Forty Niners Forever

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.

Week 2 of the full-on win-or-go-home football games. The AFC looks to be Pittsburgh and NE. I’d be floored if it doesn’t go this way. The NFC is more of a crap shoot.  Philly would be the pre-emptive fave if Wentz didn’t go down, but now it is Foles vs Matty Ice.  I’m going with the Falcons, even though they have been fairly underwhelming this season.

Minn New Orleans looks like another barnburner, but again, I’m going with the better QB in Drew Brees. The Saints have won on the road and this game shouldn’t be a prob.

Pitt should take care of Jax. I mean we beat them with our ramshackle team. Same with Tenn. If we are better than half the current AFC playoff teams, then we area lock next year. NE in a wipeout.

Feb. 20 — First day for teams to designate franchise or transition players. The deadline to designate players is March 6 at 2 p.m. MT.

Feb. 27 – March 5 — NFL scouting combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

March 12 -14 — Legal tampering period for NFL teams to negotiate new contracts with 2018 free agents. Deals cannot be signed until the start of the new league year, at Noon PT on March 14.

March 14 — Start of the 2018 league year. At Noon PT , new contracts can be signed and the trading period begins.

March 25-28 — Annual league meeting in Orlando.

April 2 — Teams that hired new head coaches after the end of the 2017 season can begin offseason workout programs.

April 16 — Teams with returning head coaches can begin offseason workout programs.

April 20 — Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets.

April 26-28 — NFL draft at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

SUCH EXCITEMENT!!

Anyhow, what with the only cool thing coming up that is 49er-relate, we have free agency and the draft.

Biggest Needs in No Particular Order:

Wide Receiver: If this season has shown us anything it is that Jimmy G can make a pedestrian WR corps look pretty special. That being said, we will get Pierre Garcon back, as well as the resurgent Marquise Goodwin. Trent Taylor proved to be a decent slot/3rd down option as well. The rest were meh. I suspect a couple FA signings to bolster this group. Donte Moncrief is a possible guy who wouldn’t cost too much. the big FAs (Davonte Adams) will likely just re-up. We could even trade down in the 1st round and go for a guy like the previously mentioned Courtland Sutton out of SMU.

Cornerback: Despite being thin at the position, the 49ers traded Rashard Robinson for a song (and a 5th round pick) from the Jets midway through the 2017 season. Apparently he had gotten into a couple fights on the team plane and was a bit of a head-case on the sidelines. To further that thought, Robinson was arrested last night for possession of edibles and driving erratically. Ahkello Witherspoon showed up his freshman season and played very well. Dontae Johnson didn’t. We desperately need another corner.

Will Minkah Fitzpatrick be there with the 9th/10th pick? Probably not what with CB being so in-demand, but there are some FAs available, notably Malcolm Butler and Patrick Robinson.

Edge Rusher: Another huge need is the pass rush. While the D line is fairly stout against the run, with a healthy 3.8 yard average gain per, the pass rush was a woeful 26th in the league with 30 sacks. We won ourselves out of the Bradley Chubb sweepstakes, so he’s out. However, BC’s Harold Landry and Okla’s Ogbonnia Okoronkwo are a coupe guys that most likely will be available. Guys out there available are Koly Ealy of the jets (who was tossed by NE), or Ezekiel Ansah. Both would be a vast improvement over what we’ve gotten.

And finally:

Guard: Yeah yeah, Bergs, guard. When Joshua Garnett went down, the thinness at that position reared its ugly head in a big way. Zane (beat the) Meatles, Laken Tomlinson, and Brandon Fusco all proved to be pieces of dried dog shit. The Niners need to address this with likely an FA or two, and a draft pick or two. The FA gets, are Andrew Norwell from the Panthers (he’s gonna cost), and Justin Pugh of the New York Football Giants. Tomlinson may be the only one to survive the offseason. Beadles and Fusco need to depart.

The draft? Say it with me, Bergs: Quentin Nelson. 

Since free agency happens before the draft, it’s hard to figure how they go in the draft. That being said, I think the needs for the team break down this way:

1. Edge Rusher
2. Cornerback
3. Guard
4. Wide Receiver

I know we keep drafting for defense, and defensive linemen at that (3 in a row), but still and all, this is our biggest hole. A strong pass rush helps out for the next need, cornerback.

The O? well, yeah, the interior line play was terrible in 2017. The hope that with better guard play will come better play from Daniel Kilgore. He’s only 30 and should have some good years left, but his play suffered badly last year.

The rest? RB depends on what Hyde does. LB is thin. safety is in pretty good shape with Jimmie Ward, Jaquizz Tartt, and the rest coming back from injury. reid ended up playing well, and the young guys like Colbert and even CB Greg Mabin played well in limited time.

