joemad wrote:

Fred Dean was one of the best pass rushers I’ve seen play…. I don’t think SF wins their early Super Bowls without him.

Yeah he was always pretty great.

From the wiki:

NFL career

San Diego Chargers

Dean was drafted by the Chargers in the 2nd round (33rd overall pick) 1975 NFL Draft. Dean recorded 15½ sacks in 1978. In 1979, the Chargers won the AFC West division while leading the AFC in fewest points allowed (246) and Dean was named to the All-AFC team. The Chargers again won the AFC West in 1980, with Dean teaming with fellow 1975 Charger draftees Gary “Big Hands” Johnson and Louie Kelcher as the Chargers led the NFL in sacks (60). Dean had missed the first two games of the season after not reporting, but still finished the season with 10½ sacks. He and Johnson were named first-team All-Pro, with Kelcher being named second-team All-Pro. The trio, along with Leroy Jones formed a defensive front that was nicknamed the Bruise Brothers.

San Francisco 49ers

In 1981, Dean, was traded to the San Francisco 49ers due to a contract dispute with Chargers’ ownership. Dean contended that he was making the same amount of money as his brother-in-law who was a truck driver. The Chargers’ defense would not be the same afterwards, and Don “Air” Coryell’s Chargers teams are now most remembered for its high-scoring, pass-oriented offense that did not have enough defense to make it to a Super Bowl. In 2013, U-T San Diego called the Chargers trading Dean “perhaps the biggest blunder in franchise history”.

Dean was acquired mid-season by the 49ers and eventually helped them win two Super Bowls in the 1980s. His first game as a 49er was a key match-up against the Dallas Cowboys. Dean played after only a couple of practices and was still able to apply pressure and repeatedly hurried Danny White when he was not recording one of his 6 sacks, in a game won by the 49ers, 45-14. His first action of the season as a 49er was noted by author Tom Danyluk as “the greatest set of downs I have ever seen unleashed by a pass rusher”. In what had been a game of possum, Bill Walsh, the 49er head coach, said to John Madden, who covered the game, “Fred (Dean) just got here . . . If he plays, he won’t play much”. But he played the whole game.

His next home game for the 49ers was against the Los Angeles Rams. The game was won by the 49ers, and was the first win against the Rams in Candlestick Park, 20-17, as Dean sacked Pat Haden 5 times. He ended the season with 13 sacks, 12 with the 49ers and 1 with the Chargers before his trade to San Francisco.

The 49ers went on to win the Super Bowl that year, and Steve Sabol (NFL Films) is quoted in 2006 as saying that Dean’s acquisition was the last meaningful in-season trade, in that it affected the destination of the Lombardi Trophy. Dean that year won UPI NFC Defensive Player of the Year while playing in 11 games for the 49ers. San Diego’s defense collapsed when Dean departed, giving up 40 points in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the regular season, and 65 total points in playoff games vs. the Miami Dolphins and Bengals.

“I can’t say how much it affected us, because we did make it to the AFC championship game,” said Johnson of the Chargers without Dean. “But I could say if we had more pass rush from the corner, it might’ve been different.

In 1983, Dean recorded 17 sacks to lead the NFC and recorded a then-NFL record of 6 in one game, setting that mark during the 49ers’ 27-0 shutout of the New Orleans Saints on November 13, 1983. The 17 sacks was a Dean career high, bettering his 1978 total of 15½ with the Chargers.[14] He followed that 1978 season by adding nine sacks in 1979 and 10½ in 1980. He had recorded 6½ sacks as a rookie in 1975. Dean’s career sack total, with his unofficial numbers included, is 93.

Dean was also a key player on the 49ers 1984 Super Bowl team, mostly used as a situational pass rusher. During the 1984 season, Dean was reunited with his Charger teammates, Johnson, Kelcher and Billy Shields.

Dean was inducted into the Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990. Dean is a member of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. On August 2, 2008, Dean was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted at the enshrinement ceremony where his bust, sculpted by Scott Myers, was unveiled. In 2009, Dean was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

On October 14, 2020, Dean died of COVID-19.

