The Arm-chair Expert takes to his Keyboard!!!!

Kickers Schmickers. If I wanted to talk about freakin' kickers I'd watch Soccer. And you couldn't pay me enough to watch Soccer.

As to lighting a fire under Akers... DM, Do you know what you get when you light a fire under a kicker? (Say it with me) Cooked Kicker.

Let's get back to real football here for a moment.

Justin Smith and the triceps tear.

I'm with Mo Bay Mike here. I think it's ridiculous to assume Justin is going to come back and be fine for the play offs.

That said... our Defense has been anything but dominant since he sat down. Seattle ran all over us. The Pats ran through us, and passed over us once Justin sat down. And since Justin sat down Aldon has been The Invisible Man.

It's time to change things up.

And I'm talking about spending a lot of time in the 4 - 3 Defense from here on.

"But Expert!" sez you. "Changing what got you to the Play-offs is a recipe for disaster!"

To which I reply: "What is shooting up your best player with pain killers, wrapping his injury up with yards of tape, and sending him out to play one handed a recipe for?"

Go ahead Coach, tell'em all that "Cowboy" is going to come back. Let'em all spend their time preparing to play against a weakened Niner 3-4 defense. Heck, even line up in the regular 3-4 a few times during the game. But spend your off week preparing to run the 4-3 Defense.

We certainly have the guys who can play it.

Rotate: Sopoaga, McDonald, Jean Francois, Williams and Jerod-Eddie as your Tackles. And tell'em to one gap.

Start with Brooks and A. Smith as your rush Ends. If they get nicked or winded, you can rotate McDonald Tukuafu, and Jean Francois in at End. (But it would be fun to watch Brooks and Smith line up wide and just go hunting.)

The 4 - 3 can be a bit rougher on the LBs because the down linemen are hunting the ball carrier, rather than trying to keep the LBs clean, so that the LBs can make the tackle or the sack. But we have one heck of a group of LBs, and they can handle the 4 - 3.

Choose your Sam, Mike, and Will from : Willis, Bowman, Grant, or Haggins.

Want to move to the Nickle? Take out the Mike and leave Willis and Bowman on the field to run sideline to sideline.

I know Fangio has a deep and abiding belief in his 3 - 4 Defense. But without Justin Smith... it isn't working. So it's time to stop asking Jean Francois to be Justin Smith, and allow him to be Jean Francois.

Last Edited By: Kevin 01/03/13 04:03 PM. Edited 1 times.