Status Report Through Week 6!

STATUS REPORT!


We are 5-1! 5-1!!! The St. Louis Rams were a very sexy pick for the division early in the season and people dismissed the 49ers as a contender because of the lockout and having a new coach in Jim Harbaugh with limited reps for the players. We're 3 games ahead of the Seahawks for the division lead and our schedule does not look so bad for the rest of the season with a few tests (@WSH, vs NYG, @BAL, vs PIT). We should beat every NFC west team and the browns. I have them winning EVERY game except the Baltimore game. Call it a homer pick, but I believe this team can finish 14-2! 

The bye week will get some of our banged up players some well-deserved rest. The bye week will also give us back Braylon Edwards! Now that he will be back he should be the big, vertical threat we lack. One of the more underrated returns when he comes back will be FB Moran Norris. Bruce Miller has done a great job of filling in for him and is actually a better pass-catcher than Norris. Norris is Frank Gore's hole creator and is one of the most underrated fullbacks in the lead, even though he's limited in the pass game. If Tremaine Brock can come back healthy after the injury we add more speed to a slow secondary, excluding Culliver. Brock can gun for the special teams as well and will be an important team moving forward when we play teams with speedier receivers. 

In our 5-1 surge here are two impact players that led to the record.


ALEX SMITH

Surprisingly, I'm going with the QB instead of Frank Gore, the O-line or Vernon Davis. Alex Smith has 9 TDs (8 pass, 1 rush) to 4 turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 INTs). Now, in his seasons before Harbaugh, he's always been a turnover machine. He also caused us many 3 and outs when defenses would stack the box against Gore. Now this season, he has commanded respect against opponents. Our passing game is still terrible, but Alex isn't turning the ball over. Which leads to our defense not being on the field for too long. Alex has given us opportunities to win in the times we needed them the most (TD to Walker vs DET, Onslaught vs TB, Comeback vs PHI). He's proven that he's more composed and Coach Harbaugh has more trust in him as much as he has trust in himself. Alex Smith is SHOCKINGLY our offensive MVP. He's done a great job so far in the season of managing games and shrugging off some bad possessions. If Alex continues to play this way, there could be a good chance we can clinch the first round bye and go on even further in the playoffs. As much as I don't want to say this, the season is in his hands. I will always be a skeptic of Alex, but I have to give him credit for the way he's been playing.



ALDON SMITH

Ah, another A. Smith. This time it's surprising rookie ALDON SMITH. Now, I would put Navarro Bowman, Donte Whitner or Carlos Rogers in this position. I honestly think that the rookie is so far the biggest impact player on our defense this season (not counting Patrick Willis or Justin Smith). Aldon already has 6 sacks and a forced fumble. Our already solid linebacking corps (Willis, Bowman, Haralson, Brooks) seemed like Aldon wasn't going to play much. But Vic Fangio found a way to utilize the first round pick in a DeMarcus Ware type of role. Aldon Smith is a very fast and strong linebacker that can get to the quarterback almost seemingly at will. Since he's been used in week 4 he's had at least 1.5 sacks a game. Aldon brings us another dimension of pass rush and takes a load of pressure of Justin Smith. Not to mention the emergence of Ray McDonald and Ahmad Brooks. Smith gets my impact player award because he disrupts the opposing team's flow. He gave Freeman hell, he gave Vick a hard time keeping planted and just recently Aldon created a lot of attention to the Lions' O-Line which led to many sacks and QB hits. This kid is special, if he keeps his play like this we may have our own Ware, perhaps even better. The ceiling for him is extremely high.


Surprising entries for the impact players. Of course the whole team has to be good, but these two in particular have stepped up more than others expected. Now in general, we are far from a contender. Alex Smith has to prove more to me. We need to throw more balls down the field to keep the defenses honest. The defense is fine, although we could do better in pass defense. In the red-zone, teams have a hard time scoring on us. Hopefully the bye gives us the time to work on these little things and we can be one hell of a contender.