After the 49ers’ 51-13 demolition of the Carolina Panthers in late October, Richard Sherman — the Godfather of San Francisco’s compelling new dynamic defense — stood before a large media contingent that once again had come to see if the 49ers are for real and launched into an unsolicited 500-word soliloquy, reveling in the magnificence that had just been witnessed before him.
San Francisco’s shutdown of a capable Carolina offense was something the 49ers had been doing for a while now, and Sherman didn’t quite know where to begin.
He decided to start with himself. “Well, it’s great defense. It’s great, sound defense,” Sherman said of his third-quarter interception — the four-time All-Pro cornerback’s third pick this season — that quickly led to a score that put the 49ers up by four touchdowns with plenty of defense still to play.
But Sherman also was talking about the others around him on a resurgent San Francisco defense that has become the talk of the 2019 NFL season. In fact, Sherman simply couldn’t stop gushing about that defense, what it has done, what it is doing and where it is going.
“When your D-line is hunting like that, pressure all day and night on them, the great thing about this defense is you just have to play sound,” Sherman said. “It’s team defense, and that’s what we’re playing. These guys are playing great, and I think they deserve all the credit in the world.”
Those San Francisco defenders are getting credit now from all corners of the football world, which has caught on quickly to a new brand of 49ers defense that is stifling opponents, taking no prisoners and becoming the rage throughout the league.
Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Niner Report.
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Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Niner Report.
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EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
