San Francisco 49ers Forever

That was a bit of a shock. Big Dick Nick engorged himself on a defense that couldn’t stop George Kittle as the 49ers raced to a first half lead they didn’t manage to give up. Although the stat differential was more than crazy.

• Kittle. He had 7 catches for 210 yards in the first half, and 0 for 0 in the 2nd.
• The Niners gained 332 yards in the 1st half – 57 in the 2nd.
• The Niners scored 20 in the 1st, and 0 in the 2nd
• The Niners gave up 0 in the 1st, and 14 in the 2nd (and Denver passed up 2 easy FG opportunities)

The big difference? They closed a game out without blowing it. Granted, they were helped immensely by Vance Joseph. He turned down 2 opportunities to kick field goals in a game that the 49ers couldn’t restart their grounded offense in the 2nd half. they did go 5-7 on those 4th down conversion attempts, but those 2 they didn’t make were huge. They were also helped by a pick on a ball that was dropped by Trent Taylor.

And overall, this is what I thought we had on defense. The team was flying around making tackles, not giving up big runs, getting pressure, and causing enough mayhem to keep Denver’s recent successful run game slowed to a crawl. From what I gathered after the game, the defense especially went with the young players at the cost of guys like Malcolm Smith, Dekoda Watson, and Jimmie Ward. D.J. Reed had a phenomenal game as he was all over the place on his 12 tackles. Solomon Thomas had a lot of inside pressure,  Blair and Reed both got sacks, and the defense held Case Keenum to 186 yards in the air on 24-42 passing. Denver got theri run game going a little with Phillip Lindsey, but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Sure, we turtled up in the 2nd half. But we got the 1st downs they desperately needed in the end as they (almost) ran out the clock to finish the game. BDN even shriveled up a bit as he hiked the ball too quickly on the 4th down play and gave Denver one additional play, but it didn’t matter.

In the end a decent win against a decent team. And we still hold the #1 seed. Can’t ask for much else. And I think BDN has solidified his place as the backup. The Beater should shine up his jock and get ready to move along.

The march toward the no 1 pick continues at home today against the  beat-up Broncs. Don;t think we will win again this year, but this is the most winnable. The Raiders look to lose against Pittsburgh so we have to keep pace.

Well, that what their quarterbacks are doing. Talk about a team that has whiffed marvelously on their latest attempts to get a bona fide QB in their stable. I me3an, even Peyton manning was a bit of a trainwreck as all he did was try not to fuck up too bad as the defense rocked and rolled teams to their championship. Paxton Lynch is out of the league after 3 misbegotten seasons, Brock Osweiler? Trevor Siemien? Riley Dixon?

Case Keenum? Undrafted not-so-phenom from the 2012 draft? Well, at 53-50, you get the picture. 6-6 this year says much the same. Fair to middling. Even in Denver’s unlikely 3 game winning streak, his numbers are pedestrian. But they did beat the Chargers and Steelers. Not too shabby.

What does that mean for us? Well, they still have Von Miller, so, seeing that this is likely BDN’s last stand before the switch back to the Beater, Mullens looks to be running for his life.  Although there is the fact that Mullens threw for over 400 yards in the Seattle debacle. A loss that was due mostly to dogshit special teams play. But the 400 yard performance was something not accomplished by a 49er quarterback since the heady days of 2012. That was the opening day shellacking of the Packers by one Colin Kaepernick. The one guy that probably could have been the Broncos quarterback savior after the retirement of Peyton. I’m sure Elway is still kicking himself for that decision.

If we didn’t fumble a punt, fumble on the 4, give up a pick 6, given up a 98 yard KO return, or sleepwalk through the entire first half, we woulda had that one! Hah!

But seriously, this scrappy team hasn’t thrown in the towel. They may blow assignments and give up 50 yard swing passes like I blow my nose, but we actually got pressure on Wilson in the 2nd half for 3 sacks, and sorta made it a game. Till the 100 yard pick 6 kinda slowed our roll. Anyhow, as usual, there were some good things to come out of the shellacking.

Dante Pettis had another nice game to back up last week’s performance.  Jeff Wilson Jr ran 15 times for 61 yards, and had 8 catches for 73 more, and except thr that fucing fumble, would have been even better. Truth be told, that was a 50/50 call, and since it is the 49ers, well, we get 49, they get 51 and the call. Ties are supposed to go to the offensive player, as the fail mary was supposed to tell us.

Anyhow, Big Dick Nick stretched things out for a fairly monstrous performance and went 30-48 for 414 yards, a couple TDs, and that godawful 100 yard 14 point swing. So, like Jerry said, every silver lining has a touch of grey.

Hey, we are still number one, and the team hasn’t quit. But I sure wish Robert Saleh would.

I think we win today for no particular reason, for what it is worth.

BDN refinds his mojo.  27-20 Niners. Somehow we have a pass rush.

Hah!

In not-so-exciting news, we’ve made some roster moves. Namey Jimmie JJ Dyno-mite broken forearm Ward broke his, uh, forearm.

They claimed DB Godwin Igwebuike off waivers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and promoted LB James Onwualu to the active roster from the team’s practice squad. We’ve definitely rathed up the vowels and consonants on the team.

We also signed LB Tyrell Adams and WR Max McCaffrey to the practice squad. Max’s dad Ed was a solid guy that we didn’t have room for back in the day. Had a nice career with the Broncos. His brother Christian ain’t bad either.

The most obvious lesson we learned so far is that we share the same issue that most every other team has, and that is if your starting QB goes down, you have little chance of getting anywhere. Sure, the Iggles won with their backup Fick Noles, but that is the outlier. The only situation that bears a similar resemblance was in 2012 when we had Young Sir Alex backing up Colin Kaepernick. Even with that, the Eagles are now struggling with their starter, Carson Wentz, so make of that what you will. But last year the Packers lost Rodgers, and missed the playoffs. Any number of teams would suffer the same fate.

We also found out that Matt Brieda is a pretty damn good player, as long as he keeps his ankles from snapping. We got a solid TE in George Kittle, who seems to have overcome his dropsies, and has shown power and speed in his route running and catching. That being said, Kittle may be the only piece of that first Lynch draft that has a meaningful career as Reuben Foster has dumbed himself off the team, Salomon Thomas has become a part-time option, Joe Williams is already gone, Ahkello Witherspoon is a work in progress, and the rest are hangers-on.

As great as that first draft was on paper, it has turned into a disaster with Foster’s release yesterday.  This year’s draft, with McGlinchey and Warner leading the way, looks good. Pettis showed some flashes yesterday of why he was traded up for, but he needs a better O line to let him become an option, but he certainly doesn’t solve our need for a true #1 wide receiver. M Harris has played a little coming off the IR, and Rick James has done fine as a KR/PR, but again a lot depends on how the injury picks come out of their season off.

Speaking of which, T. Moore and K. Street are red-shirt freshmen, so we still have a chance they are impact players. Sorta like extra picks, but we have only 6 picks this next year, and we’d better hit at least 4 of them.

FB Juzchyzpiuy was a good pickup as a FA signing, but Garcon has been a bust. Sherman has been top-notch, irregardless of his getting burnt yesterday. But all that does is focus the opposing offense on Ahkello. He either needs more help, or more work to get better. Richberg has been fair to middling, but better than Kilgore I suppose. Malcolm Smith has been less than nothing.

So, yeah, we suck. We have little depth, and we need a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo to even be close to competing. The new front office has been fairly decent, but nothing more, in their drafting and free agent signings. This next draft is crucial to the team’s improvement. Tighten up the line play on both sides of the ball, and get some playmakers.