I expected him to sit out the whole year.

6) The Seahawks and Rams would be a lot better, the Cardinals would be worse. Only the Cards are following form so far. The Rams are completely incompetent.

7) The pass rush would be not very good again. Looking good so far at least.

8) Josh Morgan would be the Niners leading receiver easily. Hasn’t really come to fruition yet.

9) Not really anything I predicted, but I didn’t expect the defensive line to play so well. McDonald, Justin Smith, and Franklin are all playing like studs.

But I was wrong about the following:
Nate Clements was in decline.
David Baas was good.
Vernon Davis would get a little better. (He has gotten A LOT better.)
Kory Sheets would make the 53 man squad.
The Seahawks and Cards would be better. (Cards could still turn it around).

…about the offensive line. Figured it wasn’t a weakness. Boy was that wrong! Truthfully, we could use Michael Oher more than Crabby right now…

I thought Seattle would bounce back this year

I thought Atlanta, Miami, Jets, and Baltimore would regress. So, 2/4 wrong.

For the 49ers, it’s a little premature to judge how good or bad some aspects of the team are. The Cardinals, Rams, and Seahawks weren’t exactly the toughest opponents.

The primary wrongs that come to mind:

- I believed Alex Smith would give Shaun Hill a better run for his money.
- Glen Coffee would not be that big of a drop-off from Gore.
- Crabtree would sign before the season started (though I did change this to before the deadline after the season did start).

In non-49ers related stuff:
- I didn’t think Sanchez (and the Jets) would have any success so early.
- I thought Tennessee’s defense would still be top 10 worthy.
- I, too, thought the Seahawks would rebound.