Forty Niners Forever

Well, that’s what one ESPN wonk articulated after the game. Don’t know which, but the 49ers were suddenly lumped in with Detroit, Cincy, and KC as pretenders in the grand scheme of the NFL hierarchy. I (and many other wonks) called bullshit on that. To go 4-1 on the east coast is a pretty big accomplishment, keeping the game remotely close was pretty good in itself. As it was, Flacco played one of his better games of his career, and our O line, already shorthanded without Bruce Miller, lost Adam Snyder to a hammy injury early in the 1st quarter. Chilo Rachal filled in miserably, as he whiffed on his 1st play, and was the guilty party on the chop block (albiet, it wasn’t really a hit than a stumble) on the 75 yard TD pass to Ted Ginn. The rest was a defensive battle all the way. The Niners had a decent 2 minute drive to close the 1st half negated by a pick. Edwards didn’t do much to get to the ball, or even break up the pick, but it was underthrown besides.

The 49ers tied it on the 1st drive of the 2nd half with a nice drive that used up half the 3rd quarter. Balt responded with a drive that ate up the rest of the 3rd and resulted in a TD. Balt stayed underneath the whole time, and hit on too many 3rd down plays. Whitner missed a stop on 3rd down, and the Niners didn’t get ANY pressure on Flacco as he dinked and dunked, and ran for 6 yard chunks to score the game’s only TD. After that, it was jail-break time as Smith and the Niners couldn’t get any offense going. Until a small drive near the end was killed by a terrible drop by Ginn to end the game.

As the Niners stand now, they are a bit beaten up. Snyder needs to get healthy. That much is obvious. Same with Bruce Miller. The line play was shoddy at best, and it can be attributed to their absense. Our wideouts are hurting as well. Edwards just doesn’t have the speed he showed in the preseason or vs Seattle even. Crabs is doing decent, but Walker was a no-show in Balt. VD? He made a brain-dead mistake in the closing minute by not going OB after getting the 1st down on a swing pass. Stupid stupid stupid. Game awareness, skippy. He proves himself to be clueless by not knowing the situational aspect of where he is and what he should do. For all his talk of beinf great, he’ll never get there with plays like that, or the one last week when he didn’t try to get his feet down before he went out of bounds.

 Anyhow, this game was going to be tough, even without the fact the Niners had a 6 hour plane ride, and a very short week to prepare for the game. The interesting thing to see is the next game vs the Rams. How the Niners bounce back from this game is going to tell a lot about the spine of this team. I think they are fine, and this’ll be a blip on the radar.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Have a great day. Bring on the food and libations . . .

Here we are, the 49ers have finally reached the Harbaugh Challenge Turkey shoot mano-a-mano raven-pluck extravaganza. What the NFL schedulers viewed as a cute idea when thay sat down at the scheduling table in February suddenly becomes must-see football.  Older brother John gets to host younger brother Jim in what is being touted as the Harbowl. I prefer a Raven Thanksgiving dinner but whatever. Baltimore is a very well-coached team, and minus a couple major faux paus’s’s’s, namely losses  to Jax and Seattle, they’ve been playing pretty well. Cincy was a battle for them, but they closed it out in the end with a lot of pressure on Dalton.

Ray Lewis is a game-time decision for Thursday’s game. He has been limited in practice, as has Anthony Davis and Crabman. I keep hearing that Bruce Miller is fine, but I haven’t heard if he’s been cleared to play. I’d be surprised, but we’ll see Moran (whiff) Norriss if Miller doesn’t go.

Baltimore’s defense is very stingy in giving up either rushing or passing yards, and is 3th in points allowed. The Niners are 8th in yards given up per game,  Balt is 4th. Their offense is simlar to the Niners in the fact they have a strong runner in Ray Rice, much like our Frank. They have a tough WR corps in Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, and Anquan Bouldin. Smith is averaging over 20 yard per catch, so the Ravens will look to go deep early and often.  

