Forty Niners Forever

My kingdom for a, well, something . . .

Anyhow, here are the exciting OTA highlights.

http://bit.ly/MVmH22

Still 3 + weeks til camp opens and we’ve talked about Alex Smith’s soon-to-be-crowning super bowl coronation MVP ceremony in 7 months, Randy Moss’s return to relevance to cap off his Hall of Fame career, the NFL’s most dominating defense leading the league in scoring against, and turnover +/- at 34, and the soon-to-be-constructed and filled up stadium.

Hey, it could happen. Me? I think Moss has a decent year, Crabs gets a little better, but the surprise will be AJ Jenkins. He and Super Mario will lead the way for the passing attack. I think Jacobs has a big year as well.  I’m starting to think these guys can go 12-4 on their way to a 1st round bye, and possibly home-field advantage.

A lot will be determined in week  1 on Green Bay.

What do you guys think? Who has a surprising or breakout year? VD goes over 1, 000?  Alex over 4,000 yards? Rogers with 10 picks? Aldon with 17 sacks?

A ringing endorsement of Alex Smith . . . from none other than Joe Montana. Funny, Joe here is saying what a lot of people have been saying all these years. It’s a tough  row to hoe when you are in 3rd and 12 constantly and you don’t have any WRs getting open to throw the ball to. Fairly interesting is the mindset that Joe talks about. The whole ‘getting into the flow’ and being consistent was a staple of the Walsh years with Joe and Steve. Ball control, and move the chains. These are concepts that the West Coast Offense is built upon. This is what Harbaugh is trying to create with Alex Smith right now.

Yes, there were too many stalled drives. Yes, the 3rd down conversion rate stank. But last season was very abbreviated in Harbaugh being able to fully install his offense. I mean, it certainly was a lot more conservative in that 1st Seattle game than it was in the NO playoff game. And this was with little to no production out of the WRs. Davis WAS the passing game, for the most part. Crabs had a decent year, but he was rendered pointless in the playoffs. Whether by double teams or whatever, he seemed to fall back into old bad habits of not finishing routes, and never being aware of Smith in trouble and him trying to get free. I wish I could see game tapes of the playoff games, but the few glimpses into the secondary showed Crabs usually not looking for or helping his QB once plays broke down.

The new crop of WRs should help some, if not a lot. Mario Manningham isn’t the burner they need, but he’s big, and he has great hands. Crabs has officially gotten a fire lit under his ass. His time to really become what he thinks he is is now. AJ Jenkins should fill the speed burner role if he can catch on fast. He certainly can follow in the footsteps of a guy like DeSean Jackson, a small fast guy who made an immediate impact. The enigma Randy Moss? Well, everyone is saying great things about the guy, and so far, he’s gotten glowing practice results. I guess we have to wait and see what the regular season brings with him. I’m sure he doesn’t want his legacy to be crashing and burning with 4 teams (Tenn, Minn, NE, and now SF) on his way out of the league.

I guess it could happen, but the Saints appear to be imploding from within (franchising and thus pissing off Drew Brees) and from the outside (Bounty-gate, sanctions, fines and suspensions of coaches and players) on and on. The players can’t be very happy that the front office decided to take a stand with their unquestioned leader and heart and soul of the team, the city of New Orleans, and the whole goddamned state of Louisiana. Add to that the GMs suspension, the head coach’s suspension, and some of the players getting tossed as well, it makes for a clusterbomb of epic proportions. The team has until July 16th to make this happen, and then Brees has the option to sit the year and collect the franchise tag tender of $16.4 million, sign the one-year  tender, or hold out for his want of a little bit over $20 mill per on a 5 year deal. The Saints offered something near $19 mill but that’s not enough apparently.

I’m sure once he;s under contract,. all will be OK as far as the team goes, but there’s still the fact that the team is without its head coach for the year. Gregg (genius) Williams is long gone anyway (sorry StL, you walked into that spinning propeller), so it’ll be very interesting to see how the team responds to the absence of Sean Payton. The NFC South isn’t exactly a powerhouse, with the Falcons unable to get out of their own way, and the Buccos pulling the full-monty reversal from darling to doormat to now an afterthought. That leaves the Panthers as the possible upstart that takes the suddenly Saintless division, should they falter. If they could play decent defense behind Cammy, they’d be well on their way to respectability Regardless of what Alex Smith says.

