Well, almost. There’s this little diversion called the World Series, and the Giants are 27 outs away from making it theirs for the 3rd time in 5 years. A veritable dynasty in a game that is very hard to by dynastic in.
Anyhow, we are still awaiting word on Aldon Smith and the possibility of him getting a reduced sentence. Something I think should happen, as he took himself out for 5 games last year and has served 7 games this season. 12 is a nice round number, and Smith should get SOME credit for his self-imposed time off.
The good news is, it looks like a lot of banged-up players are getting a chance to heal up. From Cully to Cox to Willis to Cook to VD, Crabs, Iupati, and AD, the team is a walking Band-Aid. The bad news is the other teams in their division won their respective games. Both close wins. Both could have very well been losses. But no one said this would be easy.
As we stand now, we are the 7th seed. On the outside looking in. But with the bye week and the earliness of the season, this means little. The Niners have a pretty soft schedule these next 4 weeks:
StL here
NO on the road
NY on the road
Washington at home
Lots of travel there. Maybe we should go to Youngstown again between the NO and NY games. We’re getting a little hosed by the schedule makers, although we didn’t play in London this year. But still and all, we should at worst go 3-1 in these games. 4-0 would put us in much better shape as the season unfolds. 7-3 going into the Seattle game here would look great if we take that one.
Don’t want to get too far ahead of myself though. The team needs to settle down and play full games. Not these fits-and-starts games that we either lose late or let the opponents hang around too long. With our defense getting healthy, we should be able to make some headway in the playoff run.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
I concur.
Shit, I was looking at some old pics on this blog, and I found a shot of Ahmad Brooks sacking Drew Stanton. The same fricking guy who beat us this year with the Cards.
How did that happen?
The old saw of one game at a time. Niners are in the thick of it, get back some healthy guys and they will be the team others worry about on their schedule.
Yeah, a little early to panic, but not too early to let things slip away.
Frankly, being 4-34 at this point with all the injuries and turmoil isn’t half-bad.
I expected 11-5 before the season, certainly all the injuries and punishment have had an effect so 11-5 will be tough to do but still attainable for this team. The stats on the spread O are encouraging. If the Coaches did do self scouting during the bye the team likely will be in 3 or 4 wides more often because the run O blocking has not been good at all. Gore and Hyde are not very effective right now. A lot will ride on Martin at C, if he can handle it the O should be in much better shape second half.
I thought Martin was the plan all along to start. I think he’ll be fine.
Tough kid Chuck, no question.
It’s the line calls and getting familiar with Kaep on the fly that concerns me most.
From what I saw of him in the Pre Season, he’s a mauler.
Chuck I’d chalked the NOLA game up as a loss, prior to the start of the season.
In their building especially.
NYG won’t be a pushover either.
Of the 2, beating NOLA gives us a better scenario as they just whooped GB.
As always, B2B road games are tough and yes, I’d be in favor of an East Coast layover as well.
Gotta find balance.
Gotta get immediate production from a rookie Center now too.
Not an easy layup.
We’ve got the talent.
I have no doubt about our ability to get into the Playoffs.
I’m not convinced Harbaugh/Roman have found a rhythm on Offense and that concerns me.
No leeway left for being conservative either.
Get a lead, keep looking for more. End of story.
FGs in the Red Zone have to stop also.
Sure hope Mrs Jones can get Tony Promo’s back in shape quickly.
If Demarco Murray can’t carry Dallas into the Playoffs, they might need him.
Hope she hasn’t lost her touch.
She’s done wonders for his recent extension 😀
Had some conversation with a friend, about where the nickname ‘Bling’ Lloyd came from.
Did a little research to refresh my memory.
Rex would appreciate this piece I’m sure, as it came from Fred Beasley back in ’04 –
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1915734
Nice to see a Cowboy loss in their palace. So sweet. ATT Stadium is everywhere. Damn I hate that name! I guess if they paid my bills I would tattoo the name on my forehead.
That was a loss one can hang on Romo. He should have let Weeden finish the thing.
Ditto NoFear49er.
Romo, like his boss Jerruh, is all about the drama.
