Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll meet once again on opposite sides of the field as the San Francisco 49ers head north on I-5 to play the Seattle Seahawks in the latest incarnation of the “What’s you deal?” bowl. These guys have been butting heads since 2007, when Jim Harbaugh was hired by Stanford after his stint coaching the college powerhouse, the USD Toreros. Harbaugh’s Cardinal of course beat USC in 2007 as 41 point underdogs, one of the greatest upsets in college football history. And the fight was on. The Cardinal lost in 2008, but 2009 gave us the 55-21 trouncing of the Rubbers in LA. Harbaugh’s 2 point conversion on the last TD led to the title of this thread.
Harbaugh ended up 2-1 vs USC, the only college coach to have a winning record vs Pistol Pete in the college ranks. Pete came to Seattle in 2010, and went 1-1 under the previous 49er regime. But, enter Jim Harbaugh in 2011, and Pete is once again winless in Seattle vs Harbaugh. Jim is a perfect 3-0 vs the Hawks, winning 33-17, and 19-17 last season, and a hard-fought 13-6 win earlier this season.
Much of the gravitas of this upcoming game was doused when the 49ers took care of New England, and thus still have a 1.5 game lead with 2 to go, so Seattle can’t take the west lead with a win, but Seattle is still fighting for their wildcard lives. At 9-5, they control the top WC spot as of now, but there are 5 teams at 8-6 who could easily slide in to take their hole. Seattle still has a slim chance to win the West, albeit at the hands of SF losing to AZ at home, which is highly unlikely, but the crux of this game lies in the hands of these coaches. At least that’s the compelling storyline.
A 49er win would pretty much lock up the #2 seed for the Niners and get the coveted 1st week bye. Green Bay has the Titans at home (win) and Minn on the road (probably a win), so the Niners need to beat Seattle to take it. Damaging Seattle’s playoff hopes is extra gravy for the biscuits. Much as a Niner loss would be a big feather in Pete’s cap as it would likely kill the Niners shot at the 1st round bye.
Forty Niners Forever 
The “”Cowboy” Justin Smith will “Saddle up and ride em” come Sunday night says JH.Knew he would.Dude has the 3rd longest active streak.going behind Rohde Barber and London Fletcher.Not about to miss this big game.
Yeah, heard that this morning from Harbaugh hinmself. One of the few times I actually listened to KNBR and got useful information.
Holy shit. I made the mistake of scrolling backwards through the thread. I didn’t realize the party kept going. Wheeee! I do this for fun?
RTF, Flav isn’t racist. Trust me on this. If you don’t, tough shit.
NoFear, yer the baby that got thrown out with the bathwater. I killed a ton of posts that dealt with the fight between RTF and Flav. You got caught in the wash. Sorry. But that’s the deal.
Twin, if you don’t like the way I handle this place, then leave. You are a guest. As are the rest of these clowns. I’ve known you a long time, and you know your shit, but you also create animosity and anger at the drop of a hat. Your pissing and moaning over shit that happened long ago is so much bullshit. And at some point, you and NoFear need to acknowledge that you two will never agree on Young Sir Alex and his place in the NFL firmament, so please stop arguing about it.
Spit? Fuck, don’t bother shortening your shit. I will. Christ, the Great American blog post?
The rest of you? Well, thanks for putting up with these pissing matches that tend to break out in my little corner of internet heaven. As y’all may have noticed, there are times when I’m not monitoring this, and all hell breaks loose. I run this blog for no other reason than I’m a life-long Niner fan, and I enjoy talking about the team, and hearing different viewpoints.
But all this name-calling and hyperbolic racist horseshit makes me want to just say fuck it, kill the site and move on. I know, wahh wahh, poor me, cry me a river, Chuck. But come on. Can we act like we are actually talking to real people, say, at the local watering hole, and not hiding behind our keyboards acting like punks? Threats of any kind will be removed if and when I find them. And really. Get a grip.
So what are the odds that JH starts Smith after the west is wrapped up with a win over Seattle? I actually could see that happening with JH’s reasoning being that it saves Kaepernick and let’s Smith get some game time reps. The fact that it is more humiliation for Smith is just gravy for JH.
I don’t see Smith coming into a game unless Kap is injured. Kap can use all the reps he can get going into the playoffs…….
Forty Niners are fighting for the #2 seed with Green Bay and the first round bye.
Remaining two games are must win otherwise they play the extra week and lose the advantage of a week off.
