Forty Niners Forever

BREAKING NEWS – The 49ers traded a 4th round pick for our long lost DE DeFo Buckner. A move almost everyone who’s a fan wanted to happen before he even got traded. We may not be done as there’s talk we want the Colts DT Grover Stewart as well. More? I guess we’ll see if they try to strengthen their WR corps, but I got to give the front office credit for not sitting on their thumbs.

For once this seems like a pretty good time to get the bye week. Usually they are too early or too late, but as of now it looks like the 49ers look to get 10 players back from iunjury:

And also good news is Upton Stout will return.

Hoping McCaffrey is OK. He tried to play through his hammy and wasn’t really effective, but he was moving around so he should be fine. And of course the biggest concern is the wide receivers. Mike Evans is simply a game changer out there. D Robinson was doing very well, as was Deebo before they went down. Stribling is still looking at a December return.

Bosa is Bosa. At this point, getting anything out of him is gravy. But I don’t see this team doing much to keep him around. At this point in his career I’d offer him a one-year make-good deal. But someone will back up the truck for him. I just hope he can stay healthy for the rest of the season. West? He was getting pushed around but hey, he’s a big body.

Other than that, the other issue is Eddie Piniero. He’s gone from Eedie Money to Jake Moody Lite. 6-9 in FGs and 21-25 in XPs. Given that all the available kicers are kicking for someone, not sure who they can find in the couch cushions at this point. But if they are gonna make a change, the time is now. I’d really hate to see another important game get turned on a missed XP or FG. Does Super Bowl LVIII ring any bells?

And despite all the talk of Lynch being aggressive, I think we stand pat. Unless there’s some kind of big offer for Mac the Knife.

This pretty much went the way I thought it would.We were the Rams this game. We were the tired lazy team that made stupid mistake after stupid mistake. 4 turnovers. 3 were flat stupid mistakes. The one pick by the LB was just a good play, but still a dumb throw.

Penalties, 3rd down conversions, no pass rush. We seem to be snakebit in Georgia, but Atl looked like the 6-0 team and we looked like the 2-4 one.

Still and all, I’m not really gonna sweat this one. The game really did show that Purdy can trust Jordan Watkins. But for a ridiculously retarded call to take away the TD, he had a solid game. I don’t even know if the Magic Christian Kirk even set foot on the field, and luckily CMC seemed to be OK after missing about a quarter of the game.

Pisser to me is I sit here and watch a drive, and KNOW the refs are gonna start with the laundry. 3 third down conversions later Atl scores the TD to take the lead. It ALWAYS happens in the 3rd quarter.

We didn’t get enough pressure. We didn’t play tight coverage early to stop the short shit. We looked gassed after that 2nd quarter when Atl had the ball for 12 minutes to our 3. And after CMC went down, the offense died for 2 quarters.

We played tired and lackadaisical. Still and all, after 3 turnovers we still had an opportunity to take the lead late. But Purdy had his bad throw to Watkins. Funny thing is, it looked like the DB was in position to make the pick.

Anyhow, the bye couldn’t come at a better time. If we can get our WRs somewhat healthy, we should be in good shape for the playoff push. The only thing I’m gonna take away fmro this game is that Purdy looks like he trusts Watkins as he really made some great catches, even if they took the TD from him on a BS call.

Short week. Three time zone flight. Morning game. Evans out. I have a bad feeling about this one.

I hope we can score fast and stay on top, but I think Bijan and B Rob are a potent duo, and Penix is doing fine at QB in his 4 games. But they do rely on their run game to open up everything else.

Not a trap game but a let-down after some tough-ass games. And I think these guys are looking forward to the bye. Hope we healthy up and somehow get out of Georgia with a win.

We’ve had so many stupid games against this team though. Even going back to when the Falcons were in the NFC west. Including the Billy White Shoes Johnson Hail Mary loss so many years ago. And I know there are a few more weirdly ending games vs Atlanta. I think we own them all-time but it sure seems like they always fuck with us.

23-20 Atl.

