AZ54

I think what everyone knows and nobody wants to talk about is that we really need Urlacher's cap space to improve our roster.

I went about two seconds before I hit the WTF button.

I really don't know the background of these guys but to be honest many coaches hire assistants who have only been assistant coaches at the college level and nobody blinks an eye most of the time. At least these guys have dealt with professional players so I'm not worried about it.

They should have been stingier.

He hasn't changed since he almost ate his way out of the first round of the draft.

I misread his line and thought he said playmakers at LB. Nonetheless I like our defense but just didn't see them dominate consistently like a great D does. I agree on Melton, Peppers, and Jennings. Turnovers were the only area I'd say we were great at. We struggled all year to get off the field on 3rd downs. To get to that next level we're going to need someone else on the Dline to step up and be a more consistent playmaker. We also need a more mobile MLB regardless of scheme. Hopefully Urlacher can return to fill that role for one more season because I don't see many options without him. I think we'll still have a good defense this coming season.

I think our situation on defense is good not great. I only saw one real playmaker at LB last year...Briggs. I'm not sure what Urlacher will bring to the table with a full offseason to actually run and work out. I hope if he's back he regains some of his mobility but if he can't then at best he's got one more year. We were still better with him on the field than off. The dine is good but not great. Two Pro Bowl CBs but one is near the end of his career and isn't really a shutdown corner until he knocks the ball out of the WR hands.

From out of nowhere. At least Jacksonville and Cleveland are as close to nowhere in the NFL as there is. Very curious to listen to his press conference.

Yes sometimes people confuse the analogy of comparing similar situations (HC failed at point A succeeded at point as being a comparison of the people themselves. Some people do learn from their mistakes some do not. I think Singletary is one of those who does learn. I'm not pulling for him to be our DC either, nor am I against it if that's what Trestman thinks is the right thing to do. I just think we'll be seeing a lot more from Singletary at some point in the future.

That tells me he's also a good salesman who studies his target, knows what he likes, and then delivers it in the way he'll be successful. He knew Emery loved detail and he went out of his way to provide it. I think the interview with Dennison was the complete opposite. Anyway, this fits what we've heard and read about Trestman: He studies his opponent and learns where his players can exploit them. Let's hope it carries onto the field.

Really? http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Singl...win-3178967.php "The biggest thing is those guys in there (the locker room) are excited to play," Singletary said. "I love these guys. They know that. They know what the prerequisites are: work. We have a lot of work to do." When he heard the news in the locker room after the game, quarterback Shaun Hill said, "Everybody started cheering and clapping. People were genuinely happy for him." Singletary was 5-4 in his nine games as interim head coach after taking over the job from the fired Mike Nolan on Oct. 20. More important, he inspired the 49ers to win five of their last seven games to finish the season 7-9 - an overall disappointment but substantially better than the team's 2-7 record as of Nov. 10. "It's a blessing," linebacker Patrick Willis said of his former position coach's promotion. "It's not just because he was a linebacker or because he coached me. I think they've got the right man for the job. He deserved it. He earned it." Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Singl...p#ixzz2IIU1LnQ0 Everyone is so focused on his failure as a HC they forget his success as a head coach. Singletary's biggest problem is that he was a head coach well before he was ready and that stigma will stay with him for some time. Some day he'll get beyond that and I believe he'll be successful as a HC. Not saying that day is today but he might be ready to lead a defense.

Matt Scott is an interesting prospect. After watching him all year I'd say he has good talent overall but his arm strength is average and his ability to read defenses and anticipate is below average. He is very mobile but not elite in this category either. He only played one season due to injuries and due to sitting behind a guy named Nick Foles who ended up starting in Philly this year. Knowing he's only had one full year of playing time he could develop into a decent backup, his ceiling is probably an average starter.

That's a joke right? You have seen what Whisenhunt and Grimm have done here in AZ in the last few years?

Breaking news for Corey Graham: Coaches want to win too. Graham had his chance at CB here in Chicago and he was always trailing his WR so far off that it was an easy pass and catch. Two picks of Manning in the playoffs reminds me of that Cowboys CB who had 3 INT in the Superbowl against Pittsburgh. He got a huge contract from the Raiders and we never heard from him again. I wish him the best.

Add in a very good offensive coordinator to that list. I don't remember any of those Olinemen except for Robbins and only then because he lost his mind, so they weren't exactly household names as a dominant Oline.

