Quite the game by Colin Kaepernick yesterday. On national TV, and in front of the guy whose job he wants, Cappy came into the game throwing darts all over the field. 16-23 for 243, 2 TDs sounds very Smith-like (esp with the 123 yards on the ground), but it sure looked different. Particularly sweet was the bomb to Kyle Williams on his 2nd drive. He couldn’t have handed the ball to him any cleaner as Cappy hit KW in stride for a 57 yard strike to set up a TD on the next play, a nice play action pass to VD for Cappy’s 1st TD as a pro. The next drive featured a 32 yard strike to VD and was capped by a 14 yard run up the middle by Kendall (end zone) Hunter. Drive #4 was puctuated by a 20 yard pass and run by Michael Crabtree, with some touogh running form Frank Gore. All in all, 4 possessions, 4 scores, and a 20 point lead going into the half. For all intents and purposes, the game was over. Not bad for the gangly kid from Turlock.
Leading off the 3rd quarter, Cappy his Mario Manningham on a nice slant that MM took up the field for a 37 yard gain. On 3rd and gola from the 6, Cappy dropped back to pass and looked right for VD dragging across the back of the end zone. he was covered, and Cappy rolled left to buy time, and Crabs read this and cut to the left corner of the end zone. Cappy hit him easily for his 2nd TD pass of the game for a 27-0 lead.
The rest of the game was just handoffs for the most part as the defense laid to waste the Bear offensive line. Aldon Smith had 5.5 sacks by himself, and really, the Niners should have pitched a shutout as Aldon Smith was penalized for trying to get to a fumble on 3rd and 19 after yet another sack by the Niner defense. Jason Campbell, the erstwhile vet, didn’t stand a chance against the Niners intense pass rush. They [pretty much were forced to abandon the run due to the instant deficit, and Campbell rarely had a clean pocket to throw from.
So, what now? I don’t listen to KNBR much, nor do I spent too much time reading other blogs and such, but I’m sure the airwaves are sizzling with conjecture regarding who starts next week. Add to the firestorm the fact that Harbaugh didn’t douse any fires by saying “I have 2 hot-handed QBs” and the controversy begins. Frankly, with Alex Smith not even cleared to play, I don’t see too much reason to take anything from Harbaugh’s comments yesterday. They were made right after the game, and Harbaugh always seems to be struggling with the come-down from his hypersonic adrenaline-fueled coaching high. Until Smith gets cleared, everything WILL be conjecture and innuendo.
I’m fairly certain Harbaugh reinstates Alex Smith as the starter going forward if he is cleared to play. Cappy played as near-perfect a game that anyone could have expected, but one game does not make a ginormous decision like this cone to pass. Although the pressure to perform is ratched up a little bit under Alex Smith’s ass.
Forty Niners Forever 
Harbaugh doubles down:
HARBAUGH: I believe we have the opposite of a controversy. A controversy is an argument between opposing points of view. This is coming at it from a team point of view. And do we have two good quarterbacks, two winning quarterbacks, two quarterbacks with a hot hand? Yes we do. So we’ll make the decision and let you know in a timely fashion.
And that’s after he said he thinks Alex will be available for NO. He deliberately wants to press this agenda of “guess who”.
Not neccesarily here, but certainly on the Insider and every other blog I’ve read, Steve Young was always quoted when he was down on Smith. Presuming Smiith is cleared, here’s what he says now:
““It’s got to be Alex Smith,” Young said. “He’s got the body of work. This is a team that can go to the Super Bowl. He’s got a body of work over many years, but especially over the last year and a half, with a lot of trust from his teammates.
“I understand the excitement for Colin and it’s well deserved after yesterday,” Young continued. “I know that feeling. It happened to me. But when it comes down to crunch time, is this the time to play with that. Jim Harbaugh’s got to make the challenge. But for my money, you’ve got to have Alex Smith be the quarterback.
“Colin Kaepernick, let him nip at the heels, give him a few more reps, make him eager, make a little more creative tension in the locker room and on the field. But you’ve got to declare Alex Smith the starter or else you’re going to create all kinds of things you don’t want that are going to take your team away from the Super Bowl.”
Well, until Smith is cleared, this is all mental masturbation.
That we’re this far into the week may preclude Smith from starting the NO game anyway. If Cappy goes lights-out again, the clamor will just get louder. Funny that Steve Young favors how Walsh handled the QB controversy instead of how he himself would have wanted it to go.
Frankly, I don’t think Cappy is ready, but it ain’t my call.
Looks like the noon press conference might be worth watching. Does anyone know how Smith GETS vleared at this point? Does he do the nuerologist non-contact deal again?
Joe Montana might chuckle a bit at Steve’s comments.Or worse.
