Forty Niners Forever

Maybe I’ve got the scarlet-red-colored sunglasses on, but I think the Niners will win this going away. Much like the GB game, I think the Niners impose their will on Baltimore. Yes, they are tough, but I think our team speed will wear down Batimore in the end, and the Niners coast to a victory.  Baltimore is getting long in the tooth and I think we will run them ragged.

I’m going with 31-20. I think our offense can run on Baltimore, and if so, then the passing game opens wide. I also think our D line will eventually get to Flacco and he’ll make a critical mistake. Contain Rice, and I think we can slow their passing game to the point of frustration. Baltimore has also been burned by big returns on both kickoffs and punts, so I think the Niners have an advantage on special teams as well. That is, if it doesn’t come down to a FG. The David Akers saga is one I care not to think about too much, but at least Akers is perfect on extra points. I guess the hope is if he lines up for a FG, the Niners are dead center on the field. He seems to do fine from there.

Hey hey, my my. Sage words from Neil Young. All this recent talk of Bill Walsh and his trials and tribulations in his position of being a head coach leads me to wonder about Jim Harbaugh. Walsh, as noted in some recent articles (thanks, Chico), was demonized by the intricacies of preparing for game day. His greatness was overshadowed by his all-encompassing need to be the best, the most prepared, and the most dominant coach of his day. He was fueled by Paul Brown’s rejection of him as his heir apparent, and the thought that Brown sabotaged Walsh’s name to other NFL execs. Even with the Super Bowl wins there was always room for improvement. To the detriment of his team, his family, and his health. Walsh always seemed unflappable, stoic, and above the usual rigamarole of guys like John Madden or Dick Vermeil. Guys who burned real bright and burned out quickly.

Enter Jim Harbaugh. He of course was the fair-to-middling quarterback for a bunch of teams who played with a burning desire not seen in too many players. He won through strength of will, hard work, and determination. His coaching style seems to be molded in the same vein. He took a moribund 4-7 USD program and turned them around in 3 years to win the Pioneer League and go 11-1. He took a lousy 4-8 Stanford football team and spun them into an NCAA powerhouse in 4 years, winning 2 bowl games, going 12-1 in 2010, and earning them a #4 ranking.

Is Harbaugh on a fast track to burnout? If anything, he’s even more spread out than most other coaches. He has 6 kids (3 grown), including a one-year old son. He does loads of charity work for his Harbaugh Hill foundation, the Jim Harbaugh foundation, he anuually takes a couple weeks off to travel to Peru to build houses in remote jungles, and is co-owner of an Indy-car racing team, among the day-to-day deal of raising a family. He’s not quite 50, but criminy, he’s either one of the best in the world at time management or he’s awake 22 hours a day. His coaching style resembles a volcano poised on the edge of erpution. His explosion over the red-flagged pass last weekend was pretty epic. He jumped, slammed the turf with both hands, and his headphones exploded in fear as they flew off his head. This has been repeated in one way or another about 40 times this season. He’s already been treated for an irregular heartbeat (and missed like 3 hours of coaching time) and his stress levels during game day is likely off the charts. His description of game day is like a 3 hour root canal with no anesthesia.

Can he keep this up? Harbaugh looks like he’s in good shape and takes care of himself, but with the heart problems already known about, and the fact that he’s as intense as any 12 people, you have to wonder how long he can keep this up. One thing is, he appears to be able to turn the coaching guy off and focus on other aspects of his life.

Here we are in the down week of the Super Bowl festivities. The 49ers have apparently installed their defense and offense and are ready to go. They arrive in NewOrleans on Sunday Jan 27th. Then, the onslaught begins. Mandatory meetings, the digging through everyone’s past, and the kind of monumental distractions that have derailed more than a few players, notably Barrett Robbins and Bart Starr award winner Eugene Robinson.

