Forty Niners Forever

Coming into the regluar season this year, there were a few certainties. Alex Smith was going to be the starter in SF. Sam Bradford was going to be the starter in StL. Seattle signed Matt Flynn as the heir apparent to complement the drafting of Russell Wilson. AZ was going to let Red Skelton and Krusty Kolb fight it out for the starting spot. Then the Peyton Manning sweepstakes roared through town. Say what you will about the 49ers, they got their QB controversy over and done with in March when Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke went on a ‘perusing’ (or ‘pursuing’) mission to watch Peyton Manning throw. Funny thing is, they were hiding in the bushes cloaked in their hoodies like a couple of pervs at the girls swim team tryouts. Manning never came to Sf and there were no negotiations between the parties involved, but that didn’t stop the rumor mill from cranking up to hypersonic levels.

In the end, SF was denied, saying they were never serious anyway, AZ was jilted, and Seattle figured they were set with Flynn. As it is now, well, shit is muddy. Alex is still the starter in SF. The coaches are singing his praises as having a full grasp of the offense. When this shows on the field is anyone’s guess. Sept 9th? One would hope. Bradford is the starter in StL. He’s being given the Alex Smith crash course in how to relearn a new offensive system every year for the past 3, and he’s struggling.  AZ? Sheesh. No matter who they put back there, they’d better get the ball out fast. Their tackles were utterly dominated in game 3 of their preseason (and every other moment of games I saw). Skelton got off a couple nice passes, a pick, and a lot of grounders amid tremendous pressure from Tennessee’s base defense. Kolb fared much the same. Hard ro evaluate your guys when they are running for their lives. Neither had any time to throw, and were pounded mercilessly. Ha ha.

Seattle? Well, they are so impressed with their $26 million man that they stated this week that a strong showing by rookie 3rd round pick Russell Wilson could very well land the starting spot if he does well. The game isn’t on TV (live anyway) but it will be shown at Saturday at midnight vs KC (taping that one). You have to wonder how this works out. Cam Newton came in and impressed. But he certainly bucked the odds of the usual struggles by rookie signal callers in the NFL.  Wilson? We’ll see. Flynn isn’t doing terribly, but Wilson seems to be providing bigger plays and getting more yards. If Wilson struggles early, then they will start the QB merry-go-round that works so well in the NFL.

So, if I’m a Seattle fan, I have to be a little worried about things as of now. If I’m a Card fan, well, I’d be in a bad mood as my team can’t block for our QBs and any team with a decent D line (say most of the NFC west among the rest of their opponents) will surely shut down their passing game. If I’m a StL fan, I just have to hope that Jeff Fisher can pull off a Jim Harbaugh and install a successful system in a short amount of time. Bradford’s a goodf QB, but you have to question his supporting cast.

All in all, it looks pretty good for the men in red and gold.

In what I’ll call the What-Could-Have-Been Bowl, the 49ers are facing off in their most meaningful meaningless preseason game against the Denver Broncos. You know, the team that signed some QB whose name I can’t remember. Under the shadow of darkness, the Broncos wrangled some guy named Manning, who hasn’t played in a while, to the mile high shitty from the depths of free agency in a move that was undetected by the media. Much like Bob Irsay moving the Baltimore Colts to Indy in the heat of the night.

Um, well, except for the fact that ESPN had 24/7 coverage of Peyton’s every waking moment, his plane rides all over the country, news of Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke hiding in the bushes in their camo hoodies watching Manning throw at Rutgers, Miami owner Stephen Ross  offering him everything under the sun plus a baby’s arm holding an apple, and Arizona offering Manning all the sand he could crap in.

Anyhow, the Niners didn’t get him. To me, this was a non-issue, because their best opportunity to win now is with Smith. Mainly because, as we saw last week, Smith can take a hit. Manning would have been dead had he absorbed the hits Alex took last Friday. So, what do we take out of this game? Well, I guess we have to wait and see how Harbaugh plays it. Last year, Harbaugh bucked convention and didn’t play the starters very long for the 2nd-to-last preseason game. This time around, with a full camp and preseason, we should see Smith play at least the whole 1st half. Although you have to wonder, since the Niners dodged what could have been 2 devastating injuries to two of their running backs in Brandon Jacobs and LaMichael James.

What am I looking to see? Well, Aldon Smith and Ahmad Brooks both returned to practice on Monday, and they may get some playing time, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They are much more valuable  if they are fully ready for the Green Bay game, not for this meaningless tilt.  The offense? Well you know.