Romo was hearing footsteps late in the game, due to all the pressure the ‘Skins applied throughout the game.
Can you say skittish?
Shades of Jim Everett hallucinating about phantom pressure back in the day.
Seems they afforded Weeden extra protection packages in Promo’s absence too, only to abandon it when Promo returned.
Hoping the Cowpatties can hang an L on AZ on Sunday anyway.
I listen to KNBR every evening. on the drive home. Brent Jones is on every Monday. He is one funny dude. He said someone needs to take the current Red Zone playbook and burn it. And then go get a Red Zone playbook form the 1980s and look at it and figure out how they scored in the Red Zone.
I think given the mistakes that Harbaugh made as soon as he got here our opportunity came and gone. Carroll in Seattle built a team quickly and made the right decisions right away, which got them a Super Bowl Championship. When you have a dominating team like the 49ers had the last couple of years it was critical to have a franchise QB, a true winner in place above all. We didn’t and it cost us a Super Bowl and any chances this year or next year. Too many dominating teams in the NFC for us to have a fighting chance.
In the NFL the window of opportunity is real small and that’s why winning decisions need to be made right off the bat.
One can make the argument that Harbaugh got out-Coached too.
Too conservative, too one dimensional, not creative enough on Offense.
AZ is winning because they take chances.
Blitz happy on D, bombs away on O.
Ariens is the anti-Harbaugh, nothing conservative about him.
If Jim finds a way to beat the blitz, we win going away.
I personally don’t think our WRs are being Coached very well.
We’ve yet to develop a single WR from the Draft since Jim and Co have arrived.
Run-Run Harbaugh and his side-kick Roman need to get something going in the 2nd half of this Season and, start scoring some points.
NJ49er, I can’t argue with the win but ARI didn’t cover Maclin very well (187 yds 2 TD) or any of the receivers really, and the blitzing D allowed over 500 yds of offense. You’re right about the bombs away O but it was the only way. If Brown hadn’t got behind the defense with his deceptive speed for that fourth quarter TD bomb it would have all been for nothing.
Agreed NoFear49er.
Philly is challenged on D.
No way you should allow anyone behind you in that situation.
They also blew the goal line play by lining up in shot-gun, to punch it in from a foot out.
Dumb play call there I thought.
Chip is being exposed to some degree IMO.
People pressure Foles and he’s constantly throwing of his back foot and taking too many chances.
IF we can find a blitz buster outlet of our own, we’d be golden.
Kaep needs that lob pass into an open area and someone to get there I think.
I also thought Shady bounced too many chances outside.
I’m not too concerned about AZ beating them in hindsight.
Might be better for us, in the end, if it comes down to making the Playoffs as a WC.
We just need to find a balance where we can be productive when it matters.
Too many 3 and outs in big spots so far.
No rhythm.
I was reading that Alex beat StL with the dink and dunk approach too.
Something to consider if we’re paying attention as a Coaching Staff.
Still rubbing the rabbit’s foot for a competent screen game too.
Plenty to be had in the middle of the field vs AZ IMO.
They’re blitz happy and gave Foles plenty of space inside if he’d have taken advantage of it.
Looks like Aldon will serve at least an 8 game suspension since the league didn’t announce anything on Tuesday.
Fuck the league. Who was floating the rumor that it would happen?
Couldn’t have been the league.
I think it was Florio. IIRC Smith can come back to practice with the team after the NO game, right?
Squawks picked up another ex Niner, Will Tukuafu (sp?)
Pete says he will play as a FB and on the D line.
Thats right I think.
Yup. Florio got it from? His ass?
Edumacated speculation?
His ass. If that’s what he calls his network of “insiders” he employs to feed the machine. Like all of the rumors he reports, some turn out to be true and he claims the news breaker title on it. He learned to please the sponsors long before the network bought his little blog.
Entirely too much bullshit flying around with all the extra added dimension of hogwash and obfuscation from the league. They’re all made out of Teflon. Like Gregg Williams, bounty-gate, and his ‘indefinite’ 11 month suspension.
BLEEP “hogwash and obfuscation” ……..!
