Coach - Steve Wilks thread

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
No one is saying the D is poor, but all year we've heard the D is perhaps the most talented in football, or the most talented historically for SF since maybe decades. Look at BALs talent, or KC, or DET even. DET hasn't gotten results on the season stats, but I see a lot of talent. We started a dude off the street in the playoff game. We added Ryan mid year and started him. I think our D is certainly talented, I would push back on we have way more talent than all over clubs, not so. Ppl view Chase Young as a major talent or force, he isn't. He was maybe years ago. I like how the 'contrarian' pov is our DC, who is getting interviews on the HC cycle, is a good man / coach.

I think we have some talent issues like you're mentioning.

My question would be whether this was something that was also present in past years and was shielded by better playcalling and scheme. Not sure it's a question that can be answered yet.

Whether we want to put primary focus or 'blame' on roster construction or coaching, both, or whatever else… it is very clear that our defense isn't great and should probably be better.

Originally posted by HONEYBADGER:
There is no arguing our Dline underperforms based on what they are paid.

Is it the players or is it Wilks?

Too late this season to fix it, but in the off season something serious must be done.

Wilks and the players. They all need to step it up. Wilks needs to be more creative and move guys around more. Try more stunts. And we needs guys to win more match ups. Bosa for the most part isn't taking advantage of right tackles like he was in previous years. He's not winning one on one as much this year, Our guys up front need to create more tfl's. They are always going backwards on the interior and make very few plays in the backfield. I blame that Lynch for not adding a run stuffer to the roster.

I see Wilks being here for awhile unless they fire him. He wont' get any of these HC jobs and is just a Rooney rule interview. Ravens and Lions D Coordinators will get the nod over him. Dan Quinn will as well. Only so many defensive minded coaches will be hired

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
No one is saying the D is poor, but all year we've heard the D is perhaps the most talented in football, or the most talented historically for SF since maybe decades. Look at BALs talent, or KC, or DET even. DET hasn't gotten results on the season stats, but I see a lot of talent. We started a dude off the street in the playoff game. We added Ryan mid year and started him. I think our D is certainly talented, I would push back on we have way more talent than all over clubs, not so. Ppl view Chase Young as a major talent or force, he isn't. He was maybe years ago. I like how the 'contrarian' pov is our DC, who is getting interviews on the HC cycle, is a good man / coach.

I think we have some talent issues like you're mentioning.

My question would be whether this was something that was also present in past years and was shielded by better playcalling and scheme. Not sure it's a question that can be answered yet.

Whether we want to put primary focus or 'blame' on roster construction or coaching, both, or whatever else… it is very clear that our defense isn't great and should probably be better.

I had us going 10-7 before the season because I thought our drafting and depth were really poor.

They've proved me wrong so far.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
No one is saying the D is poor, but all year we've heard the D is perhaps the most talented in football, or the most talented historically for SF since maybe decades. Look at BALs talent, or KC, or DET even. DET hasn't gotten results on the season stats, but I see a lot of talent. We started a dude off the street in the playoff game. We added Ryan mid year and started him. I think our D is certainly talented, I would push back on we have way more talent than all over clubs, not so. Ppl view Chase Young as a major talent or force, he isn't. He was maybe years ago. I like how the 'contrarian' pov is our DC, who is getting interviews on the HC cycle, is a good man / coach.

I think we have some talent issues like you're mentioning.

My question would be whether this was something that was also present in past years and was shielded by better playcalling and scheme. Not sure it's a question that can be answered yet.

Whether we want to put primary focus or 'blame' on roster construction or coaching, both, or whatever else… it is very clear that our defense isn't great and should probably be better.

It's shielded until it isn't. We rode Moseley into the SB and he had the gaffe. Tartt had his failure to execute. I like how our DBs are doing. Lenoir is playing great. Ward also. Ambry had a rough sequence, but is improved this year.

Not sure what great means or 'should be better'. Better how? I mean if AA and Chase are former versions of themselves, we would be dramatically better. That's not really under Wilks control. Comments like our D isn't great, are what I am talking about, it's only 'not great' if you have an expectation of having a true historically great D. We are top 3 in pts, top 10 in yds, and #1 in picks. I agree with your remark, I saw you post about how we are better with the 2 score lead, we sure are. Hargrave shines a lot more as a pass rusher. Incumbent on our side of the ball that is historically great to play up to that. That didn't happen vs the Pack, and we still got a multi pick game from Love and by and large won it ugly.

