San Francisco 49ers Forever

That was fun. Any game that sees Brian (Mr. Happy) Belichick and Tom (My balls are too hard) Brady trot off the field as losers, is a great game in my book. Much like seeing the LA Dodgers lose game 7 in the World Series last October.

The script yesterday seemed to want Tom Brady and the Patriots to mount that patented double-digit comeback, but it was not meant to be. Neither defense put up very much resistance, but Eagles coach Doug Pederson appeared to have his players relaxed and ready for the task at hand. Pederson should really be the MVP of the game as his 4th down call to end the 1st half was a study in guts. His 4th and 1 call in the 4th quarter however, showed off even more balls. Philly was on their own 45, down a point, and 5:45 left in the game.

Fail on that 4th down, and the Eagles give the ball to Brady in their territory. Not a good proposition in any case, but time was running down and NE could simply burn clock and kick the FG to put the game a little more out of reach. And, seeing as how the Pats NEVER punted in the game, giving the ball to NE deep in their territory would just make running the clock out that much easier. So, Pederson, a guy who has built his short coaching career on aggressive 4th down calls, threw a quick 2-yard in to Zach Ertz, keeping the drive alive for the go-ahead TD to Ertz a few plays later.

Pederson has made his bones calling unorthodox plays in conventional situations. A 3rd and 5 play saw a 26 yard run up the middle by Jay Ajayi. The 4th and 1 to close the half saw a wildcat formation double-reverse pass from Trey Burton to Nick Foles. My favorite play (a Belichick special) was seeing Brady, wide open on a reverse pass to him, let the ball skip off his hands. Giselle was right. Tom CAN’T catch the ball as well.

All in all, an entertaining game. Which, in the end is what you hope for. Funny thing is, what do the Eagles do now? Their franchise QB Carson Wentz just saw his understudy win the big one. Do the Eagles parlay that into a trade with a QB-desperate team that will give them a high 1st round pick (hello Cleveland)? Do they name him starter? Sit him for Wentz? An interesting predicament so say the least. I’d think the Eagles would would entertain trades as they aren’t going to bench Wentz for Foles, and I think he’s going to want to go back to starting after this improbable run into Super Bowl lore.

The list is long and plentiful for NFL teams in search of the next Joe Montana. Or Namath. Or even Joe Ferguson. Among the teams in the hunt is of course the Cleveland Browns. They have had about 50 shots at getting their guy, and have failed miserably every time.

Cleve has pick 1 and 4 in this draft, and even if they get Kirk Cousins, they look to bolster their ranks with Rosen or Darnold with the 1. Thing is, though, they could simply pick Barkley with the 1 and bet that the Colts don’t take a QB in the 3 slot. The Giants are nearly a sure thing to take a QB in the 2 spot as Eli’s going (hide your heart, girl). But when has the Factory of Sadness ever done the right thing? Anyhow, here are the teams looking for QBs:

Cleveland (Kizer)
New York Football Giants (Manning)
New York J-e-t-s (who cares?)
Denver (Squadoosh)
AZ (Dogmeat)
Buff Bills (Taylor)
Jags (Bort-[urk]-les)
Vikes (3 shades of turd)

Then you have teams like Pittsburgh and San Die, uh the LA Clip, uh, LA Chargers who have elite QBs nearling the end of their careers. in Rivers and Big Ben. Washington was recently removed from this list as they of course traded, and extended his deal, for Young Sir Alex. The QBs that look to be drafted quickly are:

Sam Darnold
Josh Rosen
Josh Allen
Baker Mayfield
Mason Rudolph

Free agency for Qbs look like this. The big prize of course is:

Jimmy Gaoppolo
Kirk Cousins
Tyrod Taylor
Eli Manning
Drew Brees
The three-headed turds that are the Vikings QBs Keenum, Bradford, and Bridgewater
Blake (urk) Bortles

Garoppolo is a Niner. The bigger ? with him is, will he get a big deal from the front office or will the Niners hedge their bet and tag him. Me-hopes they sign him. It may be premature, but when you have what looks like the deal of the day, you take it. Garoppolo played well and won against some very good defenses behind a shitty line with little weapons at his disposal. SIGN HIM!

