Forty Niners Forever

But, the good news is, I’m going to Washington DC with my son for a little bit of Americana tourist fun, so it was either pick the bye week, or try to get tickets to the Skins game in DC in mid-November. We opted for the bye week. I haven’t been to DC since 1973, so it should be fun.

Anyhow, back to football, it looks like the Niners aren’t going to do anything before the traade deadline in 5 minutes. Going for Brandon Lloyd, who ended up costing the Rams a conditional pick (6th round?) in 2012, would have been cheap, but they didn’t. He had a fair-to-middling career here, making some spectacular catches and dropping some easy ones, but they do have Braylon Edwards coming back from his knee injury for the Cleveland game.  Last I heard anyway.

Speaking of WRs and such, hopefully Edwards’ return will spark the return of the deep passing game. The Niners have not thrown a lot of deep balls, but have ratcheted up the mid-range game. This is necessary to stretch the defenses and to open up running lanes. But atill and all, we need to at least show that we can try it. Williams is fast. He should be good for a couple deep sideline passes.We’ll never become the 1984 Miami Dolphinis, but they need to show it at least a couple times a game. Brett Swain is fast as well. Get all the speed guys in for a few plays a game.

Speaking of bye week, I wonder what new wrinkles they will come up with. Maybe it is the deep game.

Wow. Unbelievably tough, gritty, smashmouth performance by the resurgent and real San Francisco 49ers. The 2 biggest weapons out of Deeetroit were rendered null and void. Or at least contained. Ndamukong Suh had 2 tackles, and was not a factor all day. His talk of planting our QB into the ground was prescient in the fact that HIS QB was the one sacked 5 times (Smith twice).  Mergatroid had a good game (7 for 113), but was kept out of the end zone, and was not the giant factor he was supposedly going to be. The thing about it, is both were played straight up a lot of the time. Anthony Davis had a spectacular game blocking Suh, and Chris Culliver had CJ one-on-one much of the time.

Offensively, we are in uncharted territory. Alex Smith has led his 3rd 4th quarter comeback on the road this season. Something that hasn’t been seen since (wait for it) the Joe Montana days of 1987. Smith’s numbers weren’t gaudy or spectacular, but he led the team on a 4th quarter drive to seal the deal, hitting Delanie Walker on a 4th and 6 slant for the go-ahead score with 1:51 remaining. Crabs had 9 catches for 77 yards to pick up for Joshua Morgan. Gore slashed and sliced his way for 141 yards, including 2 big chunks of 60 and 44 yards to set up 2 scores. Kudos go to Bruce Miller for keying both runs with key inside blocks. VERY Rathman-esque. That being said, the offense was far from perfect. M0st of the 15 penalties were called on them, with a bunch of false starts, holding calls, and a few illegal formations scattered in there. Crabs made a bone head play when he tried to score after a catch in the 1 yard line was ruled incomplete because he didn’t get his right foot down (2 lefts do NOT equal a left and right). The next play, Delanie Walker dropped a TD pass all alone on the sideline. The Niners also lost the turnover battle. Staley whiffed on the first offensive play, leaving Smith dead to rights on a hit by Kyle Vanden Bosch. The play resulted in a sack/strip (and a FG). Alex also sailed a pass early in the 4th quarter to kill a promising drive.

Enough cannot be said about the defense. Deeetroit’s run game never go going. Stafford was hassled all day. There were 10 hits on him to go along with the 5 sacks. Stafford was forced to check down most of the day as the big weapons of CJ and Pettigrew had their catches, but Deetroit had a hard time sustaining drives due to the D line stopping the run and getting constant pressure. Brooks came clean on a blitz to kill a drive, Aldon Smith had a tackle in the end zone for a safety plus another sack, and  Justin Smith was relentless as well. The secondary gave up yards but no home runs as Deetroit did have some success underneath. The D line has to be considered among the top 2 or 3 in the league.