CRamsFly

Whitworth has had an incredible career and has defied Father Time (let’s hope he continues). It’s amazing that not only has he had such a long career in a critical position, but also how well he is continuing to play (top 5 OT every year, including this season). When the Rams signed him a few years ago, I was just hoping that he could play decent enough for 1-2 years and never expected that he would play at an All-Pro level every year! :shock2:

==

aeneas1

offensive points scored, allowed, and differential:

rankings – offensive categories:

rankings – defensive categories:

Reports: Hall of Fame defensive end Fred Dean dies of COVID-19 at 68 https://t.co/603NL4GQQf

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 15, 2020

Growing outrage after a zoo visitor tossed a lit cigarette into an orangutan enclosure, prompting the ape to pick it up and smoke it. More than 1M people signed a petition to shut down the zoo after the incident. The zoo says it regrets that it happened. https://t.co/nxWlMGDFg5 pic.twitter.com/2yBvbZeux8

— ABC News (@ABC) March 9, 2018

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Barring a setback, ILB Micah Kiser is on track to play on Sunday. Team will gradually increase his workload the next two days.

This quote pretty much describes DC Brandon Staley to a tee: When asked about Aaron Donald’s ability and success even as teams do whatever they can to try to stop him in their game plan, he grins and says, “Well, we’re game-planning too.”

WR Robert Woods, on Jared Goff’s spike attempt – cracking up: “Yeah he cant be putting that on tape anymore.”

Rest days for Andrew Whitworth and Aaron Donald today. Sean McVay mentioned that he liked getting Donald those midweek rest days because he has seen him able to be really charged up late in games while playing the bulk of the DL snaps, so that will likely continue.

PFF LA Rams@PFF_Rams
Fuller went the entire game without a negatively graded play and ended up with the best PFF grade of his rookie season

Not bad for a 6th round rookie

J.B. Long@JB_Long
Updates from @RamsNFL HC Sean McVay:

Jordan Fuller – Aggravated stinger. I/R gives him a shot to come back healthy after the bye.

Obo Okoronkwo – Elbow procedure not going to be season-ending. “Like 4 weeks.”

PFF@PFF
Leaders in total pressures:

T-1. Aaron Donald/ Myles Garrett – 33
T-3. Joey Bosa/ Khalil Mack – 27
5. Shaq Barrett – 26

==

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
So Rams DC Brandon Staley brought the “star” position – which is the variation of the nickel that we see CB Jalen Ramsey in at times – with him to LA from John Carroll after going back through Ramsey’s high school and college tape. The way he saw it, it would be crazy to not

have a guy like Ramsey playing in what is, in Staley’s defense, one of the most important positions on the field and a space where he can cover a lot of different things including blitz packages and run support as a very sure tackler. Of course, this package can vary if, say,

Ramsey is needed against a true WR1 on the outside. At that point we have seen Troy Hill in there. Additional depth includes David Long, who would play it in a prototypical “nickel” type of role, and Terrell Burgess, who plays it in more of the hybrid safety/linebacker role.

This is something they were able to install immediately in Staley’s first year, and is unfolding more and more as the season continues, because of the versatility and all-around savvy within the defensive backs room.

To me this says a few things – one, scheming your players for the range of their abilities, which we see McVay do on the offensive side, and two, giving pretty much complete autonomy to your first-year NFL DC (though he would remind us that he’s been doing this for awhile, ha)

Anyway, a lot of the time we don’t always have all the answers/see the whole picture right away – especially when you factor in gamesmanship and keeping things held back -but the best part of beat writing is putting all of the little clues and details together bit by bit.

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
“He’s not just a corner, they play him all over,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan says about the way the Rams are using Jalen Ramsey this season.

“Robert, he’s a stud, I’ve watched him since he came out of college,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan says about Robert Woods, adding he’s among the most talented receivers in the league.

Matt Maiocco@MaioccoNBCS
Kyle Shanahan did not include Jimmy Garoppolo on the list of the team’s injured players. He said he expects Garoppolo to have a full practice today, which puts him solidly on pace to start Sunday night vs. the #LARams.

Rams Power Rankings: Week 6

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/rams-power-rankings-week-6-2020

NFL.com, Dan Hanzus Rank: 8

Last Week: 9

Change: +1

“After an ugly win over the Giants in Week 4, the Rams were back to looking like a balanced, high-functioning unit in a 30-10 win over Washington.”

ESPN.com Rank: 7

Last Week: 8

Change: +1

Yahoo! Sports, Frank Schwab Rank: 8

Last Week: 7

Change: -1

“The Rams had some explosive plays in the passing game, as Jared Goff threw for 309 on just 30 attempts, and most of that happened in the rain. Whatever happened in last week’s lackluster win over the Giants, the Rams seem to have shaken it off.”

