Forty Niners Forever

In keeping with The Who theme, it is onward and upward to the Frozen Tundra. The field that Curly built. Lambeau Field. In the great white you-betcha! At some point in my life I’d love to go see a game there, but anyhow, the Forty Niners are going back to Green Bay for their latest edition of Beat the Pack.

Beyond the fact that the Niners are being penalized for playing in a strong division, and the Packers are rewarded for playing in a shitty one, winning in Lambeau is always a challenge. In what has been a one-sided affair recently, the Niners are 3-0, including the last 2 seasons’ opening day wins (one here, one at Lambeau) and the playoff win early this year. Before that? Well, 1-13 between 1996 and 2010. One of course being the Owens Owens Owens game. The teams split the rest as they alternated between being dominant (GB in the 60s, Niners in the 80s) to doormats (GB in the 70s, Niners in the 60s). Overall GB leads 34-29. Time to get #30.

Truth be told, Green Bay shouldn’t even be here. Deetroit had a clear shot to the NFC North, as did Chicago. Both failed miserably. Meanwhile Green Bay staggered through their game without Aaron Rodgers, and got him back just in time to win the decider last weekend with the Bears, who went 3-5 to close the season. GB meanwhile went 2-5-1 without Rodgers, and Deetroi famously went 2-6 to blow the division. So, blame Jim Schwartz for the fact that we are playing outside this Sunday.

About the game. Well, I hope this one will be easier than the last couple. Green Bay does not scare me at all on defense. Sister Golden Hair is out with a thumb (!) injury, and they stop neither the run or the pass very well. The Niners famously ran all over them in the playoffs last year, and alternated that by passing all over them opening day. Green Bay’s strength used to be creasting turnovers, but this year they are -3.

The only new wrinkle that Green Bay has is on offense. That is rookie phenom RB, Eddie Lacy. He of the 1200 yards rushing, and 4.1 average. Aaron Rodgers of course is Aaron Rodgers. So the Niners need to do a better job of getting pressure on him. I’m hoping these last 2 games for the Niners were attempts to try different schemes regarding pressure. If not, we are in trouble. Atlanta and AZ have both been notoriously bad at protecting their QBs, yet the Niners generated 2 sacks on 98 passing attempts. This cannot happen with Rodgers no matter the weather.

The Niners of course stop the run well, and their pass defense has been great all year. But as noted, their most recent games they have been torched through the air. They didn’t give up a 300 yard game since game 1 and Aaron, but gave up 341 and 399 to Ryan and Palmer respectively. Palmer!

The good news is we seem to match up well with Green Bay with our base defense. The Niners only got 2 sacks in week 1 but Rodgers was harassed all game, and completed 56% of his passes. Kappy on the other had went for 70%. I don;t thin the game goes like the early game this year. I think the Niners can wear down Green Bay’s defense, and keep Rodgers from going too crazy. I’m thinking something like 31-20.

Well, the pink slips are starting to fly out of team HQs around the country. Cleveland beat the holiday rush and fired Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller Greg Chudzinski yesterday, presumably to protect others in the organization from being dragged into the Cleveland sewers and eaten alive. The next ex-coach will be hired any minute now.

No surprise to anyone, Mike Shanahan and his entire staff were jettisoned by Daniel Snyder and his band of renown. I feel bad for RG III as this revolving door of coaches and FO staff will start spinning at breakneck speed for the next few years while the team that shall not be named out loud continues on its merry way to mediocrity.

Leslie Neilson Frazier is out in Minnesota despite their playoff appearance last year, and the return of AP. His struggle was just figuring out who to play at QB, Ponder battled injuries, Cassell played well some of the time (and awful at other times), and Josh Freeman (urk) pretty much puked on his shoes every chance he got. Revolving QBs rarely works, and it failed miserably in Minnesota. Plus the defense went south big time in a division that was soft to say the least.

May the Schwartz be with you won’t be with Deetroit anymore. He guided a very solid team to very underwhelming results during his tenure in Ford City. Although he did take over a 0-16 team, they certainly didn’t get enough out of their offensive weapons, and their defense, while tough, shoots itself in the feet regularly with dumb penalties and mental lapses. The Lions collapse was especially gruesome as they had the division lead at 6-3 after beating the Bears in Chi-town and having a relatively easy schedule to close out the season. They summarily lost 6 of their last 7, including losses to the Vikes, the Bucs, the Giants, and the Ravens. That’s some serious suckage.

