Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead
The SF Defense should be very strong. The only real soft spot they have on that side of the ball is at corner and if they can get to the QB like they were doing the last 4 games of last year then that makes the secondary look a whole lot better.
On the offensive side they should be better and get better as the season rolls along. They won't be prolific, but they should be better at controlling the ball. As the 1st rounders get better the line will have more confidence. Smith has already shown to make better reads under pressure but it remains to be seen if this still holds true in the regular season.
So I can see the Niners being a 10-6 team in the playoffs and scaring whomever they come up against.
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There is a bit of a recent trend in the NFL where the team winning the Superbowl didn't make the playoffs the previous season. I really think the Niners can take advantage of a pretty suspect Division and post a good enough record to get some home playoff games. It's not much of a stretch to see the Niners being 6-0 against the NFC West, than add in the AFC West and they could be 9-1 without too much trouble. Find a way to split the other 6 games and that's a 12-4 record which should get you a bye in the playoffs, and from there who knows.
The Niners and Steelers would be my two non-playoff teams from last year most likely to win the Superbowl. In the case of the Steelers, getting Roethlisberger's suspension reduced to 4 games is huge. That coud mean the difference between a 2-2 start verses a 2-4 start. Even a 1-3 start is better than 2-4 because you still have a couple extra weeks to get on the right track and rack up some wins.