RAMS .VS. NINERS
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Purdy: Defense is what's making 49ers better
It was a bad weekend for bagged spinach and sacked Ram. That's how we know the 49ers are genuinely getting better.
To be sure, there were some pretty offensive plays Sunday, including some beautiful passes from quarterback Alex Smith and his line-drive arm to receiver Antonio Bryant and his always-open-for-business hands (and mouth).
But those plays are for the highlight shows. You want the straight skinny? In pro football, here are the two ways you can tell if your team is actually improving and becoming a playoff possibility:
1. Your defense stops the other guys.
2. Screw-ups from the previous week are fixed.
The 49ers fulfilled both criteria in Sunday's 20-13 victory over St. Louis. During last week's opener at Arizona, it was obvious that the offense has undergone a major upgrade over 2005. But the defense, which gave up 34 points to the Cardinals, plainly needed further remodeling.
Well, the extreme makeover is apparently coming along faster than we thought. Against the Rams, the 49ers' defense allowed fewer first downs, fewer yards, fewer successful third-down plays -- and 21 fewer points.
``It was just correcting some things,'' cornerback Shawntae Spencer said. ``We had a lot of mistakes last week and we made corrections.''
Sounds ridiculously uncomplicated. But it should never be underestimated. Look around the league. Some teams make the same mistakes week after week. The 49ers were one of those teams a year ago. The Raiders still are.
Now, examine these first two weeks of this 49ers season. At Arizona, there was blatant confusion in the secondary, some freelancing and finger-pointing. Communication was a major issue. A week of practice repaired the crossed wires. Cornerback Walt Harris, who broke up three attempted Rams passes and made seven tackles, implied as much.
``I was just playing the calls and being where I was supposed to be,'' Harris said. ``I just need to be where I'm supposed to be and plays will come to me instead of trying to make things happen.''
The six sacks of quarterback Marc Bulger were the 49ers' big defensive plays Sunday. But they were created by the vast improvement in pass coverage. Bulger more or less said he could not find open receivers as soon as he wanted, which gave the 49ers' rushers time to swallow him.
Among the most impressive swallowers was rookie linebacker Manny Lawson, who had two sacks. He caused matchup problems every time he was on the field. At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, Lawson is built like former 49er Charles Haley, who also loved to crunch quarterbacks. In junior high, as a skinny 100-pounder, Lawson played quarterback. He then filled out and became a defensive lineman at North Carolina State. And he's got an attitude about trying to fit in.
``I have a big man's complex,'' Lawson said after Sunday's game, explaining what motivates him. ``I look like a smaller guy so I have to act big, eat big, do everything big. Before the draft, people were saying he's a small guy, too small to play defensive end in the NFL and we don't know if he can play linebacker in the league. I take that into every game. I know sometimes the blockers are bigger than me, so my best bet is to run around them.''
Two other sacks were perpetrated by safety Chad Williams -- and both occurred on third downs. Another sack was credited to defensive lineman Marques Douglas, who grabbed Bulger and caused him to fumble at the St. Louis 17-yard line. It was recovered by the 49ers, setting up a field goal.
And the sixth sack? It belonged to veteran defensive lineman Bryant Young -- although he was far more jazzed to be talking about Douglas' play.
``I thought that was one of the biggest plays today, causing that fumble,'' Young said. ``When you do something like that, you know you're getting there as a defense.''
It's best not to grow too excited about the 49ers just yet. We will know a lot more about them after Sunday's home game against Philadelphia and a trip to Kansas City the next week. But as linebacker Jeff Ulbrich noted, the momentum is moving in the right direction.
``The extremely positive thing about our team, the thing that gets me fired up, is how we improve,'' Ulbrich said. ``If you look at the preseason, Dallas and Oakland did a lot of perimeter running and were very successful with it. So the coaches put a lot of emphasis on stopping that. And when other teams have tried to do perimeter runs against us since, we've smashed it. We take a weakness and try to make it our strength.''
Funny he should mention that. On one of Sunday's perimeter run attempts by St. Louis, a right-end sweep by Steven Jackson early in the fourth quarter, we saw the most definitive sign yet that the 49ers are no longer a defensive joke.
Jackson appeared to gain 7 yards on the play -- but it was nullified by an obvious holding call by the Rams' Isaac Bruce, who was grabbing and wrestling the 49ers' Spencer. A year ago, you didn't need to cheat to gain yards against the 49ers. Now you do. That is true progress.
``If we stop the run and get off the field on third down, we'll be in every game,'' Spencer said.
