Should the 49ers retain Steve Wilks?

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
The defense is still playing pretty good but I think many of us feel they should be better with the talent they have in the front 7. I've seen too many games where the D can't get off the field. It seemed like they were getting more 3 and outs early in the year. GB only punted once yesterday.

Wilks may have improved the secondary but his use of his pieces up front has been awful. You have Bosa, Chase Young, Hargrave, Armstead and you still can't get off the field on third down or get consistent pressure on the QB? Ryans was far better at that stuff, using stunts and being creative on how he utilized his DL to maximize pressure on the quarterback.

That's why I don't really care if Wilks leaves. I doubt he gets a HC job but if he does there are more creative DCs out there. I'm not saying he's terrible but I don't see any creative blitzing or stunts. Blitzing too much can be dangerous but a few well disguised blitzes are sometimes needed.

Originally posted by libertyforever:
Did people don't remember? We were complaining about the soft zone for easy underneath throws throughout the Demaco and Saleh era.

Not on EVERY down. Saleh had to do it because he didn't have the talent but once he did he varied things, Demeco varied things even more.

Neither guy had this level of bend but don't break. The strategy is basically don't give up big plays and eventually the opposition will mess up.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
Every time you defend this defense you focus almost solely on statistical results. Did they do good job limiting GB to FGs early and coming up in the clutch late? 100 percent yes they did. They also allowed GB to dominate the ball early and it contributed to our offense not being on the field and not having a chance at a rhythm. We had 3 1st half possessions on O… which is crazy. Our offense has to be super efficient when our D is that soft, and last night it wasn't. Almost cost us the season. The efficiency of the offense all season has shielded this defense. It is a good defense but def not what it has been and is clearly underperforming based on talent. What the reasons are is hard to say.

We're down in DVOA, and EPA/play. Our run defense is not good. We usually are kicking teams asses and that forces teams to be one dimensional on offense in 2nd halves. Our D has thrived with multiple score leads.

Honestly think the defense late in last nights game bought our offense the extra opportunities it needed, so that was fantastic… but it was once again a big time struggle against a good offense with good coaching and it was far from the type of performance overall you'd want to see with our team rested and with the talent we at least think we have.

this is the playoffs again they gained 330 yards (which for the record is league average for the season) and below what GB normally averages and they got 3 TO.

Our D is about making the offense play perfectly which has worked we allow the 3rd fewest red zone appearances for the entire season (including yesterday game) some of opponents efficiency stats would be up when we have multiple score leads because the goal is to stop large chunk plays and have opponents burn the clock (which is why maybe EPA/play is worse than last year because we did not blow teams out last year like we did this year)

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
That's why I don't really care if Wilks leaves. I doubt he gets a HC job but if he does there are more creative DCs out there. I'm not saying he's terrible but I don't see any creative blitzing or stunts. Blitzing too much can be dangerous but a few well disguised blitzes are sometimes needed.

With you there. Wouldn't be scared to have to gamble looking for another competent DC. Also wouldn't mind to have continuity and see if the defense improves under a second year of him coordinating. Both DeMeco and Saleh's D's improved over their time. That can happen with Wilks as well. Only differences are Saleh started with a defense that wasn't nearly as talented and I think we showed real improvement within a season during DeMeco's first year as DC.

Originally posted by libertyforever:
Did people don't remember? We were complaining about the soft zone for easy underneath throws throughout the Demaco and Saleh era.

its our defensive philosophy it has been for years its about making the opponents offense replay perfectly and sooner or later they will make mistakes its why we lead the NFL in interceptions fo past few years and allowed least amount of explosive plays for the past few years.

If you play more aggressive you have to be prepared to allow larger chunk plays too

Originally posted by ritz126:
this is the playoffs again they gained 330 yards (which for the record is league average for the season) and below what GB normally averages and they got 3 TO.

Our D is about making the offense play perfectly which has worked we allow the 3rd fewest red zone appearances for the entire season (including yesterday game) some of opponents efficiency stats would be up when we have multiple score leads because the goal is to stop large chunk plays and have opponents burn the clock (which is why maybe EPA/play is worse than last year because we did not blow teams out last year like we did this year)

I have tried to tell you this multiple times but it is the exact opposite. These are the situations when our D has played great. If we weren't blowing teams out all season long our stats would no doubt be much worse. It's a 17 game schedule... its not hard to review the flow of each game and rely less on guessing. We only had 1 game where we had a big lead and the other team made considerable gains in 'garbage time'. Outside of that our D has been much better when the opposing offense has been forced out of a balanced attack due to score and time (not dominating defense like we've seen in years past)

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:

Originally posted by Kolohe:
The one thing that has always concerned me and I believe we were all worried about this when he was hired was the run defense. With all the talent on defense the 49ers shouldn't be this bad at stopping the run.

We don't have any run stoppers Hargrave is pretty below avg in that regard, Chase Young and Gregory aren't here to stop run either. We have AA who is coming off injury. Fred's a beast, but the LB level needs those guys on the DL.

Honestly we do in Sebastian Joseph-Day, they just don't play him because they have Kinlaw. But SJD is the much better run stopper that should be playing over Kinlaw.

LET HIM GO after the season... even WHEN we win the Super Bowl..

Bring in Vrabel or MIKE ZIMMER !!!

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by ritz126:
again when is 3 TO and 2 TD allowed a bad performance?

you guys have super unrealistic expectations of what a good defense is this isn't 20 years ago

Every time you defend this defense you focus almost solely on statistical results. Did they do good job limiting GB to FGs early and coming up in the clutch late? 100 percent yes they did. They also allowed GB to dominate the ball early and it contributed to our offense not being on the field and not having a chance at a rhythm. We had 3 1st half possessions on O… which is crazy. Our offense has to be super efficient when our D is that soft, and last night it wasn't. Almost cost us the season. The efficiency of the offense all season has shielded this defense. It is a good defense but def not what it has been and is clearly underperforming based on talent. What the reasons are is hard to say.