Bleacher Report Rank: 8

Last Week: 9

Change: +1

USA Today, Nate Davis Rank: 3

Last Week: 7

Change: +4

“As well as QB Jared Goff and DL Aaron Donald are once again playing, a big reason Los Angeles is winning again is the underappreciated resurgence of its offensive line.”

Sports Illustrated, The MMQB Rank: 5

Last Week: 11

Change: +6

Note: The MMQB staff rotates who compiles the Power Rankings each week. This week, it was columnist Gary Gramling’s turn.

“With the exception of the slow start in Buffalo, the Rams have done pretty much exactly what they want to do against every opponent they’ve faced this season. And the fact that they clawed back against the Bills—it was fair to question whether or not Jared Goff could—was plenty encouraging. It seems like the coach has things figured out.”

CBS Sports, Pete Prisco Rank: 10

Last Week: 11

Change: +1

“They have dominated the NFC East to get to 4-1 to open the season. Sean McVay has this team playing well, and they are the class of the NFC West.”

Washington Post Rank: 7

Last Week: 8

Change: +1

THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT’S RANKS — THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

NFL.com – 21

ESPN.com — 17

Yahoo! Sports — 19

Bleacher Report — 21

USA Today — 20

Sports Illustrated — 21

CBS Sports — 21

The Washington Post — 24

from PFF Rankings: The NFL’s top 25 wide receivers through Week 5 of the 2020 season— https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-pff-rankings-top-25-wide-receivers-through-week-5-2020-season

15. ROBERT WOODS, LOS ANGELES RAMS
Woods is the perfect receiver for this Los Angeles Rams offense. His intelligence and ability to exploit the hesitation induced by the play action, motion and route combinations are second to none, and it has led to him being extremely productive during his time with the Rams.

Since the start of the 2018 season, only Julio Jones, Mike Evans and DeAndre Hopkins have more explosive plays than the 76 Woods has to his name, and he has dropped only five passes over that period from nearly 300 targets.

How Kyle Shanahan has kept the 49ers from falling apart

Nick Wagoner

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Make no mistake, the San Francisco 49ers are a team in crisis.

Less than 10 months after coming up just short in Super Bowl LIV, the Niners’ issues are all encompassing.

San Francisco has been battered by injuries. The offense has had little rhythm behind a line that has struggled to find cohesion and a rotating cast of skill position players. The defense has been decimated at edge rusher, misses the defensive tackle who was traded in the offseason and is digging deep into the practice squad to have enough cornerbacks on Sundays.

In their next seven games, the Niners will play the Rams twice, the Patriots, Seahawks, Packers, Saints and Bills, all of whom are legitimate playoff contenders.

If all of that wasn’t enough for the 2-3 Niners, consider that they’re coming off a 26-point loss to the Miami Dolphins, the third-largest defeat by a defending conference champion to an under .500 team in the Super Bowl era. If this season isn’t going to slip away before the calendar turns to November, the 49ers must find answers in a hurry.

As the Niners prepare for the Rams on Sunday Night Football (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC), coach Kyle Shanahan must set the tone for a turnaround.

“There’s no magical thing that you can say when you play like that,” Shanahan said. “I just try to hold us all accountable. Know it starts with me. … There’s nothing to talk about. That’s called getting better. I think there’s a lot of aspects of our game that obviously we can get better at and I’ve got to make sure I put our guys through that and find a way to do it.”

As a kid, Shanahan would go to his father Mike, then the Denver Broncos coach, on Fridays and ask how certain players had done in practice that week, or if an injury was going to force someone to step in and how that player might perform in Sunday’s game.

Mike would always remind Kyle most every player was a play away from being in the game.

“Growing up a coach’s son maybe helped me understand that urgency at a young age,” Shanahan said. “You just learned that, every coach knows that going through the NFL. That’s why you put a lot of pressure on those guys every week because if they think it’s a redshirt year and they think they just get to develop and work three days a week, those guys get shocked and then when they do get their opportunity, they don’t get another one after that. So, I constantly try to tell those guys, because I’ve seen too many people get surprised when they’re up and then this league passes them by very fast.”

Those lessons have never been far from Shanahan’s mind in his three-plus seasons as a head coach. When the Niners suffered a spate of injuries or went on lengthy losing streaks in 2017 and 2018, it could simply be chalked up as growing pains for a rebuilding team. Those days are gone.

After the Niners’ turnaround last season, they became a league darling again, the roster bursting with talent led by a dynamic head coach and a creative staff. When trouble struck in 2019, the Niners got contributions from up and down the depth chart. Little-known names such as offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill, tight end Ross Dwelley and cornerback Emmanuel Moseley parlayed those cameos into larger roles.

