I posted this 1 year ago > 2009 vs. 2008, smoke and mirrors??

i think this team shows a lot of promise. If this is the team I think we are, we will finish up 8-8 with a defense in the top 15 and an offense in the top 20. Looking at the niners offense, its an extremely young core. Vernon, Crabtree, Morgan, Gore, Smith, Staley, Baas, they were all drafted in 2005 or later. We struggled to close out games, but that is something that will develop with age and experience. If we are able to get more line support and a better secondary, we really have a chance to make some noise.

NFL
Offense: 2008 (22nd) vs. 2009 (18th) Improvement
Defense: 2008 (23rd) vs. 2009 (9th) HUGE Improvement

Should be the only stat that really matters..or counts in the long run.

These stats were taken from nfl.com.

Last year we were outscored by 341 to 295 at this point
This year we’ve been outscored to 269 to 245 at this point in the season.

Last year we only had 2 losses that came within 7 pts. This year 6 of our losses have been by 7 pts or less.

This year our offensive DVOA is ranked 22nd and our defensive DVOA is ranked 4th. Last year our defensive DVOA was ranked 18th, and our offensive DVOA was 27th.

So yeah we’ve definitely improved by any metric you want to look at.

Most of the losses have been by a touchdown or less, and I don’t see why a decent offseason can’t push this team into the playoffs. That is, I think the 2009 record is misleading.

The talent will come with the draft (come on Scot!) and the coaching will get better. Singletary has made some questionable decisions on the field, but that’s probably due to a lack of coaching experience.

Let’s get Takeo into the playoffs before his career is over!!

Is similar to the 2008 team. We added Dre Bly in free agency to replace Walt Harris… I would say that is a bit of a downgrade at this point and at week 6 we added Crabtree. We had no 2nd rounder or 4th rounder from the draft and McKillop has been learning behind Spikes. The lineup has been decently static.

In 08 and 09 Gore, (assuming he stays healthy), missed 2 games each year. Frank has been slightly less productive on average for us this year if you account for the fact 220 yards came on 3 carries at the start of the season. This very likely to do with Staley being out of the lineup.

There is no place where we’ve definitely improved aside from WR, (except IMO QB), but there have been little improvements from most of the across the board has kept games close and within distance where that next step we win.

Here’s the good part. We didn’t get any impact last year from any 2nd or 4th rounder, but while passing that up, we’ll have 2 picks between 9 and 16 to make immediate impact in a deep draft and a mid 40’s pick that we can target for our weak points. Addressing these few things can turn our team not just into a wild card team but a team that can actually WIN playoff games starting next season. Getting to the playoffs is great but it means nothing when you get beat up in the wild card game. I’m excited for next year as I can legitimately see us competing with the Iggles, Cowgirls, Vikings or Ain’ts in the playoffs with some good drafting.

in a long time that I felt the Niners had a chance going into every game they played. In the last few years, there were games where they looked like they didn’t belong on the same field as their opponents. Even though they played teams as good as the Colts and Eagles, I felt like they had a shot. This team is a work in progress, and as frustrating as it can be waiting, I think they are headed in the right direction. In fact, this is the first time since Mooch that I feel the team has direction.