Forty Niners Forever

Of course, this last chance was in 2010. Alex Smith has had more Niner lives than John Brodie and Steve DeBerg put together.

Might as well change the name of this blog to Alex Smith Forever. Some people just can’t get enough. Anyhow, in Alex Smith news, he participated in a limited practice again on Thursday, and seems to be on schedule to start Monday night vs the Bears. All he needs to do now is make it through a full-contact practice and he’s good to go.  Apparently, though, the airwaves are abuzz over the performance of erstwhile #2 and heir apparent, Colin Kaepernick. I don’t listen to those airwaves, so I’m not down with what’s being put out there, but it ain’t too hard to guess what’s being said. Bench Alex! Start Cappy! Cappy throws a better deep ball! Better pocket awareness! better chance of winning with him!

Be that as it may, Harbaugh and Alex (among others) have managed to garner a 20-6-1 record together, if you include the playoffs. Not too shabby. Would Cappy help or hinder this going forward? For all the good Cappy did last week in emergency duty, and he did look good (11-17, 117 yds), he still looks baffled at times at the speed of the game. He first few drives were pretty shakey, but he started the 4th quarter with a nice 11 play drive, throwing for 61 yards, going 4 for 4, and overcoming a 3rd and 18 after getting sacked and fumbling. He finished off the drive with a nice 7 yard run to the right pylon on a gift call from the refs. He then ‘engineered’ a one-play 20 yard TD handoff to Frank Gore after the fumble on the kickoff.  There were a few times where he was unsure whether to run or pass, and forced things.

Cappy fumbled 2 times, and luckily didn’t complete a pass to KW as time was running out. He did drive the team 63 yards for the game-tying FG, but I dodn’t like the play call on the last play. If Cappy completes the pass to KW, time runs out, and the Niners lose. Not sure if Cappy missed it on purpose, but it looked like Moss was supposed to drag all 3 DBs into the end zone while KW would catch and run into the end zone. It didn’t work that way, but luckily they didn’t connect and Akers did kick FG. In OT, Cappy got the Niners to the 23 only to see Akers miss a 41 yard FG, anf Zuerline made a 53 yarder only to have it called back for delay of game. He missed the 58 yarder, although it had the distance. To close out the game, Cappy took a sack on 3rd down in a spot that may have taken the Niners out of FG range. Although a long kick from there (~58 yards) would have been a big risk.

So, while Cappy had a good day, I think the QB controversy won’t be this year. If at all, it’ll be next year. The good news is Cappy held his own under game conditions. It’s good to know he at least looks like he can do the job should Smith go down again. In the words of George HW Bush, the prudent thing to do is stay the course, thousand points of light, no new taxes . . .

At least that’s what Dashon Goldson thinks. Maybe he should worry more about covering streaking WRs down the sideline. Or at least getting them out of bounds. All in all, I suppose the 49ers should feel lucky they managed to tie the what-once-were-Lambs. Pretty shitty game all around though. The D was toasted to the tune of 460 yards, and if not for penalties on a huge kickoff, and a 78 yard pass play to open OT, the Niners would have lost. On the other hand, Jeff Fisher gave the 49ers an additional 3rd down play down near their goal line to give the 49ers their first TD of the game. 4th and 1 or 3rd and 6? I’d force the 4th down decision. As would most coaches.

Just weird all around. After giving up two very easy 80+ yard scoring drives, the D was pushed around the field, but didn’t yield points til the Niners climbed back into the game. Smith took the 4th and 1 (rather than Brandon (who, me?) Jacobs, and suffered for it. After his TD to Crabs, he was removed for concussion-like symptoms. And the concussion was confirmed. He apparently slept fine last night, and reports no ill affects. We’ll see what the doctors say, and if he passes his tests, but Cappy Kaepernick finally got some meaningful playing time. After a few shakey drives, he did pretty well. Hitting Manningham with a nice 20 yard out, and a few other nice tight passes for 117 yards. he hesitated on a few plays where he ciould have decided faster, and he took a sack when the Niners were tantalizingly close to a long FG, and thus were forced to punt, but all in all he did about as well as could be expected. he should have led the team to the OT win, but David Akers seems to be reverting to the form that got him canned in Philly. Missing the big ones.