Well, it’s only preseason, and I know I’m not supposed to be concerned, but (stop me if you’ve heard this before) I’m a little concerned with the mid-range to deep passing game. 4-5 series, and we’ve barely thrown anything besides 4 yard outs to the WRs. The only deep pass Smtih completed was the pass to Ginn when Smith broke contain. Moss was open for a TD on a pass to VD that he dropped. And Moss himself dropped a pass from Cappy that would have been a 1st and goal. Beyond that, the pass blocking was pretty bad, and Smith was under pressure. Which is why I think Smith rarely gets to his 2nd/3rd reads. As in the play where he didn’t see Moss.

I guess I’m making too much out of this, but I get a little nauseous when I hear how crisp and awesome our practices are, and how well Smith is hooking up with Moss/Crabs downfield. Is this where they leave it? I’ve heard this for the last 3 camps. Smith finally has a grasp, blah blah blah. The game starts, and wwe get the goddamn everloving 4 yard out. A route that I want to see retired. Just like Bill Walsh went to the well too often with the Roger Craig sweep, this play has seen better days. I am STILL waiting for the Niners to throw slants, crossing routes, and the occasional deep ball.

I mean, there’s saving this for the regular season, but if you don’t practice this stuff in games, how do you truly know if it’s going to work? The overarching point to all this is, if Moss gets overlooked on plays like the one in the 2nd quarter where Moss had the entire left side of the field to himslef, and Smith doesn’t see him, Moss will likely become very disillusioned about how he’s expected to produce here. Manningham was targeted once. Crabs got his 4 yard out. Moss got a 6 yard out. Hou meanwhile threw the ball all over the field to numerous different WRs. Where’s the beef? I know we are going to be a ball control offense, but really, you HAVE to throw passes downfield. Otherwise we’ll be in the same boat as last year. Lots of FGs, and leaning on the defense.

Frankly I think this is a recipe for backsliding. The D, no matter how well it plays, will not likely get 38 turnovers again. The offense needs to do a better job of pressuring the opponents defense rather than just trying to burn clock and keep the other team from scoring. Push for a 17 point lead, and THEN go heavy run.

Preseason preseason. The Niners travel east to Texas for a game with the Houstons. Alex Smith may get 2 series this game. The reports coming out of camp are that Smith has really taken to the offense, and it is clicking along at a feverish pace. Good to hear, but then again, we’ve heard this before. Be that as it may, I believe this crop of coaches a little more than the last batch. Beyond that, Josh Johnson, Harbaugh’s QB back in the heady days of the USD Toreros, willl get a chance to improve his position in the battle for the 3rd (and most likely last) QB on the Niners.

The other concern is of course injuries. As the Raiders showed last night, you can get dinged up pretty badly when there are jobs to be had, and defensive players try to prove their worth.  Aldon Smith is walking around comfortably, and is apparently just about right. He will not likely see any more action this preseason. Brooks is also out with a knee injury that will keep him sidelined most of the preseason. As well as P Cox and a few others. It’ll be interesting to see how the pass rush fares with without Aldon and Brooks at LB. Kortnei Brown and Eric Bahktari in their place. I think they may try and protect Haralson by playing him little since they have enough dinged up LBs. Juston Smith will likely get a little playing time as well tonight. It’lll be nice to see him out there. Even if only for a short time.

Other than that? Offense. I want to see some evidence of these amazing workouts I jeep hearing about. Sure they don’t want to show too much. But really. a down field passing game isn’t a great unsolved mystery that other defenses haven’t seen before. Most all teams use their WRs a lot more than we do, so let’s at least give it the old college try. For a little bit.

Or, brother can you spare a QB? In what is shaping up to be a strange and exhilarating development, the 49ers seem to have a veritable plethora of QBs in their stable. Yes, Smith is the #1. This is not the debate. The debate is which of the QBs currently on the roster will back up young Sir Alex. According to Jim Harbaugh, Cappy Kaepernick is ’emerging’ as the backup to Smith, so we’ll pencil him in as the #2. Which leaves Scott Tolzein (the guy the Niners stole from SanDiego’s practice squad after playing them in the preseason last year), and recently acquired Josh Johnson, granite-jaw’s protege at USD, and more recently the backup in Tampa Bay. Scotty looked very good in mop-up duty vs Minn last week, but who wouldn’t? Tolzein made all the throws and did as well as can be expected. Unfortunately, he’s performing against the Walmart stockers, UPS guys, and the otherwise soon-to-be-unemployed football players. Not his fault, but there you go.

