San Francisco 49ers Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati Solidify the Offensive Line

The two 2010 first-round draft picks have solidified one of the best offensive lines in the NFL.

Those first-round picks were Anthony Davis, 11^th, a tackle out of Rutgers, and Mike Iupati, 17^th, a guard out of Idaho.

The 49ers' scouting group and Coach Singletary’s most controversial move was to pick two offensive linemen in the first round of the 2010 draft. It is rare that any NFL team picks linemen in the first round of the draft, but picking two perked the ears of the sports media.

In the 2010 season, the 49ers quarterback was sacked more often than is considered healthy, and running backs were thrown for losses. Everybody moaned about the offensive line. Some especially picked on the youngest lineman to start for the 49ers, 20-year-old Anthony Davis. They pointed out that he had more penalties, allowed more sacks and had difficulty opening holes for Frank Gore, a premiere NFL running back. And the 49ers had a losing season.

The sports media whaled on the offensive line for being so porous.

Thankfully, the 2011 season has seen a resurgence of the team as a whole—and the offensive line in particular. Except for one close overtime loss, the talent and teamwork persevered through the tough learning curve of the offensive line, and the 49ers came through.

The first several games of the 2011 year started off with a repeat of last year's spotty performance. But by the eighth week of the season, the two draft picks seem to have been the wisest for any team in many a year. The two have become solid running buddies.  And the 49ers have been winning.

Early in the season, I pointed out that offensive lines often took several games to gel. It takes time and practice, regrettably most of that under fire, for these big men to learn the position thoroughly. With coach Jim Harbaugh demanding a complicated scheme of plays, the five core offensive linemen have a lot to learn.

Timing is key. Communication is vital. Technique is important. Knowing exactly what the other guys on the line are doing is critical.

Remember, if you will, that NFL linemen serve a unique function in all of sports. They are wrestlers for a few seconds that vie to win forty or fifty times a game. Their opponent on the defensive line is often as skilled as they are, and they also must win forty or fifty contests a game. These are rare and near sumo-sized men—not your regular dude next door. At over 300 pounds, they take on other guys at over three hundred pounds, and they do it forty or fifty times in a three-hour stretch of real time.

While the quarterback has multiple reads of coverage to memorize, so do the offensive linemen have multiple techniques to master. A full game is no walk in the park.

The offensive line, for the most part, serve in anonymity because their work is less sexy than a long pass thrown or received or a run broken into the clear and loped for a touchdown. They are noticed when a runner is thrown for a loss and when the quarterback is sacked, but otherwise, they just blend into the fabric of the game. But bet your most precious that their performance allows both of those to happen.

After the first four games of 2011 the 49ers offensive line came together. Penalties declined, quarterback sacks became rare and Frank Gore was off to the races.

And the 49ers go into another away game against the Washington Redskins with an expectation of winning. They can depend on the two 2010 first-round draftees to do outstanding work.