Special teams, which were finally settling down into a nice rhythm, were stunned by 2 fake FGs, and of course the Akers OT miss. But he did make the game-tying FG, and the Niners did force a fumble on a kickoff to all-briefly take the lead.

So, what to make of this? The old adage ‘on any given Sunday’ certainly springs to mind. Seeing as the Bears, Falcons, and Giants all lost, our tie is actually a good thing. If only for the time being.

And to those of you who served, or are serving, thank you for your sacrifice.

This is the 3rd straight division game for the Niners in the semi-interrupted path to the playoffs. This on paper looks like a game that should be a good old fashioned stomping.  The Rams are a fairly non-descript team with what was thought to be a up-and-coming QB, Rookie of the year, SAm Bradford, and all-world RB Steven Jackson. Well, things ain’t going well. After firing Mike Martz in 2006, they’ve gone through Joe Vitt, Scott Linehan, Jim Hanslett, Steve Spagnulo (10-38!), and now Jeff Fisher.

After his rookie success, Bradford has struggled with injuries and inconsistency. The defense has been a continual work in progress, and the Rams promising 3-2 start has devolved into a 3 game losing streak.

Trap game? Looking forward to the 7-1 Bears next Monday night? Well, I don’t think so. I think we see a good dose of running down their throat, and play action. A methodical dismantling similar to the AZ game.

Christ, this feels like March. The Niners haven’t played a game in seemingly 2 months, and and were apparently off for a month before that lone Arizona game. But, after long last and much anxiety, we are back to playing football. The St. Louis Rams come to town, not to conquer, but to crumble. After a promising 3-2 start, including division wins ver Sea and AZ, the Rams have lost 3 in a row. Sure, GB and NE were likely pegged as losses, but Miami? Ouch. That one had to sting.

Sure, it’s early in the tenure of Jeff Fisher, but the Rams don’t seem to be doing anything particularly well. 28th in points scored and 20th in points allowed. Sam Bradford has been derailed on his way to elite status among the crop of young QBs in the league.  He has been grinding through the Alex Smith school of new coaching staffs and offenses and players on a yearly basis kind of thing. After his rookie year of doing well (3500 yards, 18 TDs, 15 picks, and a near-miss at the playoffs at 7-9), he struggled through an injury-plagued season last year (1700 yards, 6 TDs, 6 picks). This year? Well, pretty much the same numbers he put up last year in 10 games. 1800 yards, 8 TDs, 7 picks. Erstwhile workhorse RB Steven Jackson has finally had it with the organization, and is on his way out after carrying the team for years and being the only bright spot for 6 seasons.  WR Danny Amendola is probable for the game, so they may get one of their weapons back, but Bradford has been sacked 23 times in 8 games, so his protection isn’t all that.

The Niners? Well, we saw how they did after their mini-break. They dismantled AZ pretty easily. I foresee much the same this weekend. Gone were the drive-killing Cappy Capperson plays. The Niners ran at will, and thus were able to throw all night off play-action, and chew up big chunks of yards. AZ has a terrible line, and Red Skelton was pressured all night. Again, I see the same thing happening this weekend.

31-10, Niners.

Well, here we go. A fresh start. Y’all may have noticed some missing shit. Rather than even bother trying to wade through the bullshit, I tossed the last 2 threads. Let’s not go there again, k?

Come on, people. I’m all for lively discussions, but let’s get real here. If you served, thanks for your service. If you are going through hard times, sorry to hear that. But we’re here to nominally talk about the Niners, and football in general. This down time for the last 3 weeks really sucks, and apprently the boredom creeps in, but really.

I guess I have to patrol this place a lot harder. Or just give up the ghost. I didn’t think I’d have to be a babysitter.

The came, they saw, they conquered. In a game that was supposed to be a hard-fought defensive struggle instead turned into a cakewalk for the offense and a pretty strong beat-down by the 49ers resurgent defense. Alex Smith picked apart a supposedly stout AZ pass defense to the tune of 18-19 passing, 232 yards, and 3 TDs and a near-perfect QBR of 157.1. Gone were the hesitant throws and floating ducks. In their place were accurate pinpoint passes, and a lot of yards after the catch. Defensively, the 49ers pitched a TD shutout for the 4th time in 8 games. Larry Fitzgerald (5-52) was kept in check, and AZ’s anemic run game was held to 7 yards. A woeful 32 inches per carry.

