Forty Niners Forever

Journey Through the Past? Back to the Future? Return to Forever? Well, anyhoo Colin Kaepernick, newly freed from his injury-guaranteed contract, is magically healed and ready to play despite the talk that he needed to bulk up and get more ready. I guess a 1-4 record doesn’t engender confidence in the guy who was supposed to be better than CK.

Either way, I guess we get to see what I thought could be interesting oh so many months ago when Jimmy Bag-of-Donuts farted his way out of the locker room. And that is for Chip Kelly and Colin Kaepernick play their style of up-tempo football. Whether it’s one, done, and dash remains to be seen, but bet your bottom dollar that Kappy will get 10 x the scrutiny that the 33rd best rated AB in the NFL did.

And therein lies the rub. Colin and his kneeling for the anthem actually has generated a lot of talk, and controversy around the country, and even the world. He himself, then team, and one of his teammates have donated a cool mill each to various inner-city charities, so there’s that. So, whether you agree with the protest, it has done some good.

Oh yeah. The game? Shit, I don’t know. Buffalo on the road? Rex Ryan and his hard-hitting D? It’s pretty tough spot to put Kappy in, but there’s nothing easy about being an NFL quarterback. Trial by fire I suppose. The biggest difference between last year and this is the line is nominally playing better in the passing game. They were doing fine until last week’s debacle and subsequent passing every down and cratering.

Buffalo famously shit-canned OC Greg Roman, and for some reason the defense got better. And, shockingly the run game as well under Tony Lynn. Then again they have beaten the Rams, the Brady-less Pats, and the Cards. They did lose to the Jets (?!?). Who knows. Tough roadie for sure.

As we play the latest version of quarterback roulette. This was kind of how last year went as the front office bad-mouthed and whispered down the ability of Colin Kaepernick amid a team that lost all cohesion in the coaching staff and players.

The savior was of course the guy who is sucking now. Blaine Gabbert. A guy who has plenty of time and little to show for it. Kaepernick’s detractors have gone awful quiet as Gabbert has missed wide open guys, thrown ill-advised picks, and skipped passes on his way to a 1-4 record. All the while getting better than average protection.

With Kaepernick’s restructuring, the team is suddenly talking about letting him play. This after stating for the past 2 months that Kappy isn’t ready. Really. Frankly i don’t give a shit who plays, as long as it isn’t Gabbert. He has lived up to his 9-33 record.

And the Bills? God only knows. They fire Roman, and their defense plays better. The Von Ryan Express always has the possibility of becoming a train wreck in its own right. Huzzah! Kappy is playing for his NFL life at this point.

Hey, Badford is suddenly the hottest guy in the league. It could happen.

If I hear another presser from Chip Kelly praising his QB, I’m going to buy a pitchfork and a few torches. By just about every measure, Gabbert sucks. He has had a much cleaner pocket than Kaepernick ever had, and he still misses wide open guys and throws killer picks. He missed two passes in the 1st quarter that would have netted 80 yards at least and cost us a TD. Yeah, there were drops, and can we find a TE that can catch? But other than that, even in this game Gabbert had a clean pocket and had some nice passes through most of it, until the Niners were in desperation mode.

Some don’t cut it though. Yeah, we turned the ball over. Yeah, Hyde made a very stupid move in flexing (yeah, spearing is OK, dying in the streets of undiagnosed CTE is OK, but show some emotion? Fuck you. Two get you thrown out) as it led directly to the turnover on the tipped pass, and subsequent TD., and yeah, we fucked up again by roughing the kicker on a FG, and fumbled a kickoff.

Even still, the Niners got the score to 21-14 as the 3rd quarter ended. They even got the ball back. But just like the Dallas game, Gabbert threw a horrible INT to give the game away. AZ didn’t look back. And yet another struggling team got healthy on us. That being said, AZ sucks. They are not going to even sniff the playoffs this year.

So I don’t want to hear anything from Chip other than “we have to make a change at the QB position.” 1 and fucking 4 is not anything that should keep Gabbert starting. These last two games were eminently winnable, and we had the lead in both of them, yet shoddy undisciplined play, turnovers, and highly questionable play calling led to the lead being pissed away. Even the fucking Carolina game, we had our chances despite mistakes.

Fuuuuuuuck this. I’m getting real frustrated.

First off congrats to Connor Gillaspie and the San Francisco Giants in their quest for 4 in 7. Madison Bumgarner is a man among midgets when it comes to postseason baseball.

Wish the 49ers had a QB to match him in fortitude and demeanor. As it is, we have another game that we can conceivably win as the hands of a vasty overhyped Cardinal team that has staggered off to a 1-3 start. Yeah, our division has a tough schedule. Tough shit. I ain’t holding my breath. We seem to be the enablers that teams like AZ (and Seattle before them) get healthy on. Throw in the devastating injury to NaVorro Bowman, our NT position is failing miserably, and Buckner is out as well, so AZ will likely run amok. And by that I mean run.

