She’ll be waiting . . . Anyhow, this game is going to be a true test of the intestinal fortitude of your San Francisco 49ers. AZ is actually steadily improving lately. As NinerDog posted, their defense has become very stingy in recent games. The Niners have struggled in the red zone in recent games. As I said, I think getting Braylon Edwards is going to help, as the Niners HAVE to open things up some down close. Yes, the Niners should be able to win a defensive struggle against these guys, but they have a tough ST unit as well. Patrick Peterson has wn a couple gaems for AZ singlehandedly (relatively speaking), much like Ted Ginn’s opening day, and the Detroit game.
Interesting thing is the Niners and Raiders will be playing at the same time, so it’ll be fun to see if the Raiders can put a hurting on the Packers. Call me crazy, but I think the Raiders win this. The Packers defense is very questionable. 31st in total yards, but they do get a lot of turnovers by pick-offs. Palmer, if anything, can hit the deep pases, so if Oakland can block, they should be able to light up the scoreboard. They are also pretty good at geting pressure, so you never know.
Forty Niners Forever 
Harbaugh’s grind it out style fell short today. It’s okay to run the ball like the 1965 Packers when you have Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston at guard… Behind our line, it’s a little more of a shaky strategy. This team needs to figure out how to score quickly when it needs to, and the time for learning is rapidly running short.
Throwing to Ginn is NOT a recipe for scoring quickly or in the RZ but Roman loves the guy, ignored Edwards and here we are
Problem is that Edwards has looked completely lost everytime he’s played for weeks now. Even worse than Ginn..
Yeah he hasn’t come back from the knee
i think kyle williams will get more chances !
Only got to see the end, obviously Smith’s worst game- and giving up what the defense gave up to Skelton was absurd. Hate to lose that with the Steelers up next.
That was less Skelton than Larry Fitzgerald.
Bottom line is, if we had converted on those first half opportunities down close, AZ would have folded their tent at halftime.
We let them hang around, and paid the price.
The whole passing game is a problem. Gore has to stay in and block because our line sucks monkey balls, taking him out of the mix. Ginn is simply not reliable. Braylon is hurt and may be about done anyway. Morgan is out. VD is flashy but unreliable to near useless in the short game. Crabs is the only guy who can make a catch short right now. hence, teams take him away, and rush Alex, and they can shut us down.
We’d better come up with some answers, pronto.
Agree with this analysis grumpy
Multiple blitz packages to open the game, set our O back on their heels, let our D get tired and beat us with big passing plays = the formula to stop this team
don’t forget we have a new system and WR (edwards) and we had no preseason !
we’re only going to get better !
and a VERY young 0-line !
Yeah rob we done good so far but JH will get some more pieces fo’ sho’
we’re still ok ! we can beat pissburgh , seattle and the lambs to finish 13-3 and get a home playoff game ! this was just a rivalry / division game they had to win to stay alive !
this kind of thing happens !
We’ll get better on offense when we get a big fast WR like Fitzgerald, a TE who is not useless at the goal line, and better protection from our O-line.
Don’t hold your breath this season.
Wow, one poor game (abetted by some terrible receiving) and Alex is dogshit again. Dwight Clark is an absolute disgrace.
The players and the coaching staff need to start getting it together, they have 3 games to start scoring TD’s. And I thought the Pitt/Cleveland game was bad. This game was soooooo winnable!
I ‘ve seen some highlights and Smith and the OL share plenty of blame, but this was mostly lost by the defense. Skelton 282 yards 106.5 QBR, that’s just awful. Seems like a lot was caused by letting him escape what should have should have been sacks.
Smith is dogshit. Always will be
Norm is dogshit as usual
Well, again, I don’t know what board you’re reading. No where on here does it suggest “Alex is dogshit” unless you’re reading Dennis’ posts and most people learned to ignore his drivel about Smith a while ago (except me, I can’t stop my quest to re-educate the uneducated and ignorant).
Smith had a bad 2nd half, his first half was good. But the pressure was ridiculous all game. If he made any mistakes it was not stepping through it to buy himself some time. And if the opposing D is going to blitz this often the Niners have to keep Gore in to block. I was disappointed they didn’t make that adjustment in the 2nd half.
Smith didn’t have his best game but if the refs don’t fuck us on that late challenge flag play we probably win–14 point swing there. One of the great scrambles of the year in the NFL by Smith at the end of the game should have been a catch–and that could have led to a game winning FG.
The result isn’t totally surprising since I thought we might lose this game. But it was easily winnable. And it’s not the end of the world, we are in 1st place, 10-3 and in full control of our destiny. If you want to take a look at what the end of the world looks like (Sports example, not Mayan) try being an Oakland Raider fan–they got completely destroyed 2 games in a row (the final score of both doesn’t do their ineptitude justice). You are NOT a playoff team when you are down 30-something to nothing at halftime 2 straight games at this point in the season……..
nice post !
I never said it was here- the texts on the postgame, Clark on the postgame-I haven’t even read the remarks here. This blog has been reasonable about Alex,exept for the usual idiots.I haven’t even read Death Threat’s posts. today. I had a small seizure this afternoon so I was busy.
sorry to hear that, I was wondering where you were for the game…….
I learned after the last one that these are “self-limiting” so one can just ride it out. It’s not good sign however.