Like the Giants before them, I’m not truly sold on how good Baltimore is. They’ve beaten Pittsburgh 2x (are they as bad as the 1st beating?), but how good is Pissburgh? AZ almost beat Balt in their own house. Yes, wins are wins, but what about the losses to JAX and Seattle? The Jax game was uuuuuuuuuuugly. Flaccid Flacco was dogshit that night. He’s thrown 12 TDs and 8 picks for a pedestrian 77.8 QBR. The Niners need to dial up the pressure against Flacco. Their offensive numbers pretty much line up. In fact they both average 25.6 points/game. The thing is, Flacco has a big arm, and Balt has hit a lot of deep passes, so I think the Niners may break out some blitzes if the coverage works early. Deep passes take time to develop, and the Niners should send a corner or LB when given the opportunity.

These teams really are pretty much mirror images of one another. Well coached, and quality players on both sides. The offenses and defenses give and take just about the same points. Balt has the advantage when it comes to not having to travel for 6 hours. The 49er advantage? Well, turnovers. Balt’s defense has 21 total takeaways. The Niners D? 26 takeaways. Giveaways? 18 for Balt, compared to 9 for the Niners. The 49ers take care of the ball better, and they create more turnovers. As in last Sunday’s game, the Niners didn’t get the sack numbers I’d like to see, but the consistent pressure caused the interceptions. So, this looks to be a defensive battle. Watch it turn out 35-31 . . .

Niners win a close one. 20-17.

5 games out with 6 to go . . .  The 49ers pretty much had their way with the AZ Diamondba, uh Cardinals yesterday. It was close, even when it was in the 1st half. The Niners were pretty inept in the red zone for a change yesterday. Something of a problem these last few games. In the end, though, the Niners won easliy and convincingly 23-7. The game should have been 41-0, but hey, the best laid plans and all that.

ST was ugly early as Akers missed a 49 yard FG, and had 2 FGs blocked. And the Niners STILL got 3 FGs in the 1st half. That’s a total of 6 tries in the 1st half! Weird. The Niners moved the ball into the red zone with ease, yet had some problems once there. Much of the trouble can be attirbuted to Bruce Miller’s concussion. He got hit pretty much  helmet-to-helmet (no flag) by Adrian Wilson trying to stretch for a touchdown. He trotted off the field, but didn’t return. The protections and the run blocking suffered after Miller left because the Niners didn’t have Norriss dressed for the game. Peelle (the 3rd string TE) came is as the FB and made due the best he could. But it wasn’t up to the capabilities of Miller. I highly doubt Miller gets cleared with this short week upon us.

Anyhow, the 1st half was littered with missed opportunities, dropped passes (Edwards had 3), and one weird wildcat play which killed a drive on a false start penalty. However, the Niners opened up the 2nd half with a 7+ minute drive that ended in a Kyle Williams TD that pretty much sealed the victory. TOP for this game was an unprecedented 44:30 to 15:30 in favor of the Niners. Crab Man had one of his best games as a Niner, as well as kyle Williams. I’m glad to see him getting a shot here, because Edwards still appears to not be right with his knee, and doesn’t seem to have any speed as this point. The drops didn’t help either. We all know Ginn is a dropped pass waiting to happen, and Smith said he had trouble finding Williams due to his lack of height, but trusted Williams on the route for the TD, and he was there for the catch. Williams has a knack for making the catch AND getting his feet down. Something that VD forgot about yesterday. As well as going for passes that aren’t perfectly in place.

The D? Well, they padded their lead in turnovers with 3 picks and 2 fumbles recovered, held AZ to 229 yards, and 7 points, 11 first downs, and 48 plays (to the 49ers 439, 23, 25 first downs, and 87 plays). The only blemish was the ejection of Dashon Goldson for retaliating after getting coldcocked by Early Doucet. No word if he’ll get suspended, but he should be able to at least appeal it, as Doucet hit him while he was a) on the ground, and b) not looking.  I’m glad the TV cameras caught what really happened. The point being, if Goldson gets suspended for fighting, Doucet should get suspended for instigating.

