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the overhaul is not done yet.  we are in year 2 of the reset.  i am as pissed that they lost on the biggest stage as anyone, firing abm is not the answer, talent is.  we improved by what 6 games?  that's something that you can hang your hat on and work on next year.  the team has to hate what it felt like last night.  they lost to the better team.  

After it was obvious that we were losing almost every one-on-one matchup I would have liked to see some run blitzes, some gambling that may have left us susceptible to the big pass play, but at least we wouldn't be demoralized by their physical domination.  ILBers seemed to be playing 5 yards from LOS, by the time they reacted to the ball they were still 2-3 yards from LOS with a blocker on them. Safety / CB blitz, something to make them pass the ball. 

I'm curious what LaFleur will do with Pettine this year offseason.  It seems the Packers made it a preference that Pettine be kept on during the coaching interview process.  Maybe ML gives him one more year assuming Gute can provide a talent infusion at the ILB spots.  I know Pettine tried to hide Martinez  by having the DL keep him as clean as possible, but BM's lack of speed and downhill play gets exposed too often.

You cannot coach speed.

Pettine lined up in base 3-4 to stop the run almost the entire game. Guess what happened? SF had a large speed advantage and simply ran around that defense or through it before GB could do anything about it.

It is why KC nearly beat them with some derelict backup QB.

It's why SF with Crappyneck beat them before ------SPEED. 

GB has been small and slow. They are somewhat better now but still have guys who are small and/or slow who can be taken advantage of. SF has speed. KC has speed. NO has speed.

GB has slow WRs. One RB with any speed, No TEs with speed. One CB and one S with speed. That ain't enough. When you run up against teams that can put 3 fast guys out on offense you'd better have at least 3 guys who can run with them.

On offense if you don't have speed you cannot have automatic match up advantages or simply run around or past defenses. Adams is quick as hell but he isn't fast. Jones is quick, shifty and has burst. He seems to be a revelation, but not to me. I've been praying GB gets a guy like him for years.

Lots of holes to fill and lots of places GB can add speed. Now they just have to do it.

Pettine's mantra in his introductory presser said he believed you need to stop the pass first.  I forgot the catch phrase he used.  He held up that part of the deal seemingly at the cost of the run D.  They paid a price for that all season in rushing yards against and had a big fat exclamation point put on it last night.  Look at our great pass D!!!

A darkhorse argument regarding the D and run D is...are the Smith's any good at defending the run when they have to?  They can't be excused because they rush the passer well.

Smiths are strong against the run, 49ers schemes around them and Clark. Took runs wide to the outside to pressure ILBs and CBs or off tackle outside zone runs that run inside of edge containment. Those runs pressure DEs and ILBs, two huge weaknesses on this D. How do you defend that? Discipline play from ILB and Safeties to not overrun and fill lanes, controlling the LOS and attacking the gaps, and acceptance that there will be gains, but there doesn’t have to be explosive plays. 4 ypc isn’t normally going to beat Aaron Rodgers, but 9 ypc obviously is. 

One way is to force those fast guys inside where theoretically our guys could tackle them.  Yesterday, King  (more than once) and Alexander and Savage fell for the fake and gave them the sideline.  Result, extra yards and first downs. Tenn let Mahomes do it too. Result, TD. Football  and basketball 101, drilled into my head by coaches 60+years ago....don't give up the sideline.

This beating is much different than the beating Kap gave us.     In that one we simply were out schemed over and over again.   In this one we were beat physically.  

We knew they were going to run and had the best personnel we had on the roster out there trying to defend it.    I think Goodson played the whole game, which he hadn't done all year.     We played 3 DL all game, which he hadn't done all year.    It just so happens that 4 of the 5 guys in that DL / ILB group are backup quality at best and they were going against one of the top oline / TE groups in the NFL. 

The truth is somewhere in the middle.  Kaep killed Dom's D with the RO and being able to run well.  Yesterday we were out muscled and out run but also out schemed.  There were misdirection or against the grain runs by WR's that caught the D completely off guard. 

Interesting thing is after spending an entire offseason learning how to defend the RO, Dom's D did much better against it but then had other problems.  That seems like an easy fix compared to the challenge the current D has.

Pettine isn’t a bad DC, I think he can build on what they did this season. If they make a change so be it, I will support the new guy, but I think anyone they bring in is going to face a similar struggle until they solve the ILB. Maybe our new coordinator is already on staff, OLB coach Mike Smith. Known for being a great teacher and motivator, definitely got 1000% from his position group this season. 

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