Give him the proper tools and he will shine. The risk is of course he regresses and we are stuck with a huge deal. The opposite of this is SIGN HIM! of course he does very well and his deal becomes 40% more than we could have signed him. SIGN HIM!

Manning stays in NY, Brees stays in NO, Bortles likely stays in Jax, Minn keeps Bridgwater and Bradford, Taylor has already been benched for erratic play, so he hits the market.  As does Keenum. Which of course leaves the biggest prize in Kirk Cousins. Since Washington and the Niners have found their QBs, he’s in uncharted waters.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cleve go all-in on QBs by getting Cousins and drafting  Darnold and Barkley at the 1 and 4.  They could do a lot worse. The Giants likely get Rosen with their #2 overall pick. Denver gets the next QB off the board by taking Josh Allen. I don’t think Mayfield is going this high off the board. In fact I think Rudolph will fly up the draft boards and go to the Jets. Which leaves the Cards taking Mayfield.

Hey it could happen.

Ahhh, the trading season got an early jolt with the news that Young Sir Alex Smith was traded from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Washington Redskins. Smith, who bears the brunt of KC’s dismal 1-5 playoff record under the tutelage of Andy (close, but no Monica) Reid, made the playoffs 4 of the 5 years that Smith was the starter.

As Young Sir Alex had here, he had a ton of supporters and detractors railing in the blogosphere regarding his greatness, his game-managey-ness, his close calls, and his ultimate failure to get over the hump and into the Super Bowl. His tenure in SF was a rollercoaster ride of rookie nerves, a boatload of coordinators, and the revival under Coach Harbaugh and an NFC championship game for a brief shining moment of glory in 2011 before Kyle Williams decided to imprint his name next to Preston Riley as the most hated 49er in fandom. The next year of course, Alex was benched after being concussed while having his best season as a Niner. Smith was traded after that 2012 season, and the Colin Kaepernick Experience came and went like a fart in the wind.

Funny thing is, Smith just had his best season as a pro in KC this season. He threw for over 4,000 yards, had a 67% completion percentage, led the NFL with a 104.7 QBR, and 26 TDs to 5 picks. Of course, as is the problem, when the playoffs rolled around, he came up short. Of course, he threw 2 TDs, no picks, and competed 72% of his attempts (24-33) so it’s kinda hard to pin that on him. Much like the playoff game of 2013 against the Colts where KC blew a 38-10 lead.  Smith threw for 378, 4 TDs, 0 picks, and 30-46 (65%).

So, the Redskins get a guy with a solid rep, a solid body of work, but some questions around the playoff shortcomings. Frankly, Alex seems snakebit. The Indy game saw Jamal Charles get hurt, and all the DBs go down in the 2nd half. That doesn’t excuse the 3-and-outs engineered by Alex, but it also shines a light on the coaching staff. Andy Reid should be equally maligned for the playoff failings. Especially when the Titans, who were shit against the run, didn’t have to defend it in the latest playoff loss.  Reid should have kept pounding the run to burn clock and to not let Tenn back into the game.

I’m surprised Andy still has a job.

How bout that Pro Bowl? didn’t see it, don’t know who won, don’t even know where they played it. I’m assuming it’s somewhere near ROB as he said he might go. so, Flo Rida? Did you go ROB??? Speaking of bowls, the 49ers met with UTEP guard Will Hernandez at the Senior Bowl a couple weeks ago. Hernandez, who is 6′ 3″ and 330 lb is rated as the 2nd or 3rd best guard coming of the board, behind of course Quentin Nelson. He got a ton of positive press during practice week, and the only knock is his apparently short arms.

