Yes, I’m a baseball fan, and an ardent Giants fan going way back. But football is, was, and will always be my first sports love. The 49ers of my youth were juuust about to hit the big time when I became a fan starting in 1968 as a 7 year old. Dick Nolan had taken over, and he was installing his idea of the defense that his mentor Tom Landry was installing in Dallas. The Niners did have some recently drafted talent in Gene Washington from Stanford, and a solid 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust running game behind Ken Willard. That defense was very good, yet the offense never really got over the hump despite the efforts of Ted Kwalick, Washington, Dick Whicher and others. Plus, I was always a better football player than baseball player! Good field, no hit.
Anyhow, here we are at the precipice of a familiar cliff. 3 trips to the promised land, and 3 trips left agonizingly short. We’ve already talked about the draft needs and the free agents we should re-sign (Boldin and Dawson top my list, among others), the reasons we have come up tantalizingly close, and the ways to get better. This close to the end of it all is a terrible place to be. But here are the important upcoming dates for the 2014 NFL season:
Feb. 8-9
Regional Combine – Houston.
Feb. 17
Teams can begin designated free agents as “franchise players.”
Feb. 19-25
Scouting Combine – Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.
Feb. 22
Regional Combine – Costa Mesa, Calif.
March 8-11
Teams can begin negotiating – but can’t finalize a contract – with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents at 1 p.m. PT on March 11. Before this time, teams must:
•exercise 2014 option clauses in the 2013 contracts of players.
•submit qualifying offers to their restricted free agents.
•submit a minimum salary tender to retain negotiating rights with players who have expiring contracts and less than three full seasons of experience.
•be under the 2014 salary cap.
March 11
Free agency begins.
March 23-26
Annual owners meeting – Orlando, Fla.
April 12-13
Super Regional Combine – Detroit.
April 21
Teams with returning head coaches may begin off-season workout programs.
May 2
Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets.
May 7
Deadline for teams to exercise right of first refusal to their restricted free agents.
May 8-10
NFL Draft – New York, Radio City Music Hall.
July
Supplemental Draft
Teams report to Training Camp a maximum of 15 days before their first preseason game.
July 15
Free agents previously designated as “franchise players” must be signed to multi-year contracts by 1 p.m. PT, or they’re only eligible to be signed to one-year deals.
Sept 4
Kickoff!
Forty Niners Forever 
Gotta keep that NFL Network bizy wizy…
Kevin Lynch put this up. It’s a conspiracy theorists dream (NJ?) But does lend credence to the idea that the calls went against the 49ers in the NFCCG.
It’s 15 min long but I was fascinated:
http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2014/02/05/seattle-win-in-nfc-title-game-was-fixed/
Yeah, I read Maiocco’s take on it. He actually addresses the points in the video.
Here it is. The one thing he did agree on was the roughing the kicker call was not called correctly and the 57 seconds the Seahawks had to decide to kick the FG without a penalty or timeout being called.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/detailed-look-49ers-seahawks-conspiracy-video
I’m still not clear on the roughly 9 seconds missing from the play where the Niners were dinged for a delay that ended up with the Kappy fumble the next play. When the play happened, they weren’t showing the play clock, and it sure seemed quick to me. Maiocco says it was bevcause the ball was spotted and the play clock started when that happened. But isn’t the game clock also supposed to be started? Why the 9 second lag?
In the end, it’s woulda coulda shoulda but it does make sense when you see Harbaugh run onto the field in the Carolina game as the ‘official’ timers let the clock run down and possibly out to end the half. The refs called an incomplete pass on the TD to Vernon Davis, and the clock should have stopped. It didn’t. If that clock runs down to 0 the refs will simply run off the field with no explanation or ruling other than what they called. No TD. No more plays for the Niners.
I didn’t buy the conspiracy crap either but did think some calls were seriously bogus at the time. Whitner hit, very generous Lynch spot etc.
Yep MM sez: “Bad/blown calls”
“Why the 9 second lag?” Maiocco sez that “Niners did get their 40 seconds but game clock and play clock are not synchronized: game clock stops while refs spot ball but play clock rolls”. Delay of game strictly on Niners as also in SB. TH IS A COACHING ISSUE.