Perennial schoolyard bully Greg Schiano was kicked to the curb in Tampa like the drity dog he is, along with his GM Mark Dominick. They started under the curse of Josh Freeman, cut him, and flailed around looking for a QB while the staggering losses piled up. Mike Glennon actually emerged from the Tampa Bay muck to look fairly decent. After going 0-8 to start the year, TB won 4 of 5, but closed the year losing their last 4.

The Texans, of course, fired their HC Gary Kubiak 3 weeks after collapsing on the field after suffering a stroke during a game vs Indy. “how ya feeling, coach?” “Good. Getting better.” ” Oh, by the way, you’re fired!”

And so it goes. By the time today ends, I’m sure there will be a few more (Dennis Allen? Mike Munchak? Tom not-so-Terrific Coughlin?) Perennial moron Jerry Jones is sticking with (for now) Jason Garrett as his sock puppett, uh head coach, although he did get rid of Lane Kiffin’s dad the full Monty as the Dallas DC. Frankly, since they are local, but I still don;t give much of a rat’s ass, I think the Raiders should stick with Dennis Allen. They are desperately in need of SOME continuity, and with Dirty Al gone, Prince Valiant must try to engender some team unity as they dig themselves out from re-un-dead Al’s pit of contract and draft choice hell.

So, who’s next?

For the only week of the year, all of the NFL games are scheduled for Sunday. And if there ever was a week to have 16 TVs to watch all the games, this would be it. In the NFC at least, just about all the playoff spots are in a state if flux, and the idea to make the last weekend all divisional games had paid off in spades. The NFC East and NFC North have play-in games as Dallas, minus Tony Romo, squares off with Philly, and Chicago faces Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers at Soldier Field. Carolina, Seattle, and the 49ers all have a shot at getting the 1 seed. AFC? Ehhh. Don’t care at this point. Brady and Manning look to meet again if the script follows the pattern. Indy and Cincy might have something to say about it, but I doubt it. KC? Alex Smith? One would think the AFC wildcards are a quick exit. We’ll see. The combo of Miami or Balt don’t scare anyone either. The NFC? Well, whoever the wildcards are look to beat the North and East champs handily.

Anyhow, back to AZ. They started badly, but have re-inserted themselves back into the playoff race by winning 7 of their last 8, including a beat-down of the Colts, and most recently a fairly stunning road win over Seattle in the house that noise built. AZ is throwing the ball a ton, and is overcoming the 21 picks by Carson Palmer simply by throwing more. As evidenced by their win over Seattle where Palmer threw 4 picks and still won. Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd lead the way. Both are close to 1,000 yards, and both account for nearly all of their TDs in the air. Defensively AZ is fast and tough. They have the # 1 rush defense in the league and are 6th overall in yards per game given up. LBs Karlos Dansby and John Abraham are leading a group that has improved as the season has rolled on.

All that being said. I think AZ has been playing for their lives for a long time. Running on adrenaline too long, and will come back to Earth. Niners win 28-20. I also think the Rams manage to contain Russell Wilson and take Seattle at home. 2 seed and the bye. Book it.

. . . is clear as mud, so there’s little reason to plan ahead. In the NFC, every game has some sort of playoff implication. In a bit of scheduling mastery, Dallas and Philly meet to determine the winner of the NFC East (the east sucks, but Philly’s coming on), and Green Bay and Chicago meet to determine the winner of the NFC North (speaking of suck…). Other than that, the NFC West is still up for grabs as Seattle has choked their shot at clinching these past few games, and the Niners have kept up the pace. The Niners face AZ on the road, always a tough deal as they are fighting for their playoff lives, and Seattle faces the semi-upstart Rams, who themselves have flip-flopped between great and awful. The scheduling Gods also start these games at the same time, so there will be major scoreboard-watching going on.

Carolina and Nawlins are still fighting for the NFC East, and NO seems to have an advantage playing TB at home. NO wins the division due to a better division record. Carolina is playing a pissed off Stlanta team that was 70 seconds from a hard-fought road win over the 49ers, only to see it evaporate in a final piece of Candlestick magic.

