Crazy crazy game yesterday. No reason to go into the details, we all saw the excitement, the drama, and the coming out of Colin Kaepernick. That being said, the Niners are facing a team that looks somewhat like the Falcons (pocket passer, pounder of a RB, and a dominant WR in Antuan Bouldin), but also like the Niners themselves. Big and strong on both lines, they try and impose their will on every opponent they face.
Flacco reminds me of Matty Ryan, in that I didn’t see him much, but he’s put up solid numbers his whole career. Ray Rice is a force to be reckoned with, and their defense is as fundamentally sound as ours is. Beyond the brother angle, this game is a very good matchup. Old school hard nosed football. Power running with some dramatic flair thrown in by the emergence of Colin Kaepernick and his running ability. Deep shots on both sides. All in all, a pretty good deal.
We’ve got forever before gametime but the wait starts now.
Forty Niners Forever 
I’m looking forward to my prop bets. My favorite is the one where you guess the exact score for one (or both of the teams). I hit that the year Carolina scored 29 (or whatever they scored) and hit that at 60-1.
It keeps the game interesting if you’ve got 3 or 4 possible scores a team could end up with.
Of course, this year the game will hold my interest for another reason. We’re back baby, back in our rightful spot!
Niners will take another one 35-31. They will not need Akers.
Oh come on now, if it wasn’t for Akers 4 PATs we might not have won yesterday.
/sarcasm
he he he…..
There’s something to being loyal to Akers, but where does loyalty end and practicality begin?
Harbaugh is very practical.
Loyalty kicked in when Cundiff was the best alternative,
Twin likes the status-quo!
I’m no Akers fan but I’d stay with him for the SB. You think Akers confidence is shot? How must Cundiff feel being cut in favor of Akers? Plus, I can’t think that trying your first kick in over a year in front of 100 million people on tv is the way to ease your way back into the job.
Akers didn’t have a bad game. He nailed that kick, 6 inches to the right and it’s good. And all his kickoffs were blasted to the back of the endzone. Plus, he made his FG the week before.
There is no good alternative here. None.
Flavor likes Akers. News at Eleven!
and another thing that no one seems to care about: Billy Cundiff sucks. Horribly. I guess there’s the slight angle of him getting to kick against his former team but that’s actually a negative. Can you imagine how much fucking shit they’ll talk to him pre-kick? After he jobbed them out of a super bowl appearance last year?
Just roll with Akers and don’t let him try anything over 40 yards unless it’s the end of the half or a game winning field goal. Any other situation, you go for it…….
Flavor asserts that Cundiff sucks!
and I’m not a karma guy or a pussy who worries about jinxes, but if I WERE I can’t imagine a worse move incongruent with the stars aligning in our favor than to sign the kicker who ruined the opposing team’s super bowl chances last year right before you play that team in the super bowl this year…….
Flavor votes no on all pussies!
uh, I demand a recount! I fucking love pussy!!!!!!!!!
Bottom line: Harbaugh fucked this kicking situation up. Big Time. All his other moves worked, he’s the fucking genius who had the nut sack to go to Kappy, yadda yadda, but he fucked up the Akers situation. The writing has been on the wall for 2 months, they knew he had an injury and they watch his confidence slowly descend from that moment onward. And if you’re going to pull the plug on him it was 2 weeks ago when you had them *battling* each other.
Not now, not before the super bowl. And I still think Akers can hit a kick if we need it. Come on, it’s fucking kicking……
Flavor declares the situation is all fucked up!
More of us should have the strength to speak the truth I speak
His kickoffs and PATs are still good. I think Harbaugh has just been hoping he would work through it. Especially since the alternatives suck.
Grumpy Guy stays grumpy as the “alternatives suck.”
I think the two *right* teams ended up in the big one. Baltimore will give us the game of our lives, it will be a monster of a battle and i believe we come out on top. I think this SB will be one for the books.
