Finding the 49ers: How Much Room Is There for Improvement in San Francisco?

I was looking at stats today, being the Monday Morning Quarterback that I am, trying to see just what our shortcomings were during the 2008 season.  As I poured through the numbers, one thing became apparent to me...The 49ers weren't very good in almost every category...at all.

An obvious statement. Anyone who followed the team, even from a "highlight-reel" perspective, would agree with this.  However to this author, when looking deeper, we see that there are a few key underlying causes.

Now if you've already been through this exercise, now would be the time to duck out the back exit.  If you haven't looked much deeper than SportsCenter or watching the games though, the following just might give you an insight into why the 49ers didn't win a lot of games last year.  This is how I got on this "mission"

I was commenting on another article on B/R, myself being disappointed in our "No. 1 Receiver" Isaac Bruce's stats of only 835 yards last year, when someone made a few good points: We are a running team and we spread the ball around a lot.

Now that got me thinking. OK...well there are a lot of "running teams" out there.  What kind of stats do they have? 

This actually was the beginning of looking at all of the stats I'm writing about here...The first of which was total yards in the season.

Overall Offense

They were 23rd in the League in 2008 with only 4,978 total yards, 22nd with an average of 21.2 PPG, totaling only 31 TD's on offense (less than two per game), and only 10 Rushing TD's.

Rushing

Our "running team" was 27th in the NFL with only 1,599 yards.  Also, 27th with only 397 attempts.  The top seven teams averaged over 500 carries (and all rushed for over 2,100 yards).  Our average of 99 yards per game was good enough for 27th overall as well.  4.0 yards per carry was good enough for 21st in the league.

10 rushing TD's tied us for 15th overall, but in reality, there were 24 teams with more rushing TD's than us, so let's look at it that way.

Passing

We were actually 13th with 3,379 yards...The bright spot perhaps.  We managed 16th in completion percentage, though 18th in passing attempts.  We did have 21 TDs which was actually good enough to tie for ninth in the NFL.

Preliminary Conclusions

Originally when I saw the scoring numbers I immediately thought, "Wow, we didn't capitalize on scoring opportunities."  After looking at the rest of the stats, I drew one larger conclusion:

We didn't have the ball enough on offense.  I say that because of how low we ranked in attempts, which consequently led to low totals in yards and scoring.  Time of possession agrees with this (could have checked that first and saved myself a lot of time).

Now most of us all know that if you don't have the ball enough, either you're turning the ball over or your defense can't stop the other team.  Or in this case, a combination of the two.

Defensive Stats

The 49ers were 13th against the run, total yards allowed, and yards per game.  Not too shabby. 

Against the pass however, the 49ers were 20th in passing yards allowed overall and per game.  They were 23rd in the league in points allowed overall and per game.

Turnover Stats

We gave the ball away 35 times in 2008 compared to only 18 takeaways.  That's -17 in the turnover margin.  That's -1 per game.

Final Conclusions

One extra possession for the other team is going to hurt.

One could argue that the reason the defensive stats weren't as good as they could be is due to the fact that the other team is getting more opportunities.  The defense is on the field longer, especially late in the game when it's most important. 

However, we can't let the defense totally off the hook either.

While the 35 giveaways was an NFL worst in 2008, the 18 takeaways was in the bottom five as well.  The fact is, this team almost seemed to not want the ball last season.  The offense gave it back to the opposition and the defense didn't get it back very often. 

I think we all know this is going to change quickly. With the stern Mike Singletary overseeing Greg Manusky and Jimmy Raye, these guys are going to preach discipline with the ball on offense and a relentless pursuit of it on defense. 

Winning the turnover battle will go a long ways, however our passing defense plays a role in takeaways and allowed a lot of yardage and scoring last year on it's own. With the addition of veteran Dre Bly and projected-star Dashon Goldson, let's hope our long-plagued secondary can finally play as well as the other units.

All in all, I think the 49er faithful can expect improvement in most, if not all categories we've discussed here, if we can find a way to get and keep the ball.