Goodwin: plenty of room for offense to improve

SANTA CLARA -- Center Jonathan Goodwin, the only starting player on the 49ers with a Super Bowl ring, had a high opinion of his future team while playing for the New Orleans Saints."Last year we played against them and I thought the defense was one of the most physical defenses I played against," Goodwin said. "This was the team I didn't want to play in the playoffs. I thought they had a lot of talent here."
The Saints, fresh off their Super Bowl title, met the 49ers in Week 2. Quarterback Alex Smith had one of his better games, marching the 49ers down the field for a game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter.But New Orleans closed the game with a 51-yard drive in the final 1:19 to win the game on a final-play field goal."I knew they had Frank (Gore) and Vernon (Davis)," Goodwin said. "And Alex led them right down the field to tie that game. My experience against the San Francisco 49ers was always good. They played us tough last year and could've easily won that game."The 49ers brought in Goodwin, an 10-year veteran, after David Baas signed with the New York Giants after the lockout ended. Goodwin signed a three-year, 10.9 million contract with the 49ers, and has quickly earned the respect of his teammates with his play and attention to detail.
"Once I got here and started practicing with the guys, I saw a lot of potential," Goodwin said. "Hopefully that potential can keep growing and we find a way to score even more points on offense."The 49ers (8-1) lead the NFC West by five games with seven weeks remaining. The 49ers rank seventh in the league in points scored while being tied for 25th in total yards.There is plenty of room for the 49ers' offense to get better, too. The team ranks 24th in red-zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns on 43.8 percent of their trips inside the opponents' 20-yard line."There's a lot we can clean up," Goodwin said. "We got to find a way to get touchdowns instead of field goals in some of those situations. Who knows, maybe then the game's not as tight at the end."But as long as we get wins, that's all that matters. You don't need style points in the NFL. It's huge that we're finding a way of finding a way to win, even though we know we're capable of playing so much better on offense."