Literally and figuratively. The rain is finally supposed to return to Northern CA after a long absence, and the football teams involved in the NFC Championship game this weekend (well, one of them) have stopped yapping and appear to be actually focussing on the game. Chances are it rains off and on through the game on Sunday.
I guess we’ll see what happens. Slowing the game down would in all likelihood favor the 49ers, as they have a better run game, and more experience playing on that quagmire they call Bill Walsh field. It’ll be high tide as well at 4:22 pm (+4.1′), so that will add to the squishiness. After the NFC Championship game in 1994, they let the fans on the field, and the corners of the field (especially the southwest corner) were about 6″ of muck. The middle of the field was OK, but the closer you got to the sidelines and endzones, it got thicker and muddier.
I’m sure the drainiage is better now, so it should be somewhat better, but still, the Stick is the Stick, and it looks to be a mess by the end of the game.
Forty Niners Forever 
Accuweather.com has rain in the evening around 7:00PM. With almost 2 inches on Saturday. If the weather pattern holds with those predictions then it might not me bad. sloppy field but the QBs, RBs, WRs should be able to hang on to the ball.
Fran Gore is a great mudder.Weather won’t affect him.Niners have a HUGE advantage in the kicking game with All PROS Lee and Akers.Lee is fantastic at pinning team deep forcing a long field.,Akers with plenty of playoff experience and Money all year another huge advantage.Field postion will be key Sunday and.the Niners should prevail with that.
YOU TALKIN’ about my mudder??
For all the talk of Eli and NY’s passing attack, the Niners just beat a VERY good passing team in the Saints. I think the Niners hang with them better than last week. I just wish someone would tell Chris Culliver to get his hands up. His coverage has been solid, but on a few occasions, he hasn’t gotten his hands up to try and block passes.
I suppose it was just a matter of time:
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2012/01/19/ashkon-releases-new-49ers-anthem/
Chuck, you don’t seem to have the option to add a new page like Flavor does.
Try it now . . .
Maybe you need more than author status.
Lemme upgrade you.
Alls I heard last week was the Saints passing attack, how great it was…er..is…Drew Brees and the Saints offense….and in truth it was a juggernaut! That Saints offense was probably the hottest, most audasious offense in the league….but the 49ers tamed it…subdued it enough to win the game.
Now to hear all the “espn barf” on all the major networks, you would think the 49ers had never dealt with anybody WITH an offense. The 49ers just beat a “FERRARI”! The NY Giants are more like an F-150 ! Yes with all the bells and whistles on it but come on! They are not nearly as potent as that Saints offense.
To be sure they are a real and dangerous threat, but they are not going to threaten to break off 40 points like the Saints were.
That NY offense beat a GB team that just played like crap and made them look good.
The 49ers offense have also faced defenses better than the Giants and whipped’em.
I personally don’t care about who gets press but I think it is just wierd that the writers who are professionals; by and large don’t know squat about the 49ers.
Half of them are still talking about Tebow, or the Eagles “Dream Team” which is so irrelevant it feels like “Ground Hog Day”!…The big story is how the little ‘ole 49ers stopped a Saints offense that set scoring records that may never be broken again.
If the weather is bad I don’t know how that favors us. We haven’t played in a single bad weather gm all year. I could see a wet football be tricky for both Alex and the receivers not to mention the poor footing and slipping….
Most of the team has played through rain and wind here in the past. Then again so have the Giants. It’s still home field advantage. The Niners are a better running team, they;ll do better in bad weather.
sure, if they can run the ball all game, I agree. But if we get behind do you really want our receivers who haven’t run on shitty ground for WAY over a year have to do it on Sun? Not me. And Alex throwing a slick ball is not something I’m looking forward to……..
But whatever, I hope I’m wrong. It’s just something in worried about
Well, if you go with Ronnie Lott, and he should know, wet muddy field favors the offense, the WR’s know where they want to go so they can plant their feet better for cuts. Where the SS and CB they start to go one way and then on a dime change direction, more chance of slipping. As far as the running game, I think sweeps would be better than up the middle. Same reason as above.
The field doesn’t matter……just the will and skill will get it done. Niners win big!
You tell’em, nip. It’s the team that wants it more!
They have to play ball-control offense !
They have to establish their running game. !
They have to stop the big play !
They need to dominate the line of scrimmage!
They have to pound it out on the ground !
They have to open up the passing lanes !
They have to take care of the football !
They have to just go out and execute !
They have to make plays on both sides of the ball !
The Niners should just play San Francisco football !
They have to stick to their game plan ! or…
They should throw their game plan out the window !
Hey chuck, I notice you highlight The Catch, The Catch II and The Catch III. There’s an article in today’s Chronicle that supports John Taylor’s touchdown catch in the 1989 Superbowl to be considered one of “The Catch”es. The arguements against being 1) It wasn’t a difficult catch, 2) It wasn’t as close to the final gun as the others and 3) It wasn’t at Candlestick. It than proceeds to dismiss these arguments. Your take?
I’ve never heard a nickname for that catch. I always called it the John Candy drive . . .
Actually, there was more time left after The Catch than there was after the Taylor play. 55 secs to 39 . . .
Yes, the time left was one of the arguements for it. The article mentioned John Candy as well
I agree that I don’t see how wet grounds favor the Niners. Giants have better WRs; that puts our D backfield more on the defensive with slippery footing. I think it does help SF’s OL, bad footing may help neutralize the vaunted NYG outside pass rush. Whatever. I’m going with the WTF Not the Niners mindset. Brett Swain with a TD catch? Niners 34-20….
BTW, these generically assigned avatars are pretty damn funny
Niners vs Giants Scoring Calls:
31-24 NIners Phil
30-17 Niners twinfan
31-20 Niners Chuck
27-17 Niners Snarkk
34-20 Niners barleyfreak
Correction it’s actually
27-17 Niners barleyfreak
34-20 Niners Snarkk
34-17 Niners Kevin continues the trend of calls for a big win
23-13 NINERS Alleykat “I fuckin Hate every thing about NY,from the Dickhead Media all picking NY in a romp,to all their STUPID NASAL Talking Fans”
30-16 Niners Flavor “…keys to this game will be our special teams making PLAYS and Frank Gore”
Alleykat going with New England over the Ravens…..27-16
New England wins 31-10. FLAVOR
(sorry double posted below)
Swett Brain to the rescue!
Rain or no, Harbaugh sure was excited about the lousy weather this morning.
Interesting that no one thinks it’ll be a nail-biter.
I sure f*cking hope it’s not. I’m not sure I can take it. I was a freaking basket case last Saturday. But whatever — as long as we win I’ll take 10 lead changes in the last 10 minutes.
How was yer BP and blood al-q-hol levels? BTW I checked with our distinguished panel of judges (me) and forgot to mention your comment last week WON the grand prize for funniest comment in the Scoring contest. Congratulations and good luck collecting from chuck…
Well I’m pretty nervous right now thinking about Manning torching us with the long pass, something Brees came so close to doing if not for the heroics of Alex and Vernon. X 2. I’m figuring we will wear them down as the game progresses. If they have an early lead we catch them and pull away later on turnovers and running game. Man I forgot how nerve wracking the playoff are…
Thanks, Phil . . .
All good