In a huge game with mainly psychological implications, the San Francisco 49ers put their stamp on one of the last games they will play at the venerable shit-hole, Candlestick Park. A place, in the famous words of Jerry Garcia talking about his band, “like bad architecture, or an old hooker, eventually you gain respect.”
Did the Niners gain respect? In the grand scheme of the NFL, sure. If only til the next game. Respect is fleeting and elusive in the NFL. The 49ers earned their respect when the game came down to a final drive with 6:20 left, and the Niners trailing 17-16. The high point for me was actually seeing the Niners convert on 3rd and 1 with a run by Bruce Miller. Important because this same play failed on the goal line early in the game. It kept the drive alive. It was then followed by Frank Gore’s 51 yard run off the left tackle. Gore very smartly went down in bounds to keep the clock running. This forced Seattle to burn a timeout, as the Niners kept running. The biggest play of the game turned out to be the 3rd and 7 from the Seattle 15. Kappy drifted left on a designed sweep that was blocked perfectly, and Kappy was able to gain 8 yards, get the 1st down, and allow the Niners to run down the clock to give Seattle little chance at the end.
Kappy threw one pass on the drive, a short out to Crabs for 6 yards. The other 68 came on the ground. Something this tame has been known to abandon at times. Is this an indictment of Kaepernick? No, not really. Seattle does much the same. They rely pretty heavilly on their run game as well. That the 49ers held them in check is a testament to how well the defense played overall. Seattle was able to get some traction underneath, but never hit anything deep. Seattle’s 2 best plays were crossing routes to Luke Willson that Patrick Willis looked very slow and late on. Other than that, and a couple Golden Tate catches where coverage was blown due to Wilson buying time, the Niners did a good job of limiting damage.
The Niners on the other hand spent a lot of the game stopping their own progress with some questionable penalties and early conservative play calls in the red zone, and an awful throw by Kappy that was picked off. The 2 FG lead was quickly wiped out by a Seattle TD, and the Niners were able to regain the lead with a 52 yard FG and the VD touchdown to close the 1st half.
The 2nd half saw a menagerie of ridiculous penalties called on both sides of the ball as the refs seemed to want to put their stamp on this game. There were 8 penalties called in the 2nd half, and only one was an inocuous false-start penalty. The rest were various tauntings, unsportsmanlikes, facemasks, and holding calls, which to me mostly looked ticky tacky. The refs often cite calling games close like this to create order out of the highly charged emotions, yet all this seemed to do was kill the flow of the game and piss off everyone involved. Richard Sherman says the refs won it for SF, but Seattle got a lot of favorable calls their way. I call it evenly terrible.
In the end, it was as tough a game as we’ve played all year. The difference being the Niners closed this one out. Something they failed to do against Carol, and Nawlins.
Revenge is a dish best served in the cold mud of Candlestick Park . . .
Forty Niners Forever 
What about the o-line and the receivers?
If we can’t execute on the plays that ARE called what makes you think we can execute any better on the plays you wished were called?
It seems to me that a lot of fans expect every team to play like some college spread offense and put five receivers on the line for every play and run the ball once in while just to break up the monotony. Well, that ain’t gonna fly in pros no matter if you have a Brady, Brees or Manning much less a young CK7. And if they don’t, they want to kill the coach. If the coach is deemed a golden boy by some function of the media/fans brain trust then it falls to his assistants to be the root of all evil.
I’m pretty sure Roman wants to win games almost as much as the fans do. If the real complaint, as I suspect, is that the plays are too boring, I’d place the blame at Harbaugh’s feet not Roman’s. Unless you think Jimmy Raye called plays that Singletary hated.
NF, if we are to believe the press, Roman only handles the run game plays. Chryst and Morton design the passing plays. My belief is that passing plays are sometimes not well designed for Kap. There is a reason that only Boldin and Davis have scored TD’s. Yes the Niners don’t have the best backup WR but that stat speaks loudly to a lack of creativity.
Wilson is making do with no name WR. The plays are designed well for his skillset. I don’t always see the same for Kap.
BTW answered your ?? about trees above.
Then G Ro gets a hell of a lot of credit for the scheme (never used before by us) on Franks run. Good execution too NF
Well that is certainly something else to look at. Too many plays I see a player who fails to perform. A missed line block, a blown blitz pick up, a bad pass, a dropped ball to say bad play call. None of those have to do with the play design. Many times I’ll try to chart a game and the play looks like such a clusterfxxx I can’t even guess what it should have looked like.
