Total Access 05/11/06

[AlaskaNinersFan]

Last night on NFL Total Access they had Bears DT Tommie Harris Co hosting,he shared his thoughts on some of the best guards in the league and he mentioned BOTH larry allen and JUSTIN SMILEY,They showed film of both dominating there man,and harris also claimed he thinks smiley will be a pro bowler,Just thought you'd all like to know that an actual player gave props to two of our guys!

The O line is looking good for next year.

[ninerdude]

nice read. yeah and smiley will learn some tricks of the trade working with allen. go niners

[SeattleNiner]

If Baas & Snyder continue to develop we coulsd have a nasty line for years to come! :worthy:

[Kezar Niner]

Yeah, I am def. excited about the ham hams we have on our line this year and the young talent we have as well. No excuses next year, hopefully.

[NinerCubBoiler]

if they can stay healthy this line will be nasty! :francis:

[BrentJones84]

Last night on NFL Total Access they had Bears DT Tommie Harris Co hosting,he shared his thoughts on some of the best guards in the league and he mentioned BOTH larry allen and JUSTIN SMILEY,They showed film of both dominating there man,and harris also claimed he thinks smiley will be a pro bowler,Just thought you'd all like to know that an actual player gave props to two of our guys!

The O line is looking good for next year.

I saw that last night, I was shocked that, in this person's opinion, Smiley & Allen were the top offensive lineman he faced.

Go Smiley! :flex:

And Thankfully we have Allen now! :biggrin:

[IMAGE77]

good post im surprised he mentioned Smiley...

[TheWiz]

I'm currently not happy with the choices at RG myself. First of all, Allen clearly has his pick of LG sewed up. At RG though, since Snyder is converting to RT this offseason, the team has Heitmann, Baas, and Smiley. Heitmann though has been practicing solely at C in preparation of Newberry not returning. Baas has split time at C and RG and it's not helping his development. He fits the role of a run blocking RG but it seems that the team is more set for Smiley to play RG despite the fact that he's a natural pulling LG. Perhaps we'll be running a lot of RG pulls and letting Jennings and Allen push the line back.

[MasterShake]

I'm currently not happy with the choices at RG myself. First of all, Allen clearly has his pick of LG sewed up. At RG though, since Snyder is converting to RT this offseason, the team has Heitmann, Baas, and Smiley. Heitmann though has been practicing solely at C in preparation of Newberry not returning. Baas has split time at C and RG and it's not helping his development. He fits the role of a run blocking RG but it seems that the team is more set for Smiley to play RG despite the fact that he's a natural pulling LG. Perhaps we'll be running a lot of RG pulls and letting Jennings and Allen push the line back.

Yeah...our offensive coaching staff is VERY experienced, they will make sure that Smiley is used correctly.

[ninersfan68]

allen will provide experiance, and tricks of the trade to all of our line

[walkingthecow]

I sure hope Synder supplants Kwame at the RT position.

[jeffc]

I'm currently not happy with the choices at RG myself. First of all, Allen clearly has his pick of LG sewed up. At RG though, since Snyder is converting to RT this offseason, the team has Heitmann, Baas, and Smiley. Heitmann though has been practicing solely at C in preparation of Newberry not returning. Baas has split time at C and RG and it's not helping his development. He fits the role of a run blocking RG but it seems that the team is more set for Smiley to play RG despite the fact that he's a natural pulling LG. Perhaps we'll be running a lot of RG pulls and letting Jennings and Allen push the line back.
Allen won't be playing forever, and the other guys are flexible enough to play multiple positions, though as you note they are probably better at some than others. I agree with Shake too that our coaches should be able to find effective ways to deploy them.

I'm looking forward to our line being good again. The personnel and experience are coming together. They started to look much better towards the end of last season when Heitmann both practiced and started.

Good to hear that Smiley is playing well too. Justin is definitely a student of the game. He says he would be coaching if he weren't playing.

[BrentJones84]

I'm currently not happy with the choices at RG myself. First of all, Allen clearly has his pick of LG sewed up. At RG though, since Snyder is converting to RT this offseason, the team has Heitmann, Baas, and Smiley. Heitmann though has been practicing solely at C in preparation of Newberry not returning. Baas has split time at C and RG and it's not helping his development. He fits the role of a run blocking RG but it seems that the team is more set for Smiley to play RG despite the fact that he's a natural pulling LG. Perhaps we'll be running a lot of RG pulls and letting Jennings and Allen push the line back.

As I said somewhere in another thread, I feel like Nolan's plan was to have both Smiley and Bass start, but then when Larry Allen suddenly became available, that plan went out the window.

[travese49]

I know we need things to talk about at this juncture of the offseason but our O- line is the last worrie that I have. Our line is very solid and we may have the most versitile o-line in the league. Our depth is great and I am more worried about our DB's and STARTING WR's

[jeffc]

Our O-Line is not solid yet, but it may be soon. We now have some good personnel with some good experience. They just need to continue to gel and play well together. Then it will be solid.