IIRC, he became interim HC at the end of a season when the head coach was fired. The team response well and won some games and was more competitive. From there he was given the job. Initially they were more competitive but his Ditkaesque approach soon wore thin and players quit responding. His offense was also boring and predictable. Where have we seen that before? I have no idea how he'd be as a DC and I'm neutral on him as a candidate for that role. One thing is for sure, Trestman needs a guy who can be successful handling complete control of the defense. If not Marinelli, who else is out there?

He runs plays every 12 seconds. A 3-and-out means his defense will get about 1min of rest plus the time it takes to punt. Of course the NFL will come to his rescue often with all the timeouts they force on change of possession so make it 3min. I'm very curious to see how well this works but there are run and gun precedents.

Emery brought in a few WRs of this type last year. I'm not really interested in him as I prefer we add some speed to our stable of bigger WRs. For me Joe Anderson fills this role and he played well on special teams when he got his shot. Don't know how Anderson will fare on the field as a WR. How quickly things change when for years I was hoping we'd add some size to the WR corps. If he runs well and can catch then a very late round pick might worth it but still prefer to find a replacement for Knox's speed.

I do not think Kelly will succeed if he's going to keep his system. His system works great when he has the best athletes on the field. When his athletes are on par with his opponent's defense it doesn't work so well. In the NFL we all know that those things balance out. He never had a really good defense not his expertise of course or emphasis, and for that matter neither did teams in the Pac10/12 thus his offense's numbers tended to be inflated. Running QBs tend not to make it deep into the NFL playoffs-- see: Michael Vick, RGIII, Bobby Douglas. Had to slip that last one in to see if anyone is awake.

Arizona has serious issues with their offense and a very good defense and DC. Why would they want to hire Lovie? The fact they are ignoring him tells me they are now smarter than a box of rocks.

To add to the professionally run team keep in mind Emery greatly expanded our scouting department over the course of the season and added his system of grading to the mix. We don't really know what to expect this draft so it will be interesting but I'm very hopeful.

CFL: 3 downs to go 10yds, Dline must line up 1yd off the LOS. NFL: 4 downs to go 10yds, Dline 11 inches from the Oline. Dline in your face much quicker = get rid of ball quicker but you can take shorter gains since you have 3 downs. Maybe I'm wrong but I wouldn't go to the CFL tapes to see what Trestman will be doing in the NFL. He clearly adapted to the CFL rules and found success quickly there. That in itself is pretty amazing since his roots were in the NFL game for many years. His NFL experience and play calling is what I'm most interested in and he had a lot of success here even if it was a decade ago. Seems to me he understands the concepts that are needed to be successful under any given set of rules.

I said earlier if there is one thing older Bears fans know about Singletary it is that he is studious and willing to accept criticism and work hard to improve himself. I can't believe he hasn't learned some things and improved since his days back in SF. When it was reported that he'd interview for HC I also felt at that time he was interviewing for a potential DC role. Not shocked at all by this rumor.

I expect that Marinelli would first want to sit down and talk with Trestman before making any decision. I assume that happened today. I can't imagine Trestman will wait more than 24hrs for his decision as there are so many recent hires for HC in the league that getting his DC in now is a priority.

You are going to be looking for that person for a very long time and you have no quotes on this board for anyone promoting that. What you described as the Lovie-2 is exactly what Lovie ran when he made himself DC and it was horrible. Marinelli clearly has changed things to be more aggressive but he is not Rex Ryan. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other thoughts... We did run quite a few stunts last season so I'm not sure why there is so much complaining that we don't do that. Melton is young, had a back injury the second half of the season and still made the Pro Bowl and still some don't like him. Surprising. Without him we had no interior pass rush. We better sign him as he is the first sign of life our interior Dline has had since Harris' Pro Bowl days. Marinelli ran a horrible prevent defense against the Seahawks and ruined my first trip back to Chicago in 5 years. Or was that Lovie's decision? For Lovie's entire tenure Lovie has put our D back on their heels late in games when we had the lead when all we had to do was just keep playing the same solid D we had played all game. Bottom line is we don't know what Marinelli would do unchecked by Lovie. We also don't know who our new HC would bring in as his coordinator so speculating that he, or in this case with no names as candidates, anyone, will be better than what Marinelli has done is pure conjecture. Marinelli gave us a top 10 defense. So the challenge for the new guy is pretty steep. This is especially true because we now are 100% certain we are hiring an Offensive-minded HC. Kinda like hoping Lovie will fix the offense because he can't bring in anyone worse than Terry Shea. I'm not saying a new DC wouldn't do a better job than Marinelli but those who view that as a sure thing, or that any change has to be better than what we have, are wrong IMO. Read the article on Trestman's last couple seasons in Montreal to see his difficulties with the defense.