Josh Jonhson on the other hand saw little action last week vs Minn. The word from Harbaugh though is that JJ will get the 2nd half of the Houstron game to strut his stuff. I haven’t seen too much of JJ, so I  don’t really know what to expect from the guy. His numbers in TB aren’t very impressive, but Harbaugh and other have good things to say about the kid. Is he a keeper? We’ll see.

If JJ somehow takes the #3 spot, then the Niners could stash Tolzein onto the taxi squad. The problem there is, as he was in SD, he can be snatched away by a QB desperate team (hello AZ). And he has looked more than good enough to be snagged in a hurry. If Tolzein wins the #3 spot, what then? The likely outcome is they cut JJ, mainly because he isn’t eligible to go to the PS. Harbaugh leave the possibility that hey could very well carry 4 QBs into the season. Frankly, I think this is a very good idea. Keep all 4, and wait for a team to become desperate. If, say, Matt Flynn or Andrew Luck goes down to injury, then try to fleece a team in need of a decent QB.

I mean, really. All four of these guys could start for AZ  and be their #1. They are in a world of hurt with Kolb sucking wind, and Skelton getting a taste of reality. So, try to pry loose a nugget from any of the number of QB-desperate teams.

Well, preseason game one of season 2 is in the books. Yes, the Vikings are fairly hapless. Yes, it’s preseason, but you had to like what you saw out there. If you like running, that is. What I really liked, besides Brandon Jacobs pounding out some tough inside yards, was the formations the niners were running out of. Yes, they ran out of a lot of 2 TE sets, but the Niners showed 3 WR sets, and ran successfully out of them as well. They ran out of the shotgun. And they ran with authority. Jacobs broke off a nice 28 yard run early. Hunter and LaMichael James had some strong runs as well. The only drive Smith was out there was a 7+ minute grind-it-out deal sealed by a TD on a nice touch pass to Swett Brain. He made a nice little adjustment as well on the pass. Soft shell Crabs had his usual 3 yard out. Moss played a little and had no passes thrown his way. Manningham (along with Frank Gore and Justin Smith) didn’t play at all. Cappy Kaepernick made a big impact on anopther nice little wrinkle. No-huddle. On 2nd down, Kappy made a nice fake handoff to Hunter, which the entire Minn defense bit on, and had pretty much clear sailing once he broke the line of scrimmage. A nice stiff-arm (dude has LOOONG arms) 50 yards downfield got him into the end zone. Cappy also had a nice little FG drive to close the scoring in the 1st half.

The defense as a whole played well, except for the opening drive where Carlos Rogers got beat deep. that happens, but the bigger issue to me is that the FS was nowhere to be seen. Goldson has to be much more aware of where he is supposed to be on the field. He’s deep coverage. He can’t bite on fakes. He should trust the guys in front of him to make plays, and stay in his deep coverage. Other than that, the D looked fine against Christian Ponder. They had more problems keeping Webb in containment, but no damage was done.

Overall good game, however, the injury to Aldon Smith is worrisome, no matter how positively Harbaugh spins it. He says hip bruise, but we’ll see. Smith tweeted he was fine, but I’m pretty sure he won’t see any more preseason action. The hope is he’s ready to go for Green Bay. Another problem that I foresee is the issue with the ground and pound aspect of this offense. As per last year, there was not much of a deep passing game. At least early on. If this style continues, I can’t see how guys like Moiss and Manningham get motivated to play this style of jumbo packages, heavy runs, and TE passes. Yeah, it’s only one not-real game, but Moss has shown his entire career that he can get bored easily and become a disruption.

I’m not raising any red flags yet, but I sure hope that we see more from the passing game as we move down the practice games. It’s not even that they have to heave the shit out of the ball. Just show me you CAN hit a 25 yard crossing route. Hit a deep seam with someone other than VD. Go deep with Moss. You have to like how the run blocking looked. That is usually the hardest thing to get synchronized. We killed in spades on Friday. Now let’s try some intermediate to deep routes where the blocking has to hold the rush for 4 seconds.

