There is a house in New Orleans . . . they call the rising suh . . . uh, wait. Wrong city. It’s off to Phoenix, and the phrase, “it’s a dry heat, though.” So is a convection oven. As the 49ers try and make their way to a 1st round playoff bye, they travel to Arizona for a game against the used-to-be Chicago, used-to-be St Louis, and used-to-be Phoenix Cardinals. The names and cities may change, but the constants around those parts is the God-awful ownership that is the Bidwills. People around these parts give the Yorks a ton of crap for ineptitude, but for absolute mediocrity for stunningly long stretches of time, look no further than the Cardinals and their tight-fisted owners, the Bidwill family. Owners of the team since 1932, they have one lone championship in 1947. Since then, they’ve been in the playoffs 5 times. That’s 5 playoff appearances in 74 YEARS. Seeing as they are missing the playoffs again, let’s call it an even 75 years.
While this looks like a sure thing on paper, AZ has been on a pretty good run here in recent weeks. They’ve gone 4 of 5 (of course the loss was against SF on 11/20) by beating the Rams 2x, the Iggles, and the Cowboys. OK, not great competition, but AZ has been in just about every game, and have lost a lot of close ones. Much like the 2009 Niners. AZ has lost by 1 to Washington, by 3 to Seattle, by 4 to the Giants, and by 4 to the Ravens. Funny thing is, their recent success has come mostly at the hand of John Skelton. Their supposed savior, the oft-discussed-around-these-parts Kevin Kolb has gone 2-6 as the starting QB. He did engineer their win over Dallas last week, but while KK was battling turf-toe, John Skelton engineered wins over the Rams (2x) and Iggles, while losing to the Niners, for a 3-1 record.
Neither their offense or defense is putting up stellar numbers (23rd in yards, 24th in points on O, 25 in yards, 19th in points allowed on D), but they do have Beanie Wells at 916 yards rushing, and Larry Fitzgerald at 943 yard receiving. And Patrick Peterson (a guy I was very high on in the 2011 draft) is kicking ass as a punt returner (an astounding 4 TDs so far), and is playing a sold corner. He has 2 picks and 11 passes batted down along with 48 tackles.
So, this is a game that could very well get away from the Niners. Az is a tough place to play, and these guys are strong on special teams, and with Fitzgerald, can strike quickly. The key, as usual, is pressure. Kolb is about as mobile as a mobile home, so get to him, and the rest should be fairly easy. Beanie Wells is good, but he’s not going to break anything very long. He has been fumble-prone as well. So the formula remains the same. Get on top of them early, run the ball down their throats, and get TDs rather than FGs. This is important, because any kind of punt battle could very well be won by their return game. Kick it in the end zone, kick it out of bounds. Or better yet, don’t punt. The last game went that way as the Andy Man only punted 3 times, and Peterson had 2 returns for 22 yards.
If I was to make a guess, I’d say 27-20 Niners.
Forty Niners Forever 
It’s hard to tell game-to-game how teams will do. But Pitts looked pretty pitty last night.
The bitch is really the scheduling. Pittsburgh gets 9 days (plus a travel day) to face the Niners.
The Niners get 3 (plus travel) to face Balt, and play Seattle on Saturday after the Monday night game.
I am just saying…Pitts is supposedly a top team??? Maybe they had a play down to your apponent moment?? and a division rival and all?? But the Niners had that last week with the Lambs. So I just don’t see Pitt doing much against the Niners.
Of course Pitts has less to prove than the Niners so maybe that was the lackadaiscal attitude?
Shit, NO got stomped by the Rams, and lost to TB. Every season is littered with head-scratching results. It’s hard to maintain your focus for an entire season I guess, and Pitts WAS playing on a short week. Something that can be a challenge. I don’t think it bodes anything either way as to how they play vs the Niners. Maybe THEY were napping and gearing for the Niners. . . Either way, they got out of there with the win. Kinda like our Seattle game to start the year.
Sounds like you guys are already looking ahead to our playoff matchup with the Saints. That’s OK, so am I. And I wouldn’t put any stock into that Saints loss to the Rams. Like Chuck just said, it’s hard to maintain your focus for an entire season.
Best thing about being me? I don’t even bother to maintain my focus for a day. Let alone an entire season…
It’s exactly why this game worries me. AZ is going to come out for the kill. They are going to try and start fights and get the Niners in retaliation mode. This is going to be a tough game for these guys to keep their composure. AZ is feeling pretty good about itself all of a sudden.
Dennis, where the hell have you been?? building that shrine to A Smith, so you have somewhere to put a replica of the SB MVP award he is going to win?? Just asking.
Alex the MVP of the Super Bowl?
Even Santa Claus couldn’t make wish come true.
And I mean the real Santa Claus. The one played by Edmund Gwenn in “Miracle on 34th Street.” Santa can make all the things happen for a little Natalie Wood, but he would take one look at that wish list and say,…You must be kidding!
Surely you’re joking, Dennis.
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Niners 23-9.