With improved offence, San Francisco 49ers are looking more dangerous – NFL Feature
As the San Francisco 49ers ended a long drought after qualifying for the playoffs last season, they had high hopes of the 2012 season, as the strategies of new coach Jim Harbaugh and some decisions he made yielded positive results for the team.
As the 2012 season came closer, the 49ers had one main task to accomplish – strengthen the offence and provide more options to quarterback Alex Smith.
Smith had a breakout season last year, thanks to Harbaugh, who decided to continue with the quarterback after joining the franchise.
49ers addressed their needs and achieved the goal of adding power to the offence, by hiring a number of players. They selected good offensive players during this year’s draft and added players like Mario Manningham and Randy Moss to give more options to
Smith.
Also, they hired players like Brandon Jacobs to give support to the already strong running game, thanks to presence of Frank Gore, who has been exceptional this year as well.
Let’s not forget tight end Vernon Davis, whose role has been compromised a few times on the field this season. The tight end caught many passes from Smith last season, but since almost all the opponents mark him very carefully, 49ers’ offensive strategy
does not revolve around sending more passes to Davis.
The player, however, has dealt with the situation rather professionally and instead of mourning, he has support the team’s decision. Such a level of teamwork is certainly going to increase confidence of other players.
With a seemingly exploding offence, 49ers’ on-field performance startled everyone. They started the season aggressively and recorded a few victories during which their offensive strength was evident.
After the first half of the season, 49ers are leading National Football Conference (NFC) West and have only lost two out of their eight games.
Smith, despite some shaky performances, is ranked among the best quarterbacks as his pass completion ratio has been incredible. Furthermore, the running game, just like the last year, is performing superbly.
49ers also have a good defensive unit that has played good run defence, but 49ers are a bit behind in passing defence.
Also, Smith recently had a rough game during which he threw a few interceptions, something that he hardly does.
That being said, 49ers’ overall performance on the offence is certainly far better than last year, even though they have not maintained a long winning streak like last season.
As the 49ers enter the second half of the season with a game against seemingly less threatening opponent St. Louis Rams, their eyes are fixed on securing a playoff berth.
By the looks of the things, they are expected to qualify for the postseason, but they will not be satisfied just by securing a playoff berth because they managed to reach as far as playing in NFC championship game last year. And this time around, they are
hoping to go even a step further and play in the Super Bowl.
It is not an overambitious dream, but to fulfil it, the 49ers, of course, will need a desperate effort to ensure winning run consistently. With such an offence they can easily do it.
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