The thing that could get messy is the whole deal around Colin Kaepernick’s birth mom, Heidi Russo. She has been hinting around that she wants to meet her son that she gave up for adoption when he was six weeks old. She has also been in and out of the news most of the season since Kaepernick got the starting job in week 10. Since the media is as subtle as a bull in a china shop, I’m sure there is going to be a lot of talk around this, and some sort of staged event, God forbid. Russo has said repeatedly that she leaves the decision up to her son, but that hasn’t stopped her from doing interviews with anyone or keeping her face in the public eye. Her timing sucks, and I’m sure this is being somewhat driven BY the media, but tis kind of shit hopefully won;t become all-consuming to all concerned.

There were a lot of quarterbacks taken in these last two drafts. A lot of quarterback who were supposed to save, or at least straighten out, a lot of franchises. In 2011 you had:

1. Carolina Panthers – Round 1 (1) – Cam Newton, Auburn
2. Tennessee Titans – Round 1 (8) – Jake Locker, Washington
3. Jacksonville Jaguars – Round 1 (10) – Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
4. Minnesota Vikings – Round 1 (12) – Christian Ponder, Florida State
5. Cincinnati Bengals – Round 2 (35) – Andy Dalton, TCU
6. San Francisco 49ers – Round 2 (36) – Colin Kaepernick, Nevada
7. New England Patriots – Round 3 (74) – Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
8. Kansas City Chiefs – Round 5 (135) – Ricky Stanzi, Iowa
9. Houston Texans – Round 5 (152) – Taylor Yates, North Carolina
10. Chicago Bears – Round 5 (160) – Nathan Enderle, Idaho
11. Baltimore Ravens – Round 6 (180) – Tyrod Taylor, Virginia Tech
12. New York Jets – Round 7 (208) – Greg McElroy, Alabama

In 2012 you had:

1. Andrew Luck Stanford 1 (1) Indianapolis
2. Robert Griffin III Baylor 1  (2) Washington
3. Ryan Tannehill Texas A&M 1  (8) Miami
4. Brandon Weeden Oklahoma State 1 (22) Cleveland
5. Brock Osweiler Arizona State 2 (57) Denver
6. Russell Wilson Wisconsin 3 (75) Seattle
7. Nick Foles Arizona 3 (88) Philadelphia
8. Kirk Cousins Michigan State 4  (102) Washington
9. Ryan Lindley San Diego State 6  (185) Arizona
10. B.J. Coleman Chattanooga 7  (243) Green Bay
11. Chandler Harnish Northern Illinois 7 (253) Indianapolis

That being said, the Niners draft of Colin Kaepernick, a guy Baalke traded up 9 spots for, was seen as a project. A guy who would hold the clipboard for a couple years, and maybe get his shot in 2013, or maybe not til 2014. Cam Newton took the NFL by storm and put up monster numbers while watching his defense give up tons of points themselves, and then crashed back to earth as Carolina kept losing. Locker sat behind Hasselbeck for 2011, and had a pretty crappy injury plagued 2012. Christian Ponder started hot for Minn, but slowly faded, and got hurt down the stretch his rookie year, but followed that up with a 2012 season that saw him lead Minnesota to the playoffs, only to miss the game with a tricep injury. Ginger Dalton led the improbable Cincinnati Bengals to the playoffs in 2011 only to crash and burn in the playoffs with 3 turnovers. In 2012, Dalton again led Cincy to the playoffs, only to crater as Dalton missed wide open guys deep, and couldn’t generate any offense for the Bengals. Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin the 3 were supposed to come in and show their mettle, and both came through in spades as both led their teams to playoff berths. The surprise of the 2012 draft was Russell Wilson, the Seattle phenom who stole the spotlight from just about everyone else in the NFL.

The rest? Not named Colin Kaepernick? Well, McElroy for ther Jets got a start over Timmy Tebow, and bit it. No one else did anything of note. Which brings us to Colin Kaepernick. He has maintained since draft day that he thought he should have gone higher. That he was a 1st rounder. There were insiders who said he was one of the top 3 QBs of the draft back then. Of course they are saying that NOW as he leads the 49ers into the Super Bowl.