But who does Purdy trust? With all of our wide receivers currently injured, at least the ones with a track record playing with Brock, it is fairly apparent, based on where the passes are going, that he is not very comfortable throwing to the likes of Jordan Watkins and Commander Cowing. In fact, one of Brock’s only 2 picks came because Cowing ran the wrong route and was in the wrong place and gave up on the play.

As we all saw, when Mike Evans went down, the offense died with him. Washington brought their safeties up, shut down Kittle and CMC, and the run game was stopped as well. I mean I was on Purdy at the beginning of the season regarding the too many INTs, so yeah I guess i should have factored in the lack of trusted WRs at any given moment these last couple seasons.

Having a guys like Evans emphasizes this even more. 50/50 balls become 90/10 balls. His knack for reaching over, under, around, or through DBs is uncanny. Size and strength. And I think that’s exactly what they see in Stribling. But as of now, they are not out there.

Evans injury is still being called ‘manageable’ but if there was a time to let him rest it is now. I’m cool with the fact that this is possibly gonna be one of our three-time-zone-tough-roadie-on-a-short-week-loss kind of games.

Or what, we go 20-0? Wouldn’t that be the nazz? Or even the nazz nazz?

Bear with me on this but why not bench most of the starters for this Falcons game? Load management works in the NBA. Try it for football.

The main reason why this is a perfect game to rest guys in the Falcons game is:

a) it’s an outlier team that the Rams and Seahags don’t face, so it won’t bite us in strength of schedule should we lose.

b) it’s right before the bye week.

Minn is undefeated, but we play them in a few weeks, and THAT is a much more important game. In Mexico.

No, they won’t do it, but given our record and how the rest of the league not named Minnesota is struggling, and even they are offensively challenged, it would behoove us to try and get healthy for the playoff seedings push after the bye.

And, you want to know something funny? The LEAGUE is talking about implementing this very thought. If (WHEN) they go to 18 games, they are talking about making the starters sit out one game. Or add another bye week and expand rosters so teams have more cannon fodder (players) available.

Point being if we play Evans and lose him for the rest of the season, it’ll be devastating. I hope at least he sits. If not Kittle, CMC, Purdy, Bosa, and Trent.

This type of game where we travel 3 time zones east at this point is the season is ripe for us to lose anyway. Give Dirty Mac a start.

Well, the power station got to Mike Evans last night after trying in vain to stop him all season. Broken ribs, and now the achilles soreness. He somehow avoided the dreaded achilles tear, so there’s some hope he’ll be available. I’m thinking keep him under wraps till after the bye week.

The game? I really don’t know what the NFL is trying to sell us, but in all the games I saw, teams that managed to get big leads suddenly saw laundry on the field. It happened in the Bears Falcons game, the Raiders Bills game, and it happened in our game.

After busting out to a 23-3 lead, the refs saw fit to give Washington first downs on three 3rd down plays. Which led to 2 TDs. The worst being the illegal contact call on Renardo Green. That would have stopped the Commandos on their own 26 but instead kept the drive going.

Then there was the invisible fair catch call that led to a 15 yard unsportsmanlike on what was a great hit by Sirhan Neal on the punt returner. I think he signalled for the fair catch before the ball was punted.

Yeah, we shoulda stopped them Yeah, we went 3-and-out 3 times in a row. Yeah, the offense died when Evans left. But it is sure looks to me like the NFL is telling the refs to slow teams down if they are in the process of rolling a team. Why? Betting of course. Plus, close games keep the interest up. Which keep the betting up.

And this popped up a couple days ago.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ex-nfl-player-accuses-referees-111614557.html

Christian Kirk is out. Mike Evans is a game-time decision, but I think he plays. We did bump a WR, Malik Turner, and linebacker Jalen Graham up to the roster from the PS. But I’m sure Turner is here for Kirk.

The next-man-up thing is great until we get like last year when we were playing 4th string guys at WR and LB. Spots where we are thin again.

At this point all I want to see is a game where we don’t lose 2-3 guys. We don’t need to go all-out for this win, but every game is a big one in the NFL these days. As is that #1 seed. If only to heal up.

I’m OK with Bosa not being back, as long as we can dial up the pressure like we did last week. We seem to struggle with mobile QBs, and Daniels is certainly that.

