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NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

1. Offensive Tackle. There is a reason the 49ers gave up the most sacks in the league last year. There's a reason Frank Gore had a letdown year (a few, actually, but this is one). The 49ers are off to a good start at overhauling the position with Joe Staley, but Staley's moving over to the left side, and it's up in the air how he'll respond. Backup Kwame Harris is a free agent, and the 49ers aren't really fans of either him or Jonas Jennings. The team is going to need a starter at right tackle, whether that's Jennings or someone new. But the team need a general upgrade in talent and depth. Bad news. The 49ers don't have a late first round pick. They could hope that Jeff Otah, Ryan Clady, or Sam Baker fall to them. An intriguing pick for later in the first day is Heath Benedict from Newberry. They'll have to get some help out of the draft, because free agency is scarce. Max Starks looks to be the the best available, meaning someone will grossly overpay for him.

What's worse than losing to the Atlanta Falcons? Hearing those Falcons -- the Falcons -- rub it in.

"All week on tape we saw that they really couldn't block as well as they probably needed to, so a lot of us were excited about our (blitz-heavy) package going in," Lawyer Milloy said.

If by "needed to," Milloy meant "not only prevent Alex Smith from getting sacked twice, but also give him any semblance of time to do anything with the football other than throw it wildly to prevent a decapitation," yes, the line didn't block as well as they probably needed to. Anyone who's seen a 49ers game this season had already reached that same conclusion, but to hear it put so plainly from another player ... it just stings, doesn't it?

Well, it's getting worse before it gets better. Left tackle Jonas Jennings, who has already missed the last two games with a high ankle sprain, isn't getting back into the lineup this year. Potentially joining him in the near future is guard Justin Smiley. Smiley suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder diving to recover a Michael Robinson fumble yesterday. He tore the labrum in his other shoulder last year and missed no time, but this injury is considered much worse. To confirm, he'll visit THE MAN for a second opinion.

So the 49ers are pretty much completely out of the race in the NFC West. But they're in a fun little cold war of sorts with the Rams for most injured offensive linemen, eh?

Mike Nolan got a pretty intense reaction from a statement he made after the 31-10 loss to the Saints that attempted to point the finger at the team's relatively young age. Nolan insists it wasn't an excuse, but John Crumpacker at the San Francisco Chronicle wasn't so sure.

Crumpacker rattled off a list of critical errors and poor play that have played a part in the downfall of the 49ers, all by veterans, and found some commendable work from the youngsters, debunking Nolan's "young team" theory. Nolan responded:

Yesterday, I asked about his assertion that the 49ers are a young team. I noted that the team has a veteran defense and an offense with a number of veterans interspersed with some younger players.

He did stop me before I could point out that the Colts, Packers and Cowboys are the three youngest teams in the league. He noted the "key" guys on offense are young: Vernon Davis, Alex Smith, Frank Gore, Delanie Walker, Michael Robinson, Joe Staley, Justin Smiley and Adam Snyder.

"So when you ask the question don't just pick out Larry Allen and Walt Harris, be accurate," he said.

Right, but that still doesn't explain how Robinson had the only really positive, potentially meaningful play in the loss to the Saints, nor how Davis, Gore, Staley, and Patrick Willis have been the best players on the team this season. The fact remains: the veterans aren't getting it done. The "young" excuse doesn't work.