Navarro Bowman

[Hawks46]

I would say in looking at the Niners, that their front 7 will be fine, even without Bowman. There will be a dropoff, but there is enough talent around the position to be ok. Their DL might even be better if players like Carradine pan out like they hope.

Their secondary right now is worse, and their secondary was the weak part of that defense last year, and might've been the weakest part of the team outside of WR when Crabtree was out.

The one thing I would say, and it goes for us as well, is that you can't see a hole in the roster and go "oh well, the FO is sooooo good at drafting, we'll just get a rookie in there and we're good to go". People were saying that last year about the Rams' offense, how it was going to take that next step with Tavon Austin. Now, i don't follow the Rams closely, so I couldn't tell you whether Austin was slow to catch on, or whether the coaching staff was slow to find a good spot for him. But it goes to show you that you can't just draft a rookie, even in the 1st round, and expect greatness out of the guy in his first year. Most homers do this, and it leads to the "oh my god, he didn't light the world on fire,.......BUST!" type of comments that drive all the rest of us fans crazy.

I think how our WR corps develops has more to do with us "crushing" the 49ers than Bowman being out. IF Harvin can stay healthy, it's going to cause huge problems for them against us. You have to respect Lynch, Miller is a key player, Willson played well againt the Niners, and Baldwin seems to always play well against the Niners. Throw in Kearse (who should improve with his playoff and SB experience).....and it spells trouble. You have to respect Harvin, which opens up Baldwin and Kearse. Miller or Willson will suck Willis into coverage (Willson beat Willis in coverage for his TD against the Niners last year), and you have Bowman's replacement in space with Brooks and or Smith coming off the edge. Lynch or Michael out of the backfield end up matched up with Bowman's replacment. That's how it's going to hurt, that and how the replacement (Willhoit?) plays the run.

 

[Marvin49]

I would say in looking at the Niners, that their front 7 will be fine, even without Bowman. There will be a dropoff, but there is enough talent around the position to be ok. Their DL might even be better if players like Carradine pan out like they hope.

Their secondary right now is worse, and their secondary was the weak part of that defense last year, and might've been the weakest part of the team outside of WR when Crabtree was out.

The one thing I would say, and it goes for us as well, is that you can't see a hole in the roster and go "oh well, the FO is sooooo good at drafting, we'll just get a rookie in there and we're good to go". People were saying that last year about the Rams' offense, how it was going to take that next step with Tavon Austin. Now, i don't follow the Rams closely, so I couldn't tell you whether Austin was slow to catch on, or whether the coaching staff was slow to find a good spot for him. But it goes to show you that you can't just draft a rookie, even in the 1st round, and expect greatness out of the guy in his first year. Most homers do this, and it leads to the "oh my god, he didn't light the world on fire,.......BUST!" type of comments that drive all the rest of us fans crazy.

I think how our WR corps develops has more to do with us "crushing" the 49ers than Bowman being out. IF Harvin can stay healthy, it's going to cause huge problems for them against us. You have to respect Lynch, Miller is a key player, Willson played well againt the Niners, and Baldwin seems to always play well against the Niners. Throw in Kearse (who should improve with his playoff and SB experience).....and it spells trouble. You have to respect Harvin, which opens up Baldwin and Kearse. Miller or Willson will suck Willis into coverage (Willson beat Willis in coverage for his TD against the Niners last year), and you have Bowman's replacement in space with Brooks and or Smith coming off the edge. Lynch or Michael out of the backfield end up matched up with Bowman's replacment. That's how it's going to hurt, that and how the replacement (Willhoit?) plays the run.

Wilhoite. It'll probably be either him or Moody (or a combination of them both) who looked good in preseason before getting hurt last year. Wilhoite is more of a classing thumper style LB. Moody actually played some Free Safety in college and has bulked up so is better in coverage but untested at the point of attack.

 

[Hawks46]

As for the whole "Aldon Smith isn't anything without J. SMith" argument, I tend to go the opposite way. Sure, Aldon disappeared when Cowboy was out, but I'd say that has more to do with the lack of quality of Justin's replacement. You can pay more attention to Aldon when you're not worried about Justin blowing up your Guard. Also, I'd venture to say the inside/outside twist those two run was less effedtive with Justin's backup.

That said, elite competition does tend to erase Aldon. When Okung is healthy, he does a damn good job against him. Let's just hope Okung can stay healthy this year.

 

[NINEster]

As for the whole "Aldon Smith isn't anything without J. SMith" argument, I tend to go the opposite way. Sure, Aldon disappeared when Cowboy was out, but I'd say that has more to do with the lack of quality of Justin's replacement. You can pay more attention to Aldon when you're not worried about Justin blowing up your Guard. Also, I'd venture to say the inside/outside twist those two run was less effedtive with Justin's backup.

That said, elite competition does tend to erase Aldon. When Okung is healthy, he does a damn good job against him. Let's just hope Okung can stay healthy this year.

Was Okung hurt prior to week 2 last season?

I recall Aldon getting to Wilson twice in that game.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

As for the whole "Aldon Smith isn't anything without J. SMith" argument, I tend to go the opposite way. Sure, Aldon disappeared when Cowboy was out, but I'd say that has more to do with the lack of quality of Justin's replacement. You can pay more attention to Aldon when you're not worried about Justin blowing up your Guard. Also, I'd venture to say the inside/outside twist those two run was less effedtive with Justin's backup.

That said, elite competition does tend to erase Aldon. When Okung is healthy, he does a damn good job against him. Let's just hope Okung can stay healthy this year.

Was Okung hurt prior to week 2 last season?

I recall Aldon getting to Wilson twice in that game.

29-3

 

[Marvin49]

As for the whole "Aldon Smith isn't anything without J. SMith" argument, I tend to go the opposite way. Sure, Aldon disappeared when Cowboy was out, but I'd say that has more to do with the lack of quality of Justin's replacement. You can pay more attention to Aldon when you're not worried about Justin blowing up your Guard. Also, I'd venture to say the inside/outside twist those two run was less effedtive with Justin's backup.

That said, elite competition does tend to erase Aldon. When Okung is healthy, he does a damn good job against him. Let's just hope Okung can stay healthy this year.

As another poster said, he had 2 sacks in week 2...and I THINK they came before the score got lopsided.

I'd disagree with the elite competition part. Yes, he doesn't get as many sacks against really good players, but that's true of every player in the NFL. He's not as good vs the Okungs of the world, but that only explains why he doesn't get 5.5 sacks in a game the way he did against the Bears. He's got 42 sacks in 43 career games, so he's pretty good against just about everyone. When people make the "he disappeared when Justin was out" argument they neglect to mention the fact that he was playing with a torn labrum and was still applying pressure. Justin also came back for the playoffs.

Now...if he could just keep his head on straight. Sigh.

EDIT: Full Disclosure. Looks like at least one of those sacks came after Okung left the game. If I recall he was injured in that game, correct?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv0Y8EIHy9w