Forty Niners Forever

One of my favorite lines from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  Anyhow, remember the thrilling days of yesteryear, when the Niners were coming off 2 resounding division wins, they were 6-2, 1st place in the NFC West, and there was a clear cut starting quarterback on the 49ers? You know, 16 days ago? Well, on that fateful day 16 days ago, the 49ers played the hapless St. Louis Rams. A team that was 3-5 and stumbling around pretty aimlessly under  1st year head coach Jeff Fisher.

Most everyone figured a crushing defeat for the Rams, but a funny thing happened on the way to the victory party. Steven Jackson ran the ball down the Niners throat. Jerry Amendola caught a ton of balls for a ton of yards, and with some stupid decisions on both sides, plus a few missed FGs, the game ended in a tie. And, Alex Smith was knocked out of the game in the 2nd quarter after sustaining a concussion. Colin Kaepernick did well enough down the stretch of that game to win it, and also made a play which could have lost it. Fisher made some very dumb calls, but all in all,  it felt like a loss for the Forty Niners, given the circumstances.

Fast forward to the present, and the Niners know now that the Rams, for all their faults and growing pains, aren’t a pushover. Jackson shredded the Niners defense early, and the D missed more tackles in that game than in all the rest of the other games combined. Bradford had way too much time, and Amendola torched Carlos Rogers all day. I heard Fangio this morning stress tackling and say if their effort is the same as the previous game, the results will be similar. I don’t see that happening.

Offensively, both QBs did well vs the Rams. The run game gained steam going along, and both QBs made some good throws. We should know by tomorrow who gets the call. Other than that, KW is out, and also it looks like Kendall Hunter is also lost for the remainder of the season. Jewel Hampton, an undrafted RB, has been promoted from the practice squad to take Hunter’s place. The Niners are going with 52 guys for now, but I’m sure someone else will be added shortly.

BREAKING NEWS: NaVorro Bowman has been signed to a 5 years, $48.5 million extension through the 2018 season.

So, Jim Harbaugh came out yesterday after an especially impressive performance by Colin Kaepernick, and said he had no idea who would start next Sunday in St. Louis. This information of course is up there in the pantheon of who shot JFK, and who General Patraeus is currently banging.

Funny thing is, a case can easily be made for either. Smith has put together quite a resume since Harbaugh took over. 20-6-1 and a botched punt or two from the Super Bowl. Cappy? Well, he’s the hot hand right now. He has put together 2.6 games of very solid play with some absolutely beautiful passes along the way.

So what will Harbaugh do? I have no idea. Does he ride the horse he’s got now? Or defer to the guy that got him close last year? Alex Smith didn’t do anything to lose his job besides get hit in the head, but Cappy is very dynamic and has strung together a great stretch of recent game play. If it was me, I’d keep Kaepernick in there. Let it ride. I love what he has brung to the table, and the team sure seems to feed off his energy.

As recently as Saturday I thought they should go back to Smith after NO, but this last game was a pretty big deal. Norleans needed this game in the worst way. They were on a roll, and desperately trying to climb back into the playoff hunt. They threw anything and everything at Cappy and the offense. A win would have put them solidly in the hunt for a wildcard spot, and no one would have blinked had the Niners lost a tough road game on the bayou. Instead, Cappy played tough, driven football. His field vision is outstanding, and his passes were accurate. The only blemish came on a bad snap, and Cappy didn’t get much of a look downfield when he threw the pick. He likely should have taken the sack, but that INT let to Ahmad Brooks’ pick 6, so it ended well for ther Niners. No one was happier when the defense came off the field than Cappy.

That being said, it would be so like Harbaugh to start Smith this Sundy just to tweak us droolers and mumblers out here in the wasteland of fandom. If so, I think Harbaugh has a megalomaniacal bent of the highest order. He’s Dr. Frankenquarterback. He can whip up QBs out of lumps of clay in a week.

I suspect Scott Tolzein will enter the QB race by week 14. But he’s not included in the poll.

Yet.

Here we sit, the 49ers 1.5 games up on Seattle, a recent pounding of the Bears in their rear-view mirror, and an apparent first round bye if they keep up the strong play. The offense is clicking along, the defense has been getting tons of pressure (Aldon Smith leads the league with 14 sacks), and the special teams (minus a couple fake punts) has been getting better. All these great feelings however have taken a back seat to a seemingly self-made quandary which has the airwaves burning, and the bloggosphere absolutely incendiary. The quandary of course is the instant QB controversy that sprung up out of the concussion to Alex Smith in the Ram game, and  the subsequent dismantling of the supposedly impregnable Chicago defense by Colin Kaepernick.

