San Francisco 49ers Forever

For the want of a Niner game, let’s go over the team at the midway point of the season. Offensively, the team has survived a bunch of preseason (and regular season) injuries to get themselves back into the playoff picture when it was a little murky after week 3 and the Niners were 1-2. Those first 3 games were strangely pass oriented. It worked for the Green Bay game, but the Seattle and Indy games were laden with sacks, hurries, and no continuity or sustained running. Both games were close heading into the 4th quarters, but both ended up being blowouts as the defense faded from being on the field too long, and the offense kept turning the ball over.

Since those games however, the Niners have once again strapped themselves to the bell cow, Frank Gore. He is seemingly just as fresh as he was 5 years ago, and is still playing at a very high level. With Gore running successfully, other aspects of the offense now work. The passing game has gotten fairly effective, even though there are mainly two targets, VD and Anquan Boldin. Bruce Miller has come on as a check down, after some early season drops (the Seattle game especially he dropped a TD). The Niners even threw a swing pass to Gore last week (!). The good news is Marion Manningham will soon be back on the field for the 2nd half push. And Colin Kaepernick, who overcame a foot injury in the Green Bay game, has settled down and has once again become a viable read-option threat.

Defensively, the team has overcome injuries to the D line. Ian Williams was knocked out of the season with a broken ankle in week 2 on a cheap-shot block low and behind Williams, and Glenn Dorsey has been in and out with different tweaks. Nnamdi Asomugha went down to injury, but has been more than ably replaced by Tremaine Brock. Then there is the machinations of Aldon Smith and his arrests, rehab, and subsequent reinstatement a few days ago. Through all this, the defense has gotten stronger, due to the emergence of guys like Corey Lemonier and rookie safety Eric Reid. Patrick Willis as fought through injuries, but the star so far is NaVorro Bowman. He leads the team in tackles, and is all over the place.

The good news for the team is the injuries and distractions they have overcome to build this 6-2 record. I don’t know how or if the injury to Kaepernick had anything to do with the stopping of the read-option (and I actually called for it in the GB game), but the offense was out of sync until the ground game got going in week 4 against the Rams. The team is getting depth help from Quinton Dial and Tank Carradine after this bye, as well as Manningham, and hopefully soon, Michael Crabtree.

The team is setting up to be in good shape for the 2nd half of the season. How this shakes out with Seattle and their injury problems with their O lline remains to be seen. I’m not holding out much hope for TB to do anything on the road in Seattle, but the Atl game next week may be a stumbling block for them. The hope is the Niners can get to the Dec 8th game with Seattle even with them.

UPDATE: Aldon Smith was activated by the 49ers from the Non-Football Injury list

Aldon Smith has returned to team headquarters today. Whether he can play soon or even at all remains to be seen. He has his Nov 12 appearance for the 3 weapons charges he faces, as well as a Nov 19 court date for the DUI arrest that put him into rehab in the first place. Tell ya one thing. That must have been one hell of a party. He got stabbed, weapons were fired, and Smith ends up getting arrested for assault weapons charges.

Not sure how the fact that the cops invited Smith to go to a shooting range plays into this, but it can’t help the prosecution’s case very much. I’m sure that the weapons charges will get pled down to misdemeanors, but the DUI thing still has to be dealt with. Although the ‘good faith’ deal of Smith going to rehab and thus missing 5 games also plays into the league’s reaction. I suppose the next couple weeks of his being with the team and how he addresses these things in public will play their role as well. Act contrite and talk about changing your life, and that works with Goodie Goodell’s perception-is-everything idea of cleaning up his league. Act like a stupid punk going forwardand pay the price. I don’t think he, or the team, is that dense though. He will likely be in lockdown mode as the team has assured him that one more wrong move and he’ll be tossed from the team. if not the league.

That’s all well and good. I sincerely hope he gets his shit together and stays with the team, as he is a once-in-a-generation talent, and seems to be a nice kid, if not caught up in a bunch of shit. The party seemed to bring some nasty shit to the forefront for him, but the DUI stuff has dogged him for a while now. Is it simply the exuberance of youth? Too much too soon for a young man? A thug escaping the hood? Truth be told no one knows but Aldon and his family. When he was drafted, I didn’t hear anything regarding red flags or behavior issues around him, but then again, I hadn’t heard of him at all until the Niners drafted him.