Rams having a tough time with AZ but Jesus. AZ has 5 FGs and 0 TDs. LA has 96 yards passing from Stafford. I’ll update this later, but wow. If AZ could get a couple TDs, they’d be up 23-9.

I’m sure the Rams will luck out and win this. Unless Stafford throws a customary pick.

Anyhow, we have our Monday night game cs the Commandos. A weirdly 1-3-1 team who ran 55 seconds off the clock and didn’t kick a game-winning FG in OT. They get to travel, they get the time change, we get the rest.

So, for all intents and purposes this should be a cakewalk. But we all know nothing is easy in the NFL, and we certainly struggled against AZ. And we are getting Juice back, and possibly the hologram that is Christian Kirk. I think we can run on these guys, control the line of scrimmage, and just cruise.

28-10 Niners. Fucking AZ is giving LA 10 chances to win this. Rams LOSE!!!

That’s what we used to call it when I worked for a startup in the City. Come 2:00, a select few knew the passcode to the server room. Where unbeknownst to most, we installed a kegerator. So, 2:00 to quitting time was happy hour. Miss those times.

Anyhow, the Seacocks barely have time to lick their wounds after getting folded, spindled, and mutilated by the 49ers. Even better they get to go to the mile high club and see if they can catch their breath and win a tough roadie. I guess the NFL schedulers have a bit of a sense of propriety where it comes to the scheduling nightmare faced by the 49ers.

Have to say, the defense shone in so many ways. Malik Mustapha looks like he really doesn’t want to give up his spot in the roster. He made play after play, including walloping JSN right before the big drop by JSN late in the game. 5 sacks. 2 fumble recoveries. Numerous pass breakups. Numerous hurries. Stopped the run game. The early season run-game woes were put to rest. For a couple games anyway.

For YEARS I’ve been asking the team to play defense this way. Show multiple guys on the line. Disguise blitzes. More press man. Morris is the man. He’s doing it in spades. We still drop into coverage with the LBs, but it isn’t readily apparent like the wide 9, 4 man front look we used 95% of the time.

Great stuff. But as we sit, we get to watch the Seakawks struggle and flounder in Denver and the Rams (hopefully) lose two games. They already choked away the Buffalo game. here’s to the AZ Cards playing strong. Hoping for a Bo Nix renaissance. And little Kyler Murray is back! LA usually trounces them though.

For all the vagaries of our 40,000 miles of travel this season, here we are at week 6 and except for the obvious, we’ve had 4 home home games and one trip to Seattle. The Rams have already gone to Philly (luck win) and Denver (loss), and they just lost at home to the Bills. Is their jet lag that bad? Or are they just high on their press clippings?

No matter. it simply warms my heart to see Sean McVay whining on the sidelines game after game. The sound bites aren’t as cute when you are eating shit. The Rams are in trouble now, and they mortgaged their future trading the farm for a broken Myles Garrett, and Aaron Donald is as effective as a UDFA rookie. Good times. They have a creampuff schedule ahead, but it may already be too late for them. Eat shit Bill (20-0) Plaschke. Hah!!

But, on to Monday Night. Jaylen Daniels is back. Talk about a team that has just crucified their collective fan base. Their lone win has come at the hands of the Super Bowl champ Seahawks. They’ve lost to Indy, Philly, and their horrendous tie last weekend would have had me throwing my TV out the window.

55 seconds left to kick a FG. It’s OT so the game ends on the kick. Clock the ball. Kick the FG. Instead, Washington runs the ball, tick tick tick tick tick. Daniels runs for a yard, and lays on the ground as time expires. Game over. Quinn throws a fit on the sideline. And no one answered the obvious question. What the actual fuck? And for you ‘riggers’ out there (Spitblood, NoFear49er), the Giants covered the spread @ +3.5 even if Washington kicks the FG. So that isn’t in play.

So, that means a romp, right? Yeah, we’ll see. Seattle may have taken them lightly, and they got bit on the ass. We just need to keep stacking the wins.

I wonder if we may try to get Third and Juan back. He has a stunning 2 catches for 9 yards in 4 games. He’s worth more to us than them obviously.

Give ’em a 7th rounder.