The stupid thing to me is this could have been averted by Jim Harbaugh.  All he had to say was Smith is getting one more day off to make sure he’s good to go down the stretch. Cappy gets the NO start, and things go back to normal. But Harbaugh seems to be the one holding the gas can at this point. He has baited the fans by calling them drooling idiots who don’t care if they win or lose, called the press liars, and left it to his starting SS Donte Whitner to say Cappy was starting. Which Harbaugh then denied. Alex Smith’s status is still unclear at this point, although it seems that he’s good to go. That his health even matters is up for debate. Cappy played a great game, but it was one game. OK, 1.6 if you include the 2.5 quarters of the Ram game. Even still, based on that, you usually don’t make a quarterback switch based on a handful of quarters.

The point being, there was a whole shitload of unneeded thrash around the team this week. Now if this was Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, I’d certainly understand the impetus to get one’s team in the news by any means. But for all intents and purposes, this is the buttoned-down San Francisco Forty Niners.  The classy team finding its way back to relevancy and the top of the football pyramid. Not a grandstanding hottdogging look-at-us kind of team. Harbaugh is really alienating everyone who is a fan of the team, and has made a chilly press relationship even more cold with his recent statements. For no other reason than apparently to leave the Saints in the dark regarding who starts.

So, I don’t get it. I also don’t expect the Saints to be pushovers as some think, due to their poorly ranked defense. They show a bunch of different looks, disguise blitzes,  and have been playing better in recent weeks, and are always tough at home. Besides, the Niners are the agents of a lot of their recent problems. The Niners beat the Saints in the playoffs last year in one of the best games in NFL history, Gregg Williams was fired for his singling up on VD in crunch time in the playoffs, Williams was then suspended indefinitely for statements he made (knowingly taped) prior to that playoff game, and the whole Bounty-gate deal.

So, there’s certainly enough on NO’s plate to want to knock the Niners off. Who knows? Maybe this is Harbaugh’s way of getting the pressure off the players. Then again, what do I know. I’m a drooling idiot.

Made it through Thanksgiving, fatter, slower, and safely parked on the couch. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving as well. As far as the 49ers go, last I heard, from Greg Roman, is that there has been no decision made, and both guys are getting resp as the starter. And Smith still hasn’t been cleared to play.

In other words, same as it ever was . . .

So, what do you guys think? Go with Alex if cleared? Go with Cappy for one game? Go with Cappy til he fails?

I still feel the same. Give Smith one more game off. Go with Smith going forward.

Quite the game by Colin Kaepernick yesterday. On national TV, and in front of the guy whose job he wants, Cappy came into the game throwing darts all over the field. 16-23 for 243, 2 TDs sounds very Smith-like (esp with the 123 yards on the ground), but it sure looked different. Particularly sweet was the bomb to Kyle Williams on his 2nd drive. He couldn’t have handed the ball to him any cleaner as Cappy hit KW in stride for a 57 yard strike to set up a TD on the next play, a nice play action pass to VD for Cappy’s 1st TD as a pro. The next drive featured a 32 yard strike to VD and was capped by a 14 yard run up the middle by Kendall (end zone) Hunter. Drive #4 was puctuated by a 20 yard pass and run by Michael Crabtree, with some touogh running form Frank Gore. All in all, 4 possessions, 4 scores, and a 20 point lead going into the half. For all intents and purposes, the game was over. Not bad for the gangly kid from Turlock.

Leading off the 3rd quarter, Cappy his Mario Manningham on a nice slant that MM took up the field for a 37 yard gain. On 3rd and gola from the 6, Cappy dropped back to pass and looked right for VD dragging across the back of the end zone. he was covered, and Cappy rolled left to buy time, and Crabs read this and cut to the left corner of the end zone. Cappy hit him easily for his 2nd TD pass of the game for a 27-0 lead.

The rest of the game was just handoffs for the most part as the defense laid to waste the Bear offensive line. Aldon Smith had 5.5 sacks by himself, and really, the Niners should have pitched a shutout as Aldon Smith was penalized for trying to get to a fumble on 3rd and 19 after yet another sack by the Niner defense. Jason Campbell, the erstwhile vet, didn’t stand a chance against the Niners intense pass rush. They [pretty much were forced to abandon the run due to the instant deficit, and Campbell rarely had a clean pocket to throw from.

So, what now? I don’t listen to KNBR much, nor do I spent too much time reading other blogs and such, but I’m sure the airwaves are sizzling with conjecture regarding who starts next week. Add to the firestorm the fact that Harbaugh didn’t  douse any fires by saying “I have 2 hot-handed QBs” and the controversy begins. Frankly, with Alex Smith not even cleared to play, I don’t see too much reason to take anything from Harbaugh’s comments yesterday. They were made right after the game, and Harbaugh always seems to be struggling with the come-down from his hypersonic adrenaline-fueled coaching high. Until Smith gets cleared, everything WILL be conjecture and innuendo.

I’m fairly certain Harbaugh reinstates Alex Smith as the starter going forward if he is cleared to play. Cappy played as near-perfect a game that anyone could have expected, but one game does not make a ginormous decision like this cone to pass. Although the pressure to perform is ratched up a little bit under Alex Smith’s ass.

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.