Cmon Wilks ... Surprise the f**k out of the universe and limit the Lions to 10 or less. It is time for the defense to win a game on their own regardless of how the offense performs.

Originally posted by lamontb:
Pass rush last year was a no show in the playoffs. Omenihu was our sack leader with 3. I'm not lamenting on that. I'm wondering where is the improvement with the guys we have up front and how much they are being paid.

Yeah, I get concerned about our pass rush, but they seem to get there in spurts. It just feels like teams are hellbent on getting the ball out fast this year.
But the game-clinching interception came after Nick Bosa pressured Love, and he made a dumb decision.

Originally posted by Wubbie:
Yeah, I get concerned about our pass rush, but they seem to get there in spurts. It just feels like teams are hellbent on getting the ball out fast this year.
But the game-clinching interception came after Nick Bosa pressured Love, and he made a dumb decision.

It's because dumpoffs are left wide open constantly. Easy to throw to them.

Originally posted by 9ers4eva:

Originally posted by Wubbie:
Yeah, I get concerned about our pass rush, but they seem to get there in spurts. It just feels like teams are hellbent on getting the ball out fast this year.
But the game-clinching interception came after Nick Bosa pressured Love, and he made a dumb decision.

It's because dumpoffs are left wide open constantly. Easy to throw to them.

My understanding of the Wilks defensive gameplan is that he has the team take away the explosives, and force teams to drive the length of the field. Penalties, drops, negative runs will eventually nix drives over the course of the game. Demeco went this route as well, but I feel like he mixed it up quite a bit, and we had a stronger run defense that allowed 3.4 yards per carry.

It seemed to work in the regular season, because the stats show we were similar to previous years. But of course, the regular season also includes games where we played weak offenses. I just get concerned about the remaining three teams--Lions, Ravens, Chiefs. They all have QB's that have no problem dinking and dunking the length of the field. He'll need to take his chances, or our defense will be gassed from giving up 10+ drives constantly.

Steve Wilks doesn't seem to light a fire under the players. That's what we need. Shanahan should know what defenses do to stop offenses. I see no reason why he should not be talking and strategizing with Wilks. He needs to get more involved on the defensive side him being a head coach.

Problem is we got spoiled with DeMeco.

Wilks is so unimaginative. He goes in with the same game plan every game….lets teams hangs around, and then needs to adjust.

Has there been any game this season that this dude has called spot on from the kickoff to the final whistle ? Every double digit win has come bc the Niners clamped down AFTER adjustments at half.

expect the same against Detroit this weekend. A lot of "adjusting" will be required to win it

Originally posted by Wubbie:

Originally posted by 9ers4eva:

Originally posted by Wubbie:
Yeah, I get concerned about our pass rush, but they seem to get there in spurts. It just feels like teams are hellbent on getting the ball out fast this year.
But the game-clinching interception came after Nick Bosa pressured Love, and he made a dumb decision.

It's because dumpoffs are left wide open constantly. Easy to throw to them.

My understanding of the Wilks defensive gameplan is that he has the team take away the explosives, and force teams to drive the length of the field. Penalties, drops, negative runs will eventually nix drives over the course of the game. Demeco went this route as well, but I feel like he mixed it up quite a bit, and we had a stronger run defense that allowed 3.4 yards per carry.

It seemed to work in the regular season, because the stats show we were similar to previous years. But of course, the regular season also includes games where we played weak offenses. I just get concerned about the remaining three teams--Lions, Ravens, Chiefs. They all have QB's that have no problem dinking and dunking the length of the field. He'll need to take his chances, or our defense will be gassed from giving up 10+ drives constantly.

Anytime you get to the final four, pretty much every ball club has elite athletes at every positon. It takes the whole squad to win a 🏆. In other words, not only must defense play well but offense and special teams also. There are really no one dimensional teams in the final four.

So in other words, Purdy has to match the offensive output of his opponents, as well as his defense has to stop the other offense too. Oh yeah, no Kyle Williams special teams breakdowns either.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
It's shielded until it isn't. We rode Moseley into the SB and he had the gaffe. Tartt had his failure to execute. I like how our DBs are doing. Lenoir is playing great. Ward also. Ambry had a rough sequence, but is improved this year.