The unspoken elephant in the room regarding him (and a few other mercurial talents that get in trouble) is that HE doesn’t really have to do much to get right back into the league with an enormous contract under his belt, provided he doesn’t kill himself or someone else. Whether he is suspended for all of this year and next, cut from the Niners and even does some jail time, teams will line up to sign him after he has faced his obligations, whatever they may be. The league is filled with guys who have faced many differing charges and have come back. Pacman Jones being the most glaring example. He was on probation when drafted for a bar fight, and arrested for vandalizing a nightclub in Nashville before ever playing a down in the NFL. Then there was the public drunkenness arrest, and the infamous ‘making it rain’ beating of a stripper and subsequent gunplay. He served time, was suspended for a year, and generally kept screwing up for years. Even after the shooting incident, he was involved in other shootings and general unruliness. He’s currently playing very well for the Bengals on a 3 year deal.

The point? Well, Aldon still holds all the chips in his future. If he gets his shit together, he can reap tons of money and gain possible HOF status if he keeps rolling the way he has played. Keep screwing up and he still will likely play for a lot of money, if not go through the machinations of jail, suspensions, fines, and other bullshit. Like I said, I hope he straightens himself out before he kills himself or someone else, or simply pisses his career away.

Here we are at the halfway mark, and the bye week, and the 49ers are fairly flying. 5 double-digit victories in a row, Stifling defensive performances, and a punishing run game has put the Niners back in the Super Bowl chatter. Sure, the competition hasn’t been among the elite, but you play the guys in front of you. The point being, the team came out of training camp pretty beaten up, and they have weathered that after a couple real bad games vs Seattle and Indy. Games where Harbaugh uncharacteristically ditched the run game despite all the injuries to the wide receivers, and lost games that were both decided late. Games that should have been more in line with how they usually play. And that’s the power running game behind Frank Gore.

So, the good news is, Vernon Davis gets a chance to heal his tweaked hammy. Kappy’s foot has healed up from his injury in the Green Bay game. Quinton Dial was recently activated from the PUP list. Tank Carradine as well. Soon to be followed by Mario Manningham and Eric Wright. The team has established their run game, and has managed to at least wean Bruce Miller into the passing game as an option rather than Boldin or VD. This means the team is getting healthy and will be getting fresh players to add depth and strength for the few remaining tough games down the stretch.

The obstacle of course is the Seattle Seahawks. A team that managed to win a game last night despite 138 yards of total offense. A team that could very well be a game behind the Niners if not for a Deangelo Williams fumble, a Matt Schaub pick 6, and a thrashing at the hands of the Rams yesterday. Woulda shoulda coulda I know, but Seattle is winning these games on the road, and that isn’t good. However, they are just now getting hit with injuries. Harvin isn’t back yet, but more importantly, they lost tackles Russell Okung and Breno Giacamini. It was very apparent yesterday when Robert Quinn and Chris Long both had 3 sacks. And Sidney Rice is out for the rest of the year with a knee injury. So an offense that is sputtering may have yet another injury to overcome.

Unfortunately for SF, Seattle has the Bucs, Falcons, and Vikes coming up. Since only the Falcons are on the road, they will likely win those 3 before getting Nawlins at home. A toss-up. The Niners have the Panthers here, then NO and Washington on the road. Not an easy task. The hope is the Niners are one game back when Seattle comes to town. Sea will likely be 10-2 at worst when they come to town. The Niners will have to beat a tough Carolina team, and win in NO as well as Washington to keep pace. The Rams come here, and while they are a fast defense, the Niners should be able to outscore them. Losing to NO on the road looks like the one they drop. So, at 9-3, that would set the stage for the Seattle showdown.

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, The Clash. Notably for the Elvis homage album cover.

Anyhow, the Niners are getting ready to tilt with the Jacksonville Jaguars in jolly old England. Jax is one of two teams without a win. The other being the TBay Succaneers. A team that gave up early and laid down like licked puppies tonight in a blase effort guaranteed to get head coach Greg Schiano an early start on the end of the season.

Jacksonville, on the other hand, well, the same hand, isn’t really providing anything resembling solid football. They are last in offense, last in scoring, 28th in defense, last in points given up, last in point differential, and last in rushing yards allowed. Needless to say, the hope is a quick painless win that allows the team to heal up for the bye and the and 2nd half push.