I would think you’d need to follow the league procedure, starting from scratch. Otherwise, if anything bad happens, and maybe even if it doesn’t, Goodie-Boy has you by the short hairs. The team needs to be careful here, both for Alex’s sake, and for their own protection.
Montana likes Alex, too. He’s said he thinks Alex can lead the team to a title.Of course Smith has to cleared, we all know that.
My chuckle comment wasn’t about Alex – it was about the tension between Joe and Steve circa 1987-1989. That situation was WAY worse than anything with Alex and Colin, who appear to be nominally friends.
So, I’ll masturbate.
Vernon Davis: “Kaepernick played last night and happened to do a good job but Alex (Smith) is still the man, no question”
I have this feeling that we’re going to lose at the Superdome regardless of who is playing QB. Their D sucks, granted, but I see them playing better in their house against us this week. They will be PUMPED, you can bet, less than one year after losing the NFCCG in heartbreaking fashion. I see them getting some points on us — and we’ll have score better than 30 to win.
30-23, Saints.
I don’t have much of a sense how this game goes, but I still think the Niners can win this. Granted, Chicago was highly overrated, but I still think the Niners can shut down NOs offense. They don’t run particularly well, so the Niners will go nickel and dime all day. It comes down to pass rush. I like our chances there.
NO may be pumped, but defensively, they are 27th in points allowed, 31st vs the pass, 32nd vs the run, and 32nd overall by a large margin I think we can score on them. Cappy will do fine. Smith likely won’t get cleared in time for this.
34-21 Niners.
Scoring challenge, first edition. Niners vs Saints:
Chuck: 34-21 Niners. “NO may be pumped, but defensively, they are 27th in points allowed, 31st vs the pass, 32nd vs the run, and 32nd overall by a large margin I think we can score on them. Cappy will do fine. Smith likely won’t get cleared in time for this. ”
rtfirefly: 26-17 Niners. I adjust my weekly prediction because of Brees, Kappy and the Superdome
barleyfreak: 30-23, Saints. I have this feeling that we’re going to lose at the Superdome regardless of who is playing QB. Their D sucks, granted, but I see them playing better in their house against us this week. They will be PUMPED, you can bet, less than one year after losing the NFCCG in heartbreaking fashion. I see them getting some points on us — and we’ll have score better than 30 to win.
Phil: 36-20 Niners. Kapster starts, we grab a lead, D goes all sack happy (again), the run game wears ’em down and this sucker is nothing like the NFC title game.
Barley said last week we would score more with Kap and damn if he didn’t nail
it
Grumpy Guy: 41-38 Niners. I’m actually more concerned right now about T. Brown, Culliver and Goldson being hurt and ‘limited in practice’, than in who starts at QB. This could turn into a real track meet. Early prediction: Kaep starts, 49ers win a crazy game, 41-38.
Chuck, were you in on this? Skeebs changed his blog dramatically. I know you guys who work hard have to make money with adverts and such, but it’d be nice to know how to post.
Not sure what yer talking about RTF. I don’t post ads here nor do I make money.
I do this for the love of the game . . .
It wasn’t a shot at you Chuck. Skeebs blog was unrecognizable for a bit, and impossible to post. I was just asking for help.
26-17 Niners. I adjust my weekly prediction because of Brees, Kappy and the Superdome
Alex Smith today in his presser got tons of questions trying to create something, he gave them nothing but classy answers.
I was fine with the answers JH gave (Alex too) in the press conference today except one: When asked if he could have *2 QB’s* even within a game JH said “We could.”
Now, he could just be dicking with the media but if he’s being truthful I think that’s a terrible idea. That would just be way too *college* and it wouldn’t work.
I still feel as I did last night, there’s no way Alex starts in NO. You KNOW JH wants to see how Kap does on the road and this is the perfect week to just say “We’re giving Alex one more week.” No firestorm, no ousting of the incumbent, just another week to get his head settled…..
You know, maybe I don’t read everything about the Niners, but I haven’t heard much, if anything, about how Kap does in practice. I haven’t ever heard JH or a player or anyone even talk about him. Now everyone is on the radio saying he does this all the time in practice and none of this is a surprise. Well if you knew Kap had developed into the QB we saw on Mon night and he’s been showing all of this in practice, I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything about it.
Makes me think that maybe he DOESN’T show that all the time in practice and that everyone on the inside of the Niners were happily surprised by his amazing performance v the Bears.
And that’s another reason why I think JH is going to take a 2nd look on Sun. He wants to see if this is real or not………
Agreed. A two headed QB is a recipe for fail.
The thing is, the backup doens’t get near the reps that the starter does (90-10). So, he’s usually running the other team’s offense in pactice. So they do see him working against the starting defense. They don’t see him running the Niners offense very much. He did practice more than usual with the 1st team offense last week. And I’m sure he’s getting most of the reps this week as well.