Not sure what great means or 'should be better'. Better how? I mean if AA and Chase are former versions of themselves, we would be dramatically better. That's not really under Wilks control. Comments like our D isn't great, are what I am talking about, it's only 'not great' if you have an expectation of having a true historically great D. We are top 3 in pts, top 10 in yds, and #1 in picks. I agree with your remark, I saw you post about how we are better with the 2 score lead, we sure are. Hargrave shines a lot more as a pass rusher. Incumbent on our side of the ball that is historically great to play up to that. That didn't happen vs the Pack, and we still got a multi pick game from Love and by and large won it ugly.

Look I know you're hellbent on defending Wilks, but you should understand I'm not necessarily putting the shortcomings on him. That's why I specifically said I'm not quite sure what the reasons are, whether it's coaching, players, etc.

I also used the term 'great' which was too vague. I don't think our defense is much above average when we aren't up big in games. You mention the all time efficient offense needing to pick up the slack… I agree. It's happened all season. But we are asking for them to be perfect if they are only going to be able to touch the ball three times in a half. They are not that good… and certainly not in playoff level conditions. 3 possessions in the first half. A punt, a TD, and a blocked kick where we shot ourselves in the foot in terms of clock management. We can pump up the idea that we are limiting big plays, and a bend but don't break defense… and give them credit for holding GB to two field goals and a failed 4th and short conversion… but its also hurting our offense's ability to get in, or stay in, rhythm and it's limiting our possessions at times to the point where we basically need offensive perfection in terms of efficiency.

We seemingly have too much talent for our defense to be an actual liability or to be inefficient enough to where it harms the strength of the team.

I live in Las Vegas, With all the chatter about Brock - has there been any criticism of Wilks in local media?

Or are we the only ones who can clearly see this??

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
It's shielded until it isn't. We rode Moseley into the SB and he had the gaffe. Tartt had his failure to execute. I like how our DBs are doing. Lenoir is playing great. Ward also. Ambry had a rough sequence, but is improved this year.

Not sure what great means or 'should be better'. Better how? I mean if AA and Chase are former versions of themselves, we would be dramatically better. That's not really under Wilks control. Comments like our D isn't great, are what I am talking about, it's only 'not great' if you have an expectation of having a true historically great D. We are top 3 in pts, top 10 in yds, and #1 in picks. I agree with your remark, I saw you post about how we are better with the 2 score lead, we sure are. Hargrave shines a lot more as a pass rusher. Incumbent on our side of the ball that is historically great to play up to that. That didn't happen vs the Pack, and we still got a multi pick game from Love and by and large won it ugly.

Look I know you're hellbent on defending Wilks, but you should understand I'm not necessarily putting the shortcomings on him. That's why I specifically said I'm not quite sure what the reasons are, whether it's coaching, players, etc.

I also used the term 'great' which was too vague. I don't think our defense is much above average when we aren't up big in games. You mention the all time efficient offense needing to pick up the slack… I agree. It's happened all season. But we are asking for them to be perfect if they are only going to be able to touch the ball three times in a half. They are not that good… and certainly not in playoff level conditions. 3 possessions in the first half. A punt, a TD, and a blocked kick where we shot ourselves in the foot in terms of clock management. We can pump up the idea that we are limiting big plays, and a bend but don't break defense… and give them credit for holding GB to two field goals and a failed 4th and short conversion… but its also hurting our offense's ability to get in, or stay in, rhythm and it's limiting our possessions at times to the point where we basically need offensive perfection in terms of efficiency.

We seemingly have too much talent for our defense to be an actual liability or to be inefficient enough to where it harms the strength of the team.

Good convo. This type of blanket, it feels like we have more talent statement, I push back on. Coming into the year, I was hopeful Drake would make, the leap. And AA would be back to normal. And so it would be Drake, AA, Hargrave and Bosa. With Drake wayyy new and improved. That was the expectation. Not a crazy expectation, AA is great when healthy, and Drake was our top pick. We were just hoping for a year 2 jump.

It did not happen. AA is dealing with real issues, and missed a lot of the stretch run. Drake is a complete non factor. We imported Gregory and Young who are kinda meh. So a lot of the huge expectations didn't materialize, particularly with the dream DL. I stopped thinking of that as reality or the expectation maybe half a season ago, when it was clear AA was injured and Drake was not making any leap. I also didn't put much stock in Gregory or Young there were red flags on both. Probably a better get tbh would have been interior run stuffer, which maybe they got late in SJD.