Heady days, indeed. Harbaugh has seemingly made all the right calls in keeping Tomsula, Rathman, and Solari, while replacing the rest of the coaching staff. Their faith in Old McDonald (and jettisoning AF and Clements among others) has paid huge dividends. The biggest call is putting his eggs in the battered, maligned, and seemingly irreparably damaged basket that is Alex Smith. No one (OK, Twin, you get yours) foresaw the change in his game that has resulted in a huge drop in picks, and a much greater understanding of his offense. Lots of people have bemoaned the fact that he’s had too many OC’s, not real offensive-minded head coach, and all that, but I saw this as a placeholder season for Smith. As it is now, Smith likely gets another contract this year from the 49ers. And rightly so.

Shit, take a look at Baalke’s draft. His first without Singletary. 4 guys in the draft played significant roles in the win yesterday in A Smith, Culliver, Hunter, and Miller. I figured they’d be better this year, just not this good this fast.

Lots of differeing opinions about this Deetroit game. From we’ll get slaughtered, to a tough loss, to a victory. 5-0 Deetroit vs the 4-1 Niners. There are a lot of people out there that don’t believe in either team as being more than flashes in the pan. The winner will be the toast of the NFL. For a week, anyway. I happen to think the 49ers can get on these guys early as the Lions struggle to get going, as they usually do. The onus will be for the 49ers to keep the chains moving once a lead is established. If it is. Harbaugh showed what he could do last week by going aggressive early. The thing was, it was done with a lot of 2 TE/2 WR formations (and even a bunch of 3 TE formations), not the 4 WR sets I had been calling for (and expecting).

The nice thing about all this? Well, I dug the fact that the 2nd TD to VD came on one of the 3 TE sets. One the Niners had run out of the previous 4 times. Down and distance, or formation doesn’t dictate the play being called anymore. Harbaugh had TB completely off-balance the whole day. And TB’s defense isn’t taken lightly. My thought (OK, hope) is they can continue this style of play. I’d actually like to see more multi-WR sets. Get Swain in there. And run up the middle. Throw screens and delays. I think the Niners can use their aggressiveness against them. Should be a good game either way.

Is it me? Why am I not very worried about Detroit? Suh is a beast, and Mergatroid is outstanding. After that? Ehhhh . . .  Frankly, I think the Niners can win this game. Not easy, by any means, but something in the area of 28-17. Some shit like that. Stafford, among all his slow starts and comebacks, is fairly inconsistent. Detroit’s running game doesn’t worry me that much, and they haven’t exactly played a boatload of stellar opponents, either. Chicago was their toughest foe, and among all that ineptitude on the Bears’ part, Chicago was in it most of the way. Lost in Detroit’s win were a shitload of penalties called on them, a lot of missed passes, and the home run to Mergs.

Detroit may get another big play out of him, but the key is to take advantage of all the other opportunities they seem to offer up. They are going to pass a lot, so I’m thinking the Niners will play a lot of nickel and also have Aldon Smith in while they primarily run a 4-3 defense. This puts the onus on the linebackers to watch for screens and delays. That being said, Bowman and Willis are both in the top 7 in tackles, and they are doing a great job of staying at home and not overpursuing plays. A vast difference from last year. How they rotate these guys around as they go from 3-4 to 4-3 will be something to watch. The secondary has made geat strides, even from the start of the year. As many yards as the Eagles gained in the air, the DBs were making plays downfield. And they were tackling guys after catches. The TB game was a study in tight coverage.

The Niners defense is gaining a reputation as a tough, hard-hitting unit. Laying the bricks on Mergatroid may slow him down a hair. I thnk they should jam CJ early and often. Culliver has good size to match up with him on the line. Jam him with help over the top, and they can minimize his impact. I have the same feeling about this game as I did about the Tampa Bay game. They are both good, but I think we out-play and out-coach them.  God, what a weird feeling. It has been too long.