_______________________________

Free agency will give us a hint as to the direction they go. Funny thing is, I really think that what we say here jives with what actually happens. Unlike the Baalke era where Baalke NEVER drafted for need and instead seemingly picked random names out of a hat. Most famously, AJ Jenkins, whose name was placed in an envelope before the draft as the guy they desperately wanted.  WOOF!

ESPN (aka TMZ lite) is now reporting that the Browns offered New England their 4th overall pick in the 1st round, and (I’m quoting the Cleveland Plain Dealer here) “other goodies” for Jimmy Garoppolo a couple days before the actual trade. NE nixed the deal, and traded Jimmy G two days later. Who made the decision is up for debate, but to me it makes sense that one of the quotes floating around is that Belichick wouldn’t trade Jimmy or help the Browns “in 100 years.”

Here’s the article:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-browns-willing-deal-no-4-overall-pick-jimmy-garoppolo-001050153.html

As it was, the 49ers were the only team that the Patriots negotiated with. You can speculate that Belichick did this as a parting shot at Robert Kraft and his meddling ways, or that Robert Kraft did this as a panacea to his star QB Tom Brady.

Short-term this sorta makes sense for Kraft, but long-term this hurts the team in a big way. Even short-term, the Pats are one hit away from Brian Hoyer running the team. Long-term though they can’t even pretend that Hoyer is nothing but the backup when Brady retires. They need to draft someone, and they REALLY could have helped themselves by taking the Browns 4th pick.

Both sides of the Pats front office of course deny any weirdness, but this smacks to me of Belichick burning a bridge on his way out of coaching the Patriots. I’m sure he wanted his legacy to be setting Jimmy G up as the heir apparent and next gen QB to take new England to the future, until Kraft and Brady subsumed his authority. Belichick is one of the shrewdest GMs out there and this completely looks like a parting shot as Belichick could have easily put himself into the Rosen/Darnold sweepstakes with that 4th pick. Instead he helps us out immensely and moves on to the NY football Giants.

All I can say is, sometimes it IS better to be lucky than good. There seemed to be a convergence of unrelated events to bring this good fortune upon the 49ers.

The playoffs have not been very kids to the KC Chiefs or Alex Smith. His Chiefs always seem to get killed by injuries to key players at important times. Whether it be Jamaal Charles in 2013 amid the 28 point blown lead vs Indy in 2013, or Travis Kelce’s blatant spear to his head yesterday, the Chiefs seem to expect the inevitable collapse. And someone tell me how that hit equals wagging your finger at another player. Jonathan Cyprien should have been tossed for that hit. Beyond that, the play resulted in a fumble.

Then again, it was newly retired ref Jeff Triplette reffed the game. He made yet another bad call moments earlier when Mariota was sacked on a huge (legal) hit and fumbles. Somehow his forward progress was stopped. That means there are no fumbles because stopping forward progress is the result of tackling someone.

Beyond that, Andy Reid has to wear this loss more than anyone. More than Alex Smith, who had a stellar 1st quarter and little else, or the KC defense, which couldn’t stop the run despite knowing it was coming, or the semi-lucky Tenn offense which got a TD pass from Mariota to Mariota on a ball that could have easily been picked. Reid’s play calling was atrocious especially in the 2nd half as Reid gae up on using the league leading rusher for the last 3 quarters amid a bunch pf blown 3rd and short calls. Oh well. Smith likely walks the plant to AZ (or Hou, or Buff, Cincy, or NY [G or J], or even Jax should they get bounced today.

Speaking of Jax, I think they get bounced by Buff. I think NO is the only home playoff team to win.

Jared Goff? He looked like, as well as the Ram coaching staff, a deer in the headlights.

Good for them.

LJ posted a very interesting article in the previous thread:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/page/hotread180105/beginning-end-new-england-patriots-robert-kraft-tom-brady-bill-belichick-internal-power-struggle

and it details the power struggle behind the scenes in the Patriot organization regarding Belichick, Brady, and owner Robert Kraft. It of course touches on the Jimmy Garoppolo trade and the reasons for it and why he came to us.

The gist being:

The Patriots repeatedly offered Garoppolo four-year contract extensions, in the $17 million to $18 million range annually that would go higher if and when he succeeded Brady. Garoppolo and Yee rejected the offers out of hand, for reasons that remain unclear, and the Patriots knew they couldn’t make any promises to Garoppolo about the timing of a transition at quarterback without it getting back to Brady.

There’s a whole lot more to the article around the power struggle of Brady’s personal trainer Alex Guerrero, who was famously banned from the Pats sideline recently, Belichick and Kraft, and the rest of the machinations around the hugely successful run of theirs. The comments are fun as well . . .

Meanwhile, my favorite AFL team (mainly because of Otis Taylor and Len Dawson) , the KC Chiefs, are also at a crossroads. They weathered a Jekyll / Hyde season from Alex Smith and the defense by going 5-1 against the NFL’s best, then 1-5 vs the dregs before finishing the season on a 4-0 run. They got a solid start from Pat Mahomes, Young Sir Alex’s future replacement, against a Denver defense that didn’t rest their starters. No mean feat, but Denver is falling on hard times. Mahomes easily outplayed Paxton Lynch (remember Denver jumped KC to GET Lynch instead of Mahomes).