So, barring a semi-miraculous recovery, we’ll get Moran Norriss at FB this Thursday.

The Blues Brothers happens to be one of my favorite movies. The scene in the beginning with the penguin beating Jake and Elwood with the yardstick, the door magically opening and closing, and her generally sinister countenance is pretty much what I was raised on as a Catholic. The New Age folkie, singy Christianity is all new to me, and I’ve pretty much given up on organized religion because of the institutional hypocracy. Thankfully my mom respected my decision when I was 14 to stop going to church. Didn’t keep me out of Catholic school however.

What does this have to do with football? I don’t know. Just that my favorite line in the movie is when Jake and Elwood are trying to track down the old band members. The landlady asks them: “Are you men with the Police?” And Elwood says: “No ma’am. We’re musicians. We’re on a mission from God.” All this talk of Tebow and religion just made me think of that movie.

Today’s game? Well, we are playing the Cardinals. Not the Bishops or the Popes. The Cardinals. Let’s hope we put the fear of God into ’em.

24-7 Niners.

It is strange to me how things have gone for the 49ers defense. There have been changes of personnel from last season. Clements was replaced by Carlos Rogers. Takeo Spikes was replaced by NaVorro Bowman. Manny Lawson was replaced by Ahmad Brooks. Aubrayo Franklin was replaced by Ice Sopoaga, and Ray McDonald took over Soap’s LDE spot on the line.

Beyond that, Tarell Brown took over for a hobbled Shawntae Spencer, and 3rd round draft choice Chris Culliver has bumped our ‘best’ cover guy from last year to 3rd string. The addition of Madieu Williams and Donte Whitner has really solidified a secondary that had a hard time stopping 3rd down passes the last few years. The guys from last year have been playing outstanding football. Justin Smith has played out of his mind. Rookie Aldon Smith has played extremely well for a 20 year old raw pass rusher. He’s been held in check these last couple games, but looks to hit a few sacks against AZ’s weak tackles. Bowman has been lights-out. He’s second in the league in tackles. Willis is his solid high-motor self, but is being overshadowed by all the excitement going on around him. 9th in tackles with 71.

As it stands the defense gives up a lot of yards in the air (26th), but that stems from the run defense being the best in the NFL, and the fact that the Niners are getting a lot of early leads. Along with the yards given up, the Nniners lead the NFC in interceptions with 12, have the league leader in INTs in Carlos Rogers with 5, and are number one in the turnover ratio at +13 (12 INTs, 9 fumble recoveries against 3 INTs [should be 2] and 5 fumbles lost).

All in all, heady stuff for first year Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio. Fangio has had fair to middling success as a DC in his NFL travels, but maybe it’s Harbaugh, maybe it’s the talent on this team that he inherited, maybe it’s the learning curve of being in the game so long, or maybe it’s the mixture of all these things that have coalesced this defense into a top flight unit. Regularly is heard that this front 7 is the toughest in the NFL.

For all the haters (and fence-sitters) this has to be a tough time. There were thousands of fans banking on Alex Smith being the biggest problem with this team lo these past 6 years. 2005.  The year that brought Teflon Mike Nolan, a 20 year old Alex Smith, Frank Gore, and Adam Snyder (among others) to the 49ers. Alex Smith’s star-crossed, injured, and angst-ridden time here in the City by the Bay has been rocky at best.

Alex Smith was thrust into the starting spot in week 4 of the 2005 season due to injuries to Tim Rattay. He then struggled through that season, but went 3-4 as the starter, and missed 5 games of his own due to a knee injury. His 2nd season saw a new OC in Norv Turner and general improvement across the board. 2007 was the beginning of the struggles that would do him in for 2 seasons. 2008 and 2009 saw the jettisoning of Mike Nolan, Jim Hostler, JT O’Suckagain, and Mike Martz. In their place were Aluminum Mike Singletary and Jimmy-Hat Raye. The Niners were competitive, and were robbed by Favre one last time, but ended up in 2nd place at 8-8. Smith’s numbers were still imcrementally improving, but the natives were still restless.

