5 games out with 6 to go . . . The 49ers pretty much had their way with the AZ Diamondba, uh Cardinals yesterday. It was close, even when it was in the 1st half. The Niners were pretty inept in the red zone for a change yesterday. Something of a problem these last few games. In the end, though, the Niners won easliy and convincingly 23-7. The game should have been 41-0, but hey, the best laid plans and all that.
ST was ugly early as Akers missed a 49 yard FG, and had 2 FGs blocked. And the Niners STILL got 3 FGs in the 1st half. That’s a total of 6 tries in the 1st half! Weird. The Niners moved the ball into the red zone with ease, yet had some problems once there. Much of the trouble can be attirbuted to Bruce Miller’s concussion. He got hit pretty much helmet-to-helmet (no flag) by Adrian Wilson trying to stretch for a touchdown. He trotted off the field, but didn’t return. The protections and the run blocking suffered after Miller left because the Niners didn’t have Norriss dressed for the game. Peelle (the 3rd string TE) came is as the FB and made due the best he could. But it wasn’t up to the capabilities of Miller. I highly doubt Miller gets cleared with this short week upon us.
Anyhow, the 1st half was littered with missed opportunities, dropped passes (Edwards had 3), and one weird wildcat play which killed a drive on a false start penalty. However, the Niners opened up the 2nd half with a 7+ minute drive that ended in a Kyle Williams TD that pretty much sealed the victory. TOP for this game was an unprecedented 44:30 to 15:30 in favor of the Niners. Crab Man had one of his best games as a Niner, as well as kyle Williams. I’m glad to see him getting a shot here, because Edwards still appears to not be right with his knee, and doesn’t seem to have any speed as this point. The drops didn’t help either. We all know Ginn is a dropped pass waiting to happen, and Smith said he had trouble finding Williams due to his lack of height, but trusted Williams on the route for the TD, and he was there for the catch. Williams has a knack for making the catch AND getting his feet down. Something that VD forgot about yesterday. As well as going for passes that aren’t perfectly in place.
The D? Well, they padded their lead in turnovers with 3 picks and 2 fumbles recovered, held AZ to 229 yards, and 7 points, 11 first downs, and 48 plays (to the 49ers 439, 23, 25 first downs, and 87 plays). The only blemish was the ejection of Dashon Goldson for retaliating after getting coldcocked by Early Doucet. No word if he’ll get suspended, but he should be able to at least appeal it, as Doucet hit him while he was a) on the ground, and b) not looking. I’m glad the TV cameras caught what really happened. The point being, if Goldson gets suspended for fighting, Doucet should get suspended for instigating.
So, barring a semi-miraculous recovery, we’ll get Moran Norriss at FB this Thursday.
Forty Niners Forever 
Yeah, when they should the replay of what Douect did the TV announcer said that the league would either Fine both or Fine and suspend both.
Well I’m back from Maryland. Got to watch the Ravens yesterday. Ed Reed is still the best safety in football. Big game Thursday. Very, very big. Biggest game of Alex’s career, in fact, to this point. Instant respect from the east coast media if we win. Ravens are very good, but not always consistent. It should be a very tough, grinding defensive game. I think we will win it. 23-22, anyone?
Yeah, I think it’ll be a close fought game, Grump. But I think the Niners win due to the fact that Balt is careless with the football. They have 18 turnovers. Fangio is going to be stressing getting the ball out. They have 10 fumbles and 8 picks IIRC. I wrote a post that I didn’t post yet and I have something like 27-24.
Kevin, I doubt either get suspended. They’ll both likely get $25,000 fines however. That being said, it would really suck to lose Goldson for the Balt game.
This game coming up reminds me of the Giants game. They came in here thinking they were an elite team with all their smack talk and bravado. Balt is good (and well-coached), but they have a tendency to be very uneven at times. Flaccid Flacco can look like the 2nd coming of Cody Pickett at times. The Niners HAVE to take advantage of their scuffling. The Jax game is a prime example. If the Niners can get them off-balance like Jax did, the Niners should be able to score enough to win going away. Criminy, AZ almost beat them at their house. Seattle did. Tenn? Really?
This game should be close, unless the Niners can get into the EZ when they are in the RZ. They can not afford to let the Ravens hang around like they did with AZ.
Ha nice to have our East Coast Scout here after the swing back there to look over the Thursday opponent. Really looking forward to this one and suspect the Niners were too based on an error filled game yesterday. Got that out of your system there men? The Harbaugh Family Grudge Match will not be as forgiving a venue as home field vs the wounded Cards. We needed the tune up obviously.
Our D played well again. Cards couldn’t run and with Skelton at QB our pass D shut that down too. Ravens will be more of a test especially of our O, passing game, OL, receivers and the QB. If our ST play like they did yesterday we will lose. Looks like Soft was the coach of that unit this week. Miller’s injury really did hurt us (as well as him) as chuck pointed out above.
If the weather is bad hopefully we will have an edge in our run game. I’m of the opinion that rain greatly affected our guys yesterday. This was the first game we played in bad weather and it wasn’t our finest hour.
On the Blog the fans were much like previously: some anti but mainly pro-Smith factions. The usual ‘hater-haters’ got in their usual gibes as did the plain old ‘haters’. The game dictated a more subdued tone which got lighter as we played better. All in all an entertaining crowd again. Chuck’s hosting this venue is much appreciated; it’s great to have a place to hang out during games with other knowledgeable, enthusiastic, funny fans.