Those players were ready for the moment because Shanahan drilled into their heads from the moment they arrived they’d one day be needed to do more than help the starters prepare.

“As a professional, it’s our expectation, our job to be able to step in at any time,” quarterback Nick Mullens said. “But, his team meetings, the way he influences, the videos that he shows us, the different things he does to motivate us, it keeps us going. He always tells us you’re either getting better or worse. So, that sits in my mind every day.”

That motivation often comes in the form of unrelenting, unvarnished truth. Sometimes that means turning on the tape and calling out players for blown assignments or poor technique.

After a Week 1 loss to Arizona, Shanahan showed the game tape to the entire team, pointing out individual mistakes along the way. On a third down early in the game, tight end George Kittle didn’t run a good route and the Niners came up short of the conversion. Shanahan didn’t spare the All-Pro.

“The best thing Kyle has done, over and over, and he’s done it since my rookie year, is just how brutally honest he is with the team,” Kittle said. “And week in and week out, he doesn’t sugar coat anything. If we lose, ‘Hey, this is why we lost.’ … So when you have guys being held accountable which is what Kyle does with the entire team, it doesn’t matter who you are, our level of play is at a high standard. We expect guys to go out there and perform at a very high level — at an elite level.”

This time, though, the stakes are much higher. These Niners earned the expectations they haven’t met so far. All of which makes this next stretch of games a pivotal moment for the franchise. Sure, teams that lose the Super Bowl are notorious for struggling the season after losing in the big game. But the 49ers are just the 10th with a losing record after five games, and eight of the previous nine with that distinction missed the playoffs.

Everything the Niners did in the offseason was meant to extend their championship window. That included the decision to trade defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, something Lynch has called the hardest thing he’s done as a general manager. If the window closes now, who is to say when or if it will open back up?

After the Week 2 win against the New York Jets in a game that included a season-ending injury to defensive end Nick Bosa and short-term injuries to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and running back Raheem Mostert, Shanahan was able to point to more recent experiences. He stood before his team and reminded it of what happened in 2019.

Shanahan went over all the injuries they suffered that season, noting their injured players combined to miss 147 games. He told them it was time for everyone to step up even if someone like Bosa is irreplaceable. For one week, at least, it worked as the Niners dominated the lowly New York Giants.

That momentum hasn’t carried over, though, as the Niners lost to the previously winless Eagles and were embarrassed at home by the Dolphins. Knowing what’s ahead, Shanahan is aware of what must happen to prevent this season from spiraling into a missed opportunity.

It starts with him.

“I’ve just got to keep my thumb on everyone,” Shanahan said. “There was nothing to sit here and feel sorry about yourself. You’ve got to be ready for what you’re going to get and it’s well deserved, but we’ve got to close the doors, go out to the field and go to work. You either get better or worse and if we don’t get better, it’s going to be a long season.

9ers are still 5th on defense. Expecially solid against the run (7th in ypa allowed). 3rd against the pass and 3rd in pressure percentage. That’s all pretty formidible.

But they are 21st on offense, 20th in passing yards and although 6th in yards per attempt rushing are 19th in rushing. They get outscored in the 2nd half and particularly in the 4th quarter.

This is a game that tests 2 things.

1. Rams OL. Yes again but also obviously.
2. Staley’s 2nd half defensive adjustments. Let’s see if they work against a determined and well-coached division rival.

So it has the makings of a tough close game.

My prediction: Rams 55, SF 3.

I’m sorry are we…bragging about flipping the bird to health and safety protocols during a pandemic and calling it “adversity”? Am I interpreting this incorrectly? https://t.co/zoUkA2fcLF

— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 14, 2020

Good third down work by Jared Goff. #Rams pic.twitter.com/W4YxrffVg0

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) October 5, 2020

Tough run in short yardage by Darrell Henderson #Rams pic.twitter.com/5LKDjLEnbj

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) October 5, 2020

Jared Goff too goal focused here after process disrupted in pocket. pic.twitter.com/w8sEB0zL0i

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) October 5, 2020

Is that Jalen Ramsey’s ENTRANCE music? Ohh my…he’s coming to the ring! pic.twitter.com/QCKf9bo2Pa

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) October 5, 2020

Cooper Kupp makes the catch he dropped earlier and scores. #Rams pic.twitter.com/qJaoH7gL99

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) October 5, 2020