I’m glad you heard the JH interview. When he was asked directly about Smith’s availability, JH goes off on that little “Cowboy, saddle up” tangent and you could hear him kinda laughing to himself about it. I think Harbaugh gets bored with interviews sometimes and to entertain himself he starting talking about all that random shit we’ve heard from him in the past.
When I was listening to it on the way in, I laughed out loud and thought, “JH is just fucking with Mac who was interviewing him. He never really answered the question, didn’t say what was wrong with Smith, he just indicated that he thought he’d play because he was a cowboy. Come on, what was that?
by the way, Aaron Rodgers, a guy who knows a thing or two about quarterbacking, had this to say on Yahoo today regarding Smith:
“He comes in, he’s 70 percent completion, he’s 100-plus quarterback rating last year, he’s like barely over 1 percent interception percentage,” Rodgers said. “He’s a great quarterback. He just needs to go somewhere he gets appreciated for the skills he has and hopefully he gets a chance next year.”
That’s cool of Rodgers to say that in support of Smith.
Sounds just like a guy talking about his friend to the press. I hope Alex gets a chance somewhere next year, too. Somewhere else.
Uh, Alex is not, and never was a “great” QB. Maybe a great friend.
If Alex were “great”, he wouldn’t be on the sidelines with Kap on the field.
There’s nothing wrong with being “good”.
Rodgers IS a great QB…
Flav, Chuck, I overreacted. Here in New Mexico, there are so many Native tribes and so many Hispanics from so many countries that jokes can get you knifed.
But you know what? I don’t have problems out here, because I don’t make jokes and my friends and I do weird stuff like delivering groceries to old ladies and stuff. We don’t notice what color they are.
I’m shutting it down. I’d rather write about Mark Sanchez.
RTF, thanks for the apology. It is appreciated.
appreciate your post, I apologize for some over the top comments I made last night–*water under a bridge* or whatever that saying is.
And thank you as well. Just trying to keep it civil around here . . .
Yeah, saw that Rodgers comment too. Whatever. Rodgers’ rant was pretty ridiculous regarding Braun when his steroid-laden piss test was thrown out due to nothing more than a technicality.
But, you play the QB position, you catch a lot of heat. From the outside world and in the locker room. Smith knows that more than anyone after surviving the last 2 regimes. Yeah, Smith got the shaft, but them’s the breaks. In the end, it’s Harbaugh’s choice. Right, wrong, or whatever. It’s not like Smith’s hurting over the ~$70 mill he’s earned from his stint here.
Smith has handled it better than would seem to be humanly possible. He’s pissed and disappointed, and he loses his job due to injury? That stinks, but sometimes life isn’t fair, and Harbaugh is his boss. Jimbo made the call and went with his guy. The guy he moved up in the draft to get. Smith should be thankful that Harbaugh resurrected his career. He’ll get a decent deal next year. Likely somewhere in the 3/$36 mill area. Hello AZ. Alex is still pretty young, and his style of football can help a lot of teams out there.
Plus, this is a completely shitty year for QBs in the 2013 draft. Free agents? Even less so. Smith coming out next year is the best possible time for this to happen to him.
I hear the Jets can use some help.
Ouch. I wouldn’t wish that on Tony Romo. Well, sure I would.
Sanchez’s game yesterday was just about the worst performance I’ve seen by an NFL QB since the Steve Spurrier days.
They’re in big trouble and maybe could use a solid game manager type for a year or two while they find a new franchise guy, but truth be told, I wouldn’t wish that circus, or their fans, on Alex either.
And, thanks for steering the conversation back to Alex, Flav (insert gay-ass smiley face) . . .
And the UFO Coyotes somehow beat Dennis’ red-hot team and are now in the Championship Game. And I intentionally left RG (III or not) in on principle.
I’m a football fan and I root for my Niners first, second, and third. After that I root for great QBs unless they play for the Cowpatties.
I saw that, good luck to you. Not only does Dallas Suck but sometimes my FF team does too.
With all the talk of banning, deleting and whatever is being requested Chuck to do, I will go with a quote from Barbershop with a few changes:
Wait, hold on here. Is this a Blogg? Is this a Blogg? If we can’t talk straight on a Blogg, then where can we talk straight? We can’t talk straight nowhere else. You know, this ain’t nothin’ but healthy conversation, that’s all.
I have to draw the line somewhere, Kevin. Straight talk isn’t calling fellow bloggers racists, or throwing threats around at each other.
I was just trying to lighten the mood here. not critizing the way you run the blogg.