They'll win some more, too. Perhaps many more than we think.
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It was a bad weekend for bagged spinach and sacked Ram. That's how we know the 49ers are genuinely getting better.
To be sure, there were some pretty offensive plays Sunday, including some beautiful passes from quarterback Alex Smith and his line-drive arm to receiver Antonio Bryant and his always-open-for-business hands (and mouth).
But those plays are for the highlight shows. You want the straight skinny? In pro football, here are the two ways you can tell if your team is actually improving and becoming a playoff possibility:
1. Your defense stops the other guys.
2. Screw-ups from the previous week are fixed.
The 49ers fulfilled both criteria in Sunday's 20-13 victory over St. Louis. During last week's opener at Arizona, it was obvious that the offense has undergone a major upgrade over 2005. But the defense, which gave up 34 points to the Cardinals, plainly needed further remodeling.
Well, the extreme makeover is apparently coming along faster than we thought. Against the Rams, the 49ers' defense allowed fewer first downs, fewer yards, fewer successful third-down plays -- and 21 fewer points.
``It was just correcting some things,'' cornerback Shawntae Spencer said. ``We had a lot of mistakes last week and we made corrections.''
Sounds ridiculously uncomplicated. But it should never be underestimated. Look around the league. Some teams make the same mistakes week after week. The 49ers were one of those teams a year ago. The Raiders still are.
Now, examine these first two weeks of this 49ers season. At Arizona, there was blatant confusion in the secondary, some freelancing and finger-pointing. Communication was a major issue. A week of practice repaired the crossed wires. Cornerback Walt Harris, who broke up three attempted Rams passes and made seven tackles, implied as much.
``I was just playing the calls and being where I was supposed to be,'' Harris said. ``I just need to be where I'm supposed to be and plays will come to me instead of trying to make things happen.''
The six sacks of quarterback Marc Bulger were the 49ers' big defensive plays Sunday. But they were created by the vast improvement in pass coverage. Bulger more or less said he could not find open receivers as soon as he wanted, which gave the 49ers' rushers time to swallow him.
Among the most impressive swallowers was rookie linebacker Manny Lawson, who had two sacks. He caused matchup problems every time he was on the field. At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, Lawson is built like former 49er Charles Haley, who also loved to crunch quarterbacks. In junior high, as a skinny 100-pounder, Lawson played quarterback. He then filled out and became a defensive lineman at North Carolina State. And he's got an attitude about trying to fit in.
``I have a big man's complex,'' Lawson said after Sunday's game, explaining what motivates him. ``I look like a smaller guy so I have to act big, eat big, do everything big. Before the draft, people were saying he's a small guy, too small to play defensive end in the NFL and we don't know if he can play linebacker in the league. I take that into every game. I know sometimes the blockers are bigger than me, so my best bet is to run around them.''
Two other sacks were perpetrated by safety Chad Williams -- and both occurred on third downs. Another sack was credited to defensive lineman Marques Douglas, who grabbed Bulger and caused him to fumble at the St. Louis 17-yard line. It was recovered by the 49ers, setting up a field goal.
And the sixth sack? It belonged to veteran defensive lineman Bryant Young -- although he was far more jazzed to be talking about Douglas' play.
``I thought that was one of the biggest plays today, causing that fumble,'' Young said. ``When you do something like that, you know you're getting there as a defense.''
It's best not to grow too excited about the 49ers just yet. We will know a lot more about them after Sunday's home game against Philadelphia and a trip to Kansas City the next week. But as linebacker Jeff Ulbrich noted, the momentum is moving in the right direction.
``The extremely positive thing about our team, the thing that gets me fired up, is how we improve,'' Ulbrich said. ``If you look at the preseason, Dallas and Oakland did a lot of perimeter running and were very successful with it. So the coaches put a lot of emphasis on stopping that. And when other teams have tried to do perimeter runs against us since, we've smashed it. We take a weakness and try to make it our strength.''
Funny he should mention that. On one of Sunday's perimeter run attempts by St. Louis, a right-end sweep by Steven Jackson early in the fourth quarter, we saw the most definitive sign yet that the 49ers are no longer a defensive joke.
Jackson appeared to gain 7 yards on the play -- but it was nullified by an obvious holding call by the Rams' Isaac Bruce, who was grabbing and wrestling the 49ers' Spencer. A year ago, you didn't need to cheat to gain yards against the 49ers. Now you do. That is true progress.
``If we stop the run and get off the field on third down, we'll be in every game,'' Spencer said.
They'll win some more, too. Perhaps many more than we think.
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