Lol I think
Progress on the new stadium. Cool cool cool.
http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/special-report-ktvu-tours-new-49ers-stadium-in/vCPxy8/
Looks cool. Wonder how much tickets are going to be?
A bunch. Too much fer many. Just have to make do with internet and TV and youse all.
I was down there not too long ago. Took a gander. It’s a cool looking stadium in a weird sorta way, from the outside view. Not sure I’m down with how it looks, wouldn’t have been my first choice for exterior elevations. I’m sure it’ll be great, but compared to the ‘Stick, hell, anything’s an improvement…
Where’s Chuck’s suite?
Yeah, that’s gonna be interesting. Jed says some will be ‘reasonable’ but I have to wait and see what they consider reasonable.
Your first born child
Going forward, with all this head/neck stuff, face it, the referees are going to have an inordinate role in the games’ outcomes, with parity in play. And, that sucks. You’ve got part time officials trying to enforce new, evolving, and vague rules about safety, so they employ their own, individual interpretations that vary from official to official, and even from the same guy re: different plays in the same game…
Bastards waited until I’d moved to build this. Not when I lived and worked there for decades. Even MNF and TNF would have been doable, going against most of commute traffic.
Conspiracy!
12th I wouldn’t consider myself a conspiracy theorist necessarily.
As that video clip punctuated, these are the little things Officiating can do to impact a game.
Nothing new, happens everywhere. Officials change games. Ahmad’s hit on Brees perhaps?
It’s my age old argument of how easy it is for Officials to sway a game.
Where I have made light of things forever is, what I’ve called, the ‘Vegas Factor’.
Living over here in the land of Organized Crime all my life, I always use this analogy, that some Mob connected figure, helps the Vegas Boys, by locking up a family member in a shipping container here on the Docks, in order to deliver the desired results on any given game.
No stretch to think, in our situation there in Seattle, that it couldn’t happen.
As things went in The Meadowlands in the SB, someone from the Manning Clan most definitely was in one of those containers IMO 😀
Which leads me back to my desire to see this game taken out of their collective hands in the near future.
Technology has proven to be reliable.
Cameras are everywhere.
Use them.
Eliminate these horrendous errors and, everyone will have more faith in the ‘intgegrity of the game’.
I’m just proud that many 9er Fans accepted defeat like gentlemen.
Officials screw everyone at some point.
We just didn’t play well enough to eliminate their ability to be a factor.
The Seahawks will prove to be our motivation.
Get better or, get beat.
Yeah, I was talking to some folks about the whole thing with the NBA and that Donaghy guy. A referee in a pro sport was busted for fixing games and had ties to the mob. He implied that others were involved, but it was swept under the rug so fast it made my head spin. It really isn’t that far-fetched to think that there could be some swaying of calls and games going on.
It’s a major Cash Cow Chuck.
Where there’s huge profits to be made, there’s always a reason to think corruption exists.
Not sure how much national coverage exists outside of my area but, this nonsense going on with Gov Christie and the illustrious GWB/Sandy Disaster Funding fiasco is getting more interesting by the day.
Organized Crime now benefits from Executive Privileges.
Politics at it’s finest here in the Garden State.
Stay tuned.
The Rats are running for cover and/or seeking immunity one by one.
Sad reality is, the legal fees will cost all of us.
Absolutely insane.
Does it seem just a little curious that, Jerruh got a SB for his Cowpattie Palace shortly after erecting it?
The Billionaire Boys Club of the NFL make up the Smoking Jacket Committee as well.
New Stadium in SF, SB selection follows.
Jerruh wasn’t satisfied just to host it either.
No, he tried to gouge some extra income with that feable attempt to install more seating, which blew up in his face and, screwed numerous people who planned on attending the game.
Christie did the same crap with NJ Transit here this past weekend.
Forcing everyone to pony up $51/head to get into the Stadium.
Then it backfired after the game when 1000s had to stand around like cattle waiting to get out.
All about the almighty buck. Greed breeds contempt.
