Quote:
Originally Posted by Coogs
duncan_idaho,
To expand a little on my last post, I am in agreement with what Sac has said best in regards to what Smith is going to do for our defense this season. By keeping them fresh and not giving them a short field to defend, I expect our defense to be better. Much better in fact.
And if we actually start playing with a lead in the 2nd half, I expect this team to be able to pin their ears back and get after QB's... something we didn't have the luxury of being able to do last season.
Again, this is my opinion.
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Sure. I agree with that. I think it's worth somewhere between 5-7 wins. Maybe 8 on the high side.
Enough to get into the playoffs. Not really enough to do anything once you get there, when you examine Smith's performances against strong, playoff-caliber defenses.
The defense still won't be as good as San Francisco's has been the past two seasons. I also think it's a little unreasonable to expect Smith to be as efficient while throwing more often and being asked to be more aggressive as he was in San Francisco.