The Niners are the 1 seed if we win, Sea loses, and Carolina loses. We’d be 2 if we win, and Sea loses. If Sea wins and NO loses, we are the 5. If we lose, and NO AND Carolina win, we are the 6. AZ needs the most help, but if they win and Nawlins loses, then AZ is the 6th seed. The Niners would be the 5 based on a better division record than AZ.

Clear as mud, eh?

Well, if that was the last game at Candlestick Park, the Niners sent her to the dust bin of history in grand fashion. NaVorro Bowman’s 90 yard TD snatched victory front the jaws of defeat and cemented our spot as a playoff team. We still don’t know what our seeding is, but it is either 1, 2, 5, or 6.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus, or whatever your predilection is, but have a good and safe time this holiday season.

See ya on Thursday.

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Groupology event from Anna Piranah:
The software is at my.groupol.ogy, but you’ll need a private invitation in order to participate in this multimedia event that will feature videos, Candlestick memories, photos and live chat during the game. If you’d like to participate, please send email to anna@ekage.com).
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And Candlestick’s . . .

Here we are at Week 16, and there are still 18 teams still in the running. That means only 14 teams have been eliminated, and 10 teams are fighting for the last 4 spots. Crazy thing is, the Niners can still land the #1 seed, the 2, the 5, the 6, or they can be eliminated from the playoffs entirely. The unlikely scenario of the Niners gaining the #1 seed got a huge boost from the suddenly sleepless in Seattle. The 12th Man couldn’t help the suddenly anemic Seattle offense out of their malaise, and they suffered a beat-down at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals. A team themselves on the edge of the playoff hunt. Carson Palmer did all he could to give Seattle chances by throwing 4 interceptions, but it mattered little as the AZ defense kept Russell in check to the tune of 89 net yards passing, and 103 yards rushing (71 for Lynch). If it wasn’t for the picks, this should have been easier for AZ, but Seattle has to be reeling a bit right now. They’ve lost 2 out of their last 3, to division rivals no less, and have another division foe in St. Louis next week.

So, as this applies to the 49ers, don’t take your foot off the gas. Win tonight and clinch a playoff berth. Don’t leave this shit up in the air. I sincerely didn’t give AZ much of a shot, but AZ played godawful on offense and still won fairly easily against the vaunted Seahawks and their 12th man. Seattle went nowhere all day, and were 2-13 on 3rd down conversions. This brings to mind the earlier Niner game in Seattle, which they won handily. Or did they? That game, the Niners were missing Mario Manningham, Crabs, VD got hurt midway thru the 2nd quarter, Ian Williams was chop-blocked and broke his ankle, Willis was hobbled by a groin injury, Miller dropped a TD pass in the 1st quarter, and Kappy missed an open VD and was picked off early. Throw in the 5 turnovers, and you have a recipe for failure. Yet, for all that the Hawks had a 5-0 lead at the half, and a 12-3 lead at the start of the 4th quarter. This is where the game got away, as the Niners kept forcing the ball in the air, and the defense got gassed due to our 38 second drives, and Seattle scored a couple late TDs.

I hope the 49ers just play the game tonight and don’t get caught up in all the history around the Stick, the hoopla, and the circus atmosphere for the game tonight. It’s hard enough to win in the NFL without a shitload of distractions. And there are quite a few tonight. The Niners should be able to run on these guys. And if TB proved anything, it showed that we CAN run against 9 in the tackle box. But that was with Bruce Miller. He’s out, and the run formations look to be different with Boobie Dixon in the backfield with Gore. Still and all, Atlanta is travelling across the country amid a completely failed season, and shouldn’t put up too much resistance. The recipe is the usual. Get on top of them early, and put them away. I’d love to see Colt McCoy get into the game by the end of the 3rd quarter.