Guys who work that hard and are pushed by the coaches so hard sometimes give themselves nicknames. Sometimes they earn it, sometimes they don’t. It’s a self-motivation technique.
I remember somebody who called himself “Flash 80”.
I actually had a friend who did gardening work for this old man. He didn’t give himself the nickname, but he played to earn it.
It’s been a few years, but he was opening his front door himself to give out Halloween candy to the neighborhood kids.
“Say Hey”.
I think the 49ers can go into Atlanta and crush the Falcons in the playoffs. The 49er linebackers play fast on turf. Advantage 49ers, even if it’s an away game. But Lambeau? I’m afraid of Lambeau. I know we beat the Packers there at the beginning of the season but the playoffs are a different bird – and Rogers is getting hot. But if we get the second seed, no Lambeau for the Niners. I’m also afraid of the Giants. The Giants aren’t playing well, but I still think they’ll make the playoffs as a wildcard and beat whomever they face in the wildcard round, advancing either to Atlanta or SF. I think Kaep gives the 49ers an ability to beat the Giants, but I’m still afraid of the Giants because they have two important playoff pieces – a clutch qb and a dynamite pass rush. Fortunately for the 49ers and the rest of the NFC the Giants’ secondary isn’t very good this year. So, if you aren’t afraid of the Falcons at home, but you’re more concerned with the Giants anywhere and the Packers at home, the second seed is a big deal. But I just can’t help think the 49ers will be okay regardless what seed they ultimately earn. I think the 49ers will win the Super Bowl. I haven’t said that in a long, long time. Go Niners!
I am more worried about the Skins. Shanny and his son have assembled a great young team even with that idiot owner.
2 QBs that half (halfs, halves) the teams in the league would (expletives deleted) for.
Problem with the Giants is they are going to a very pissed off Raven team in their house. If the Giants lose that (and they very well could), then they are out.
There is no way 9-7 gets NYG into the playoffs. Not with all the tie breaker scenarios that they are behind on.
There isn’t a team in the playoffs that wants to play the Niners home or away. This team is fully capable of beating anyone anywhere. If they do beat the Squawks on Sunday I like the Niners chances of going to the bowl against Denver or New England.
Problem is, we can beat anyone, but can also lay some humongous eggs, and seem to do it every three weeks. This little soiree in Seattle is interesting, because we are due to trip on our dicks again. Breaking the ‘W-W-L’ pattern before we get to the playoffs would be encouraging.
Right Grump it would be nice to beat Seattle and we’ll have a good chance with Kap. Our D will be ready and hopefully the injury bug will leave us alone. IF we fall to Sea then I think we run the table on the poor unfortunate guys that get in our way. I’m with Man on this. We beat GB, NO and NE on the fucking road this year. We scoffed at the Rams and Minn and took it in the shorts.
All BOs aside, we get in the NFC Title Game the 2W-1L pattern is gonna fall. And the 6th Lombardi is going to be held high by Justin, Jed and JimBO, not fer the last time my friends
We’ll see how it goes this weekend, but if the Niners can beat Seattle (1-0 so far), then they can beat the Skins.
Problem is, RG under Shanny runs a multiple option run option offense. With the zone blocking the Shannys always used to get nobodys 1000 yards a year just running up the middle.
The Niners have to be able to put points on the board. RG has world class speed and can throw deep, too.
I started actually paying attention to the schedule a few weeks ago, and it was too cold and windy to get out much.
The East will come down to Cowpatties @ Skins.
The Niners match up fantastically against the Patties, not so well against the Skins.
But I will never, ever root for the Cowboys to win.
Chuck, the popcorn manufacturing association of America asked me to personally beg you not to ban anyone. Think of the children.
LoL
Crazy shit but we love it
Roasted, salted peanuts Grumpy. That’s what I always ate at those night games at Candlestick.
This one is in the loudest Dome in the league, grudge match between those two guys.
Should be a great test for Kappy, and don’t you go telling me the next day Alex would have done any better. I don’t (expletives deleted again) care.
It will be a harder game than the Pats one. But the Niners 37-26.
it’s outdoors RT, no roof.
the loudest outdoor stadium though, their fans are rabid.
My bad. I watched a game in the Kingdome once. The day they demolished it I (expletives deleted). Still the loudest stadium in the country and the offense better be in sync with hand signols and timing routes.
came? cried? shit? fucked a pig?
Say what you want, you know the parameters . . .
Gotcha 37-26 Niners RT
signals LOL I’m making too many mistakes to post. The UFO Coyotes are in the Championship Game.
