Given the potentially shaky running game down in Arizona, are the Cardinals overrated here? I realize they could end up with a very solid running game, but they’re still rolling the dice with youngsters.

Rookie RB are extremely productive. In many cases their first season is usually one of their more productive football years. Beanie Wells isn’t going to be on the bench with diaper.

That might have ended any doubt of our quarterback issue affecting our power rankings. We will not be taken seriously until we show that we are serious about being taken seriously. Thats right, read the statement again. We had some nice moves in the draft-some of which was dumb luck-but I’ll give some love to Scotty for trying to put a competitive team on the field.

Just give me one game-changing FA aquisition and I’ll get off the back of the Front Office. To me, we have managment that seems to make the excuse of “why not” on every single big name FA out there. And worse off, they have us believing in Shaun Hill and a sub .500 team as an upgrade. Don’t drink the cool-aid people.

Go get me us star! It’s just not that hard. People overcome challanges every day…

Right Fooch and SfGfan?

Let’s face it, the two worst aspects of last year’s team were the pass rush and OL performance, especially at RT. Almost every team had the same game plan – put eight in the box and force the 9ers to demonstrate they have a passing game. In order to win, the 9ers have to prove they can throw the ball with success against a stacked box. Most successful teams can do this, but the 9ers have struggled, especially on 3rd downs in passing situations. The OL must demonstrate it can hold off opposing pass rushers and pick up blitzes so the QB can find a receiver. This is the only way to force defenses to respect the pass by moving a safety into coverage. Active TEs would help greatly, and the addition of Pascoe provides options.

On defense, the team will live or die with the pass rush. Without a good pass rush, teams will just sit back and pick us apart as their receivers eventually get open. An effective NT would help greatly by freeing up an ILB to pass rush, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards this year. So that leaves individual effort from Manny, Parys, and hopefully, Jay Moore. And zone blitzes – if we’re going to play a 3-4 defense in a pass-happy division, much more zone blitzing must be done.

So that’s it, imho. It boils down to OL performance and the pass rush as the keys to the 9er’s fortunes this year.

As far as the other teams go, only the Cards are real competition for the 9ers this year. Their running game will be improved, and that was their major weakness on offense last year. They will be hard to beat if Warner stays healthy. Seattle is a joke waiting for the punch line, although Hasselbeck is a master of the WCO. Their OL is shaky at best, their RBs mediocre, and their secondary is full of short guys trying to defense big receivers with poor results. As for the Rams, I don’t think there’s going to be any kind of Atlanta resurgence in St. Louis – they just assembled a good 4-3 DL, which is difficult, and are now switching to a 3-4? They will remain a disaster area for a couple of years.

beginning of the end for seattle.