Now? All that is ancient history. The NFL is abuzz over Colin Kaepernick. The crazy thing about all this is that Harbaugh even made the move. Yeah, Alex Smith got hurt, but the usual protocol of course says the starter gets his job back when the starter gets well. As we all know this didn’t happen. But you still have to wonder if Harbaugh would have pulled the trigger for some other reason had Smith not gotten hurt. You can go nutty with the ‘what-if’ game, but really, if Smith doesn’t get hurt, are we here in the Super Bowl? Would Smith have lost a few games and been benched for Kappy anyway? Would Smith have led us to the Super Bowl? Was this the only path? These are all valid questions, but the fact remains, Colin Kaepernick, in his 10th start as a professional football player for the San francisco 49ers, is leading his team into Super Bowl 47. Unfrickingbelievable. To say his future looks bright is the understatement of the year.

Sure, there have been guys who have faded after a hot start, Cam Newton is a recent example, but he really didn’t do worse than his opening year. His team ‘improved’ one game, but they are still not very good. Kaepernick on the other hand appears to have the football world at his feet. Should he win this next game, he’ll be the new face of the current crop NFL quarterbacks. Young, brash, inked-up, and ready to mow you down running, or killing you with laser dart passes. Yeah, Seattle and Washington have their versions of the run and gun QB in Griffin and Wilson. But, as Kappy has shown, he’s bigger and faster than both, and is already looking out for his own self-preservation. Throw in old-school passer Luck (who is fairly nimble in a sneaky-fast way), and the future of the quarterback position in the NFL looks pretty damn exciting lo these next 10-15 years.

Kappy gets one in 10 days, and he’s got a head start on the rest of these guys.

Crazy crazy game yesterday. No reason to go into the details, we all saw the excitement, the drama, and the coming out of Colin Kaepernick. That being said, the Niners are facing a team that looks somewhat like the Falcons (pocket passer, pounder of a RB, and a dominant WR in Antuan Bouldin), but also like the Niners themselves. Big and strong on both lines, they try and impose their will on every opponent they face.

Flacco reminds me of Matty Ryan, in that I didn’t see him much, but he’s put up solid numbers his whole career. Ray Rice is a force to be reckoned with, and their defense is as fundamentally sound as ours is. Beyond the brother angle, this game is a very good matchup. Old school hard nosed football. Power running with some dramatic flair thrown in by the emergence of Colin Kaepernick and his running ability. Deep shots on both sides. All in all, a pretty good deal.

We’ve got forever before gametime but the wait starts now.

All revved up, and too much time before game time! 16 hours and counting. I still feel pretty good about the Niners heading for their 6th appearance in the holiest of holies, SUPER BOWL XLVIII!!!!!  Not sure if I have the Roman numerals right. Not sure how I’ll sleep tonight. Got the same gang of friends coming over, so we’re going to let it ride. Beer, steaks, maybe kill the morning replacing the lower tranverse link in my daughter’s car.  Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Other than that BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Super Bowl time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year, both the Jims and the Johns were denied entrance to the Super Bowl. Jim on a couple botched punt returns, and John on a late TD that was knocked out of the WRs hands, and the inimitable Billy (wrong way) Cundiff’s missed chip shot to send the game into overtime. This year both have made it to the doorstep once again. In fact 3 of the 4 teams in these conference champioinship games are the same. Only the Atlantas have crashed the party.

I’m of the mind that Atlanta won their super bowl last week. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by parlaying a 31 yard punt return into a couple 25 yard passes to get into field goal range with 31 ticks left on the clock. Natty Ice WAS pretty natty on those 2 clutch passes, and Seattle even played it right by blitzing both plays.  Still and all, I don’t think Atlanta is all that spectacular. Ryan was uneven at best last week, but he did hit big plays down field. Their run game, while decent, isn’t going to get too much against the Niners, now that Justin Smith, who was in 98% of the plays last week, is back in the saddle. He says he feels better, and didn’t suffer any setbacks with his injured arm. I think the Niners will rattle Natty more than the job they did against Rodgers last week. No running for Atlanta, and slowing their passing game equals short Atlanta drives.