Over here its standard practice, no one says anything about theft, kickbacks, corruption as you rightly do. Its rampant and accepted. Public and private, big business down to the taxi drivers, etc,etc, etc. Dont do business here- we have our mob equivalent hard at “work”. Thats one reason we are not going to kneecap the partner trying to fuck us out of one of our forest sites: Gramma would turn up missing. We do have a very good lawyer tho.
I do think its okay to be ‘rewarded’ with a SB shortly after building a billion $$ stadium which boosts the take for all NFL teams with revenue sharing.
Getting the SB is fine Phil. Helps the host City absolutely.
I don’t think the SB benefits the entire League however.
Most, if not all of the League revenues are generated from the TV Contracts.
I’m not firmly confident of that however.
When it’s reported that Herr Goodell gets $30M/year, I have to ask.
What the H3LL for?
What I do take exception to is, getting greedy and not delivering.
In the 2 examples I cited, Jerruh screwed people by trying to shoe-horn even more seats into an already large venue then, left them hanging and SOL on gameday.
Our Gov, and his Transportation Committee, forced everyone into ridiculously overpriced shuttles and couldn’t deliver a timely exit for those in attendance.
The NFL is getting a little too big for their own good when it comes to fleecing the Fans.
Heard from a friend that a can of beer at the SB last week went for $14 per.
The NFL is taking in the cash by the buckets full.
And you wonder why you can’t afford a seat anymore?
Not the SB benefiting the league (tho maybe it does greatly) but the new stadiums sure do, right.
Its tax exempt too, the NFL. They should be smart or someone will want some fat tax dollars. Greed engenders contempt, well said BTW
Yeh it’s quite a racket Phil.
I guess it’s good to be an NFL owner.
It’s just ridiculous that the US taxpayers put up the lion’s share of the Stadium costs.
Yet, the owners and the League keep the bulk of the profits, as you say, with their tax exemptions.
They’re pricing the average fans right out of the picture in the process though.
This might make you feel a little better about the future Phil –
Recognize this guy?
Many of those throws came out on time.
Thrown to a spot which Patton tracked down.
Do we see Kaep attempt many of them?
He’s a dart thrower right now.
Let’s hope the off season workouts together produce some of the needed timing.
Lets hope we use this weapon. Evaluating WRs, training them up, and putting them in a place / scheme to get us wins has not been this regimes forte.
Good stuff thanks!
Unlike Del Mar who wanted Harbaughs head on a platter over a year ago, I dont want the guy fired yesterday or tomorrow. There’s a big challenge tooling up the squad to get on top. Baalkebaugh are our best bet fer that job. What concerns me is the mediocre performance of the O, esp our passing game as said yesterday. And endlessly by Chuck, snarkk, Irish, Del Mar, Spitwad, now me. The AJ pick set us back a couple years- that we cant afford again. Im not concerned about Kaepernick yet. He’s been very good and can grow. Roman needs help with our passing scheme, play calling, utilizing players we have. Proven fact, cant win the big one. So what is Jimi (sorry 60s flashback) going to do to get this fixed? No one is hiring Roman so he’ll be here. Who/what should Jimi do to improve this piss poor part of our game? Call plays himself? Chuck pointed out our problems in pass dept, play calling Did Not improve when Jimi supposedly got involved this year. I believe its not going to change with coaches we currently have.
I dunno
We’ve got some challenges in the passing game Phil, no argument there.
I also remind myself of where we were before Harbaugh and Baalke got this thing back on the rails.
In comparison to the rest of the League, we’re on pretty solid footing.
We’re Drafting for depth now, stocking a pretty deep Roster even further, while keeping the Cap in check.
I don’t see us as being too short of the mark, desite the let downs in the Post Season.
Our QB is basically a year behind Wilson, yet, he’s doing things Wilson can’t duplicate with his arm.
Once Kaep finds the game within his head, he’ll surpass Wilson IMO.
Wilson is much more relaxed, buys time, sees the field better perhaps.
Kaep will be fine. He’s gotta utilize all facets of the Offense.
Whether that’s on Roman or Harbaugh is up to debate.
We’re a bonafide threat to everyone in the League now.
It’s good to be respected, and feared, once again.
We relied heavily on our Defense and running game, as did Seattle.