Smith spread the ball around to 9 different recievers. The most effective being Michael Crabtree. His numbers weren’t huge (5-72, 2 TDs), but the throw to the end zone on 3rd and 6 was one that looked like an actual play where they trusted each other to do what was designed. On the play, Patrick Peterson’s back was to Crabs, so Smith threw the pass up high where Crabs could go after it, but also be above Peterson. Crabs grabbed it and fought to keep is as Peterson tried to wrestle is from his grasp. Crabs won out. Touchdown. it’s the kind of play that a good WR makes, and a good QB throws. By the time Crabs scored his 2nd TD to close out the 1st half, Peterson was baffled as to how he should cover Crabs. The TD to Moss was even better. Midway through the 3rd quarter, Smith dropped back to pass. His 1st and 2nd reads were left and middle. He came back to Moss as the 3rd read on the left side for a 10 yard out that Moss dodged and dashed his way to a 47 yard TD. 24-0, and for all intents and purposes the game was over.

Defensively, the Niners stuffed the run and dared AZ to pass, and they were shut down at every turn. Skelton threw for 290 yards, but this was on 52 attempts for an anemic 5.6 yards per attempt. Smith on the other hand was a stellar 12.2 YPA. Culliver got a gift pick on the hail Mary to close the 1st half, and Early Doucett got an early nap when Goldson laid the heavy wood on his protagonist from last year, and knocked him to the sidelines. Skelton was pressured and knocked down all game, and the D line came up with 4 sacks: 2 by Aldon Smith, and one each by Brooks and Bowman.

All in all, a return to form. At least NFC West style. The drag is we have another 2 week break as we hit the bye next weekend. All in all, though, the Niners did what they needed to in this first half of the season. They won all their division games, beat a quality team on the road in Green Bay, and are up 2 games in their division. Ho hum.

Seems like we’ve waded through another preseason. It has been 11 days since the Niners beat Seattle. And the NFL world has gotten more in focus. The Rams and Seattle both lost yesterday, and a win today would put the Niners in the drivers seat, 2 games up on both the AZ and Seattle, for the NFC West as we hit the bye. The blogosphere has been replete with grumblings from the national guys regarding Alex Smith and his status as a starting QB for the 49ers. Those of us not buying the bullshit know it’ll take some major suckitude to force Harbaugh into a decision to put Cappy  in as the starter. This is Alex’s season, live or die.

That being said, there are two guys who ARE on the short list for being replaced as QBs. Mike (I heart dogs) Vick, and Mark (I heart NY) Sanchez. Both suffered terrible losses. the Jets lost to the fairly hapless Dolphins, while the Iggles lost to the undefeated Falcons. Philly, and their new defense promptly gave up points on Atl’s first 6 possessions, and the Iggles could never mount any kind of comeback. The good news for Vick was he weathered a game with no fumbles and no picks. Progress, I suppose, but the Iggles are 3-4, and 2.5 games out of 1st. Their playoff hopes are very dim. Their prospects after Vick however are rookie Nick Foles, and Trent (remember me?) Edwards. So, they don’t look to bench Vick. What could happen is HC Andy Reid getting his walking papers. All their aquisitions in recent memory have only served to jack up unrealistic expectations as the defense flails, and the points allowed pile up. Their line is battered, yet they want to throw more and more. Reid isn’t really protecting Vick by not trying to run more, but the defense threw that out the window yesterday by letting Atl score at will. No matter what these guys do, they are destined for failure, and what likely happens is these guys play out the string, and they make wholesale changes after this season mercifully concludes for them.

