49ers Wins Over/Under: What Would You Take On 7.5?

Defense alone will win us 6 games. Alex has to be better than last year and we won 7. Our schedule is kind and we will handle the division with ease.

Trust and Believe.

Looking at the schedule, I could see them going 6-10. On the other hand, when I think about that fact that the 49ers have the best TE tandem, best RB, best WR combo, and best Def in the NFC west, then there is no reason they can’t win the NFC west. Let’s say the go 4-2 in the NFC west and split the other 10 games. For a minimum of 9-7.

Gore > Wells (ARI), Lynch (SEA), S Jackson (STL)
V Davis + D Walker > Z Miller (SEA), no names (STL + ARI)
Crabs + Braylon > Fitzgerald + Early? (ARI), Sidney Rice + M WIlliams (SEA), a bunch of guys (STL)

It’s really going to boil down to the QB and O-line play. We can get adequate QB play if the O-line gives them time. If the O-line fails then Staley, Chilo, and Davis are less than what they appear on paper.

I’m excited to watch em this year… but I am every year.

I still worry about their abysmal road record.

I think they’ll be fine…

7-9

But Fooch, if you put this same post up Monday, my answer might (would probably) be different. If the O-line performs better and in turn Alex finds a rhythm in Hardball’s system, I might go as high as 9-7. If on the other hand the O-line is a sieve again, and Alex gets that (excruciating to watch) deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes, double clutches and/or gets sacked a million times and/or fumbles/hands the ball to a D-linemen, I could go as low as 3-13 and celebrating the ’niners being the winners of the A Luck sweepstakes.

Too many holes filled with stop gap players… most of which would/should not be starters on a Playoff caliber team. No QB, holes on the O-line, a new Coach and Coordinators… this isn’t good. I don’t care how good Harbaugh and his staff are, they can’t get a team ready in a shortened off-season. I don’t see any depth at all at any position, except maybe running back.

Too many high round picks that are not playing up to their supposed abilities (or not playing at all): Anthony Davis (Singletary traded up to aquire him… he should be equal to Iupati), Crabtree (he fell into our laps at #10 and never got off),… Kentwan Balmer, Manny Lawson, Alex Smith and to round out the last 10 years were Rashaun Woods, Mike Rumph and Kwame Harris. 2nd round picks aren’t very good either… which the team only has had 2 picks since 2006…. Taylor Mays & Chilo Rachal.

Up until this year, the team has done nothing to help out the offense via free agency… nothing. I’m now convinced that the front office needs a complete overhaul.

Honestly, there are only 3-4 players on this team that are worth keeping around and are legit stars: Willis, Vernon Davis, Iupati and Staley if he can stay healthy at the LT position. Gore is too old (in RB years) with too many miles on those knees. I would hate to see him leave, but I love the guy so much, I almost want to see him go to a good team, so that I have something or someone to root for during the playoffs.

This team is NOT a 4-12 team, as a whole, but with the coaching changes, less time to get everyone on the same page, and what I think is a poor O-line (who’s main issue is that they just don’t seem to play well together) and the lack of depth… it’s not going to be easy to put points up on the board, forcing the defense to wear down during the end of the game and during the whole season. I mean, you can’t win with a terrible O-line and poor QB’s. A good O-line can at least give a bad QB time… or a good QB can maybe figure out his reads and get the ball out quickly.

I think they have a tough schedule and “might” squeak out 4 wins.

Of course, if the team puts up 40 points this weekend, then I’ll write a completely different answer, stating how amazing the front office is and the team will go 12-4.. so this post was completely pointless, aside from wasting time at work.

Rams 8-8
Niners 8-8
Seahawks 7-9
Cardinals 5-11

don’t know why anyone would expect anything less

… and I mean no offense to anybody here who writes for them, some of their stuff is good, but some is pretty odd…

anyway, it actually inferred that the ‘niners might intentionally tank the season in order to secure the rights to Andrew Luck in next year’s draft.

I think that is an absurd idea. No professional athlete/coach that I’ve ever met has it in his DNA to intentionally lose, under any circumstances. They wouldn’t be playing at this level if they were even capable of that. That combined with the fact that it’s Hardball’s first year and he has alot to prove (to himself, don’t think he cares what others think which is a quality I admire in him), and the York’s are trying to close a stadium deal, make the whole idea seem ridiculous to me.

But I’m curious… does anybody here at The Nation think the ’niners might actually do that? And if not, what do you think of writers putting that out there?

I see 8 probable wins, 3 probable losses, and 5 toss-ups. How is that?

Wins: Seattle, at Cinci, Cleveland, at Washington, Arizona, St. Louis, at Arizona, at Seattle = 8

Losses: At Philly, at Baltimore, Pittsburgh = 3

Could Go Either Way: Dallas, Tampa Bay, at Detroit, Giants, at St. Louis = 5

The Niners will probably blow at least one of the Wins (particularly early in the season), but I seriously doubt that they would go 0-5 in the Toss-Ups. I’ll predict an 8-8 or 9-7 record … if nothing else, just the improved coaching staff alone plus free agent additions should be good for at least 2-3 more wins than last year’s fiasco.