And in other entertainment news T Tebow leads the Bronks to 13-10 victory in OT over da Bears. This is an amazing story this season. Much more interesting than the yahoos whose football comments a limited to dissing our QB
Phil,, Tebow led nothing. He led an offense to score no pts till the middle of the 4th quarter. Then, on 3rd and a lot with 30 seconds left, he fiddled around, bought some time, and then threw his pass at the ref. On 4th down, he did the same thing and then tried to run for the 1st but ended up running out of bounds, losing yardage. His fucking kicker saved his ass by kicking a 59 yarder to send it to overtime………
Kicker was prolly thinkin’ “If he can throw shit like that and get away with it then I’m gonna make this FG 5 yards outta my range”. LOL.
For some reason his guys seem to think they can win with him at the wheel. So it’s been said.
They showed some of those highlights- he was great down the stretch again but maybe he does have an in with the Big Guy- they’re living right.
LOL some weird shit is smiling on those guys…It’s been said and could be ‘why’ their making these last minute plays that TT ‘gets his guys fired up on the sideline’ and has from when he first took over for Orton. It may not be good football (except the winning) but it’s great mojo.
Anyway, as I said before- not getting to the opposing QB enough, and not protecting ours is priority one to get straightened out. If Alex weren’t such a tough SOB, we’d be totally fucked,
BTW, what did the Raiders give up for Palmer, again?
Way too much!
This was not the defense. Skelton posted a 73 in the first half. In the second half, while the Niners were posting five straight three and outs, followed by the last drive four and out, is when the pass defense wore down and they got their points.
That’s SIX DRIVES after Gore’s TD: ONE first down, on a penalty.
Game over.
As I said, Smith and the OL have plenty of blame, but faling to wrap up Skelton was poor play not exhaustion.And they had a 12 point lead. And failing to get consistent pressure is not a one game issue.
Maybe if we get some receivers that can actually catch the ball on big plays we win. Ginn had a TD on a nicely thrown ball, stopped running and never looked for the ball. Edwards had a ball hit him in the rib cage. Walker had an easy 1st down on our penultimate drive but he dropped a perfect pass after our QB had to run for his life to buy time. On our last drive Hunter needs to make that catch. Yeah, it would’ve been a nice catch, but not a great one. The O-line did not play well and we still win with some help from the receiving crew.
Ginn is horrible. He never saw the ball on that play – in fact he looked like damned Stevie Wonder out there. Edwards is hobbled, but beyond that, I’m starting to think he may be done. He just doesn’t seem to care anymore. VD and Walker are mismatches at TE, but neither is real ‘QB-Friendly’ TE who helps out in the Red Zone or short yardage.
Right now, Crabs is Alex’s only option – the RBs are mostly tasked with helping the porous O-Line.
Smith is not at all fully to blame — but you have to wonder, when a unit plays poorly across the board, if anyone is really that good.
Frankly, regardless of Alex, this team needs some retooling – we need a big fast WR opposite Crabs (Morgan is good and reliable but not that fast; Williams The line issues speak for themselves. is blazing fast but is better as your little slot option). We need, I really believe, a big soft-handed TE who can play in the short game, even if you keep VD.
Bottom line, ZERO first downs running and passing in SIX drives is not acceptable for any NFL offense. Certainly not against an ~okay~ but hardly dominant team like the Cardinals.
Something needs to change. Maybe multiple somethings. But it probably cannot get done until the draft.
Is Delanie Walker even worth keeping?
Only as a trick play / mismatch option.
And I’m not all that sold on VD myself, either… he is a mismatch, but his hands are unreliable, and he makes dumb penalties even after all these years. We need a “QB’s Friend” like a Witten.
Well, they should be fired up for MNF. Good night all.
They’d better be… they may very well need to win out now to get a home field playoff game.
We’ll get a home field play-off game because we won our division. We’ll need to win out, if NO wins out, to get a 1st round bye.
Yeah, you’re right, I’m getting fixated on that game with NO or whoever.
Play like we did today, and it won’t be a problem.
Hopefully, Harbaugh will have some ideas going forward.
One thing I’d do is move Williams into the starting lineup ahead of Ginn… Ginn is just not reliable. Williams has his limitations as a starter right now but he’s likely to be better going forward.
No easy help at TE though.
Anyone know Staley’s status? I’m not a big fan, and I like Boone, but anything that affects our cohesion on an already shaky line right now is not a good thing.
g-night and good health to you fellow 9er fan !
Take care of your health my man…
beat pissburgh !
Well, I worried about our beat up line. I was also worried our receivers dropping passes. Didn’t think they wouldn’t even see them. Don’t think the receiving corps will bail this team out.
I was hoping Harbaugh was saving some redzone plays but that is not happening. I don’t think they know what will work with the 49er personnel in the redzone.
Fitzgerald bailed his team out and that is why they won.
I thought the 49ers would take it but oh well. Still better than I thought they would do this year.
There still is time.
Beat Pissburgh and punch Rapemydaughter in the face!
Woof!
Red zone scoring now has to be priority one. Roman and Harbaugh have to get creative. With a defense like this, you must score TDs when you have first downs inside the 10 yard line in the red zone. As I said last week, this receiver corp is the number one weakness, it must be priority one to upgrade in next season’s draft and FA signings…