We could possibly outscore them, but that would mean getting 4 quarters from our quarterback. Something that hasn’t happened yet. We had the game in hand last week, and we even looked like we had a shot to retake the lead in the 4th quarter with great field position. But Gabby missed a wide open Torrey Smith and there went the game.

Tonight? What the fuck. In honor of the Giants, we win 3-0.

A game that got Whittier and shittier as it went on took a terrible turn when  NaVorro Bowman went down with an apparent Achilles tear. If so, our semi permeable defense becomes that much less good. Not a great thing when the D is struggling in many facets.

More than that, it sucks for Bowman the passionate leader of the defense. This is another season lost to injury. And while things aren’t going great, he is one of the most respected players in the league. Shame that he is done for quite a while.

He said himself when leaving the locker room that it was his Achilles. As for the game? Our D line is not playing well. They were supposed to be a strength, but more often than not they are washed out on runs up the middle. Our NTs have been terrible. The early pass rush, with Bowman of course, was getting pressure.

offensively we are still stuck in 2nd gear. We show flashes of competence around long stretches of crap.

Chip says Gabbert is his guy but soon the rope will run out.

Can we play well enough at home? I’m losing faith after that flat performance last week.

28-16 Dallas. Hope I’m wrong.

That is all.

Well, here we are on the cusp of another lost season. This year it is Chip Kelly’s turn to feel the heat. Last year it was Colin Kaepernick on the hot seat as the team lost bigly and badly. This year it’s Blaine Gabbert on the chopping block as he dinks and dunks the team to 4 yard gains on 3rd and 7. Chip had the gall to say the stragety for getting 1st downs on 3rd and long is to throw underneath the coverage and let the receiver get the yards himself. When there are 9 guys playing 5 yards and in, this doesn’t work. Which is why we lead the league in 3-and-outs.

Dallas? Well they drafted a QB. In the 4th round. And he made a mediocre team instantly better. I said at the beginning of the year that Dallas would be better off with Dak than Romo. I’m pretty sure this is true. The Niners? Well, we desperately needed playmakers on offense so we didn’t draft any. We signed 15 UDFA WRs that aren’t on the team, and the QB we drafted was plucked off the practice squad by Cincy. Bleehhh.

So, here we sit. Teetering on the edge of The hope is this team continues last year’s pattern of playing well at home. I’m fairly doubtful at this point after seeing last week’s ‘effort’ vs Seattle. The offense was boring, way too conservative, and Kelly appears scared to let Gabby do more than throw 5 yard passes. Which is a challenge in itself. The defense was awful. Flat and toasted in 3 plays. Seattle’s first 4 drives netted 220 yards and 21 points. Our first 4 drives netted 57 yards, one 1st down, and 3 points. Ballgame.

Not sure how we do better against one of the hotter teams in the league, but an improbable win would actually be a good omen for the rest of the year. The Cards, Bills, Bucs, and Saints follow, and they aren’t all that good. But neither are we. If we play out of our minds, we could be 3-3. I ain’t holding my breath though. Maybe they’ll wake up before halfway through the 2nd quarter this game.

Losing my soul. I’d like to fly but my wings have been denied.

Well, this season is taking on an eerily similar tack as the 49ers were toyed with and humiliated by the Seattle Seahawks. As like last year, the 49ers beat a supposed up and coming team. Even more convincingly this year as we shut out the newly LAed Rams.

Also eerily familiar is the lack of doing much of anything in the passing game over 6 yards. He run game was stuffed all day minus one breakaway by Hyde when it didn’t matter at all. My thought was we would gamble a little more and take shots downfield with Torrey Smith. He has to be feeling sick right about now as the one pass he got was off line and good for 11.

The defense was flat not ready to play. 3 snaps, 75 yards, TD, the route was on. 3rd and 14 and we rush 3. Was I the only o e screaming at that scheme? That was it for me. I knew the rest of the game plan. Down by 3 touchdowns in the 3rd quarter? Run up the middle! 3  times in a row! There that gambling  hipster. 4th and 2 down 14-3? Fuck going for it. Let’s miss the FG. It’s like Jimmy T came out of retirement to leave his stink on this game.

Again, check downs by our hapless QB.  Dropped passes. No blitzing. We couldn’t stop the run despite the banged up Seattle line. Our LBs were nonexistent as they were washed out nearly every play. We couldn’t get pressure so a hobbled Wilson had a field day.

At this point the game plan looked like it was called to protect Gabbert from doing more damage than he did anyway. They need to get him out. Ponder? Kaepernick? I don’t give a shit. Gabbert has to go.

