Here we sit, the 49ers 1.5 games up on Seattle, a recent pounding of the Bears in their rear-view mirror, and an apparent first round bye if they keep up the strong play. The offense is clicking along, the defense has been getting tons of pressure (Aldon Smith leads the league with 14 sacks), and the special teams (minus a couple fake punts) has been getting better. All these great feelings however have taken a back seat to a seemingly self-made quandary which has the airwaves burning, and the bloggosphere absolutely incendiary. The quandary of course is the instant QB controversy that sprung up out of the concussion to Alex Smith in the Ram game, and the subsequent dismantling of the supposedly impregnable Chicago defense by Colin Kaepernick.
The stupid thing to me is this could have been averted by Jim Harbaugh. All he had to say was Smith is getting one more day off to make sure he’s good to go down the stretch. Cappy gets the NO start, and things go back to normal. But Harbaugh seems to be the one holding the gas can at this point. He has baited the fans by calling them drooling idiots who don’t care if they win or lose, called the press liars, and left it to his starting SS Donte Whitner to say Cappy was starting. Which Harbaugh then denied. Alex Smith’s status is still unclear at this point, although it seems that he’s good to go. That his health even matters is up for debate. Cappy played a great game, but it was one game. OK, 1.6 if you include the 2.5 quarters of the Ram game. Even still, based on that, you usually don’t make a quarterback switch based on a handful of quarters.
The point being, there was a whole shitload of unneeded thrash around the team this week. Now if this was Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, I’d certainly understand the impetus to get one’s team in the news by any means. But for all intents and purposes, this is the buttoned-down San Francisco Forty Niners. The classy team finding its way back to relevancy and the top of the football pyramid. Not a grandstanding hottdogging look-at-us kind of team. Harbaugh is really alienating everyone who is a fan of the team, and has made a chilly press relationship even more cold with his recent statements. For no other reason than apparently to leave the Saints in the dark regarding who starts.
So, I don’t get it. I also don’t expect the Saints to be pushovers as some think, due to their poorly ranked defense. They show a bunch of different looks, disguise blitzes, and have been playing better in recent weeks, and are always tough at home. Besides, the Niners are the agents of a lot of their recent problems. The Niners beat the Saints in the playoffs last year in one of the best games in NFL history, Gregg Williams was fired for his singling up on VD in crunch time in the playoffs, Williams was then suspended indefinitely for statements he made (knowingly taped) prior to that playoff game, and the whole Bounty-gate deal.
So, there’s certainly enough on NO’s plate to want to knock the Niners off. Who knows? Maybe this is Harbaugh’s way of getting the pressure off the players. Then again, what do I know. I’m a drooling idiot.
Forty Niners Forever 
C’mon man!
Kap puts the first down on his back.
Coming back, I think.
flag or not, what a play
He can keep plays alive, and thread the needle.
That honestly was not much of a hold.
But be honest-without the hold, Colin doesn’t make the play.
It did not look to me like the DL was going to be a factor in the play at all. AD did not hold him long enough to make any difference IMHO.
I’ll try to look again at halftime.
I didn’t see it that way Twin
Maybe I’m wrong, I thought the guy draped on Colin was the guy who was held.
Watched it again – the DL was never closer than about 5 yards to CK when he released the ball at the sideline. The guy who almost had CK earlier in the play in the middle of the field was a different guy. I think if AD had let his guy go clean, Kap still completes the pass.
The defense had BETTER keep Brees from running off another seven here.
D. needs to make a stop here. Preferably a 3 and out.
The differences so far, are that our O-line does not pass block as well as theirs, and their receivers are not dropping anything.
Okay, can we all agree that the Chicago game was mistake free. We will now see what the Kape crusader is made of, and we will see if Harbaugh gets conservative playing from behind.
SHit. Got to pin them here.
Kappy’s backing too deep and running into the Saints ends on nearly every play. The Niners lines are getting beaten on both sides of the ball.
With those long legs, Kap’s version of a ‘five-step’ drop might be a little different than Alex’s. Could be part of the problem.
Even a 49er FG here makes a huge difference in halftime momentum. Big, big drive.
Why the hating on Ginn? They’re defending a Super Bowl win if he’d played against NY in the NFC title game..
Not if he played those punts like he just did here, though.
you gonna cry all game?
watch for a trick play
redemption is at hand for Williams
Mario hurt his wrist
I find it quite funny and ironic that we now turn to Kyle Fucking Williams for some reliable hands. Not that I disagree with it, he’s actually been very good this year. But that’s some “full circle shit” for sure.
It’s an absurd universe.
Very conservative play calling, but they got the first down.
Rookie mistake. Trying to make something out of a shit play. Should just fall on that one.
Damn I was just about to comment on the low snaps play after play. Bad play by Kaep. He’ll learn.
He had plenty of time after the snap. It was just a bad pass,