Then the wheels fell off for Singletary much like they did for Nolan. The 2010 season that was supposed to be the triumphant rise of the 49ers instead started with a 5 game losing streak, the firing of Jimmy-Hat, and the mind-numbingly bad coaching of Aluminum Mike, and the revolving carosel that became the QB position. Troy Smith got some starts around Alex getting hurt, David Carr-wreck’s uninspiring half vs Carolina, and Mike’s benching of Alex yet again.

Fast forward to the present. Alex Smith is the 7th rated QB in the NFL. He’s now on the Comeback Player of the Year list (with Tony Promo, Steve Smith, Matthew Stafford, and Jermichael Findley), and the league is grudgingly giving him the respect due him. As late as last week, Justin Tuck was calling the 49er game plan one that pussy-foots around Smith, instead leaning heavilly on Frank Gore to move the ball. After Smith beat them, Tuck’s tune changes some. And, (shock of shocks) contract talks have at least been on the radar for the newly annointed team leader (not so much a coach-killer now).

Sure, there are still plaenty of haters out there. People who are waiting for the team to fail so they can pin it solely on the quarterback. Well, teams win as a group, and they lose as a group. For years, all the blame has been placed squarely on Smith’s shoulders. If that is true, then these 8 wins belong there as well. The reality is, coachng had a LOT to do with the crapitude of this team. From Nolan and Singletary’s reluctance to to much more than run up the gut, to the revolving door at OC, to the numbingly retarded offense of Jimmy-Hat Raye, we are finding out that there really was a talented QB in Alex Smith. Whatever this year brings, it has been a revelatory experience watching Harbaugh and Roman coach up Smith, and let him loose.

I guess this is the sign of a team on the rise when I don’t have any huge breathless things to report about to what I though before the season started as a big intradivision game against AZ. As it is, this game is a warm-up for the bro against bro Thanksgiving football bonanza overkill deathmatch game. Does the NFL have to really try this hard to generate extra meaning for games?

Anyhow, I was just thinking what a crazy string of events came to pass to get us where we are right now. 8-1 and very near the pinnacle of football excellence. Yes, it’s only 9/16th of a complete season, but what a ride so far. Every once in a while, I give myself the heebie jeebies by wondering what if? What if Nate Clements holds on to the ball in Atl? Do the Niners win? If so, do they then reach the playoffs? The Niners were one game out, and had all the tiebreakers. If they had picked up a game somewhere, they would have made the playoffs. THEY would have gone to NO and been the NFC West representatives. Could they have somehow knocked off NO in the Wild Card round? If so, where would we be now?

With Aluminum Mike screaming at the walls, and otherwise blaming everything on everyone else, it’s hard to figure out how different the NFL landscape would be. Jim Harbaugh would have likely gone to Michigan rather than go to the front office nightmare that Miami is. I don’t think he was really interested in any other NFL job but this one. You’d have to think that Philly, Detroit, New York, and Cincinati at the least win their games against us. So, the Niners are 4-5? Seeing as we haven’t even played our division very much, the scary thing is, the Niners would still be in 1st place had Singletary stuck around. Granted it would only be a one game lead, but still and all, what a horrible thing to consider. Smith’s improvment would be still incremental rather than exponential. Gore would be injured (well, more injured). AF, Spikes and Clements would have been retained, to the overall declination of the defense. And the team would be once again struggling to find a real identity other than the 1970s offense they were running last year. They would likely drag themselves into the playoffs again instead of the huge improvement they’ve made.

All for one play.

Would Michigan be 10-0 and fighting for a national championship? Who’s to say not? They are 8-2 as it is, and how much could he have improved them?