Game 3 of the treacherous 5 game start to the 2016 season continues in Seattle, the land of Rainier Beer, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, and year-round wet clothing. Seattle, for its part is coming off a couple of very uninspiring games. Offensively anyway. They have scored a grand total of 15 points in their victory over the Dolphins, and their loss to the Rams. Defensively of course, they are still formidable.

Our offense? Kind of a mixed bag of trix. While we have scored 55 points in 2 games, there have been too many 3-and-outs, notably in the 3rd quarter. Our quarterback has been inconsistent, quick to check down, and goes through stretches were he throws grounders, and the run game has been haphazard. Hyde has looked good at times, but the run game was shut down by the Panthers.

Thing is though. the Rams and the Panthers have good defenses. As does Seattle. So, where does that leave us? Well, our defense has done good against a shitty team (Rams 185 yards, 0 points), and bad against a great team (Carolina 529 yards, 46 points), so, again, a Mexican standoff when you look at the numbers. Seattle, for all intents and purposes, look more like the Rams than the Panthers so far, but that doesn’t mean anything. Russell Wilson is hurting with a high ankle sprain, and has lost a lot of mobility. Teams are taking advantage of that, and Seattle is struggling to score. Beast Mode is gone, and their offensive line has been a different kettle of fish with Max Unger gone.

So the name of the game is pressure. Get to Russell, and we should be able to control the game. Leave him alone like we left Newton unscathed last week vs Carolina, and we can expect to lose. Simple as that. Playing the safeties deep to keep things from going over the top is well and good, but it lets underneath stuff in and Seattle will try to take advantage of that. I think we may need to gamble more if we aren’t getting pressure early. We can’t let another QB play pitch and catch all day.

21-12 Niners . . .

Game Tres is nearly upon us, and the prevailing sentiment is that the 49ers have a shot at actually winning a game in the big taco. How quickly perceptions have changed this season. It was a short time ago that some folks thought the 49ers would lose every game handily. A strong win over the Lambs, and a decent showing against the NFC champs have changed things a bit.

What does that mean for this weekend? Squadoosh. The game is still played on the field, and the Seahawks are still a force to be reckoned with. And the giant clam is still a tough place to play. We are a short way into the Chip Kelly era, and a couple things are apparent. The team has scored points against 2 solid if not great defenses. The offense, while not epic, has shown flashes of consistency and flair. Then again it has shown the inability to get 1st downs in alarming fashion, mainly in the 3rd quarter for some inexplicable reason.

What was funny last week is that Carolina went soft late in the 3rd quarter, which allowed the 49ers to score, and then score quickly when Ted Ginn had an allergic reaction to leather and gave the Niners the ball on the 2. A Ted Ginn special to pay back for the Ted Ginn special from years ago when he mishandled a pitch and watched StL recover for a TD. Anyhow, that ignited the Niners to close within a TD of the Panthers. Something unheard of last year. Sure we lost, but the team didn’t give up, and was a dropped VMcD pass from a big play and the possible tying score. Of course Gabby gurked the next throw, and therein lies the rub.

Our quarterback situation. Gabbert is the quarterback. For now. He’s under 50% and had 2 terrible picks last Sunday after nearly giving up 3 the week before.  He HAS made some strong throws, and even got some first downs with his feet, but he’s not exactly cementing his place as the guy for this year, let alone the future. He may not even be starting in two weeks.

Kappy? Well, he’s still getting back into shape after all his offseason surgeries and his dead arm deal. Good, bad, or indifferent he’s the #2 QB. Usually the #2 guy gets a lot of love, but this is CK we are dealing with. He has had a mercurial career to say the least. From 5 yards away from a Super Bowl to the depths of, well, Santa Clara. Unless Gabbert starts feeling it better and better as the season goes on, he will be replaced by week 6 I’d think. It really is tryout time for the QB spot. Christian Ponder may even get his nose in the race if both these guys roll snake eyes.

Anyhow, back to the game. Seattle is looking vulnerable as RW is hobbled by an ankle injury, and the idea of trading center Felix Unger for Jimmy Graham is not looking like a good idea as of now. The lynchpin of the line is gone, and Seattle’s offense has been a study in futility. They won a defensive battle against Miami 12-10 and lost a defensive battle to the LA Rams 9-3. Which begs the observation, Seattle has scored 15 points in 2 games and won one. The Rams have scored 9 points in 2 games and won one. Seattle has given up 19 points in 2 games, and only won one, while the Rams have given up 31 points and have done the same. Us? We have scored 55 points in 2 games. A HUGE difference from last year, but they gave up 46 in their loss. 0 in the first game is the kicker. 23 points doesn’t sound horrible, but we have to do a much better job of getting pressure. Giving RW time will be our death. Get pressure and we could win handily.