After the GB game, all anyone could talk about was Kaep’s running, but what is thrilling for me as a 49er fan is the “rest” of the package. He’s young, and inexperienced, and yet already he shows an amazing composure, and an ability in the pocket to find the open receiver and deliver the ball on target. If his career plays out like we fans are hoping, then years from now what people will be talking about is just that.
His running ability will be there and evolve to extend drives, as will his capacity to deliver darts, or touch passes, etc. In fact, he has shown touch, and will IMO only get better at that. He is smart, hard working, humble, competitive, and already shows a very solid understanding of what it takes to win. At the podium in the post game interview, he was asked about being patient with not being able to run himself and he unselfishly pointed out that as long as Gore was ripping off 5 yards a carry, he could be patient all day long. Changing the plays to hand off and understanding how to beat down a defense is freaking priceless.
As for his running, he already has displayed an understanding that he needs to preserve his health. The last two games he has slid, gone out of bounds and generally used his physical skills running to break down the defense and not get killed in the process. That is no small feat, as we know that “running” QBs can have very short careers. His composure and understanding in this regard can’t be understated, because despite the changes we’re seeing in mobile, running QBs, I do not see an epic fundamental change in the position. QBs will still have to make good decisions and ultimately beat opponents with their arm. Colin Kaepernick has shown great potential to do that and with an impressive composure at a very early point in his career.
He’s a long way from eclipsing the legend of Joe Montana, but it’s impossible not to appreciate that we have a potential great QB at the beginning of his career, wearing the red and gold. I’m not exactly worshiping at the CK altar just yet, but I do appreciate that we just may have a QB that can be great, and for years to come. Good stuff, any way you slice it.
Kid’s got potential to be one of the all time greats. I love the stories coming out right now about Kaep yelling/encouraging/correcting his fellow team members while the game is going on. That’s the stuff. That’s what makes you great. You gotta want it down deep inside – like Ronnie Lott. Maybe Kaep is the next Ronnie Lott.
Maybe Kap is the next Kap and you should stop living in the past?
All this romanticising you do about Walsh and Joe has nothing to do with here and now, just sayin.
Very strong team and coaching staff with solid front office = SB contenders and viable as such for the forseeable future. Get with the times Spitty.
12th – it has everything to do with the here and now. Can you imagine the riches this organization has enjoyed and look to enjoy once again? If you can’t see that, you don’t appreciate it. That’s your bad. You need to get with the times, boy.
They had a winning tradition almost 20 years ago. Its back again and looks like it has staying power. Schemes aren’t remotely Walshian and players are their own stars in an era of player first team second, the opposite of the golden years. Get with the program and feel free to take notes.
It’s about the domination…. Walsh and Montana dominated. That’s the parallel. Kaep and Harbaugh could too.
Truly looks like the sky’s the limit with Kappy.I don’t see any real weakness in his game.
Amen to that Barley. In the Super Bowl the teams appear to be evenly matched except in the one area of QB. Flacco is good but I think Kap gives us the decisive advantage that gets us the win. IMHO
Niners win by 2 scores.
Nice!
12th man asked about the closest prognosticators to the actual score of 28-24. I think it was him (Man) at 4 off the actual with a call of 27-21. That was the old criteria we used before settling on the scoring spread per Chuck. BTW Man Del Mar edged you out for second after Twin and Shaman with a spread of 5
The freaking line was 4, it’s not like anyone had a dream about it or whatever….
You had a nightmare.
Scoring spread sucks, you could have 50-49, it wins the spread but is way off base to the game, just sayin.
With Akers right now it’s “All in his Head”….Like the Great band from yesteryears Electric Light Orchestra
“I can’t get it out of my head, my field goals are all stone dead.Cause I can’t get them out of my head..no no no nooo.
Regardless who wins, one team will have a Division II qb with a ring. In an era with all the great scouts and so much money being dumped into Division I football, maybe they should focus more money on their scouting department. And at the pro level, it’s no longer about drafting a qb high. Russell is a 3rd, Kaep is a 2nd, and Flacco is a high first who looked to be a second or third until Ozzie found him. The key is a scouting department and a coaching staff in “Lock step.” Remember that one? “Lock step?” The Redskins got RGIII for a boatload of picks and second round money. HAHAHAHAAHAHA. We got Kaep for our own second round pick, and second round money.