Thing is, he’s not worth a 9 pick, and he’ll likely be gon by the time we take our 2nd pick (NO’s 2nd round pick at 59), so the deal here is we trade down. Frankly I like this thought as we need a lot of depth, and getting more picks in the high and middle rounds is very prudent. Hernandez started 49 straight games, and over 2,800 snaps during his college career, and seems to be the real deal. He’s a straight-ahead blocker, so he’ll need to adapt to our zone blocking scheme, but then again, we didn’t run ZBS all the  time. Here’s a nice write-up on him from another blog.

<blockquote>https://www.the49ershub.com/single-post/2018/01/24/My-Left-Guard-OG-Will-Hernandez</blockquote&gt;

Hey who knows? I’d be much happier with this guy and Garnett than what we had last year.

PS. I do miss Twin’s love for Young Sir Alex.

He hasn’t been here in a while but just wanted to pass along that Michael (Twinfan) Scott passed away on 12/31. For those you you that don’t know, his father was Ray Scott, CBS football announcer, that, among a ton of other games, did the Ice Bowl between Green Bay and Dallas back in 1967.

Twinfan was extremely knowledgeable about baseball, extremely opinionated about football, and could get extremely annoying about anything at any time. I had more that my share of run-ins with him here, at oneflapdown77.com (Flav’s baseball blog), the old Splash, and the old Niner Insider Chronicle blogs.

I first ran into the buzzsaw that was Twinfan on the Splash blog in 2006, and he wasted no time in vilifying me as a sub-human cretin who beat his children because I didn’t know what OPS+ or WAR meant. On the flip side, he regularly came up with contests to give away expensive computers to the winners, and was a caring giving person in real-life. He battled Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for 20+ years due to exposure to Agent Orange in Viet Nam. In the myriad emails he sent me telling me what an idiot I was at running a blog, he also was a genuine gentleman who cared for his wife dearly, and told mer a few times that blogging was keeping him going as he health failed.

Based on all the physical pain, suffering, and multiple brain surgeries he went through, my hope is he enjoyed some of this as he railed against us.

R.I.P. Michael

Word on the street is that the 49ers are very interested in Ezekiel Ansah, FA DE who played for the Lions, amassed 12 sacks last year, and 14.5 the year before. More than enough for a team that ranked 26th in sacks with 30. He’ll cost, but one thing the Niners have is a shit-ton of cap space. Somewhere in the $100 million range.

<blockquote>http://ninerswire.usatoday.com/2018/01/23/free-agent-ezekiel-ansah-would-force-49ers-to-balance-risk-versus-reward/</blockquote&gt;

Seeing as this is the brain trust’s 2nd go-round in free agency, it’s fairly easy to see their previous track record. They got (minus a couple no-names):

• QBs (Hoyer and Hot Tub Mat) – Nice try but pfffffffft. The draft of BeatHard and the steal of Garoppolo made these guys moot and expendable.
• WRs Pierre Garcon, Marquise Goodwin and Aldrick Robinson – Garcon was playing well before he got hurt, Goodwin became Jimmy G’s go-to guy once he got in there, and Aldrick Robinson showed some decent play after struggling through a lot of the season. Robinson looks to be odd man out if we improve this position
• FB Kyle Jusczyk – A very solid pickup as he made some nice catches coming out of the backfield on sideline routes.
• OLB Malcolm Smith – Hard to say, but he’ll hopefully be ready when this season starts. May be relegated to backup depending on the draft and other FA moves.
• TE Logan Paulsen – Blocking TE that made some big drops this year. Surley we can do better.
• K Robbie Gould – Huge success. 39-41 is flat fantastic. 4-4 from 50+.
  ILB Brock Coyle – Good backup who was exposed in coverage early on. Should stick for ST role and depth.

So, four of these guys were big successes, and M Smith very well could be a keeper. Not bad for their first try. Thing is, the Niners still have holes to fill at guard, CB, WR, possibly RB, OLB, and ILB. How much of this goes to free agency?