Well, preseason game day . . .  The big news I suppose is that Michael Crabtree is starting his first presason game in 4 years of trying. My thoughts is he gets a WR screen, a 5 yard out, and calls it a day while Moss and Manningham get the bulk of the work in getting on the same page with Smith. Actually I have no fucking idea. Smith needs work with ALL these guys, and playing against real opponents is the best way to get this done. Sure, the offense practices agaisnt one of the best defenses, but back in the day when this meant something, the offense was a well-oiled machine. As of now we are getting there, but by no means is this offense hitting on all cylinders. Lots of new parts, and we are only a month away from the real shit starting up.

The sounds from camp are all good. Brandon Jacobs says he’s found his top gear, and is running with power and more speed. LaMichael James and Kendall (Endzone) Hunter are both running hard and fast. Gore is healthy, and looks to get more help and more breaks. Randy Moss is helping guys like Crabs and KW get their shit together in meetings. Even AJ Jenkins is supposedly showing speed and ability in practice. Smith? Well he says what he says, and everyone moves on. The defense? Well, the same cast of maulers is back, and things should remain excellent in this group from top to bottom. The only big change is Aldon Smith getting on the field more. It comes at the expense of Parys Haralson, so this can only be good news.

Plus, during the game tonight, we get the thrill of seeing 53 cutaways of Aluminum Mike Singletary as he tries to keep his pants on during the game. He’s back down in the trenches as a linebacker coach, so he’s back at ground zero on his quest to be the best head coach of all time. Good luck there, Mike.

As for me, I’m heading for the mountains today. A  little fishing, a little dirt biking, a little 4 wheeling, and a lot of hanging out. My son starts school in a couple weeks, so this is the last hurrah for the summer. In other words, I’ll see you guys Sunday night. I’m taping the game, but I’ll try to listen by the lake . . .

YEEAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhmmmmmm, uh. OK. Preseason. Like real football, but without any true meaning. True, there are position battles to fight for. WR being the most intriguing to me with the Crabs/Mario/Moss situation. The rest of the positional fights seem to be for backup roles, so there isn’t a ton of excitement there. The way it goes these days, you get about 10 series on offense and defense of 1st string players, and a lot of slop in the entire preseason. The caveat being the 3rd preseason game is usually reserved for a good bit (say one half) of starter action. We’ll see. Last year, Harbaugh went off-script and barely played the starters, and they were trounced by the Texans.

Jim Harbaugh gives a lot of creedence to fighting for positions during these practice games, but realistically he and the other coaches see what’s happening in practice day in and day out. Who’s busting ass and who isn’t. Who’s making plays, who’s on the sidelines. So, beyond these guys getting through these games without any serious injuries, what are you looking for Friday night against the 6 Kings? Me? I’m looking for Michael Crabtree in an actual preseason game. I ain’t holding my breath.

Anyhow, here’s the long awaited preseason schedule:

• Fri Aug 10 – Minn @ SF 6:00 PM
• Sat Aug 18 – SF @ Hou 5:00 PM
• Sun Aug 26 – SF @ Den 1:00 PM
• Thur Aug 30 – SD @ SF 7:00 PM 

One last preseason story. Many (including me) were a bit baffled by Gregg Williams and his Saitns defense’s incessant blitzing during the first practice game of the extremely truncated 2011 preseason. It seemed like a bullshit move to come out balls to the wall since it was obviously a weird situation that the 49ers (and all teams) were in. The 49ers showed nothing that game, and were pounded relentlessly by NO and their all-out blitz attack. Many were (rightly so) worried about the blocking, or lack thereof, during the blitzing frenzy. It warmed my heart to hear the 49ers say they used that game as impetus to get prepared for the playoff game on January 14. Great for the Saints! They won a preseason game! Well, good on the 49ers. They won the playoff game in epic fashion, and the Saints are getting ground into berger meat by Goodie Goodell. “I suppose that you’re accomplice in the wood chippah?”

Or, As the Ankle Turns. This guy’s a goddamn soap opera wrapped in a reality show wrapped in an ankle brace. For the 2nd time in 2 years, Michael (practice? PRACTICE?? We’re not talking GAME. Practice???) Crabtree hurt himself on the 1st day of practice. Year one of course was the Year of the Holdout. This guys is a walking Alan Iverson in shoulder pads. You know Crabtree. The guy who spent last offseason ignoring his quarterback, dissing his ass, and disappearing in the playoffs. He had a decent enough season, but he and Smith have about as much chemistry as do oil and water.  Any route over 10 yards usually didn’t work.

