Kevin, That's how I feel about Bruce Miller too. He has a tiny bit of an old-school 49ers fullback about him the way he can catch a ball and run with it.

Aldon... the most vivid tv image I remember of the game against New England last month was a close up of Aldon on the sideline giving the camera a stage whistle that said, "Whoa, I'm tired, I've not been tired like this in a league game." He was smiling, but the point was there. Those 85 or 90 snaps he and most of the rest of the defense had to undergo against the Patriots took their toll, as we saw in the following game in Seattle.

Then there have been the two or three articles this week highlighting what a high percentage of total plays the core 9 or 10 guys on the 49ers defense have played this season.

So we've been made conscious of both the short-term fatigue caused by long road trips, overtime games and high play counts, and of the long-term fatigue that results when coaches decide against the kind of rotation great past coaches like George Seifert ran.

What does it mean now? Well obviously the bye week was HUGE, especially for the defense. I would hope that the most important effect the two-week preparation window has provided is plenty of time for Rickie Jean Francois to get reps in combination with Aldon Smith.

A two-week bye should, one can safely assume, address the short-term fatigue issue. I expect Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Ray MacDonald and other defenders who have been relatively flat lately to come out of their slumber this weekend.

As for the long-term fatigue, we won't know until, and if, the team advances another round or two. I lean toward the optimistic take, that the two-week bye will have been enough to give everyone a powerful second wind.

But the numbers, and the recent data - all those points given up since Justin went down - are not encouraging.

It's funny, before the season there was a lot of talk about the depth on the roster. But it was apparent even in preseason that the team was choosing to rely heavily, perhaps too heavily, on starters at several key positions on defense. The line, and safety, were the two spots that leapt out at me as risking being exposed by lack of depth.

I would hope that Mr. Baalke et al are conscious of the same issue, and intend to do something about it this offseason no matter how far the team progresses in these playoffs.