Late night bullshit: our lines.

[Direckshun]

I've been watching game tape tonight of the 49ers game, the Texans game, and the Jags game.

Two comments:

I'm loving our offensive line. Albert, Waters, Wiegmann, and Lilja move in space as if they were linebackers. There's no "I'm a 300 pound gargantuan" to how they run and move. Lilja especially -- what a steal this guy was. He is playing like a Pro Bowler in this offense. Wiegmann has been impressive too, but he's been our best pickup of the entire offseason. He misses absolutely nothing at the LOS in picking up passrushing. We have all the talent we need on the line, but he's the reason we're #1 in sack prevention.

People have asked why we are so good in run defense but so poor in pass defense. The answer is simple: our DL isn't versatile enough just yet. Our DL lineup of Dorsey, Edwards, and Smith, is a lineup of three defensive tackles. That means, on most downs we play, we're featuring three defensive tackles.

That means it's going to be a beast to run against them. That's a lot of beef to move. But their passrushing is going to be lackluster, to say the least. Edwards can get in the backfield once a game pretty reliably, but that's it. Shaun Smith has been a good addition for this team and plays very hard between whistles but his passrushing is pathetic. He's a nose, not an end. Dorsey can get into the backfield, however.

That's why Jackson's development is so important, and why the DE in a 3-4 is so important. You need to be stout enough against the run while also having the quickness and moves to get into the backfield on passing downs. That's why Tyson Jackson desperately needs to develop, or we need to consider other options to lock that down.

Because that is going to get us slaughtered in the playoffs. It is a dead end if our defensive line cannot get in the backfield.