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.
Forty Niners 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!