I have been a bit 'worried' all season long about our defensive frontline.

Im not talking about Kenny; but Im talking about everyone else. We know from the pittsburgh days of their dominating defense or the patriots 3-4 days etc ... that You need 3 run stuffers to make effective use of OLBers in a 3-4. Now we have 2 great or 1 Really great and one ok OLBer. But we only have 1 good DT guy. We dont have 3 run stuffers. And we havnt all season long.

And this is why the niners qb only had to throw it 8 times at us and run it down our throat the whole game. We cant stop the run with a good team. This wasnt a problem yesterday its been a problem all year; Sorry just look at our dudes. Dean Lowry and Tyler Lancaster; while maybe decent guys in a 4-3 - they arnt built for a 3-4 they cant stop the run.

Im just peeved that we lost and this issue was a glaring problem since the year started. If we didnt have such good OLBers we would of had a much worse season then we did; record wise.

Dulak, Great post.

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I can't run the numbers right now, but I feel pretty sure that teams have at least 5 DBs on the feild more than 75% of the team... so we should be focusing on the actual main package (4-2 or 2-4) and not the false base packages (3-4 or 4-3).

Edge: Z Smith (Gary top backup)
DT: Clark (Lancaster top backup)
DT: Lowry
Edge: P Smith

ILB: No one (I believe Martinez and Goodson are both FAs)
Coverage ILB/SS: Greene/Campbell (no coverage ILB, have only SS for the role)

Nickel/Slot: Sullivan/Greene (Tramon a FA)

S: Amos (Greene top backup)
S: Savage

CB: Alexander (Sullivan top backup as Tramon is FA)
CB: King


So major holes at ILB and CB/slot, with needed more elite play at DT.

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When was the last time we had a safety or two who regularly played up on the line? I know Haha Clinton-Dix did sometimes, when he wasn't actively shying away from contact on runs up the middle, but when was the last time we had a defensive back who made his presence known on the line and was dominant in press coverage and against the run?

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Safeties can't play up,to the line, when they're in zone coverage protecting the CBs deep, so the last time Safeties regularly did that, was when they had CBs talented enough to hold up in man coverage by themselves.

Alexander has been physical at times, but not consistently and he's coverage style isn't as much press style.

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The answer is Charles Woodson

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