I’d expect to see running, running, and more running. Shove these guys out of the way and beat them down early. Bring in as many 2nd stringers as possible (hello Colt McCoy), and auto-pilot this bitch to victory. I know, on any given Sunday, blah blah blah, but really. A loss to this team would be a huge blow. To our playoff hopes, and to our psyche in general.

Put these kitties down and roll to our 5th win in a row. 6-2 at the break was about what I hoped for at the start of the season, and this would fall right in line with that.

How Tennessee missed out on that team name escapes logic. I think it won the naming poll by over 40%. 2 huge things in its favor. Everyone like penguins, and Don (Maxwell Smart) Adams was the voice of Tennessee.

Anyhow, The Niners played a very solid game yesterday. Well, until the end when they went super conservative and let the tit’ns back into it a little. They were up 24-0 entering the 4th quarter, and they let a big play happen off an innocuous screen play that may or may not have been illegally blocked. Still and all, though, a game that was never in doubt as the defense kept Chris Johnson and Jake Locker from doing any serious damage until late in the game. Standouts were Anquan Boldin and his two spectacular catches among the 5 for 74, VD and his solid effort of 4 for 62, Frank Gore had 70 on the ground, and 34 in the air, including (gasp!) a screen play that went for 29! VM even made a great catch on a tipped pas at the 1 ayard line to set up the 2nd TD. Kappy ended up a very efficient 13-21 for 199 yards + 68 on the ground, including a 20 yard scamper for a TD on 3rd and 7 to close out the 1st half. A definite knife in the heart of Tenn. Especially when the Niners took the 2nd half kickoff on a 14 play, 79 yard drive that ate 7:35 of the 3rd quarter to put the Niners up 24-0.

The defense had a lot of big plays, including Tremaine Brock’s pick on a deep pass by locker, 2 sacks by Justin Smith (and 1 by Ahmad Brooks), and constant harassment of Locker in the pocket. Out of Tenn’s first 8 drives, 6 ended with punts, one was an INT, and one FG. Tenn got yards, but no points. Til garbage time. One of the biggest plays however turned out to be a beautiful hit by hitherto unknown special teamer Darryl Morris on Darius Reynaud that he fumbled and was recovered bay Kareen Osgood in the end zone for a huge ST touchdown. Morris was all over the place on punts and KO returns, one KO he pinned Tenn on the 9 yard line.

All in all one of the Niners most consistent efforts. Albeit, I didn’t like the way they turtled in the 4th quarter. Still and all, a good road win, especially when you look at how Seattle struggled with these guys at home the week before. The offense is hitting bigger plays with a little more consistency, and the run game is still keeping defenses honest. As a proponent of ditching the read-option early in the season, I think they’ve struck a good balance with it. Using it instead as a surprise rather than an every-possession (or even every set of downs) play. I’ll admit to be wrong about that, even though I was right. Right?

Or, Highyway 61 Revisited. The Niners are gearing up for their longest road trip of the season. A trip to Tennessee, Youngstown, and then Jolly Old England. They won’t be playing at home for a little while anyway, as the bye week follows the trip overseas.

Speaking of crossroads, we’ll see if the 49ers can do something that still hasn’t been done since Jolly Roger Goodell started these yearly jaunts to Wembley, and that is to win the game previous to the trip, and win the game in England. There’s still a lot of question marks around this team as it struggles to find its way offensively. The good news is Mario Manninghamis closer to being activated, likely after the break. Quinton Dial has been activated to shore up a defensive line decimated by injuries. The run game has been stellar lately, but this hasn’t translated into huge success for the passing game. Which hasn’t looked great since week one. Still and all, not a big problem if Kappy can hit the big play when the opportunity arises, as he did with VD last week.

The defense has been wreaking havoc by generating turnovers these past few games, and it very well may have saved the team an embarrassing loss to AZ with the strip by Patrick Willis on Larry Fitzgerald as the Cards were driving to take the lead.

The Tits on the other hand have been sagging in recent weeks due to Jake Locker’s dealing with hip and knee injuries. Ryan Fitzpatrick has not rallied the troops, and has engineered. 2 game losing streak for them. Locker has been named the starter for this game, so the he is we get after him and hit hi early and often. For once I’d like to see the defense come out blitzing and generating tons of pressure instead of our usual base package til we see what’s going on defense.