Nope. Super Bowl champs usually get bounced in the 1st round of the playoffs, or not even reach them. At least it has happened recently with GB, NO, Pittsburgh, NYG, Indy, Pitt again, aaaand I got tired of looking any further back.  Ths point being, the Giants were shakey as it was entering the playoffs, and had their miracle run, so I don’t even think they qualify.  They are a fairly balanced team, and they have a punishing defense, but is it enough?  They lost super Mario and Brandon Jacobs among others, and are trying to replace them with draftees (David Wilson-RB-Va Tech and highly regarded Rueben Randle-WR-LSU).

Tom Coughlin seems to be an all-or-nothing kind of coach besides. The players either crash and burn under his unrelenting pressure, or they manage to hold it together long enough to get in and make their playoff run. I mean shit, this was a team that lost twice to the Redskins, and lost to Seattle among their stumbles.  I suppose this all has something to do with parity in the league, and Pete Rozelle’s evil socialist plot regarding how any team can retool quickly and blah blah blah. The 49ers certainly are a case in point of this theory. They were an underperforming 6-10 squad under Aluminum Mike Singletary. Poof, add a new head coach, and we are knocking on the Super Bowl door.

So, as I see it, NY struggles to even reach the playoffs as they succumb to the Super Bowl hangover.

41 days and counting to til the 49ers start camp, although there is a rookie OTA type thing next week. LaMichael James has his last final yesterday, so he can finally participate in something these next few days. As it is, though, everyone is out of town for the next month until July 26th rolls around. Harbaugh himself is off to Peru today for a week to help build houses with a Catholic church down there. No rest for the weary, eh?

Since we are in speculation mode (and have a month to kill), what the hell? I’m picking the 49ers to win the NFC. This schedule is tougher than last year’s, but I sure didn’t see much improvement from the teams around them.

That being said, Green Bay is likely the biggest threat to the Niners going to the Super Bowl. And that is Game One. On the road. The Frozen Tundra. Title Town, USA. Blah Blah Blah. At least it’s September, not January. If we need to go back in January, so be it. The annoying thing is, in 2 of the past 3 seasons, the Niners have played Green Bay in Green Bay (they came here last in 2006), and again, the Niners go there.

Anyhow, not surprisingly, GB used their first 6 out of 8 picks on defense. They used their first pick on a sleeper-type pass rushing DE/OLB (sound familiar?) in Nick Perry out of USC. My hope is he continues the pattern of being the usual overhyped shitty draft pick out of the University of Spoiled Children. The rest of their picks went DT/CB/DE/SS/ILB with a couple compensatory picks at the end (OT and QB). BJ Coleman is expected to take Matt Flynn’s spot on the QB depth chart. Good luck with that BJ.

GB obviously saw their major weaknesses, and that was pass rush/pass coverage, so they loaded up there. Still and all, a challenge for them to improve their defense with one draft (I know. Don’t mention Bill Walsh’s 1981 draft). Their O? Well, they look good there with Chico’s own Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, and Jordy Nelson tearing up the passing lanes. However, Donald Driver’s getting old and may not come back. Jerwhatshisname Findley is a little underwhelming, but they are the class of the NFL in passing offense. Their run game? Well, they don’t use it much, and it got weaker with the loss of  Ryan Grant (559 yards), and the non-awe-inspiring James (578 yards) Starks. Their only big FA acquisition was the addition of Jeff Saturday (age 37) as their center.

As the NY Giants showed though,  pressure Rodgers, slow down the aerial assault, and you can beat the Pack. One-dimensional teams may fly through the regular season, but in the playoffs, your shortcomings are exposed. GB was torched for 325 yard in the air, and committed 4 turnovers (2 picks).  The Niners upgraded their secondary by signing miscreant Perrish Cox in a direct response to the arsenal of pass-happy QBs they face this season. Beyond Rodgers, the Niners play Brady, Stafford, Bradford (2x), E Manning, Brees, and Flynn (2x) among others.  Goldson continues to seek out a big payday, but he’s pretty much guaranteed himself a seat on the bench or sidelines at this point. The Niners have enough talent to absorb his absense or burial on the depth chart. Our Rogers, Whitner, Culliver, and T Brown look to pick up right where they left off last year.