The great thing about Kaep being a Division II kid is that he wants it more. You can tell. His tat – “Against All Odds,” means he wants it, and he isn’t afraid of it. The best part about Kaep is that he’s fired up to win. If Kaep wins the Super Bowl, I wonder what the Yorks, Harbaugh and Baalke will do with Kaep’s contract. Is there a maximum? I mean, (and I understand it would be against the intention of the rookie salary cap’s first three or four years) but if Alex Smith is making 8 million per year, and Harbaugh didn’t have the faith he could go on a legit Super Bowl run with Smith, then Kaep’s worth more than 8 million per year. And what’s Kaep making right now? 1 million per year?
I think he makes $567,000 and as I understand it they can’t give him a raise until the end of year 3 but don,t quote me on that. He will make millions this year in endorsements, Tebow made 10 mil last year. Kap with a SB win on his resume should eclipse that easily.
1st round money*
Niners are better than the Ravens across the board. Spit mentioned old slow LB and to an extent he has it right, he didn’t take into account that Brady is a statue and even Ray Ray can pressure given enough time.
Kap is no such animal, Niners will be balanced at the QB position, I think we will see him run and throw, a mixture of the Falcons/Packers games mixing it up, add Gore/LMJ and the Ravens are out gunned.
Look for Crabs to reappear too.
Flacco is a top tier QB, but like Rodgers he can’t win from the bench.
Niners by 10-14 points.
I keep thinking the Niners will wipe out their opponents in these playoffs.I was right once, not so right once. Baltimore? Again, I have no real sense of this team. Packers? Sure. So, the team I’m familiar with I got right. Atl? No.Balt? These guys are physical, they have a ryan like QB in Flacco, a stud runner in Rice, and Bouldin. They have weapons, and they have balance. They ARE a lot like the Niners.
Sure,I think the Niners win.. This one should be close though. And it just may come down to Lefty Akers in the end. God help us all.
I didn’t make up any ‘rules’ regarding who wins and how, but if it favors me, then hey, sorry . . . . .
Funny, I don;t watch NFL Network much, butthey have consistently gone anti-Niners throughout these playoffs.
Niners have 2 far better ILB than Ray Ray and I’m not sure which is better Bowman or Willis, there’s 2new sherriffs in town and Lewis is going down. No fairytale ending for him like Elway had cause Karma is a bitch and his is due.
Keys:
Ed Reed is a wily old son of a bitch. G-Ro needs to understand this and work with Kappy more these two weeks on looking off the safety. Don’t let Reed make the big pick that costs you the game. Be aware of where he is at all times.
It will be a physical game. There will be blood. Players need to know going in that this will be the toughest game of the year and the Ravens will challenge us physically everywhere. Man up and expect it to be a knife fight in a phone booth.
Joe Staley vs. Suggs. Suggs is a great pass rusher. He is just rounding back into form after the injury. Staley needs to keep him from getting to Kappy. Maybe not every play, but the overwhelming majority of them.
Goodwin and 49er guards versus Ngata. We have to move that big SOB out of the way and give Frank room to run. Goodwin will need help – sometimes from Iupati, sometimes from Boone, depending on how the D-line of the Ravens lines up.
Frank versus Ray. Lewis has made a career out of pounding people into submission. Frank is not easy to contain. Should be fun. Mic ’em up and listen to the hits.
Aldon and Justin and Brooks versus the Ravens O-line. Get pressure on any QB, including Flacco, and big plays will be limited. Do not get pressure, and Torrey Smith and Boldin will run wild.
Smith and Boldin versus our CBs. T-Brown has been inconsistent this year – some good, some not so good. Same with Rogers and Culliver. We need to win these battles on third down, and be able to get off the field.
Ray Rice versus Willis and Bowman. This includes pass coverage. Rice is damned good. Willis and Bowman need to be better.
David Akers versus David Akers. Enough said.