The City that Ford built, The Motor City, Motown, Hockeytown, The Murder City, the City that Civilization Forgot, Terrible Ted’s stomping grounds. Paris of the Midwest? Right. In the 1920s. Anyhow, the Niners make their second appeaerance at Ford Field since it opened in 2002. I guess you throw the recent record out, as the Niners have owned these guys for years now. Going all the way back to the 1983 playoffs where Eddie Murray missed a 43 yard FG as time ran out to give the 49ers the victory. A good friend of mine got married that day, and it was funny watching the dance floor empty out as everyone crowded around a TV somewhere in the house as Montana drove for the go-ahead score, and the Lions got into position to kick the FG.

Anyhow, is anyone really afraid of Deetroit? Yeah, they are 5-0. But the inept Bears had the lead on them at the half. This after 12 false starts in the first 3 drives. they’ve come back from some deficits, but they said the same thing about Tampa Bay. Suh is a beast, but one guy can be neutralized. Fairley looked average as the NT. Mergatroid is good as well, but double him, jam his ass at the line, and you can negate some of his impact as well. The toughest thing will be the crowd noise. They key? Like Tampa, get on top of them early. Take the crowd out of it. Stafford missed a bunch of passes throughout the whole game, and with another slow start, the Niners can get on top and pound the run late. Get some more playing time for Cappy.

West Coast Killers indeed. Tampa Bay learned the hard way that this isn’t last year’s 49ers, last year’s coaching staff, or last year’s Alex Smith. The 49ers put a beat-down on the slow-starting (and slow finishing) Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the tune of 48-3. The largest margin of victory since the heady days of Bill Walsh (and Super Bowl XXIX). The 49ers, if they beat Deetroit next week, would BECOME the West Coast Killers. A suddenly a very legit powerhouse in the NFC.  Hard to believe the speed at which they have assimilated the new offense of Harbaugh/Roman, and Vic Fangio’s newly aggressive defense. I guess Joe Staley was right when he said the O line doesn’t suck. The line pitched a shutout in protecting Alex, and opened up the tough TB D line for 211 (125 for Gore, and Hunter had some nice runs and 65 yards of his own late) yards rushing, and 205 passing.

The game yesterday was a thorough and complete beat-down of a tough NFC South team in the Bucs. One thing I like is the team has never taken the opening kickoff. They either defer, or the other team wins the toss. It seems to set the tone when they stop the opening drive. Especially when they can back it up with a TD. The Niners forced a 3-and-out, and scored in 4 plays to set the tone. The 2nd drive was stalled by the Gore fumble, but instantly erased by the Rogers pick 6. And the rout was on. Alex Smith now has the 3rd best QBR in the league at 104.1. His numbers weren’t huge, but they certainly didn’t need to be as the Niners threw for 205 and ran for 211. That’s balance. The big numbers in this game? 127.2 rating, 3 TDs, 0 picks. More importantly, he led the team on successful drive after successful drive.

The defense has suddenly become a ball-hawking (Nate who?) secondary that has 8 picks in 5 games. The D line has 12 sacks (including 2 by Aldon Smith yesterday) without blitzing very much. They confused and baffled Josh Freeman all day, and stuffed LeGarrette Blount to the tune of 38 yards.  This was a statement game that I was fairly sure the Niners would come out aggressive, and not buy in to the grind-it-out style that everyone seemed to think it was going to be. These guys came out throwing (mainly in 2 WR/2TE sets), so there was little of the spread formations that were used the last couple weeks. Althogh Walker did line up in the slot for some big plays, includiong the opening drive TD that Smith put in there perfectly. They even used a bunch of 3 TE sets that resulted in some decent runs, and they threw once out of that formation for a 12 yard gain.

The great thing to see is that, with all the different formations and sets the Niners are running, there is a ton of shit for other teams to try and figure out. Passing out of 3 TE formations, running out of the spread, and being aggressive with the offense has been the biggest sea-change for this team. Harbaugh has fully sold this team on his strategies, and philosophy. I really didn’t think it would happen this fast.