I’m not a Roman apologist but he seemed okay with the fans for his first two years.
Yep good points NF, plenty of blame to go around. Wonder how you would break it down % wise: QB, OC, HC, OL, WRs?
Shit we add this up its going to be 200%
Too many variables to quantify, Phil. Each busted play has its own culprits I’d say. Mostly I blame the players union for cutting the practices down to nothing. In Walsh’s day he could script 25 plays that the team knew and carried out well. Nowadays we’d be lucky to get half a dozen.
Yeah, Phil, we can block the hell out of those runs sometimes. That was a nice weak side play and you’re right, Roman had that one up his sleeve just for the ‘Hawks. Not sure if the cut back lane was designed into it but was a great call. Of course it was another stupid bonehead “run, run, run” call if Snyder doesn’t hit his man and it gets stuffed.
Also that 1st down Kap got around left end to set up winning FG was another G Ro special last seen when Alex scored against the Saints couple years ago. Staley was loving it again
Well I have to agree probably 50-50, but I would sure lime to see Roman be closer to Bill Walsh in play calling than Jimmy the Hat.
Can’t argue with that.
Too many variables thats what Im learning here. I guess theres enough blame to go around. My gripe which I had put on the OC is frustration (not boredom) that too many plays seem to be repeated that dont work. Maybe as we get deep(er) into the season and injured players come back (Crab, Manningham) we can get some rhythm going due to repetition and familiarity w/ Kap & Wrs.
My contention has always been we don’t use enough WRs. And we don’t scheme well to GET guys open. Even when this offense had no WRs and struggled, Baldwin was rarely used. Osgood was a ghost. Even looking at yesterday’s game, Wilson was throwing to many guys who were free and clear with nno one around them. Kappy rarely has targets that open. Is he not seeing them? Are they not getting open? I don’t see all the tape, but I know some of these early games, Boldin was doubled. VD was doubled most of yesterday. We rarely run slants for whatever reason.
It sure seems like they could ease the pressure of Kappy getting sacked and the pressure of waiting for some of these slow developing plays to hatch by quickening the pace of the game, and throwing quicker passes. I HAVE seen more of that with Crabs back. Manningham caught a few slants vs the Rams. Then again, Kappy missed terribly on the int to Crabs.
The point being yeah, I guess it’s all of the above. But my contention is the coaches could be doing more to ease the things Kappy is struggling with.
There ya go, good points
And to adds one last thing, Eric Davis, after the Carolina game, said he had never seen a less explosive group of WRs in his life. Anyone not named Anquan was not getting off the line or doing anything explosive to get open quickly.
Morton?
This would back up part of what NF was saying: players not gittin er done. Shit we knew BEFORE Crab went down we were thin at WR.
Besides, you HAVE to love ESPN for making these guys sit outside in Chicago at midnight when it HAS to be -10º.
Insane
It’s always a good NFL weekend when, our 9ers beat a hated Division rival and, Jerruh’s Kids get stomped on a National Stage.
Tis the Season indeed.
Romo meets his nemesis.
The Month of December.
Maybe Jerruh needed to add a few more zero’s to Promo’s Contract extension?
That would answer the question about his accumen as Chief Executive of all things Cowpatties.
Pay Promo like Peyton, therefore, he’ll play like Peyton.
Genius!
Great game last night. The only time the Bears didn’t score on offense was when they took a knee to end the game. 8 possessions, 8 scores.
Would love to meet the Cowboys in the playoffs
Caught Rick Reilly on MNF last night saying JErry the owner needs to fire Jerry the GM as he hasn’t done anything since the early 90s.
He likened him to Al Davis. Apropos, but damn, that’s gotta sting . . .
It’s easier to blame the coach. How many has he hired and fired?
Since Jimmy Johnson? Six? There was Switzer, Phillips, Gailey, Parcells, and now Garrett? I’m sure there’s a few more I’m not remembering . . .
How could I forget Tom Landry?
Dave Campo, I believe, between Switzer and Gailey.
I wish JJ never changes, may he live long, and continue to do what he has been doing for the past 16 years.
Dave (15-33) Campo.
