Well, here we are coming up on our first divisional game, and it does carry a bit more importance to it. What should have been a matchup of 2-0 teams, isn’t. The Niners gagged away the Chicago game (for myriad reasons), and travel to beef jerky town. The land that sunscreen forgot. The land where people wear sweaters when it’s 90º out. Arizona. The Big Weirdie. Where assault weapons are a fashion accessory.
Anyhow, if there’s anything that Jin Harbaugh does well, it is come back pretty strong after losses. Maybe it’s a product of benign scheduling, but the 49ers usually bounce back after losses. Although they did have two 2-game losing streaks last year.
The problem is, though, the 49ers suddenly have some big concerns, as far as I’m concerned. The blocking has been middling to atrocious. The O line wore down last Sunday, and the Niners did little to help Kappy out despite a constant 5-man rush in the 2nd half. The Bears on the other hand were left to play pitch and catch as we geared to stop the run game that wasn’t materializing. Curious that the Niner brain trust seemed to go with their pregame plan, and not adjust to the game as it unfolded.
So, now we face Bruce Arians. Another of the more cerebral type coaches. Granted, he doesn’t have the QB he’d love to have, but so far both Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton have delivered victories. They squeaked one out vs SanDawg, as the ‘Dawgs let yet another 10+ point lead evaporate in the 4th quarter. The Giants just flat stink, and it took a late fumble to seal that game. They have a nice shifty RB in Bruce Ellington’s older brother Andre, and of course Larry Fitzgerald.
Since we don’t seem to have much of a pass rush anymore, it galls me to see Fangio run his base defense and not dial up blitzes. It worked against Romo, but that pressure was from base. It didn’t work last week, yet we let Cutler off the hook by not pressuring him. Palmer is the same thing. Let him throw cleanly and he’ll find his mark. Pressure him and he gets rattled.
To me, this coaching staff is on notice. They failed miserably in adjusting to the Chicago game as it wore on. They did little to pressure Cutler, and they didn’t do anything to stop the pressure getting in on Kaepernick. The game is all about adjusting if things change, and they didn’t.
Here’s some early work from the Spitmen.
Forty Niners Forever 
Where else but inside the confines of any given stadium on NFL Gamedays can AB rape the patrons on a pint?
PSLs drive away the average Joe’s, in come the high rollers, who don’t flich at dropping $8-12/pint on the Bud products.
All about the Dead Presidents and how many of them ownership can pocket.
Ever gone to a movie, NJ?
Of course –
Captive audiences are what they count on.
However, the tailgating experience is non-existent at the local Cineplex.
As went Blockbuster and similar video rental concerns, NetFlix and the like will eventually doom the movie houses too.
Sooner or later, as Mark Cuban suggested, the greed factor will consume the NFL.
Business is business, I’m all for making all you can for any product you market.
What I can’t buy is, the lunacy at the top of the NFL heirarchy, grabbing public tax money for their stadiums then, selling their PSLs and driving out the common fans, many of whom have held Season tickets for generations.
This game is quickly going the route of the WWE.
Overhyped and showing signs of manipulated results, primarily through officiating.
Quite the about face from Roger and the impacted owners when Corporate Sponsors started pulling back those ad revenues huh?
They calculated initially that rabid fans, and ownership, wouldn’t want to see their star players removed from the field for any length of time.
Hurts the competitive balance and the Vegas Lines.
They also figured hard core fans will still tune in, show up, spend money.
Once the ad bucks were threatened, that tune changed in a heartbeat.
You can bet your a$$ Roger balked at the Levi’s opener, in part, because of RayMc and, the potential for more mics in his face about the prevailing winds of DV.
Gone are the days of hiding substance abuse for Mega-stars like Lawrence Taylor from the media spotlight.
This sh!t has gone on for years.
It has always been about winning games, at any cost.
Vicodin addictions, painkillers you name it.
Owner controlled and manipulated forever.
Roger is the puppet for them.
Yeah, if greed is good, more greed is better. At the cost of everything else. It’s funny ythat a lot of this shit has gone down after Cuban’s statement that pigs get slaughtered.
I mean, Pete Rozelle was all about getting the league into the public consciousness. Hourning suspended indefinitely for gambling and the like Of course he came back too . . .
No doubt Chuck.
This sh!t starts and, gets perpetuated at the College level.
All about protecting the athletes when there’s money to be made.
Many of these guys are thugs.
When they’re coddled and protected from prosecution they become uncontrollable at some point.
Too bad there aren’t more stories like Patrick Willis’ situation growing up.
He overcame abuse, a broken home, and many other adversities to become a star.
He’s 1 in 100 however.
Concussions have been buried for years too.
It’s a violent game.
Perhaps ownership needs to realize these guys are risks, in terms of legal entanglements and perhaps, structure Contracts with a zero tolerance threshold for these infractions from the start?
Maybe then they’ll learn to act in a way that the rest of us have to.
Protecting their investments has caused the situation to escalate to the point that is has.
How about District Court Judge Mark Fuller in AL?
He’s getting treated just like Ray Rice.
No prosecution, same sweetheart intervention option offered to him, even though he’s a repeat offender.
All about who you know in this world.
He’ll likely be afforded the option to resign and, take his Government Pension with him too.
Your tax dollars at work.
In conclusion: PURE BLEEP!
Yup, now it’s AZ Card Jonathan Dwyer getting suspended for DV/aggravated assault. They are coming out of the walls.
Where is Goodie while the league “reputation” swirls around the PR toidy? The guy earns about a million a week, yet has apparently gone underground….