OLB – Well, I like this guy Ansah. Dee Ford of KC is young but coming off a back injury, and Anthony Hitchens of the Cowboys is also a young guy who is available.

WR – There are a lot of intriguing guys available. Notably Jarvis Landry of the Phins, and Sammy Watkins of the Bills and Rams. They are all 25 so there’s a good chance one of these guys would be a great addition to the team. Then there is Josh (hold my joint) Gordon. He of the spectacular play, and equally spectacular penchant for getting into trouble. Terelle Pryor thrived in Cleveland, but failed in Washington. Cameron Meredith (da Bearsss) could be great but he’s also coming off a big injury.

TE – We should focus on Zach Ertz’s backup Trey Burton, who shined when Ertz went down with a concussion. Fuck Jimmy Graham.

CB – Well, there’s Malcolm Butler, though NE likely keeps him, Rashaan Melvin of the Bills, Trumaine Johnson of the Rams, and Patrick Robinson of the Iggles. All these guys are young and have enough years left.

I think Landry is gettable. As is Ansah and Ford. Burton would be a great addition to the TE ranks. Patrick Robinson as well. Those thrfoure would be a great start to free agency.

I don’t know who’s available at guard in FA, but I’m tired of typing so, have at it. I think we are in a MUCH better place than last year, but who do you think we should sign?

Say what you will about the state of the NFL these days, but that was a fairly terrible set of playoff games all the way through. The AFC title game saw the Jaguars squander a fast 14-3 start (and 20-10 4th quarter lead) to allow Tony Romo a few jizz-inducing orgasms in the press box as New England came back and won in the 4th quarter with two TDs to Danny Amendola. A particularly killer play was a pretty epic 19 yard throw from Brady to, yeah, Amendola,  on 3rd and 18. You’d think the Jags would maybe try to do more about Danny boy as he shredded their defense after Gronk was conked out.

I guess being a Pats fan must be fun, but when I look back at the 49ers run, or the Cowboys, or the Packers even, their games seemed a hell of a ot more exciting. Seeing Brady come back was kinda nice in a grand-scheme kind of way, but who didn’t see it coming? Much like the feeling I had last year when Atlanta went up 28-3 in last year’s SBLI. OK, that one was exciting. But still and all, the Pats seem to suck the life out of winning.

The other game? Jeebus. All Minnesota proved was that a solid defense can only take you so far if you have a mediocre QB at the helm. Not that it was their fault, but they were down to their 3rd string guy after both Sam Bradford went down early in the season, and Teddy Bridgewater went down earlier in the preseason. They looked sharp and scored on their first drive, but did nothing else as Philly responded with 38 unanswered points.

Super Bore LII? Well, unlike my brethren on the East Coast, I’m not as anti-Philly as anyone outside the City of Brotherly Love seems to be. I can’t even take another Brady-led Super Bowl win. so, GO PHILLY! they deserve one. And only one.

Here we are on the edge of Super Bowl LII, and the quarterbacks are:

Case Keenum
Nick Foles
Blake Bortles
Brian Hoyer (possibly)

Call me underwhelmed, but this is pretty terrible. Drew Brees had the last best shot of stopping the Patriots from yet another SB win, until Brady fucked up his thumb in Wednesday’s practice. So here we sit with a bunch of stiffs at QB, and some supposed defenses that will carry the day.

That is, until the Jags gave up 45 to us, and 42 to the Steelers. I don’t see too much hope for the Jags if Brady plays. Hoyer? Well, different story. The Paats defense was 29th in yards given up, but 5th in points allowed. Not sure how that flies, but it gives the Jags some hope. Pittsburgh was supposed to have a defense as well

Vikings Eagles? Shit, who knows? Vikings have the better defense, but this is a game of 7 yard dswing passes and dumps to backs out of the backfield. All day. Kinda like the Harbaugh Niners with Young Sir Alex. ZZZZzzzzzzzz

At this point we should be favored to win the Super Bowl next year.

