No, not a family reunion, but the next game on the quest for the 49ers to reach the playoffs. Tampa Bay may be 4-9, but ever since their near (dammit) victory over the dreaded and recently vanquished Seahawks, Tampa is on a bit of a roll. They are 4-1 since that game, with their lone loss coming at the hands of the Carolina Panthers. Gone is Josh Freeman and new quarterback Mike Glennon has quietly led TB to a certain amount of respectability in recent games.
Tampa made the switch to Glennon after Freeman led the leam to an 0-3 record. Glennon has gone 4-6 in his stead, but as you know, he’s 4-1 in the last 5, and almost engineered a shocking upset of Seattle in their house. No mean feat. Tampa may be full of holes on offense and defense, but they do have an elite cover CB in ex-Jet Island Darelle Revis, a stud DT in Gerald McCoy, and their pass-rushing OLB Lavontae David, an emerging leader on the team. He of the 6 sacks and team-leading 81 tackles. And of course the oft-fined FS Dashon Goldson. He of the one pick, and a one-game suspension. This of course is among the 3 penalties and one more near-suspension he’s incurred for head hunting.
All in all it should be a fun day at the beach. Hopefully Jim Harbaugh will re-introduce the team to one Frederick P. Softie on the plane ride to sunny Florida. You know, the guy who likes to show up when the boys get a little full of themselves. This seemed to happen every 3 weeks last year, but we’ll see what happens going forward. No road game is easy. Well, Tennessee and St. Louie were cakewalks, but Tampa is playing pretty well. They managed to beat Detroit despite losing the yardage battle 229 to 390. Maybe the 4 Stafford picks had something to do with that. Kappy had better be careful.
For the Niners, I sure would like to see Frank Gore get a rest. I know he’s 69 yards shy of 1,000 yards for the year, and 230 yards shy of 10,000 yards for his career, so there’s impetus to get him some touches. I mean, Seattle put up 198 on them, Atl 163, and Carolina put up 152, so the opportunity is there to get him some chunks. Get the passing game rolling. just stay away from Revis. Burn Goldson with some double moves. He ALWAYS bites on those.
Forty Niners Forever 
This is for educational purposes, mainly for me, to dissect the great play G Ro called and our guys executed that led to the winning points- 51 yd F Gore gash from our 30 to about the 20 of da Seehacks. Aiming at NF too cause he is aware of a lot of te details and may be able to share some which Ive just seen here finally. Fucking coconut internet:
http://www.ninersnation.com/2013/12/10/5197792/frank-gore-shows-off-football-iq-on-51-yard-run
And:
http://www.fieldgulls.com/football-breakdowns/2013/12/10/5195140/seahawks-replay-booth-breaking-down-frank-gores-51-yard-run
NF? Anybody?
Not sure what you’re looking for here, Phil. Seattle was playing a CB outside Vernon and an OLB outside VMac and the other CB was over Crabs(?) split out wide left. With a safety deep there was only seven to stack in the box. Maybe that was what they liked to run that play against. Are you interested in the individual blocks?
The question I had was ‘Is it a designed play for Franks cutback?’ It worked so well I thought must be. NF said he wasnt sure on first glance. Looks like it was based on this:
http://www.ninersnation.com/2013/12/12/5201982/49ers-vs-seahawks-all-22-breakdown-michael-crabtree-back-shoulder-fade
“With the tackle blocking down and the playside guard pulling, it looks as if the run is designed to go off the left edge to the outside. Keyed by theses actions Bobby Wagner and Kam Chancellor flow outside allowing McDonald and Bruce Miller to get good blocking angles for the designed cut back run. With the backside sealed off by Boone the only defender left to make a play is Earl Thomas. He too overruns the play allowing Gore to continue cutting back right into the open field. Gore eventually falls downs in bounds for a 51 yard gain that put the 49ers in field goal position.”
Mike Iupati is back at practice with a chance of playing against Tampa. A boost to the run game if he is healthy. Snyder has played surprisingly well but he is no Iupati.