Jer’s only 71 and since he’s already fossilized, he should be good to go for at least 25 more…
Ahhh, there WAS one I missed. Rick Reilly had a nice rant yesterday after the game regarding Jerry Jerk Off. Comparing him to Al Davis. Ouch. Not far from the truth as both were last truly relevant over 10 years ago. Fucking re-un-dead Al was recently more relevant than Ol’ Jerruh. But, both in the end fired the best guys they had coaching them way too early.
Kap’s media personality, or lack thereof, makes it to the sports page of the NY Times no less.
http://tinyurl.com/okausoc
Is that the one with Wilson? I only get a subscription sign up with your link.
Yes it is. I will try a different link.
12th,
Needless to say, the Cohn-hens are all over this as well. A tag team effort…I suppose since the Niners won despite getting chastised for not watching the Saints-Seahawk live, the duo glommed onto other low hanging fruit.
Just read Lowell’s bit Random. And the piece before it where he excuses himself for being wrong about the outcome of the game and congratulates himself for helping inspire the win via criticism. The man may be a megalomaniac.
Him and his kid occasional write something I can agree with but most of it is self aggrandizement and contrived controversy. I get why the PD keep them on staff since traffic and copy pays the bills but it’s poor journalism which is a shame because I think Lowell used to write to a decent standard before becoming the fly in the press corps ointment.
On the other hand, him and his kid are 2 of the few that will ask the hard questions and aren’t company men like Maiocco and Barrows (Barrows less so IMO). It was Lowell that went after Singleneuron and the suit before him once it was becoming obvious they were failing.
Grant has a thing for Frank Gore, claiming he is completely spent etc. Frank is not what he once was but will have another 1,000 yd season barring injury.
Each to his own I suppose.
I can’t make the comparison. Al Davis was an icon in pro football. Coach, owner, innovator and basically a mover and shaker in the league old and new. He’s been as much a part of the pro football story as anyone and bigger than most. Jerry Jones came in as a self-important huffer and puffer and hasn’t changed much since. He’s like a blogger rich enough and lucky enough to buy his own team and he’s livin’ the dream of a lot of bloggers, with about as much success.
Well, the reference was to the tail end of undead Al’s reign. Not the years of his efforts of getting the AFC legitimacy and the needed skirmishes with Pete Roselle, and the eventual integration with the NFL. No doubt he was as much responsible for the overall success of the NFL as just about anyone else.
Toward the end he became a caricature of himself. Jones is following suit by surrounding himself with syncophants and people who won’t rock the boat. Parcells woulnd’t stand for it. The rest have been rank-and-file yes men.
Okay. Al Davis was football smart if a stubborn, intolerant asshole. Jerry Jones, just the last part.
any better?
That’s better. That’s the one I saw. I agree with most of it, too. PR is part of the deal. CK7 had a very different tone as the back up guy and even as the starter for a while.
Agree NF. It’s just unnecessary IMO.
In other news, Tank goes on IR and they signed a Guard off Seattles PS….And the beat goes on…
Interesting, using tinyurl leads to the Times pay wall.
Must be the letter they got from Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.
btw, I like bitly, when I can remember to use it. tinyurl has had some redirection problems in the past.
Haven’t tried that one, I’ll give it a whirl.
Yeah, the article deosn’t really disclose any new information. I mean really. Watching a Joe Montana news conference was like having a root canal done without anesthetic. He was highly uncomfortable under the spotlight. Young? Much more eloquent.
I think the tail-end of the article really gets to why Kaepernick is more highly rated in whatever the stupid fucking marketing index is. Wilson’s the nice guy next door. Kappy’s the edgy guy from the wrong side of town. Neither may be true, but that is the perception.
Really, Kappy’s the low-key kid from Turlock who had straight A’s through high school and college. But he’s all tatted up, so the natural inclination is for all the ignorant masses out there to think he’s some kind of gang-banger. Therefore his coolness factor sells jerzeys and shit. No idea about Wilson.
I xan’t recall the ‘old’ Kappy vs the new one. Was he that much different?
He really was Chuck. Smiling, happy to be asked questions. He came across as a bit shy but nothing like the surly asshole he shows himself to be now.
There’s always the Dennis Rodman angle.
What kills me about the article is that the writers (Nevious is a weasel) want him to be less of a jerk? He was caught in tornado of bullshit (thx NoFear) the instant he made the grade as a starting QB. He caught a ton of shit for not looking ‘quarterbacky’ enough. He was under scrutiny for weeks regarding his tattoos and inferences were made as to why and what they were to the point of lunacy. I’m sure that stuck with him.
I’d be leery of the bastards as well.