Bottom line is, this is a game the Niners should win. Tennessee isn’t that great at any aspect of the game. A couple quick strikes and a couple long drives should harness these Tits handily.

In what should be a wipe-out, the Arizona Cardinals are hosting the Seattle Seahawks tonight in the big cactus. If anything, an interesting showdown between the possible Super Bowl representative from the NFC against the semi-surprising upstarts from the desert. It’s a given that Carson Palmer is struggling as he’s 18th in yards per game, and 31st in QBR, with 7 TDs and 11 picks. More interesting though is how poorly Russell Wilson is doing so far this season. He’s 28th in yards per game, 16th in completion percentage, 23rd in attempts, yet has a decent 92.6 rating, with 8 TDs and 4 picks. Good enough for 9th.

Seattle’s offense leans heavily on their run game (sound familiar?). They are 2nd in the league in rush yards per game, 10th in overall yards per game, and 8 in scoring. AZ is a distant 26th in yards per game, and 25th in scoring. By comparison, the 49ers are 4th in rushing yards, 23rd in yards per game, and 13th in points per game.

Defensively, Seattle is tough all around. 2nd in yards against passing, 11th in yards against rushing, 2nd overall in yards against, and 3rd in points allowed. AZ? 19th (surprisingly) in yards against passing, 5th in yards against rushing, 15th overall in yards against, and 12th in points allowed.

Az played better than I thought they would, and I certainly thought the Niners would get more pressure on Palmer, and I foresee Carson getting planted a few times, but I think AZ may hold serve against these guys. Seattle has proven to be much less imposing on the road, and AZ is always tough at home. Give Palmer some time, and he can do some damage. Still think Seattle wins though. Got to make the case . . .

My son and I get 1.5 seconds of air time.

What’s the word? Thunderbird. What’s the price? Thirty twice . . .

Anyhow, took my son to the game yesterday, and it couldn’t have been a nicer day. Until the Niners started leaving opportunities all over Bill Walsh field. Their first three trips to the red zone, two courtesy of Carson Palmer, netted a grand total of 6 points. A lead that evaporated in an overzealous play by Tremaine Brock (I think) going for Palmer’s 3rd pick of the day instead going for a 65 yard touchdown. The 1st quarter seemed to last forever. But once the Niners switched sides, they seemed to get going. To the 2, when Kappy threw a pick that I didn’t learn til I got home came on a tipped ball. Miller was open, and Kappy would have hit him had it not been blocked. That was the story for much of the day. Palmer missing guys wide open, and Kappy struggling at times with his accuracy as well.

The defense had 4 turnovers, but again, the Niner offense had a terrible stretch when after the bomb to VD putting the Niners up 22-14, had the ball at midfield and the 2nd quarter winding down. Instead of putting the game away, and taking advantage to start the 3rd quarter, Kappy fumbled the ball away on 2nd and 1, and AZ forced a 3 and out to start the 2nd half. AZ marched down the field and scored with relative ease, but inexplicably went for 2 early in the 3rd quarter. Way too early in my mind to be leaving points on the field. They didn’t convert, and the Niners had another shitty possession highlighted by a 32 yard run by Gore. After another fumble by Kappy, an incomplete pass, and a false start by VD, the Niners daringly tried a power dive with Gore on 3rd and 16 for a -4 yard run by. Again, way too early in my mind for Harbaugh to go ultra conservative.

With the momentum fully on the Cardinals sideline, and the Niners clinging to a 22-20 lead, the Cards were driving and were in FG range when Patrick Willis made the play of the game by knocking the ball out of Larry Fitzgerald’s hands for a fumble that was recovered by another defensive standout, Eric Reid. Again, when the Niners switched direction to start the 4th quarter, the offense took flight. Well, took to the ground. The Niners grinded out (or pounded the meat, in Jim Harbaugh’s words) an 18 play 89 yard drive than ate up nearly 9 minutes of time. That pretty much cooked the birds and the rest was merely running out the string for a decent if unspectacular win for the home team.

The Niner offense continues to worry me as it hibernates for long stretches. With great field position, they did nothing. Their first 1st down came with 1:10 left in the 1st quarter. On an offsides penalty no less. Arizona is a fast team, and they kept Kappy on the run a lot of the time. No one was getting open most of the day, except for VD. AZ rolled their safety to Boldin’s side a lot, and Kappy did look the safety off real nice on the 2nd TD to VD, but the passing game had a lot of misfires. McDonald, Dixon, Miller, Baldwin, and Williams all caught a pass. I guess that’s improvement. Boldin caught 3, but VD was the guy who got open repeatedly to the tune of 8 catches, 180 yards, and 2 TDs. 7 and 171 came in the 1st half though, as Kappy spread the ball around some as they doubled VD to open up the 2nd half.