Pass rush is king in Ninerland, though. A strong pass rush creates a lot of those interceptions. The +28 in turnovers last year may or may not happen again (don;t count on it), but Aldon Smith has a full TC to work through, Bowman and Willis have another year to build on together, and the relentless Justin Smith show no signs of slowing down or backing off. The rotation of interior linemen appears stronger than last year with the emergence of Demarcus Dobbs and the return of injured Wil Tukafu to complement Ice Sopoaga and Ray McDonald. 7th round draft pick Cam Johnson could very well be a steal.

So many games, so many memories. Yes his birthday was yesterday. I’m sure we all have stories about seeing Joe play. I’ll tell you the first time I saw him in action. It was late in the 1980 season, and the Niners were using both Steve (he plays just well enough to lose the game) DeBerg and Joe Montana. Walsh was giving Joe spots in the game to succeed, and pretty much letting DeBerg play through the rest of the game. A quick 3-0 start was followed by a brutal 8 game losing streak (one that Bill Walsh said almost led him to quit coaching).  Through this, Montana was getting more and more playing time, and putting up decent numbers, although he was 2-5 in his starts.

Turns out December 7th , 1980 was the date that should be forever etched in 49er history, not in infamy, but as the beginning of the Joe Montana era in San Francisco. Back then, tickets were cheap, and attendance was spotty at best. So, as usual, we bought our end zone seats, and proceeded to move up to the upper reserved seats right behind the upper boxes. This was the battle of the bottom-dwellers. New Orleans came into the game 0-13. The Niners were on a little roll, winning their 2 previous games, and were 5-8.

Archie Manning came out hot, and the notoriously bad 49er defensive backfield was giving little resistance to NOs passing game as they got up quickly, 21-0. The Niners got on the board in the 2nd quarter with a Freddie Solomon punt return, but the offense was ineffective all the first half. 2 more TDs by NO  put the score at 35-7. Manning had already thrown fior over 300 yards nad had led 5 touchdown drives. Now, up to this point in the season, DeBerg and Montana had split time at QB in just about every game (except the first 2). THIS game however, Walsh decided to stick with Montana. I assume he wanted to see how Joe would deal with adversity.

It was at this point that Lon Simmons, right before the 2nd half kickoff, said this will either be the worst loss in 49er history, or the greatest comeback in NFL history. Me myself having been on the losing end of so many close calls, playoff frustrations, and the crumbling Morabito ownership that defined the wretched 1970s, I held out little hope that this would be nothing more than a slow trudge to defeat, and once again saying “wait til next year.”

The 2nd half started with the Niners getting the ball, and Montana leading a long drive for a TD. In the drive, Montana hit Clark on a 50 yard pass. After a quick 3 and out by the Saints, Montana hits Clark on a short crossing route that he takes all the way to the house for a 70 yard TD. Just like that, the Niners are back in the game at 35-21 to close the 3rd quarter. NO then drives the ball downfield, but their RB (Jimmy Rogers?) fumbles deep in Niner territory. Another lengthy drive ensues, capped by a TD to Freddie Solomon to cut the score to 35-28. Again, NO drives deep into Niner territory. Again, NO fumbles the ball away (no idea who). And again, the Niners drive down the field, this time running the ball effectively (in a precursor to the NFC Championship game the next year) with Lenvil Elliott. He scores the tying TD with less than 2 minutes left.  35-35 at the end of regulation.

OT starts with NO winning the coin toss, and promptly turning the ball over on a deep pick by Dwight Hicks. After trading 2 or 3 punts each, Montana leads the Niners to the 20 yard line  where and Fat Ray kicks the game-winning 36 yard field goal. I don’t remember the exact stats, but I know the 49ers gained more than 400 yards in the 2nd half alone while controlling the ball most of the 2nd half. As flat as the team was in the 1st half, they were even more brilliant in the 2nd half, and it was the first inkling that Joe Montana was maybe something other than a 3rd round flier pick in the 1979 draft.