We’re pretty equally balanced with them.
That NFCC game was decided on miscues.
We had more of them of course.
I’m just happy to be watching good solid football in SF once again.
It’s been a long, painful road back to prominence.
Keep the faith.
I’m not a very religious sort but…
I found this to be quite a relevant verse –
Romans 5:3
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
Hey you there?
I hope our perseverance brings some new blood in the O coaching ranks. There are good reasons Roman is not getting hired
I found this guys take on a possible contract extension. He looks at comparable QB contracts real money:
http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/2/4/5377920/colin-kaepernicks-next-contract-warning-numbers
“I expect the Niners to offer something in the range of 5 years, $86M. This averages $17M per season”. He talks about 8 or even 9 year deal. I’d be interested to hear what NJ sez about this- in a few hours as he’s a night owl poster like NF and me. I’m calling fer $16M X 6 years. We’ll see.
The thing about their strategy that galls me is it is EXACTLY what Nolan and Singletary were trying to do. Play stifling defense and do JUST enough on offense to win. It’s never about fully taking it to the opponent. We win a lot of close games but few blowouts. At least not against teams not named Jacksonville.
We have more than enough weapons to beat good teams. I’ll say it again. Playing it conservative for that last drive is a dangerous game. You leave no room for error. It worked against Green Bay, and against Seattle here, and a few more times, but any wrong move on that last drive, or a botched snap and it’s game over. It didn’t work in the SB, and it didn’t work this past NFCCG.
What’s annoying is it was for different reasons these last 2 season ending losses. The SB we fell behind while spinning our wheels doing nothing for 2.5 quarters while Goldson and Culliver got toasted repeatedly. This time around was just a clusterfuck of errors to finish the 4th quarter. Yes, we are close. But man, it just bites to see the end and come up short.
Yup. As Irish sez “No killer instinct”. We let teams hang around, close the gap and them we’re scrambling esp. last 2 years.
Now there’s talk of the Super Bowl being rigged.
This is from The Smoking Gun. The video of the Baldwin TD is weird at best. The commentary is pretty funny as well.
So, why would the NFL rig the Super Bowl? Who get’s paid off? Makes no sense in the final game. If it’s a playoff game, the plausible meter might go up, for future ratings purposes. As for the thumbs up, that is weird, and the tackler missed him high by a mile. Hard to explain that. Other than, at that point so late in the game, this was the last Seattle TD and was meaningless — the Broncos didn’t even want to be on the field any more, they had already long since obviously mailed it in. They basically quit after the Harvin TD runback to start the 2nd half, that was obvious…
Looking on the internets it appears to be the work of the Illuminati. It’s all about one world government. How the Broncos throwing the Super Bowl plays into this is a mystery. I guess it’s so we are all distracted from Obama setting up the socialist one world government.
https://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/bruno-mars-illuminati-super-bowl-half-time-magic-show-revealed/
Lol now THAT makes perfect sense!
“So, why would the NFL rig the Super Bowl? Who get’s paid off?” = The big money that lured all the suckers into betting the Mannings would win by 3. Aided by a compliant media.
Makes perfect sense!
Ludicrous? Yes. But it’s a long offseason.
Now begins our search for the cure to the summertime blues…
Jermichael Finley will be a FA if the Pack does not re-sign him, and they may not. He’s somewhat damaged goods, so maybe it won’t take that much to get him. The dude can play and catch balls, if healthy, and he’s just 26. I’d take him over McDonald, hell I might take him over VD…
Heretic!
Yeah, McDonald isn’t thrilling me at this point. He’s got one more year to do something. To me it goes back to Ginn. He was a bust here, but put up good numbers in Miami, and now Carolina.
Hard to think it wasn’t our fault (coaches) that we didn’t get squat out of him. 2 catches in 13 games in 2012? We were hard pressed to have anyone healthy catching passes in the playoffs, and we got 1 catch for 3 yards from him in 3 playoff games.
A must watch
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/49ers-offseason-focus-wide-receivers?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo
Lowell Cohn wants a QB in the 3rd round (Fales at SJSU). Consensus- sin Boldin and Dog Sled Dawson
IS