The J-E-T-S on the other hand have Jesus in their back pocket. Mark Sanchez had a  terrible game yesterday as he hovered around his uasual sub-.500 completion rate, missed a ton of open guys, fumbled away on a sack,  as he and the Jets yapped their way into another embarrassing loss. This time to the not-so-lowly Miami Dolphins. The curious thing to all this is the undercurrent of Timmy Tebow. Their heir apparent is also the up back on punts. Ooops. he allowed a blocked punt yeterday, and they also suffered a blocked FG to boot. So, you have to wonder, as the Jets are 3-4, but only 2 back in the suddenly weak looking AFC East, whether they take a look at Tebow as their QB going forward. I’d be for this one, only because Sanchez looked flat awful yesterday, and he hasn’t done much of anything to help his offense. The team is in disarray, and Rex Ryan appears only to want to make his team quote-worthy, or in the news for any reason other than playing good football. Might as well go full-circus mode. Tebow obviously isn’t much as a special teamer, and his running plays aren’t fooling anyone.  If they DON’T start him, then why did they get him in the first place?

Give Sanchez one more start. Unfortunately, that start will be in Seattle. Not a place to revive one’s QB numbers. Actually, they should just throw Tebow into the mix. The Jets aren’t going to win that one anyway, so see if the trial by fire can somehow work out for the Jets.

Criminy, no football around these parts for ages it seems. The one game coming up is Monday night, so it won’t even be here this weekend.  Thank God the Giants are giving me something to watch. The Niners could learn a lot from the Giants as they coalesced late in the year to become a team in the true sense of the word. Subsuming personal greatness for the common good. Something the Niners already do pretty well, but the Niners have looked a bit less than the dominating team that started the season by whipping on GB (a contender) and Deetroit (apparently back to being pretenders).

The NY Giants game was a debacle in EVERY phase of the game, and the Seattle game was an offensive struggle. The run game was there for the most part as they gained 170 yard on the ground. Something Seattle isn’t used to giving up. Defensively they played well enough, and were assisted by five dropped passes by the Hawks. Special teams looked more like their special selves than in recent memory.

Which brings us to Alex Smith. Like the Minnesota and Giants games, the WRs in the Seattle game couldn’t seem to shake free of the coverage. Manningham was hurt in the Giants game, and missed the Seahawk game, so you have to hope Manningham would have done a little better than Crabtree did in getting open. Smith just seemed fairly tentative out there. The best game of his life (Buffalo) was followed by his worst (NYG), and the Seattle game featured a potentially devastating pick in the end zone by Seattle. Plus there were a few too many plays left on the field that Smith missed. VD was neutralized in these games. And this is something the additional WRs were supposed to address. Mainly Moss. When Moss comes in, he usually gets a CB and a safety over the top, so his presence should open someone else up. However, Smith struggled finding guys open. Like Moss in the back of the end zone on the INT. There were other plays were it seemed Smith wouldn’t pull the trigger even though someone was open. On the rollouts, he gives up half the field. and the defense simply flows to the guys on the righ half of the field. This was evident in the Giants game, when Smith was often throwing into traffic.

Granted, Seattle has very physical corners, and no one seems to pass very well against them, but as this team works its way to the playoffs, they are going to face strong defenses like Seattle and the Giants, and especially Minnesota, a likely firswt round playoff foe. And I also know that this passing offense is still a work in progress. The Buff and Jet games were tests to see how the deep passing game would work. Well, it worked great against a couple of lesser defenses. Good ones? Not so much. They still have work to do, and Smith has to work on getting the ball out quicker. He’s take some unwarranted sacks, but the flipside being better a sack than a pick. The problem there is Smith has already equalled his pick total from last year as he’s being asked to be more aggressive. Still and all, the game-awareness is lacking at times. He’s taking sacks when he should simply throw the ball away, and he’s missing open guys at times. Nitpicking a 5-2 team? Sure. Maybe. But I AM concerned about how well this team can do in the playoffs if they can’t get VD out from double coverage, and can’t get the ball to anyone else. The run game is a plus, but if the Niners can’t cionsistenl;y hit pass plays, the 8-in-the-box scenario we grew to hate in the Singletary days will come back as a defense we regularly face.

So, as long as the Niners can get through AZ on their way to the halfway mark, and the bye, they will be in excellent shape to lock up the NFC West. a 2-0 record in the division and a 2 game lead over AZ, and possibly Seattle as they have a tough game on the road vs Deetroit. If Seattle has shown anything, it’s that they are much better at home, going 3-0 at home, and 1-3 on the road. A loss by Sea would give the Niners the tiebreaker plus a 2 game lead over both.