Atlanta on the other hand offers a much different look defensively than the Packers. The Pack plays a lot of man-to-man. So this opened up the running lanes for Kaepernick when he couldn’t find a WR to throw to.  Atlanta also did well to keep Russell Wilson fairly contained from breaking off any big runs. Stll and all, during crunch time, Seattle ran the ball tough, and Wilson made the throws to get Seattle ahead with little time left. Matty made one terrible throw that was easily picked off and aided in the comeback. As I’ve said, i think the Niners come out running. I think Mike Nolan comes out with his nickel package to start the game. If he does, the Niners will run up the middle. Pound it with Gore, and get LMJ to the edge with some screens and a sweep or 2. Our O line is on a roll, and we have been running pretty well recently.

If Teflon Mike comes out loading up the box, then it’s time to get VD involved. As well as Moss. Take some deep shots, and give Crabs his opportunities. I think the Niners can grind down Atlanta much as they ground down the Packers. I also like last week’s call. 31-17 Niners.

As far as the AFC game goes, I think Balt finally gets over the hump. Flacco had a good game against a tough Denver defense (even if Denver threw the game away late), while the Pats had a fairly easy time against the Houstons. Funny thing is, it would be pretty sweet to deny Tom Brady his 4th Super Bowl victory if the Niners beat them in the Super Bowl. If the team he grew up idolizing stopped him yet again in his attempt to tie Montana and Bradshaw for the Niners 6th Super Bowl title?

Epic. Then again, be careful what you wish for . . .

To kill the jinx, we must acknowledge it. It what must be some kind of twist of fate, the Niners are facing the Double Whammy of jinxes this weekend. EVERYONE knows about the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. And sure enough, there he is, big as life, Colin Kaepernick on the cover of SI this week. Holy . . . indeed. When was the last time the Niners were on the cover of SI? You guessed it. Right before last year’s NFC Champiomship game against the New York Giants. And we all know how that turned out.

The other hobgoblin of doom is the season-long pattern of w-w-l; w-w-l; w-w-t; w-w-l; w-w-l; w-w-l; w-w-??? 18 games into this season, and the pattern goes on. Uncanny consistency in being inconsistent. Every 2 game winning streak was followed by the NFL wonks declaring that the Niners are the best team in the NFL. Whereas they would puke on their shoes and get knocked down a peg or 3. Some losses were to good teams (Giants, Minn), some to bad (StL), and some were ugly (Seattle).

I don’t hold much truck in the fact that my actions determine the fate of my team (superstitions  being something I left behind me a while ago), but this may be the time to bring extra mojo to the table. The 49ers are 5-8 in NFC Championship games, and bring a 1-5 record in their last 6 playoff road games. Pish posh you say? Ancient history? Well, sure. But there sure seems to be a boatload of kharmic baggage to overcome in this game. So, dig out that old ticket stub, find that 26 year old t-shirt that brough you good luck in the 1994 Super Bowl game, and hope to hell these patterns don’t repeat themselves. Because as we all know, those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

Once again, the San Francisco 49ers are on their way to the NFC Championship game. The difference being, the 49ers have to go on the road to reach the Super Bowl. Playoff history be damned (their playoff road record barely counts, as it is ancient history), but their last playoff trip to Atlanta was an unmitigated disaster as Garrison Hearst tore his ankle to shreds on the very first play, and the Niners never recovered, losing 20-18. This was Steve Young’s final full season with the Niners, and the Niners last best chance for a Super Bowl win. The Mooch/Garcia teams were never quite as good, and thus began the dark ages. Atlanta of course crapped themselves after beating the Niners, and John Elway trounced the turdy birds in that Super Bowl.