We're down in DVOA, and EPA/play. Our run defense is not good. We usually are kicking teams asses and that forces teams to be one dimensional on offense in 2nd halves. Our D has thrived with multiple score leads.

Honestly think the defense late in last nights game bought our offense the extra opportunities it needed, so that was fantastic… but it was once again a big time struggle against a good offense with good coaching and it was far from the type of performance overall you'd want to see with our team rested and with the talent we at least think we have.

The O struggled, Brock struggled to grip the ball. That was not a good O performance. D bailed us and CMC. The D is what it is. We don't have run stuffers up front. Hargrave was brought in to rush the passer. Which he can do, but he's not prime Aaron Donald. Teams can focus on Nick, cuz Gregory and Young are kinda meh. Lenoir played well, Ward saved a score, Warner was Warner which is to say elite. I like the decision to play the vet Ryan. I'm not worried about our D right now, I'm hopeful the O can get back to how the pass game looked in clean conditions.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
The O struggled, Brock struggled to grip the ball. That was not a good O performance. D bailed us and CMC. The D is what it is. We don't have run stuffers up front. Hargrave was brought in to rush the passer. Which he can do, but he's not prime Aaron Donald. Teams can focus on Nick, cuz Gregory and Young are kinda meh. Lenoir played well, Ward saved a score, Warner was Warner which is to say elite. I like the decision to play the vet Ryan. I'm not worried about our D right now, I'm hopeful the O can get back to how the pass game looked in clean conditions.

There's no doubt the O struggled. Besides Brock's issues in the rain, I think a big part of the problem was lack of opportunity. Again, we had 3 first half possessions last night. Thats so low. When we let the other team hold the ball like we did, the offense has to play damn near perfect to get anywhere close to what would be their expected production.

Some of this is also our overall strategy. Like Kyle butchering clock management at the end of the half. We were so scared of them potentially scoring 3 on an extra drive, we robbed ourselves of a chance to score 7. This kind of thinking along with a defense that can't get off the field (field goals or touchdowns) is hurting us given our offense is the actual strength of the team (by far).

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
There's no doubt the O struggled. Besides Brock's issues in the rain, I think a big part of the problem was lack of opportunity. Again, we had 3 first half possessions last night. Thats so low. When we let the other team hold the ball like we did, the offense has to play damn near perfect to get anywhere close to what would be their expected production.

Some of this is also our overall strategy. Like Kyle butchering clock management at the end of the half. We were so scared of them potentially scoring 3 on an extra drive, we robbed ourselves of a chance to score 7. This kind of thinking along with a defense that can't get off the field (field goals or touchdowns) is hurting us given our offense is the actual strength of the team (by far).

I have a feeling the film will show the opportunities were there at end of half and Brock didn't take them.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
There's no doubt the O struggled. Besides Brock's issues in the rain, I think a big part of the problem was lack of opportunity. Again, we had 3 first half possessions last night. Thats so low. When we let the other team hold the ball like we did, the offense has to play damn near perfect to get anywhere close to what would be their expected production.

Some of this is also our overall strategy. Like Kyle butchering clock management at the end of the half. We were so scared of them potentially scoring 3 on an extra drive, we robbed ourselves of a chance to score 7. This kind of thinking along with a defense that can't get off the field (field goals or touchdowns) is hurting us given our offense is the actual strength of the team (by far).

Its obvious that Kyle doesn't trust the defense. In past seasons you could at least trust that this team would close out on 3rd downs, this season they've continually found newer and more inventive ways to let offenses convert on third and long.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
The O struggled, Brock struggled to grip the ball. That was not a good O performance. D bailed us and CMC. The D is what it is. We don't have run stuffers up front. Hargrave was brought in to rush the passer. Which he can do, but he's not prime Aaron Donald. Teams can focus on Nick, cuz Gregory and Young are kinda meh. Lenoir played well, Ward saved a score, Warner was Warner which is to say elite. I like the decision to play the vet Ryan. I'm not worried about our D right now, I'm hopeful the O can get back to how the pass game looked in clean conditions.

Packers didn't run the ball up the middle though. Was all outside runs and 9ers did a poor job at adjusting.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Its obvious that Kyle doesn't trust the defense. In past seasons you could at least trust that this team would close out on 3rd downs, this season they've continually found newer and more inventive ways to let offenses convert on third and long.

You can't blame him on that front, but we can protect them as we have all season by being aggressive on offense. That end of half management last night was comically bad.

Oh well, we got an ugly w in the end. Just please learn from this s**t.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
There's no doubt the O struggled. Besides Brock's issues in the rain, I think a big part of the problem was lack of opportunity. Again, we had 3 first half possessions last night. Thats so low. When we let the other team hold the ball like we did, the offense has to play damn near perfect to get anywhere close to what would be their expected production.

Some of this is also our overall strategy. Like Kyle butchering clock management at the end of the half. We were so scared of them potentially scoring 3 on an extra drive, we robbed ourselves of a chance to score 7. This kind of thinking along with a defense that can't get off the field (field goals or touchdowns) is hurting us given our offense is the actual strength of the team (by far).

Its obvious that Kyle doesn't trust the defense. In past seasons you could at least trust that this team would close out on 3rd downs, this season they've continually found newer and more inventive ways to let offenses convert on third and long.

BALOGNY... Kyle wont even trust the offense.. where you not watching the last 2 minutes of the first half?