From a friend (Anna) on another blog:

I am looking for people to participate in an online Farewell to Candlestick party. The purpose is, of course, to hold a going away party for the soon-to-be Great America 49ers. The second purpose is to test out software that I hope will become a significant part of and asset to social media and fan/user interaction. The software is at my.groupol.ogy, but you’ll need a private invitation in order to participate in this multimedia event that will feature videos, Candlestick memories, photos and live chat during the game. If you’d like to participate, please send email to anna@ekage.com). If you cannot attend, please contribute your own Candlestick memories on the “Jon Dowds Revenge” site listed in my blogroll (jondowdsrevenge.wordpress.com). Thanks!

It still hasn’t really sunk in yet. Candlestick Park, Monster Cable Stadium, 3-Com, Shit-hole, The Pigsty, whatever you want to call it, it will forever in my heart be The Stick. Some time soon it will be imploded and forgotten. I can’t even begin to guess at how many baseball and football games I’ve been to at the grand old hole, but I do remember the first game I went to. I was in 2nd grade, and it was 1969.

My mom thought it would be a great idea to take me and all the 2nd grade boys (16 of us) in my class to Bat Day. Bat Day usually fell near my birthday (April 25th), and this game was on the day after. I don’t remember very much about the game, but it was a sunny gorgeous Saturday, we were playing Astros, and all my favorite players were out there. Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal. An old guy behind me said “watch that centerfielder for the Astros. Jimmy Wynn. They call him the Toy Cannon.” I don’t know if he did anything that day, but I loved the nickname, and he became a guy whose career I followed as a kid. We were sitting in the upper deck cheapies on the 1st base side. I think we won.

The coolest thing about the game was the bats. Every kid 14 and under got a regulation sized bat. During any rally, all the kids would start pounding the bats on the concrete in rhythm. A sound that I’ll never forget, since there were tons of kids in the stands that day. My mom put up with a lot of kid shennanigans, and I hve no idea how we all got there, but I do remember getting bags of peanuts, those Carnation Malted things with the little wooden spoons, hot dogs, and cokes. We had a lot of fun stacking peanut shells on the hats of the 2 drunk oldsters in front of us who had fallen asleep (passed out?) somewhere around the 6th inning. All in all a greeat day, and my introduction to The Stick. Mom did that for the next couple years, bless her heart, and from then on I went to games every chance I got. Scrounging up money to catch the bus and hit the bleachers for 50 cents, or glomming on to friends who were going.

There’s talk of opening the stadium up some time next year for one last tour, and that is something I will not miss.

If you have any pictures or stories to share about the ol’ shit-hole, let me know . . .

I’m always confused that the word ecstacy does not have an X in it. Anyhow, this season sure isn’t what I imagined it to be. Yeah, I thought we’d beat up on the underlings like Tennessee and Arizona, but I didn’t think we’d get waylaid by the likes of Indy, Carolina, and especially New Orleans. Game 1 was a shining example of what turned out to be false expectations as we quickly fell to 1-2 and hit scramble mode. 5 wins later, and we’re feeling fine.

Boom, another little rough patch as the Niners lost 2 close games to 2 good teams. At least we tightened up the losses. Fast forward to now, and we’re rolling on a 4 game winning streak. Which of course includes the stirring victory over the Seahawks. So here we sit, with the 5th seed in our grasp. Yes, we could possibly get the 1 seed should the earth open up and swallow Seattle, but that probably won’t happen. Ans yes, we could lose out and miss the playoffs entirely I suppose, but that’s another far-fetched deal.

So, if things go according to the path of most likely, we win out and get the 5 seed. Which means we get the winner of the NFC Norris Division. Which most likely means Da Bearsss. GB could sneak in and ride the wild hope that Aaron Rodgers makes it back, but ewither way, we are playing in the elements. Not too big a worry to me as we have a strong run game, but if it’s a blizzard like we saw a couple weeks ago, all bets are off. Still, running and defense travel well in shitty weather.

Green Bay has Pitts, and a huge showdown with Chicago, which likely determines the playoff team. Lose and you are out. Deetroit, in the inimitable words of Steeve Young last night, “threw up on themselves” in a fairly ghastly loss to the Ravens, who did nothing more than get into field goal range 6 times yesterday. So, it would have been nice to play in the warm confines of the Bankrupt Dome, or wherever Deetroit plays, but Deetroit can’t get out of their own way, amid the penalties and stupid play calling. So it looks like the Niners are packing their longies for the trip to the frozen midwest.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, in the case of the San Fracisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys. Let’s take a look at a couple of football games from yesterday. The 49ers/Bucs game (of course), and the Dallas/GB game. Both featured teams that were expected to do very well and reach the playoffs with ease. Well, in both cases, each team has run into some roadblocks along the way. But as of yesterday, both had their fate in their own hands.