At the time, I really thought the team was going to be decent soon, if they could only play defense and stop teams from passing at will on us. It was also then that I thought they had something in Joe Montana. I had seen and heard a little about his comebacks in college, but I didn’t know that much about him. After than game, I paid much more attention to him. One of the best quotes about the game came from Bill Walsh himself:

“There were only two games that produced absolute euphoria—this one and the 1987 game at Cincinnati, when we scored on the very last play.”

Not the Super Bowls, or even the NFC Championship game the next year. The New Orleans game.

You guys have any  Joe Montana stories?

In a surprising development (at least to me) the 49ers are giving the starting right guard position to Alex Boone. At least at the start of training camp. On the face of things, it’s a reward for all the hard work Boone has put in as a 3rd team guy who came in soft and directionless. He dedicated himself to getting in shape, and he impressed the new regime with his fitness and attitude coming into the abbreviated camp last year. To me, though, he is nowhere near the prototypical RG. Right guards are usually road-grader types. Usually in the 320-330 lb range. Boone is 6’8, 300 lb. Not your typical RG. Chilly Rachal may not have been the answer, but his size is what is the norm for the position (6’5″, 325 lb).

The Walsh/McKittrick model of smaller, faster linemen had its time and place, and there are still teams implementing that strategy, but 6’8″? I’d think he needs to be extremely strong to be able to handle the position. O line is all about leverage, and as a taller guy, it would seem kinda easy to get leverage on him. It’s all about getting low and either driving forward for the run or holding the point in pass pro. Curious at best. Joe Looney looks to be the starter at some point soon, but he’s not cleared to work yet due to offseason foot surgery. Kilgore is working at C in Goodwin’s absence, so as of now Boone is the right guard. With all the talk in camp of Harbaugh looking to give guys different jobs for flexibility’s sake (Tukafu as backup FB, Staley/Soap/Dobbs at TE, ) one would think the 6’8″ guy would be a BIG target at WR. Red zone target? Sure, why not . . . ?

Play nice, or don’t play at all. Not a hell of a lot going on anyway, but I’m on the road the next few days. See ya on Sunday . . .

Well, we’re getting closer to something resembling actual players in pads, but as it is, we have Week III of the OTAs! Talk abounds, but little in the way of news. The Jim Harbaugh/Alex Smith talkfest has run its course. Ledgergate was a quick blip on the radar. And now we have Niner guys talking about being Supwer Bowl favorites. Scary. And also fertile stomping grounds for one Frederick P. Soft. I’m sure Jim Harbaugh is keeping a lid on that. Or is at least using that to his advantage.

In a funny note, Seattle was fined the ability to HAVE 2 days of OTAs for having actual contact in yesterday’s OTA. Ooooops.

Coaches have different ways of firing up their teams I guess.

Or should that be moron Alex Smith? Anyhow, Jim Harbaugh, unsolicited and unprovoked, unleashed a furious and all-encompassing tirade supporting his QB of the near future, Alex Smith. In a nutshell (and yeah, I’m a nut with shells), Harbaugh said he was merely ‘evaluating’ Peyton Manning in an effort to see what he looked like. He supposedly told Alex about this, and he didn’t have a problem. The front office was aware of all this, and no one had any hurt feelings or problems with the evaluation.

When asked for details of these conversations, Harbaugh was a little less forthcoming. He did say this, “There was nothing said to Alex that wasn’t said to Peyton Manning or in house here.” Take that for what it’s worth. Or take it as a huge smokescreen to cover up the Niners intentions to sign the injured and fragile Peyton. Frankly, I don’t care very much. It was BSPN fodder for a couple weeks, and provided blog frenzies here and all over the internets.

Either way, the money was a pretty big obstacle to deal with. Sign Manning, and you really limit what you can do going forward. Is it worth one possible Super Bowl season to mortgage the future of the team suddenly weakened by an onerous salary, and a guy who has about a 3% chance to fullfill his deal? Smith said he would have stayed had Manning signed, but that sounds like another load of what Harbaugh was selling.

Still and all, they made the right choice.