The Niners are in the playoffs.
Another big windstorm coming up, but it’s a drought with very little snow. Another 6 weeks and I’ll be out and about like a spring pup. New Mexico is weird.
My team died with Gronk’s broken arm.
Yeah Chuck butt yer broken down sorry ass ‘one flap down’ guys STILL managed to kick poor old Phil’s sorry ass Crocs in the butt. No soup, no sympathy fer youse!
Grump – I’m not worried about laying eggs. When the 49ers have a big game coming up they’re usually prepared. If you remember, the Giants game this year was a bad game because Harbaugh went with a combo of Kaep and Smith. That was a bad decision. Let’s scrap that game. The first Rams game of this year (my favorite all time game ever – anyone have a copy?) wasn’t an egg because Kaep was thrown into starting duty and we managed a tie. The second Rams game was an adjustment period because we had just lost Kendal Hunter which really hurt this team, and Kaep and the team were still adjusting to Kaep starting. In addition, I’d honestly like to know who called and who okay’d the option to Ginn up by 7 with 3 to play and Jacobs and Gore in the stable waiting to put ‘er away. That gets my vote for stupid 49er call of the year, but I digress. Anyway, there have been some bumps in the road this year but most are explainable. And Lucy, you DO have some s’plaining to do…. but I digress once again.
Unca – I think I read or heard somewhere that the Giants control their wildcard destiny. I think the Giants will beat the Ravens, but the Giants secondary is Charles Barkely turrrrible. I think that’s why Harbaugh and Roman wanted Kaep in the game more during the Giants’ game this year – to expose the New York secondary. And I don’t need to remind anyone on this blog that the Giants won their first Coughlin Super Bowl from the wildcard spot, and who picked the Giants to win the Super Bowl last year besides yours truly (then Barley piled on, copying my greatness). The Giants are one of those sneaky teams. They do just enough to get in. Once they’re in they let it all hangout. But….. that said, their secondary could keep them from getting into the playoffs. We’ll see.
They don’t They win out, they could still be stuck behind Minn, Chi, and Dallas. The only way the Giants get in is if they run the table and the rest of the 8-6 teams go 1-1 (or 1-1, while the rest all lose). the Giants lose the tiebreaker to Dallas, Chi, and Minn so they need to pass all of them. Not very likely.
The Giants are 9th as of now. They’d need to jump 3 teams to get that last playoff spot.
5. Sea has the Niners and StL. (9-5 now, 10-6 when done)
6. Min may be fucked. @ Hou and GB on their sched. (8-6; 8-8)
7. Chi has @ AZ and @ Det. Both eminently winnable. (8-6; 10-6)
8. Dal has NO and @ Wash. (8-6; 9-7)
9. Giants @ Balt, and Philly. (8-6; 9-7)
Chi has the easiest time of it; Minn the hardest. The Giants fall in the middle. If this is how it ends up, Chi and Sea get the WC spots. Even if the Giants win out, they would likely still fall behind Chicago. Unless they royally blow this shot.
The good news for the Giants is Minn easily loses both those games. Chi is the ? They can beat good teams and lose to shit teams.
It’d be great if the Giants didn’t make the playoffs. The Patriots make the Super Bowl ever other year because the AFC playoffs are cake. Take the Giants and the Packers out of the playoffs and the 49ers make the Super Bowl easy – just like the Patriots in the AFC. The only team I see putting up a fight against the Patriots would be the Broncos, and like Peyton keeps saying, “[They’re] still a young team.” That’s another reason why Brady can’t touch Montana’s jock – The Patriots’ competition in their division and conference isn’t tough – especially in the last five years. Montana went up against the Giants, Bears, Redskins and Vikings. The Saints under Mora were better than anything the Dolphins, Bills and Jets have thrown together, ever. The Falcons and Rams? Billy White Shoes Johnson? Chrissy Everett? I guess, maybe, Montana had it just as easy in the division, but the NFC conference was much better than the AFC butter Brady has been able to cut through the last five years. I guess it’s hard to compare the two (Montana and Brady) except for Montana’s perfect 4-0. In the immortal words of Larry Holmes – “Brady couldn’t hold Montana’s jock.” (I think that’s what Larry said).
This girl is adorable!
Great stuff.
I see this little one, and I get started thinking of the funerals for the little ones in Connecticut. Then I get so angry I could, well, I dunno. I have to stop thinking about that…
Yes, it’s very sad the disregard for life these days, agree. People not quite as crazy over here…