The Niners faced a tough road game against a team that, while 4-9, was on a roll, having won 4 of their last 5.The Niners of course have gone through their share of ugly losses, and a recent huge victory over the Seahawks. Dallas on the other hand, has yoyoed themselves through wins over the also-rans, and Philly before they got hot, and took a couple big losses in the shootout with Denver (51-48), and Chicago (45-28).

So, come yesterday, both teams had build up leads at the half. The Niners however, screwed the pup by going prevent late in the 2nd quarter to allow TB to march down the field and score a TD. Dalls, had build a seemingly insurmoutable 265-3 lead on the back of some strong DeMarco Murray running, and some big pass plays from Romo to Dez Bryant and Jason Witten. Throw in 4 field goals, and there’s your 23 point lead.

While the 49ers had dominated their half, they were only up by 10, and that lead quickly shrunk to 6 points after the Niners drove for a 43 yard FG, and Tampa swithced things up by going no-huddle, and scoring very easily to mae the score 20-14. Dallas meanwhile, started their 2nd half by instantly giving GB life by giving up a 60 yard run to Edddie Lacy, and letting GB score in less than 2 minutes after the kickoff. Still, Dallas was able to drive down the field and answer with a FG of their own on a 6+ minute drive, mixing runs and passes fairly well. GB then marches down the field 80 yards in 12 plays, making the score 29-17. Closer, but no need to panic yet.

Here’s where the coaching comes in to play. Both games were now entering the 4th quarter, and both teams faced momentum shifts that had gone the other way. The Niners were only up by 6, but at this point they started pounding the ball on runs. They engineered an 18 play (10 of which were runs), 75 yard drive that burned 10 minutes of the 4th quarter. That it only resulted in a FG is of little import as the Niners had a 2-score lead, and there was little time. Dallas, who had run the ball very well all game, suddenly and inexplicably gave up on the run. So their momentum-defining drive was 2 dropped passes, and a sack. Burning less than 1 minute of clock. So they were punting from their 2. A decent punt return, and boom. 29-24, and panic starts to creep in.

The Niners were then able to salt the game away on a very high risk reverse on the ensuing kickoff, thus allowing Kendall Hunter an easy touchdown on the blown excxhange. Dallas on the other hand, was in pass-only mode. To stem the fact that Their defense was turning very sieve-like, Dallas didn’t run. They did manage a tpouchdown midway through the 4th quarter, thus extending their lead to 36-24. Certainly a big enough lead, even though their derfense was starting to gag.

Sure enough, Dallas’ defense gives up a TD-scoring drive as GB marches 80 yards in 3 minutes. 36-31 Dallas. So, instead of trying to give their defense a rest, and take time off the clock, Dallas keeps passing. Incomplete pass, sack, then the killer INT. GB by this point is doing anything they want offensively. The Dallas defense is gassed and tiring, and they give up yet another scoring drive. 50 yards in 1:30. GB up 37-36 (2 pt conversion failed). At this point it still isn’t desperation time, but it’s close. Still and all, they just need to get into FG range to kick the game-winning FG. Unfortunately (hah!!), Romo throws yet another pick to ice the game for GB.

What do we gain from this? Well, as much crap as I’ve given Greg Roman over the course of this season, he called a masterful game yesterday. He did NOT go away from the run as he had in some earlier games when the momentum was slipping away. Namely, Seattle and Indy. He stuck with the run, and was rewarded with some tough Gore runs up the middle, and some surprisingly effective sweeps from Hunter. Kaepernick had, to me, one of his best games ever, as he effectively bought time and made some huge throws under big pressure, into some very tight windows. He also ran with reckless (and effective) abandon that kept drives alive.

Dallas on the other hand, is once again looking at a statistaical marvel of a game that sdomehow slipped away amid the HC blaming his QB for calling into the pick, and the prima donna WR walking off the field with 1:30 left in the game. In other words, just another day in Pleasant Valley.