Grumpy calls for Niners 23-22. I’m saying Niners 19-13
Another point in our favor: we’re playing on the road where counter-intuitively we’ve been tougher like the old Dynasty I teams often were. I love it when we shut up a noisy crowd. As Kevin said let’s do this early and often.
Funny, Tony Romo called for a timeout when Dallas had none in OT yesterday. He would have been penalized 15 yards had not Mike Shanahan called for a timeout at the same time.
. . . and knocked Dallas out of FG range . . .
I think it is outrageous to force an NFL team to undergo a full, X-country trip after a Sunday game to play on a Thursday night. Clearly a ratings ploy by the NFL, as the schedule was released in the Spring some time after the Niners hired Harbaugh. The coaches and assistants no doubt have had the time during the pre-season and season to scout the Ravens and get their game plan ready to employ and teach ASAP today. Nonetheless, IMO the Niners are still at a HUGE disadvantage in this game from standpoints of physical recovery and treatment, time zone adjustment, and game-prep of the players. Harbaugh was talking today about using the 6 hour flight back there as teaching time and meeting times for the players and coaches. This kind of X country short week thing has not happened since 1975 — for good reason. I call bullshit on the NFL and NFL Network. If Niners win, it will be an achievement of large import…
I agree and I do think it puts us at a distinct disadvantage. In fact I have a feeling that it will be just enough to slip us up on the road for the first time this year. I wonder too about Davis and how bad his ankle is. He’s been playing pretty well and I’m not sure how Boone will do if he gets the nod. I can also never be accused of over emphasizing how much better I think we are WITHOUT Mt Moran.
Add it all up, and I think the streak ends Thursday eve, 17-9. The Eastern pundits will blather about whether the niners are the real deal or not, a chip gets firmly glued to their shoulders and another win streak beings.
Not to mention Vera Whiteside was going to make some of her Sweet Potato pie for the boys if they were in town ( she’s getting desperate, hoping Jed will intervene with Sabes about Whitey) …
Yeah, like I said somewhere else in a previous thread, there’s enough reason for NFL games to be hyped and shouted about, but to cram this in to the schedule, short week across 3 time zones as well, is a load of shit. I said before the season started that the schedulers maust have been pissed at the Niners. After their Monday night game vs Pittsburgh, they travel to Seattle. Short week with a road game is bullshit. Jed’s best move all year was to lay the team over in Ohio between the Cincy and Philly games.
Balt played at frigging home yesterday. This will be the Nioners 5th east coast game this season. Yeah, a very distinct advantage for Balt.
I’ve been money on these predictions lately, so I’m saying 49ers win 27- 24 this time around.
Well, it’s kind of a bummer but no one has figgerd out how to have two home teams yet…
FWIW, Ray Lewis didn’t practice, but he says he plans on playing. No word on Miller or Davis . . .
This game is bullshit because, as others have pointed out, this is nothing more than a ratings ploy. No one figured the Niners would be any good this year so the league figured they could sacrifice them for this game, grab some ratings as the half-sauced, sleepy families caught a little football after dinner. Whoops. Niners are good and all of a sudden it’s the fucking “Har-bowl”!!! Bullshit. The league now gets massive ratings for this and the Niners are completely fucked. I don’t see any way we win this game…..
Yeah, let’s see if the NFL schedules next year the Pats or Giants or Jets or Eagles to fly out to play a Thurs night game in Seattle after a home game…
Done-next week.
Oh, the Niners can win this. It’ll be a challenge, but these guys have done wonders so far. If they can keep it low-scoring early, the Niners should win in the end.
If they come out dragging ass, it may get away from them.
This is just another building block for Harbugh to motivate with.
Balt, for all their supposed greatness, isn’t all that good. Flacco hasn’t lit up the league and their run game isn’t all that.
The Jets played the Broncos in Denver just last Thursday and Eagles are at Seatlle next Thursday. Neither Jets or Eagles had a bye the week before. I guess you could argue the Mountain time game doesn’t count but maybe the short week explains how Te-blow beat them..
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81f58d9b/article/nfl-network-2011-primetime-thursday-night-football-schedule-announced
Don’t know how they ran these plays on the plane, but here’s the latest practice report:
49ERS PRACTICE REPORT
Did not participate: FB Bruce Miller (concussion)
Limited participation: T Anthony Davis (ankle), CB Chris Culliver (shoulder), WR Michael Crabtree (foot), RB Frank Gore (knee), WR Braylon Edwards (knee)
RAVENS PRACTICE REPORT
Did not participate: CB Chris Carr (back), DT Arthur Jones (head)
Limited participation: LB Ray Lewis (foot), LB Dannell Ellerbe (thigh), S Haruki Nakamura (thigh)
Full participation: RB Anthony Allen (thigh)
Barley, Norriss may not be much, but he’s better than Peelle in the backfield. By a little . . .
I hope Miller has a really mild concussion and is back soon. Hopefully Norriss is only active for this game. The Niner equiv of Cabrera or Tejada?,,,
Norriss has a much longer shelf life than Tejada or Cabrerea. More like Johnny LeMaster . . .
See above, Eastern teams do fly west for Thursday games on short rest and after home games. They could schedule these better but those two and the Niner game are the only three that involve undue travel for one of the teams. I’m afraid it doesn’t appear to be a conspiracy..
Last time a west coast team went east for a Thursday game was 1975 . . .