Crazy . . .

The good news ouf of 49er head quarters (and from Gore himself) is that his knee problem was just a bruise, and RB coach Tom Rathman kept him out of the game as a precautionary measure.  He and the team say he’s good to go for the AZ game this Sunday. Othet than that, there were no significant injuries to the team last Sunday. A hard fought (and hard hitting affair) that left more than a few Giants limping off the field. Finesse that, mofos. Frankly, I’d like to see Frank take a break, or, at the most, get 1 or 2 series, and then the rest of the day off. This is the dreaded trap game against AZ (‘inferior’ opponent at home, big nationally televised game against your older brother in 4 days), and the Niners would be well-served to give Frank some time off. No need to oversue him at this point in the season. Keep him fresh for the later games, and playoff push. I suspect he gets a reduced number of carries going forward. Both Hunter and Dixon did well in his place last week. They should get the bulk of the work this weekend.

I really don’t buy into the trap stuff, as this is a division game, and the 49ers are now the team our division is gunning for. Harbaugh is always there (I’m sure) to earhole players that start feeling a little too big for their britches. Skelton had a fairly decent game against the Iggles, and brought them back for yet another 4th quarter collapse by the Dream team.  My hope is the Niners can get the pass rush going again. Our DBs have been burned a little more than I like due to the fact that the pass rush isn’t quite as solid against the better teams in the league. Even the Washington game saw Buffalo get 10 sacks, and the Niners only one. Goldson came on a blitz from about 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage last weekend, and Manning easily read that for the TD down the sideline to Nicks in the 4th quarter. The coverage WAS generally very good, but Manning was very accurate, and fit the ball in to a lot of small windows all game. The thing about the pass rush is, a lot of teams are throwing the ball quick to minimize our penetration. Therefore, safety blitzes don’t work very well. Fangio needs to dial up some corner blitzes to get instant disruption.

What I really liked about last game was the fact that Smith hit a ton of different passes. Deep middle, mid-range lasers down the middle, slants, dump-offs, and a couple deep sideline routes were all right on the money, and the yards-after-catch numbers were off the charts. Smith really showed his stuff with a game plan that was built around his passing the ball, and he passed with flying colors. The only blemish was the Ginn pick. If Ginn catches that ball, Smith is 20-30, 254 yards, and something like 18 points higher in his QBR. But, as Smith said, the only numbers he really cares about are wins and losses.

What a game. This one reminded me of the good old days, when the Niners would go up against the supposed monsters of the East and butt heads with the ‘superior’ New York Giants, and beat them down. Well, these aren’t the finesse 49ers, and the Giants aren’t quite the Phil Simms/Bill Parcells teams of the 80s, but it was still an exciting, well-played taut, and crucial game fro the 49ers. They now can claim that they are a legit #2 seed in the NFC, and could very well get to the #1 if GB staggers. Unfrickingreal. Alex Smith had what looks to be his finest game as a 49er. He’s had a few of those this season, but this one especially was left to him to move the ball. The Giants came out determined to stop Gore at all costs, so naturally, the 49ers came out throwing. Halfway through the 2nd quarter, Smith had already connected with 7 different receivers (8 total), and if not for Ginn’s giveaway to close the 1st half, the game would have been a little farther out of reach, and Smith would have had another pick-free game.

Eli was pretty damn good himself, and the Niners didn’t get as much pressure as they usually do, but the Giants are a good team. Manning hit Manningham on some perfect passes, yet in the end, couldn’t overcome the Niners 2 4th quarter TDs sandwiched around Carols Rogers’ 2nd pick of the game.  Chalk up another 4th quarter comeback for Alex. Chalk up another excellent game plan devised by Harbaugh, Roman, and Fangio. Chalk up another tough win against a top contender in the NFL.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the 49ers get the #1 nod in the power rankings. Even with a GB win over lowly Minnesota.