The Niners better have ironclad info that MacDonald is not going to be charged, else they’re going to look pretty bad. If they are surprised and he is charged, they will have to immediately deactivate him, at minimum…
With a normal business man, I’d assume the organization gathered “smart” evidence that allowed them to hedge their McDonald bet which would then make it easy to start him. But Jed York is an idiot.
Jed: Hello, gentlemen. What have you found me regarding this unfortunate incident?”
Investigator: Well sir, we spoke to an eye witness who said….
Jed: Hey! Check it out! Shiny stuff……. cool.
Right, Snarkk. That’s the only thing I can base their (in)actions on so far.
Speaking of fingerprints . . .
http://www.ninersnation.com/2014/9/18/6380551/all-22-breakdown-colin-kaepernick-49ers-vs-bears
I love how everyone’s blaming Harbaugh’s play calling and Colin Kaepernick’s turnovers but nobody is talking about the 21 points our defense gave up in the 4th quarter. Sure, the turnovers don’t help, but our defense didn’t either….
Right, that 3 yard drive was abominable. The next drive started in Niner territory as well. Give-aways hurt.
But I did mention Fangio a few times, skippy. The lack of a pass rush will kill us until we do something about it. Fuck it. If we play the same passive defense, Palmer (or whoever) will hit his WRs. Blitz Lynch all the time. Sitting back is just getting the DBs toasted. We played Chicago to run all game and they stopped running in the 1st quarter.
Better to blitz and get burned on a 65 yard TD than let their offense use up 10 minutes of clock and score.
I’ve been saying this to the blog heavens for 10 years now.
I have Palmer. He’s on the bench because he’s very questionable. Will he play against The Niners? Mebbe, mebbe not.
He’s questionable whether he plays or not.
Thank you! I’m here all week at the Sands Desert Lounge! Try the veal, and tip your waitresses!
I won’t play him against The Niners whether he actually plays or not. BTW, Cutler’s the #3 ranked QB so far (and I have the #1 and #2 WRs). You have QBs #1 and #2.
I expect a big victory over those Cards. I don’t care how down in the dumps you guys get, GO NINERS and BLEEP to the other teams. Owners look like fools when they go on camera. Man what a bunch sleezeballs.
Is Goodell ready to walk the plank yet? No ……damn what a front man!
Raiders have to fire their coach. He looks too whimpy. The next Raiders coach has to be a man with a big thick neck……perhaps a former lineman with brains and brawn. Then he starts kicking butt.
Probably just butt and he’ll stink up the place
In the words of Charles Woodson, “WE SUCK!” Rookie Carr replies ….” we have to get better.”
Currently, the owners have hired special agent Mulder from the X files to determine if Goodell is going to be their scapegoat for a league gone wild. The verdict is already in with a resounding yes vote for Goodell’s head on a platter being the league response. Now the question is when and how? The owners are just looking to huddle (on the quiet) and come up with a gameplan that appeases the sponsors, fans and creates some kind of position of strength with the players’ union. Who cares? I’m actually reversing my stance on Goodell out of spite. I want him on that wall – I need him on that wall. I don’t want Goodell to go anywhere because Goodell’s the face of white collar corruption in sports and he reminds the older generation (guys like NoFear and Del) that sports aren’t the place for moral justice. And every time his face is shown, people across the land will cringe and their skepticism will grow – as it should be.
Ray McDonald once again proves Unca Chuck to be the hysterical whelp we all know him to be. It’s looking more and more like McDonald has his hands full with a crazy woman carrying his baby. Who doesn’t love that scenario? I guarantee the pootenany is delicious. Otherwise, why stick around?
What’s the future hold for this 49er team? If they lose to Drew Stanton, it’s bleak. Talk about your demoralizing loses. A win against Stanton and really, you’re just buying more time to right the ship and get players back healthy. But you lose to Stanton, with the injuries, suspensions, off season distractions and so on and this ship doesn’t get righted this year. And that leaves a lot of older dejected faces on the team walking around the 49er locker room bummed they didn’t get a ring over the course of their careers. We lose to Stanton and week 4 we’ll see the leaders trying desperately to rally the troops, but it won’t happen. The heart and soul of this football team is Navarro Bowman. He’s the team’s ultimate leader. You need inspiration and he’ll make a play. He leads by example. But he’ll limited on the sidelines. On Sunday night, 4th quarter, last big drive, Bowman was on the sidelines trying to pump up Kaep, and it obviously didn’t work. The leadership on this team is fragmented, aged and their best years are behind them for some. If the 49ers beat Stanton, they buy themselves some breathing room – maybe enough time to rally the troops for one last surge.
And I look for Kaep to have a pissed off, bounce back game. Vernon won’t play but Carrier (who by the way could beat out McDonald pretty easily because Trent Baalke’s about as good of a talent evaluator as Terry Donahue) will play some inspired football. Carrier’s got heart. He won’t go over the middle concerned someone will take his head off, sporting alligator arms like McDonald. He’ll go over the middle with wreckless abandon, and the crowd will love him for it…. Kaep will love him for it. Win the crowd and you win your freedom.
At least Kaep has a great shoe collection. Man can that guy get shoes!
Right. It was a football decision, skippy. Good to see you doing your usual flip-flop on Jolly Roger. It was especially funny to see him doing his interview recently all sunburnt from his vacation time.
The NFL isn’t going to set any moral tones, but I thought the Niners might have a little more class.
Remember Bill Walsh? Of course not.
Rodger Goodie is on TMZ
When Benji from the Howard Stern Show is the highlight from Goodell’s presser that about tells you all you need to know about Roger. Roger is a boob.
New thread is up.