Congrats SF Giants Fans.
9ers are next 😀
Unreal run for the Giants. They were probably the 6th best team entering the playoffs,
Just shows you what guts, determination, and heart can get you.
Yeah! What a season! Farm boy did it!
And a pitcher who is out of this world.
Guts, determination, and heart? Sorry young man it was class, character and brains. The good news is the money machine in Baseball and Hockey can’t be manipulated like the NFL. Flags thrown on every play, no longer can a football player play the game the way it was intended to be played because now it’s all about Money, Power and Greed. They turn your TV Screen Pink for a month and you got to ask yourself is it really for Breast Cancer? No the Mighty Bank Of The NFL donates only 1 Million Dollars to Breast Cancer per year. They turn our TV Pink for their new audience women. Did you even bother to find out what’s the deadliest type of cancer in the world? Lung Cancer at 792,495 compared to Breast Cancer 206,983. Putting on a show to bring in more revenue is the real awareness fans should be talking about.
The Giants are a class team from top to bottom. There’s no Kaepernick’s on the team, or a guy like Harbaugh acting like an idiot. Only classy men who un-selflessly work as a team. Most here forgot the same class that the Giants now win with was the same class the 49ers once had. The nucleolus of any team should be classy where players with large egos are not welcomed.
What a game, what a series and KC was all class as well which made the series very special.
A nucleolus? I think you are just looking for an escaped goat.
Beat the Lambs! I hope the Niners pile it on big time.
Go fuck yourself, Flying V. Hockey? WTF are you talking about? Did you watch the World Series? Notice how Fox determines everything about the scheduling? Why is that? Because of advertiser money. Did you notice how the Giants were relegated to some backwater Fox1 network at the start of the playoffs? Didn’t you notice all the pink wristbands, games with pink bats (a flaccid one in your case), and pink shoes during the season?
Here’s news flash, V. Football and baseball are very different games.
Good Sir, if you can’t control your language, you can’t control your ideas. By controlling your ideas, you can control the way people think and act towards you. Control the Language and You Control the Mind, lose Control and it shows your weakness.
Back to the topic, well it’s obvious you don’t like Hockey and you don’t watch baseball. The NFL by far of any sport is controlling, dominating, powerful, money-making machine whose sole purpose is controlling your feelings. They can care less about the sport because it’s now way beyond a brutal competition between men. They keep altering the sport not for safety of its players but for a broader audience, which brings them revenue. Some complained that it was too much of an impact sport, so they altered it with penalties and flags hoping that the original fan base wouldn’t notice. Now Coaches, Players, Announcers can’t say anything about bad calls or what happened to the sport in fear of being penalized or fined by the NFL.
A fan once said, “ I didn’t leave the sport, the sport left me!” I guess some see the truth and the light and others chose to ignore it. Don’t worry the NFL could care less if they lose their original fan base by them alerting the sport, they now have woman and children as their fan base and the Cream Puff Sport is more popular than ever.
So what’s your suggestion, abstain? OK, you first.
Mr. 12th Man, no ones telling you to stop watching the sport all one could ask from you is to at least be aware of the differences and acknowledge that a huge transformation of the sport has taken place.
Another thing to remember before the NFL turned into a Cream Puff Sport is NFL does have the highest rating out of all of the 4 major sports. And the NFL does have a salary cap and parity. Yes parity does give every team a chance to win but it takes the fire, passion and fierce competition out of the sport. Again did they do this for the sport? No they did it for revenue which old fans should be outraged about.
It’s a shame that the games have turned into a coin flip, there just aren’t better and worse teams, they are all equal, so the teams can’t get an upper hand either way. Winning model franchises like the old 49ers and Cowboys made teams (Owners) either step up financially and keep competitiveness at a high level or stay at the bottom of their respected divisions. When you take Dynasties out of the picture you take out the highest level of competition and that’s what you now watch every Sunday.
When in doubt, just ask…
A hearty BLEEP YOU to all! ………GO NINERS!
Flying V for Dogcatcher! Remember to vote. And turn back your clocks if you have any.
Game Day thread is up