Fortunately that process has already started when Heitmann got to practice and start toward the end of last season.

Adding Allen only helps, as does Jennings coming off injury. Snyder and Smiley seem good, and Baas may be too. I see Baas as a future prospect for Center, but it takes a while to develop a good center.

[49erninerplus]

The young o-line Snyder-Bass -Smiley -Harris will only improve with the help of the vets Allen and Jennings.This group of guys will become dominantin the league :money: GO NINERS:sflogo: :sflogo:

[jeffc]

Bass could also be good too. I think our line is going to be fine for several years once it settles in gels better.

[The Vin]

Bass could also be good too. I think our line is going to be fine for several years once it settles in gels better.


I have high hopes for Baas. The dude is huge and just mean looking. Problem with him was injuries last year, or he would have seen more significant playing time. But I think he develops. It's harder for younger guys to ocme in and "gel" on our line when we've had such little vetran presence there for the past few years. But with additions like Larry Allen and the return of Jonas Jennings, those young guys will have some much needed experience beside them and that will help, because what happens is the vetran guys set a standard. They call out the protection, they show you just how intense you have to go against the defensive linemen. Playing the o-line is a mindset. I think Baas has that type of mindset.

[MoreGore]

I'm currently not happy with the choices at RG myself. First of all, Allen clearly has his pick of LG sewed up. At RG though, since Snyder is converting to RT this offseason, the team has Heitmann, Baas, and Smiley. Heitmann though has been practicing solely at C in preparation of Newberry not returning. Baas has split time at C and RG and it's not helping his development. He fits the role of a run blocking RG but it seems that the team is more set for Smiley to play RG despite the fact that he's a natural pulling LG. Perhaps we'll be running a lot of RG pulls and letting Jennings and Allen push the line back.
I don't see a lot of pulling with Norv Turner as our OC. I think he likes more straight ahead, road grading type of blocking. From the painful memories of playing and mostly losing to the Cowboys when he was their OC, I don't recall any pull blocking. Correct me if I am wrong.

I hate the Cowboys.

I also hate Terrell Owens.

It's a match made in hell. I am glad they found each other.

[jeffc]

Just because Norv Turner is our OC doesn't mean he's turning our offense into the Cowboys'. He will tailor the offense to our players, not all of whom are necessarily suited to a power running game.

Turner is smart and experienced enough to look at the kind of players we have and make the right calls for them.

[MoreGore]

Just because Norv Turner is our OC doesn't mean he's turning our offense into the Cowboys'. He will tailor the offense to our players, not all of whom are necessarily suited to a power running game.

Turner is smart and experienced enough to look at the kind of players we have and make the right calls for them.
True. It wouldn't shock me to see some pulling from Smiley, but I don't expect it.

If you look at the lineman picked up under Nolan and McCloughan, it appears that they want a power running game. Jonas Jennings, Larry Allen and David Baas are all straight ahead power blockers (that is what I read on Baas at least - could be wrong on him).

So even though Smiley is very good at pulling, I don't believe that is the direction the team is going based on the O-Line aquisitions and getting Turner as the OC.

[The Vin]

True. It wouldn't shock me to see some pulling from Smiley, but I don't expect it.

If you look at the lineman picked up under Nolan and McCloughan, it appears that they want a power running game. Jonas Jennings, Larry Allen and David Baas are all straight ahead power blockers (that is what I read on Baas at least - could be wrong on him).

So even though Smiley is very good at pulling, I don't believe that is the direction the team is going based on the O-Line aquisitions and getting Turner as the OC.


But, the good thing about o-lines is versatility. When you have a mix of power blockers and guys that can pull, you open yourself up to more varied attacks. One side of our line will be a mash unit. The other something else. Should be fun to watch.

[AlaskaNinersFan]

I think we definetly have a bigger mauling type of line,with the exception of smiley all those guys are HUGE

[jeffc]

The 325 lb linemen are not too much larger than the 305 ones and all should still be able to pull. Allen's playing weight should be not too far from 325 or 330.

[alex smith11]

the point about our o-line is that a now that smiley has 2 good years experience and baas and snyder have had good playing time and obviously the addition of larry allen gives us a) very good line and b) good depth with other guys like jennings,heitmann and hopefully j.newberry will be healthy

[kezar71]

Last night on NFL Total Access they had Bears DT Tommie Harris Co hosting,he shared his thoughts on some of the best guards in the league and he mentioned BOTH larry allen and JUSTIN SMILEY,They showed film of both dominating there man,and harris also claimed he thinks smiley will be a pro bowler,Just thought you'd all like to know that an actual player gave props to two of our guys!

The O line is looking good for next year.Thank Dennis Erickson for
drafting Smiley:D