Well, what a game. One that makes me think preseason is too short. There were 5 touchdowns (3 by us, 2 by them) call back by penalty, 19 penalties for 174 yards (11 for 87 by us, 8-87 by them). 4 INTs, (3 by us, 1 by them) 3 pick 6’s (2 by us, 1 by them). We dropped 2 additional pick 6’s. TB had a chance themselves. There were 4 fumbles (3 by them, 1 by us), we got an ejection for Kwon Alexander on a helmet-to-helmet hit. One that was repeated later by a Buc who wasn’t tossed, and we had a lot of terrible play calling on both sides of the ball.
Once again, the red zone offense rarely took a shot at the actual end zone. Then again, we were successful but penalized more often than not. The defense had a very mixed bag kind of day. But stop me if you nearly threw a brick at your TV when the 49ers lined up their LBs 15 yards behind the line on 3rd and 17. Of course TB threw a swing pass to the flat that gave the RB a 12 yard head start before even seeing a Niner, but the entire left side of their line was able to get out front and block for the 1st down. Of course TB fumbled that drive away.
TB for their part were grinding away in the 4th quarter inching closer to us by running the ball at will down our throats. So naturally after getting the score to 20-17, (they had actually taken the lead on a called-back TD), they got pass-happy, and gave the Niners 2 easy pick 6 TDs to salt away the victory for the Red and Gold.
TB actually outgained us 315 to 264, and we somehow won the time of possession clock by 8 seconds. Garoppolo outplayed Jameis (gimme a) Winston on the merits of only giving the other team 7 points instead of 14. We threw a ton of dinks and dunks, Kittle 10 catches for 54 yards, but for one very nice double move by Rick James on a 39 yard strike.
Offensively, the run game was non-existent but for 2 good runs. Coleman is already hurt, and Brieda can’t bust through the line, so we shouldn’t even bother. Which brings me to the O line. Terrible game for them as there was little time for Jimmy G to throw, and he didn’t help by making bad throws himself. At least 4 of his incompletions were throws that were simply way behind the receiver, and of course the pick 6 that was the oldest read in the book. But throw in a few holding calls that negated TDs, and there you have it.
Defensively, we were all over the place as well. I think the best unit was the much-maligned DBs though. Ahkello Witherspoon looked like the talented rook, noit the befuddled sophomore. Richard Sherman had his usual weird-ass game with a pick 6 and a nifty mugging on a long pass near the end of the game which likely would have been called PI in the 70s, when you could kill people out there. The pass rush was better, Nick Bosa got a sack, and the line in general got sufficient pressure all day. The biggest problem, and I’m sure the heat was a factor, was the run defense late. On TB’s blown 4th down on the 2, and the subsequent FG drive, they ran the ball down our throats. Seeing as we were gassed, the next drive they inexplicably stopped running and the pass pressure caused the late pick 6 to seal the game.
A win is a win is an east coast road win, but I sure hope to God they clean their shit up. Any good team would have killed us. Then again, Seattle almost lost at home to the Bengals, it took awhile for the Rams to put away Carolina, and AZ tied with the hapless Lions.
Early season games are like this, but man, what a mess.
Forty Niners Forever 
AA did have a nice game despite the general fade of the D line late in the game. The defense in general got a lot more sustained pressure, and that was good to see. Ginger isn’t Winston though. But if Dalton throws 55 times, we’d better plant him a shitload of times. And not drop picks.
NJ, there’s no benefit to the officials making that call as TB favored by a point, and they weren’t going to cover. The ONLY way TB covers is if they score 2 TDs late, and score in OT. As Bergs and I said, they went with the non-call because Evans was pushing off as well.
Yeah, officiating in general sucks, and these interminable PI reviews are only going to make the game harder to watch, as these fucking PI reviews now instigate a commercial break, but the hope is they get it right upon review.
If you want to see ridiculous, watch the ‘fumble’ by Dalton in the Cincy/Seattle game last week. This was called a fumble to thwart Cincy’s last drive. Dalton’s hand is clearly moving forward with the ball in it.
the 12th man is actually the refs.
Yep. Seattle gets a shit-ton of breaks.
The 49ers did get a couple as well. Rice clearly fumbled in the Owens Owens Owens game and it wasn’t called. There were a couple more that I can’t recall.
Now that I look at it, NJ, you might still be onto something. The over/under was set at 50.5. Don’t know where the money was, but a TD by TB pushes the game over the line from 48 to 55.
Funny thing is, it was pretty hard to find that vid of the Dalton non-fumble.
The NFL is busy scrubbing that video from the interwebs.
Dalton’s arm is clearly moving forward, that’s not a fumble,but in Seattle with the 12th man screaming the refs feared for their lives..
Think of Officiating as a ‘Control’ factor.
Captive audience.
Ad revenues.
Vegas line, etc.
Who’s got the joystick?
Al Riveron? Dean Blandino?
Why not…..?
Jerry Jones?
Alfred E. Newman?
Maybe…Rocky & Bullwinkle?
In the best Dr Evil voice….
They could make….
ONE Million dollars!
Knowing the fact that Blandino was guilty of partying on Jerruhs’ bus is enough to know he’s compromised.
Think of him sitting in the bank drive up lane, at Jerruh Savings and Loan, (with a jar of Vaseline and a box of Kleenex).
Then he remembers the camera is running, and Jerruh owns the security tapes.
And…the replay review phone rings….
Uh oh!
It didn’t stop the refs from screwing Dez Bryant on his TD catch in that green Bay playoff game a few years back.
But….is it leveraged somehow?
$$$$$$!!$$$$$$!!
That was payback for the previous week hit job on the Lions in the wildcard round of the playoffs. That was Win #2 for Romo in the playoffs in his career. Also his last win. And tainted as hell.
I was more of a Frank Gorshin fan as “The Riddler” but Cesar Romero played a good “
Joker”
Frank Gorshin was also in a Star Trek episode where half of his face is painted black the other half white.
His adversary had half his face painted white the other half black, both on different sides.
Gorshin tells Captain Kirk, can’t you tell the difference? I’m the good guy..