I’m sure you guys are familiar with my misgivings about the guy. He can’t seem to understand how to read defenses. He rarely reacts to Smith being under pressure, and thus trying to get open. He for the life of him cannot run slants as he doesn’t turn his head fast enough to catch the slant. The few games I’ve seen live, and when they deign to show replays of routes, he never adjusts to Smith when protection breaks down, and he doesn’t turn for the ball if Smith breaks contain. All I hear is how wonderful he is. He’s a mean blocker. That’s all well and good, but I want my WRs to be able to catch a slant or improvise to help his QB.

I thnk the best thing to happen was for Randy Moss and Mario Manningham to come here, as it certainly knocks Crabs down off his esteemed position of being the automatic #1. He’ll fall even further if he remains on the sidelines.

Oh, yeah. Boseephus was banned for life . . . Anyhow, here on the Niner front, the team has pretty much settled in nicely. The defense doesn’t have many positions up for grabs. In fact the entire starting 11 are returning for the 2012 season. That is, if Dashon Goldson decides to sign and play rather than pout and sit.  Goldson signed his franchise tender, and reported to camp today for the opening of camp tomorrow. So, the positions up for grabs appear to be all backups.

On the offense however, there have been some changes. Gone are Moran (shudder) Norris, Braylon (who?) Edwards, Justin (whoo whoo?) Peelle, and Josh (I got hurt at the worst possible time, and during garbage time, to boot) Morgan. Soon to go look like Anthony Dixon, Kyle Williams, and Bruce Miller among a long list of non-roster invitees. Miller would be hard to see go, as he had a great year blocking, and made some nice plays out of the backfield. However, the addition of Rock Carwright may make Miller expendable.

Spots to be contested for are of the backup variety. As in, who will be the #1 backup at QB? Nominally, Cappy Kaepernick is the #2 guy, but Jim Harbaugh has declared it an open competition among Josh Johnson, CK, and Scott Tolzein. Realistically, one of these guys is not going to make the team. The likely scenario that plays out is AS stays #1, CK is 2, JJ is #3, and Scotty goes to the practice squad. However, the possibility exists that JJ doesn’t do well, and Tolzein forces a move on to the active roster. In that case JJ is gone. Either cut, or traded some time during the preseason.

Frank Gore is the nominal starter, but I’m pretty sure he’ll get spelled a lot more than he has in recent years. His ankles have been giving him problems for a few years now, and keeping him fresh is a priority. His backup falls to either Kendall (end zone) Hunter, newly acquired Brandon Jacobs, rookie LaMichael James (bitch), or the more than likely gone Anthony Dixon. I don;t have any idea how they are planning on using Jacobs, but my thought is he’ll be a 3rd down/short yardage/goal line guy. They will likely line both of them up some of the time, and feature either one at various times. I’d think Hunter is the one who will get the bulk of the backup load. Unless James really impresses and catches on fast. He would be a big change of pace, but I think he’ll be eased in as the season progresses.

WR is a bit muddied. From what has been talked about during camp, among the players and coaches at least is that  Randy Moss is being the consummate pro, and is showing the young WRs how to conduct themselves during practice and during meetings. If Randy can get Crabs to pull his overinflated head out of his ass and produce on the field instead of at the altar of cool aloofness, then Moss is already worth it. I’m not too worried about Moss as this is likely his last stop. If he blows this, it’s an ignominous end to a sometimes brilliant, and likely Hall of Fame career. Mario Manningham is a given. He’s proven his ability to be a clutch guy, and appears to have gotten over the dropsies that plagued him early in his career.  Then there’s Crabs. AJ Jenkins is going to stay. If they keep 6 WRs, that leaves a bevy of guys for the last 2 spots. Kyle (what, me worry?) Williams is supposedly benefitting from Moss’s presence as well, but his future remains cloudy. He showed some potential, but wasn’t nearly consistent enough, disappeared for long stretches at a time, and then there’s the plays I shall not mention. Swett Brain was signed to a one-year deal, but he was invisble last year. Chris Owusu, the UDFA from Stanford, could possibly force his way onto the team, but he most likely goes to the taxi squad as well.

TE? VD and Byham are locks. Konrad Reuland looks like he could get the #3 spot.  Walker has never thrilled me much, but the battle is between those 2. They won’t keep 4 with Ice, Staley, and Tukafu waiting in the wings.