Saying Snyder is no Iupati doesn’t quite pack the same oomph as when Bentsen told Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” Being the wise-ass that I am, I woulda came back with. Yeah, I know. No one’s put a bullet through my head.
Yet.
Right. But Snyder has filled in well enough I hope Iupati takes another week, or two, if he’s not solid quite yet.
Woof!
Bleep!
Niners need to win out and see what happens to Squawks. Ya never know, blue man group might steal a win and then it’s cat meet pigeons.
Just sayin.
Yup. They haven’t clinched til they have. If the Giants can take them at home, Seattle’ll be in scphincter-tightening mode. Their last 2 games are against AZ and StL. 2 teams that would love nothing more than to blow them out of the water.
The GIANTS beat the Seahawks? New York or San Francisco? Best hope for AZ and the Lambs, as well as the Niners winning out. That’ll work.
Niners 26 Manatees 10
The Hawks alsmost lost to the St louis, theTits, and Houston. it could happen. It would sure make them uncomfortable, that’s for sure.
Panthers too. If the Blue Man Group did pull off a win then Squawks are suddenly on a 2 game losing streak and facing 2 divisional opponents to close out the season.
Probable? Nah, just jawin but would love to see it happen.
It’s possible. It would make the division and a first round bye a real chance. I’m not holding my breath though.
Even during their Title runs, the NY Mannings were the Forrest Gump of the NFL. With the much anticipated Manning SuperBowl now looking unlikely, and with nothing to apparently play for, they might just be the team to put a scare into Petey’s holding crew.
Been almost 2 years since the Giants were the beneficiary of botched returns, and almost 5 years since a helmet catch by a Giants receiver. I am hoping Petey gets to experience what opposing head coaches felt on two those days.
As an aside, I believe if Squawks and Niners end up with a tie record Niners would win the division tie breaker and be Champs!
Hey, a guy can dream ya know!
Phil, regarding whether or not the 51 yard running play was designed to cut back, I would guess no, or not necessarily, but green grass ahead is hard to ignore.
A couple of reasons I have for my conclusion; first Vernon tries to cut the DE at the snap, a common method of taking out backside pursuit. Backside, of course indicating playside is the other way. Another thing is when VMac motions across the formation and the SS follows, the defense is seven to four lopsided to the side of the run. Gore can’t help but consider that when he’s finding a path and nigh impossible to predict when calling the play.
I thought it was all gore as he got passed the LOS. He made the choice to cut hard right, still has great vision.
oops, past of course.
Thanks. Before Frank cut right he had a lot of empty green turf up the left (strong?) side with one guy to beat (#29) who was over pursuing that way. Wisely FG went right damn quick and 29 waved at Frank as he blasted by between 29 and R Sherman. 29 (Thomas?) never caught up; it was Dick S who ran Frank down near the Sea 20. I guess Frank saw the lane and 29 over pursuing and made it happen. GRo pulled that one out of his hat at the perfect time and the blocking was great- then Gore cuts superbly. Now thats running the ball.
Speaking of upsets, the Chargers are up two TDs – in Denver. Could cost the Broncs home field all the way.
The Chargers I believe are definitely upset monsters; they already beat the Chiefs in KC.
The Giants… not so much.
We need Frank to predict a Hawks rout… where is Dennis?
Alex can chill; the Broncs have @Oakland and @Houston left.
Chargers lost to the Bullies, so they’re still a huge longshot. The Ravens schedule is a nightmare, so (sigh) the Sadomasochists with the idiot owner and idiot HC are almost a cinch. Go Bills! Go Jets!
The Broncos could very well end up the 5 seed. You KNOW the Raiders will circle that game as their playoff game. KC has Indy and SD. Not a cakewalk, but we’ll see. It would be a fun development. Denver’s defense is surely looking pretty weak these days.
Fricking Keenan Allen is kicking ass. Really wish we would have taken a shot on him. Liked him coming out of Cal.
Good to see Bullit lurking. What a maroon.
Looking forward to another 49er victory. Kick butt in Tampa! BLEEP!
New thread is up . . .