Reid is firmly in place having signed a five year extension this year, but I have to wonder if the Chiefs will give up on Alex should the Chiefs lay another turd in the playoffs. They have the Titans at home, and as usual, are fairly banged up from playing in the AFC West. I don’t see KC having too many problems with Ten, but as we all know, the wheels can fall off at any time in Rib City.

The Playoff Sched:

Saturday:

Tennessee @ Kansas City – 1:20 PM – ESPN
Atlanta @ Los Angeles – 5:15 PM – NBC

Sunday:

Buffalo @ Jacksonville – 10:00 AM – CBS
Carolina @ New Orleans – 1:40 PM – FOX

Interesting to note that the Titans are in the playoffs having missed them for the past 10 seasons, Jax comes in on an 11 year playoff drought, the Rams have missed for 13 seasons, and the Bills come in on a 17 year drought.

Atlanta of course puckered up hard and blew a 28-3 halftime lead last year in the Superb Owl. I figure they fold again as Jared Goff lights up a pretty solid Falcons defense.

The Carolina/Nawlins game looks to be a barn-burner. The Saints look to beqat the Panthers for the third time this year. No mean feat, but I think Brees kills the Panthers soft secondary.

As for thr Whodathunkit Bowl (Buff vs Jax), I have Saxonville taking the game with their defense.

Run the table! With this improbable and fairly unlikely event that we have found our guy (thanks, New England), the 49ers have the chance to run the table under Jimmy Garoppolo and his cast of also-rans. No mean feat when you see that the original squad to start the year had more talent on both sides of the ball, and mustered a 1-10 record.

So, to hell with the draft spot and take no prisoners! A 5-0 run to close the season would be a nice feather in the cap of this new front office and brain trust. Especially seeing as 3 of the 5 are potential playoff teams.

I missed this in all the talk of GM John Lynch and Al Guido mingling with the brethren in the parking lot talking and glad-handing with the fans. I woulda shit a brick had I seen this beauty. It is almost too much glory for a fan to handle. I must say these guys are starting to get this shit right . . .  Enjoy!

Although I don’t get how those front wheels turn . . .

In a very exciting game against the #1 defense in the NFL, the resurgent 49er offense laid a 44-spot on the vaunted Jaguar defense. Jimmy G directed the offense to a very solid 4 TDs in the red zone. Robbie Gould didn’t need to exercise his leg nearly as much as last week, and the struggling line actually played pretty decent.  There weren’t huge holes, but the run game got in the end zone 3 times, most notably on the 3rd and 8 with Jacksonville trying desperately to stage a big comeback in the final few minutes.

The defense was great up until 2 minutes in the 1st half and 2 minutes in the 2nd half. Not sure why we were dropping the LBs 10 yards off the line when the D was successful all game. This remains a mystery to me.

Beyond that, there were some weird calls by the zebras. Brieda fumbled a ball on a play that wasn’t reviewable, and some WR on Jax caught a ball, took 3 steps, fumbled the ball, and somehow did not make a football move in all of that. Dontae Johnson made his obligatory PI and mental errors, but was the recipient of a gift pick 6.

Speaking of the much-maligned DBs, they had 3 picks, and should have had 4 among the 50 passes by Blake Bortles. K’waun Williams made a spectacular one-handed grab on a deep ball, and Ahkello Witherspoon made a great adjustment on what looked like was supposed to be a back-shoulder fade that instead was picked.

But for the int in the end zone on a pass that was a sure TD that turned into an interception had not Garoppolo been hit while throwing, the blocked extra point, completely blown onsides kick, the game should have been easier that it turned out to be. But the Jags ARE a good team and the fought all the way to the end. This talk of franchising Jimmy G should pretty much end now. They need to sign him after the season ends next week. Anyone that can come in and direct this 1-9 team, one ravaged by injuries, to a 5-0 record, has to be thought of as the real deal.

Make it so . . .

And, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! Thanks one and all for hanging out in my little corner of the internet. With a shout-out to the New England Patriot organization for our early Christmas present in Jimmy G.

These last two weeks are going to be interesting to say the least. The Rams an Jags are bona-fide top-tier teams that are at the top of the heap. Win both, and the league would take us very seriously. Go 1-1 and it would be a nice statement to the league about our ascendancy. Go 0-2 and battle, well, same kind of thing.

Get shelled in both games? Well, the attitude would be we suck and are a couple years away. That’s the feeling now anyway, so a win in either game would be gravy, but our draft position would be much better. The higher the pick, the better the trade value. Two competitive losses would suit me fine, but hey, it would be great to see us knock off the Rams in prep for next year.