Flash forward to now. Is anyone really worried about Natty Ice and the Falcons? I’m not. After watching that game yesterday, I’m not too worried. Seattle spent the 1st half shooting themselves in their feet, and playing like they’ve been flying back and forth across the country numerous times for the last couple weeks.  Atlanta grudginly took advantage of Seattle’s lethargy, and struck for some big plays, and did some decent running to back that up. Cue up the 2nd half, and Teflon Mike Nolan decided to go into his own special version of the soft shell deeeep dish pizza coverage that us Niners fans know and love so well. The old bend and bend over defense. After Dominating the game for 3 quarters, and not quite running away, it took Seattle all of 8 minutes to overcome a 27-7 lead and take a lead of their own. Funny thing is, Seattle did exactly what Nolan did in the 4th quarter, and that is drop the safeties deeeep, and give up the underneath sideline route that they are implicitly defending. Oooops. a 30 yard KO return, a 22 yard sideline pass, and a 18 yard pass to Tony Gonzalez led to Matt Bryant’s  game-winning FG. Of course Bryant then followed that with the worst squib kick in the history of squib kicks. Sea then threw a stupid 8 yard pass that should have gone for 20 to give their kicker a shot, but instead set up the desparation pass into the end zone that Julio Jones picked off.

So, does anyone think the Niners change things up from last week? I think so. Teflon Mike just might be shitting his drawers over what to do about Kappy and his running ability, so I think the Niners may go away from that aspect of his game. Or not. Few of those runs were scripted, but a design of something I mentioined before the game, and that is to send the pass-catchers deeper than usual to open things up underneath. When Kappy saw long green in front of him, he decisively took off. And he also did NOT take the hits that guys like RG III were taking all year. Mainly because he either got OB or scored. He did miss some pases early, took a retarded taunting penalty, and the pick 6, but all in all, a game for the ages. Watching Kappy on speed turf is a bit intriguing, as Kappy on the Candlestick mush proved to be like watching Usain Bolt racing 6th graders.

So, on to the Cracker dome. The beauty thing about this game is, the Atlanta fans are waiting for the axe to fall. Yesterday WAS their Super Bowl, and Natty Dreadful showed he can win a playoff game with immense help from the other team. Next weekend? Not so much. I foresee a major crush job by the Niners.

Be still my heart. Coming down to the wire here. The Niners, looking to keep the quest for 6 alive, have looked unbeatable and unwatchable like clockwork. Every 3 weeks they lay a fresh turd after coing up roses for 2 weeks. Inconsistency is their only constant. The D has been dominating until it hasn’t. The offense has been record-breaking and TV-breaking. The run game is here and gone.  The passing game remains an enigma no matter who is behind center.

Green Bay on the other hand seems to be riding the wave of solid football, going 10-2 in their last 12 games after a 2-3 start.  They appear to be peaking at the right time despite their loss to Minn on the road to knock them out of the 2 seed. Aaron Rodgers is Aaron Rodgers. Outlandish numbers (4,295 / 39 / 8), and some of his throws last weekend were flat crazy. Throwing lasers on the run for 35 yards, the usual. They even seems to have discovered a diamond in the parking lot with the addition of RB DuJuan Harris.

Still, GB has a defense that really isn’t all that impressive. They give up yards in the air and  they give up yards on the ground. Their WRs are banged up, and they give up a lot of sacks. The Niners at least got the break they needed. They were pretty gassed after that marathon NE game, and staggered down the stretch. The effectiveness of Justin Smith remains a question, and the run game is something that needs to get going early to provide a lift to the play-action passing game.

But still and all, I like the Niners chances. I think the Niners can get to Rodgers with their base pass rush. Disguise a blitz here and there to force a turnover or 2.  I think the offense should be able to get the job done vs Green Bay’s D.