The run game was a grind, as Gore was often hit at the line or behind it. The Niners did wear down the AZ D line by the 4th quarter when they salted the game away. I know we have weapons ready to help out, and our D line took a couple more hits when Dorsey went down with a hamstring injury, and Jerrod-Eddie went out late in the 3rd. I think his injury was merely a cramp, but I’ll have to check. Overall? A good game against an opponent that looked better than they should have. They pass rush was non-existent except for the safety by Lemonyay. Palmer looked like shit, but still managed to get AZ back into the game in the 3rd quarter, and were driving to take the lead when Willis caused the fumble to turn the tide. Their run game did some damage of its own in the 3rd quarter as AZ fought to get back into it. But a win is a win is a win. Seattle struggled themselves with the Tennessee Tuxedos, so we’ll see how we hold up in their house.

With the tough part of the schedule over, the Niners need to fatten up on their next few opponents. This starts with the Arizona Cardinals, A team that has lacked a QB since Kurt Warner got them 34 seconds away from a Super Bowl championship a few years ago. And been pretty much an atrocity since the Bidwell family took ownership 50 odd years ago. And a team that lacked any sense of style by naming itself after the baseball team it shared a city with. Really? Can’t come up with an original name? Bad form.

Anyhow, while the Niners wade through injuries and rehabs and likely suspensions coming down the line, they need to take care of business at home today. Patrick Willis is still a game time decision, VD is coming back to strength, and Justin Smith along with a bunch of others are nursing various maladies. Tank Carradine is close to being ready, as is Mario Manningham. These guys can’t get here soon enough with the state of the D line and WRs in varying states of thinness. Still and all, the defense did well against the Rams and Texans, giving up a short-field TD in the Ram game and no TDs in the Houston game. AZ isn’t exactly an offensive juggernaut, but I don;t k ow too much about the deal with them. Carson Palmer seems to be doing better than how he did in Raiderland, but other than that, I got nothing.

Scored a couple tickets to the game as well. Stub hub, and I got ’em for $40.00 under face value. On the 45 no less. Looking forward to it.

Game 6 is arriving, along with a flock of mangy birds. The Cardinals come to town on a bit of a surprising roll. They are equal with the Niners at just past the 1/4 pole with a 3-2 record, which includes a loss to the Rams but a win over Detroit, and a shellacking at the hands of N’Orlans. So, where does that leave the Niners? Well, they’ve had a tough schedule so far, and they’ve managed to come out battered, a bit scarred, and in some legal trouble. Aldon Smith may become the forgotten superstar in the very near future if he doesn’t get some sense into his head.

VD is getting healthier, and Patrick Willis says he feels ‘great’ after Wednesday’s practice. He’s not 100% but he feels he can go. As with last week, a game-time decision. This game is kinda hard to figure. The Niners should be able to stomp these guys at home. But teams that have done what they can to stop the run have fared pretty well. I don;t think their defense is near a good as Indy’s or Seattle’s though. Surprisingly, AZ is 22 against the pass, and 6th against the run. I think they stop the run so well because teams are lighting them up through the air.

I don;t know. I haven’t seen them play at all this yer, and really Ichabod Palmer is their QB? He’s been sacked 12 times, which is a vast improvement over recent AZ teams, so they must be doing something good up front. Still and all, AZ is 23rd at rushing, and 22nd in passing, 27th overall. Consistently mediocre. Not that the Niners are blowing doors offensively, but they are 6th in rushing at least. Both these teams rely on their defenses to keep them close. The Niners are 8th yards allowed, AZ 16th. However, AZ is half a point better at points allowed at 19 per game.

Frankly, this game should be treated much like the Green Bay game. Air it out early and often. Let’s try to generate a passing game that doesn’t look like the 5 yard out/WR bubble screen offense of 3 years ago. Time to just see if they can get Baldwin to go deep and go after the ball. Yes, we are going to run. But I want to see some shots downfield. This safety first offense leaves little to be desired. Take some chances to at least show that you can.