I got Minn 27 – Philly 17

NE 31 – Jax 20

As I said earlier, I think we need to go pass rusher first, but it looks like the Chubbster, as well as Arden Key, look to be drafted ahead of our 9/10 spot. The Raiders desperately need an inside linebacker so they won’t take a pick from us. The Browns, Giants, and Jets (pending free agency moves) will go Darnold/Rosen/Allen, and the Browns will prolly get Barkley with their 4. That leaves Harold Landry from Penn State as the best pass rusher available. Actually, Key may be available as he has an injury history behind him, so he may fall a la Reuben Foster last year. I’d still take Landry.

Thing is, though, given the needs of the teams ahead of us, Quentin Nelson could still be there, Courtland Sutton could be there, and any number of CBs not named Minkah Fitzpatrick will be there. Guard usually isn’t drafted this high, but it is a big need for us. I would be surprised, but not too surprised to see us draft him. We’ll likely fix the O line in free agency and go for a CB if our pass rusher isn’t there.

Speaking of CB, there’s the Ohio State guy, Denzel Ward, short-time starter, who looks to fly up the board as draft day nears. He’s smallish at 5’10, 195, but he’s a smart, aggressive, and fast, who has long arms and can play press or zone coverage equally well. He’s rarely out of position and has great make-up speed. I wouldn’t be too surprised at this pick either.

What say you?

Well, that was nuts. Pittsburgh gained 545 yards of offense, scored 42 points, and lost. Jacksonville gained 378 yards and won. Ben Roethlesburger went 37 for 58 for 469 yards, and 5 TDs and lost. Blake Bortles went 14-26 and a whopping 218 yards and 1 TD, and won. Even the run game was fairly even with Fournette gaining 109, and Bell gaining 67. the apparent killer was Bortles gaining 35 yards on the ground.

Baffling to me was Pittsburgh playing their defense so soft underneath. Bortles isn’t Dan Marino. Or even Frank Marino. He’s a journeyman soft-throwing game manager. TEs and RBs gained tons of yards on 8 yard passes over and over. it worked for the Steelers as well, but really, play up on these guys. I can see the threat of Big Ben going deep, and he did. A lot. But Bortles? Unreal that he was able to hit so many short passes for big chunks of yards.

Speaking of unreal, there was the Saints/Vikings game. Another game that got out of hand early for the favorite, but N’Awlins did manage to take the lead late. The game saw 4 lead changes in the last 3 minutes as both defenses took turns allowing underneath pass after underneath pass. Case Keenum made his bones throwing blind ducks that were for the most part completed. His one pick late in the 3rd quarter should have been his undoing, but he threw 3 more. One of which set up a late FG that temporarily gave Minn the lead late.  Brees? Sure, I get playing your defense a bit loose to stop the deep balls, but Keenum is another game manager sho simply hit short pass after short pass. His one nice pass, the one that won the game, should have been the game ending stat-padder, but the whiff by Saint DB Marcus Williams allowed the score on the final play of the game.

The other games? Well, Atlanta was the first favorite of the weekend to fall behind early and spend the rest of the game chasing their tails.They did a fair imitation of the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVIII by choking away a great opportunity to win the game with a 1st and goal as time was running down, and blew it in the end with some worthless faide attempts.

NE was NE. However, an obvious false-start penalty was inexplicably reversed in the Pats favor, and it turned into a pivotal point as, instead of NE punting from their own 9, they were gifted a 1st down, which they then turned into a TD to make the score 21-7. Needless to say, the punt would have changed the future of the game as Tenn would have likely gotten great field position and could have tie the score. As it was . . . oh well. The Pats are a team that seemingly gets every break in the book, and then some. As NJ noted, though, the team that stands directly in their path has a man that has beaten them on a couple of occasions. Tom Coughlin.

The hope is he has one more game left in him to stop the Patriots.