The thing is, Cappy was still on the bubble going into the 3rd week of preseason. It’s not like he’s been head-and-shoulders above Tolzein, or even pushing Alex. But he sure showed something in Monday.
So I just want to confirm, no one else here has heard JH and the players rave about Kap in practice, right? And that would make sense based on this post, Chuck. Well, I listen to a fair amount of KNBR radio (mostly about 30 minutes in the morning with Murph and Idiot, maybe 20 minutes of Rod and Bob and maybe an hour of Tolbert (as long as he doesn’t have Ratto on with him) a few times a week. And this week all I’ve heard a couple of players and JH on their shows telling us that they see this all the time from Kap in practice.
Again, I ask the question, if they have been seeing this *all the time* then why haven’t we ever heard a peep about it?
When does Harbaugh ever tell us anything true?
Chuck, I was listening to Aldon Smith today in his interview.
Kappy is head, shoulders, and a whole fleet of Viking boats above Tolzien.
Is Kappy #1? Maybe this week. The Saints are a great team at home and on fire at the moment. Now they have 2 different style QBs to prepare for.
Sssssssh. Don’t tell anybody that.
Alright, is it Cappy, Kappy, or Kaeppy?
I don’t care, as long as it’s not Krappy…
I get tired of those gay nicknames that end in *y* so I just call him Kap and don’t worry about the *e*.
Same
Top 6 NFL HCs on the chopping block:
1) Jerry Jones
2) Norv Turner
3) Romeo Crennel
4) Mike Mularkey
5) Rex Ryan
6) Andy Reid
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Turkey and stuffing and sweet yams. I always hated cranberry sauce.
Yeah, Cappy is now, but going into training camp, the competition was open, and Tolzein had some early success. By the end of the preseason, Cappy was the #2.
As far as how he looks in practice? Most people are worrying about Smith. The back up is usually running the scout team.
I know, I get that. You said the same thing in your 4:26 post. My question is why haven’t we heard a single peep about Kap’s talents in practice (and your 4:26 and 5:13pm would explain this) but yet hear all of these players (and JH) gushing about how he does this all the time in practice?
It makes no sense at all.
I have never read that Kap lights it up in practice. Maiocco says Kap is a gamer, he sure was on monday, same players, same plays, vastly different look to the game.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Rufus.
And to the rest of you clowns as well . . . Happily we ain;t driving to LA this year.
JH obviously is fudging around with the QB situation. BF was right about this being an almost perfect scenario where he can play Kap against NO and say they’re protecting Alex’ health, regardless of whether Dr. Neuro cleared him or not. And, probably be telling the truth, actually. If Kap does play and plays well and it’s a Niner win, THEN its crunch time. But, if Kap’s not so good, hey, Alex can come back the game after and everything is back to “normal”…
As I’ve tried to point out-there is a huge flaw in the protocols since the neurologist is not the guy who has to make the final clearance. As much as I want Smith back out there, the team doctor is not qualified to clear him.As I said-even a nurse can rule him out, but only a neurologist should be able to clear a player.
My usual outsider complaint applies here once again. All last week the media “insiders” were saying Alex would start, then suddenly on game day, the national media guys get the story that Kap is getting the start, Alex had a setback. The “insider” media bulldust here is laughable. Maiocco, Lynch, Barros, all those guys only report what’s fed to them. Meanwhile, apparently in spring next year, one of the dude’s that wrote Game of Shadows (Feineru-Wada) is coming out with a book on the NFL and the concussion issue, supposedly going to be a bombshell of revelations…
I’m sure he’ll just blame Bonds for all the concussions.
The coaches knew enough about him to put all those pass plays in the script instead of “OK backup guy, just don’t lose the game for us.”
They couldn’t know how well he’d escape pressure, and he did like it was second nature, and how well or long he’d stand in to make the play under pressure until he’s in a game. Besides finding his second or third read, those are things Alex has never done well.
The thing(s) that stood out the most for me was his finding a way to make a play and extending the busted ones. And if he does it again in this weeks’ game, Harbaugh shouldn’t change starters until he screws up badly.
Don’t cry for Alex. This is the way starters lose their jobs to the better guy behind them all the time.
Actually name one time anything remotely similar happened. 20-6-1, took the team to the Championship game, headed for the playoffs again, 3rd rated in the league. never happened. And unless Harbaugh went to sleep and woke up as Dick Nolan, ii ain’t happening here.He can make the change to Coiln if Smith’s play forces his hand, until then when/if he’s healthy you go as far as Smith takes them and make decisions afer the season. That’s the smart way.
Smith’s play does force his hand. That’s what all the hoopla is about. Pay attention.
Jerry Jones is on the hot seat? I think Goodell’s got his back against the angry mobs.
What’s he going to do – fire himself? Then rehire himself with a new title…
Happy Turkey Day to everyone!