Mike Nolan (merged)

[BigMike05]

Not quite, he has to improve our defense to be considered a good hire for us.

Plus, Singletary probably deserves more of the credit, as he was the D-coordinator under Nolan and thus more closely involved with the defense.

It is encouraging though.

I agree with that 100%

[iowabronco24]

Ah, revisionist history . . . or does 3 out of 4 picks in 2006 not qualify?

Or last year, Barrett, Larsen, Powell, and Williams - drafted; Robertson, Clemons, Fox, Haggan, McCree, Woodyard signed as free agents . . . .

Complain about the quality all you want, but to say Shanahan ignored defense is ridiculous.

So you draft and sign a bunch of scrubs and that means you aren't ignoring the defense?

Robertson was Shanny's "big fish" to help last years defense, and not only has Robertson underachieved his entire career, Shanny knew he was only going to play 60% of the snaps anyways because we didn't want to give up an extra pick for him. The truth is when your defense has been as consistently bad as ours over the past 3-4 years, you've done something horribly wrong on the defensive side of the football, via coaching, FA, the draft, etc.

To make matters worse, Shanny was even going to "ignore" the fact that he had hired an unqualified DC in Slowik at the end of the year, and that is one of the major reasons he was fired.

[Senses Fail]

Ah, revisionist history . . . or does 3 out of 4 picks in 2006 not qualify?

Or last year, Barrett, Larsen, Powell, and Williams - drafted; Robertson, Clemons, Fox, Haggan, McCree, Woodyard signed as free agents . . . .

Complain about the quality all you want, but to say Shanahan ignored drafting for defense is ridiculous.

Day 1 picks were offense, no one regrets those. The defense was ignored in Shanny's last few years.

When you have Marquand Manuel, Nate Webster, Jamie Winborn, etc. all starting on the same defense, then there's a problem.

[jonny1]

good point....we can finally focus on defense for a chnage.....something shanny never realized had to happen in the draft at some point......

Ah, revisionist history . . . or does 3 out of 4 picks in 2006 not qualify?

Or last year, Barrett, Larsen, Powell, and Williams - drafted; Robertson, Clemons, Fox, Haggan, McCree, Woodyard signed as free agents . . . .

Complain about the quality all you want, but to say Shanahan ignored defense is ridiculous.

[BroncoDefense]

this proves nolan was a good hire...his defense got better period....thats what we need....

I don't think that is the only take-home point of this article...a couple of things stand out to me.

1. His defenses improved, but they were at historically bad levels when they got there, so this isn't really saying too much.

2. Defense on 3rd and long was a serious issue. Nolan tried extensively with the "Big Sub" package, which seems a bit like our "Big Nickle" packages, only adapted to a 3-4. In these packages, the OLBs came down and put their hand on the ground, the DEs shifted inside, Takeo Spikes came out and a safety, Dashon Goldson, came in to play the slot or TE. They played this a lot on 2nd and longs or 3rd and mediums. Niners fans hated the alignment, but I think it will be quite good in the AFC West with all of the dominant TEs. I picture Josh Barret playing the big nickle. He did a tremendous job on Tony G and I don't think his strength will be in the base D, but rather lining up for man-to-man in the big sub. The third and long issues go to the dime packages which had 3 safeties and 3 corners. This needs to be a point of emphasis in the offseason.

3. Relatively, they seemed to play the run better than the pass. This is welcome news, again, because in the AFC West the run dominates.

4. His free agent acquisitions seemed to always pan out. This is very welcome news. Nate Clements might not live up to his contract, but he is a starter and still with the team after 3 seasons. Michael Lewis has played well, even though he stunk at the end in Phili and Justin Smith was a demon last year.

5. Nolan developed a very promising NT in Aubrayo Franklin, a former 5th round draft pick that was signed as a Free Agent from Baltimore.

6. He does not seem to adapt the scheme to the players. Justin Smith played 7 different positions in some games. He was not stout enough to play a five-technique DE, so they had to move him around to compensate. Manny Lawson was a fantastic run defender, but was taken off the field quite often. Everyone in SF loves his work ethic and thinks he will be a great player, but he had difficulty seeing the field because he did not fit the scheme.

[broncolee]

Nolan was a great hire based on what he was able to do as a defensive coordinator in Baltimore. Then again, so was Jim Bates, based on what he was able to do in Miami and Green Bay. The difference though, is that Nolan will have a better group of people for evaluating talent providing him with players to operate his defense. At least we hope he does.

[Dakotabroncofan]

Not quite, he has to improve our defense to be considered a good hire for us.

Plus, Singletary probably deserves more of the credit, as he was the D-coordinator under Nolan and thus more closely involved with the defense.

It is encouraging though.

I dont think the defense that we had could have gotten worse than what it was.There is no where to go but up.

[elevation INC]

Nolan spent the majority of his resources on offense while at SF. He completely rebuilt the OL, drafted Gore, Davis, and Smith.

We are fortunate that we should not have to invest too much on offense over the next few years.

good point....we can finally focus on defense for a chnage.....something shanny never realized had to happen in the draft at some point......

[Cutler2007]

Nolan spent the majority of his resources on offense while at SF. He completely rebuilt the OL, drafted Gore, Davis, and Smith.

We are fortunate that we should not have to invest too much on offense over the next few years.

[elevation INC]

Not quite, he has to improve our defense to be considered a good hire for us.

Plus, Singletary probably deserves more of the credit, as he was the D-coordinator under Nolan and thus more closely involved with the defense.

It is encouraging though.

i should have said this proves he may not be as bad a hire as some people really believe

[Ryan Clady]

this proves nolan was a good hire...his defense got better period....thats what we need....

Not quite, he has to improve our defense to be considered a good hire for us.

Plus, Singletary probably deserves more of the credit, as he was the D-coordinator under Nolan and thus more closely involved with the defense.

It is encouraging though.

[elevation INC]

this proves nolan was a good hire...his defense got better period....thats what we need....

[BroncoDefense]

Very good review of Nolan's D in SanFran

I came across this article over at niner nation. It uses Football Outsider statistics, but is very informative on the success/failures of Nolan's tenure in SF and may give us some clues as to what is coming in Denver.

http://mobile.ninersnation.com/2009/...-review-of-the

[bd2fc]

Blue coat, orange tie -or- orange coat, blue tie? I think coaches should also have to wear helmets -just to put them in the right mental frame!

Ok TG!!!!:

[L.M.]

Will he wear his snazzy suits as the DC?

Blue coat, orange tie -or- orange coat, blue tie? I think coaches should also have to wear helmets -just to put them in the right mental frame!