Big game fro the 49ers. Pitfall game, progress game, all that noise. Truly a GPS game, to coin a phrase. Apparently Philly is in a irreversible death spiral. They are down 31-24 in the 4th quarter. Unless they pull it out, they’ll be 1-4. Crazy. Da Raiders are trying to beat a tough Houson team on the road. Pittsburgh is wakng up from their malaise. Indy’s fighting for its first win. Gotta love the NFL.

The situation is what it has been. Keep Alex protected, and run block to the 2nd level. Get pressure with the front 7. RJF has some shoes to fill today. Frankly, I really didn’t think Soap was going to do as well as he has. I’m sure theyy’ll keep up the rotations on the D line to keep everyone fresh with D Dobbs and Ian Williams.

Hopefully the fans in attendance will be predominantly 49er fans today.

On the face of things, this is a game pitting two resurgent teams who have surprised a number of people and taken the early lead in their respective divisions. Tampa’s is a little more shocking due to the competition (Atlanta and N’Orlins) they face. Still, the NFC west was supposed to be Seattle, AZ, and StL fighting amongst themselves while the Niners staggered around blindly looking for clues behind their star-crossed QB. Well, 4 weeks in, and the Niners have a two game lead over their foes, and surprised the hell out of the Eagles last week. Frank Gore says the Eagles quit in the 2nd half:

http://tinyurl.com/3z8m9z9

So, here we are, two surprising teams squaring off. The current talk among the fans on both sides is low-scoring grind-it-out football. Let me be the one to say fuck that. If the Niners learned anything last Sunday, it is that they CAN push the ball down the field. They need to come out and be aggressive on offense. Try to get on top of these guys. Tampa Bay couldn’t do shit against Indy’s decimated defense. Yes, they have Dwight Freeney, but little else. TB spent 3 quarters getting holding calls and other penalties and did very little offensively. The fact that they won speaks to how sad Indy is without Peyton Manning.

I call this a trap game because these are the kinds of games that Mike Singletary would completely blow chunks on. He would build up his team as being better than the foe, preach his smashmouth style, and say we will lay our venegance upon them (sorry, just watched Pulp Fiction) and triumph. Invariably, the foe would come out aggressive, as TB did last year, and get on top of the Niners and coast the rest of the way home. Sing would mumble about looking at the tape to see how he was so easily taken down by the other team.  

I also call this a trap game because of the obvious raising of expectations. Not too many prognosticators (shut up, Twin) picked 3-1 at this stage of the season (I figured 2-2 was doable). Harbaugh is in total denial mode that his team is this good. Frankly I like him doing that. The other coaches were the opposite. They would be praised for close losses, and befuddled by the myriad blowouts. Harbaugh doesn’t want them believeing the hype.

But the main reason I call this a trap game is the fact that I wonder if Harbaugh comes out and plays this close to the vest. I think htis would be a huge mistake. The 2nd half last week showed that they can push the ball down the field. They can run slants and deep patterns. If TB comes out showing 8 in the box, and tries to stop the run/short passing game early, I hope against hope that the Niners go for broke. Hit some big plays. Try to get on top of these guys for a change. Try to get a 14 point lead before these guys can catch their breath. Harbaugh’s a smart guy, and I know he’s waiting to unleash some things, but he’s also missing the key guy, Braylon Edwards. Still and all, I’d be drawing some big plays up for Kyle Williams early. In other words, i think the Niners can win pretty easily if they come out aggressive, and not play into TB’s style of game.

The crazy thing about football as opposed to baseball is the urgency of EVERY game. In baseball, you can go on a 6 game losing streak, and still come out of it fine. In baseball, there’s always tomorrow. In football, you drop 2 games in a row, and 3 teams can pass you up on the way to the playoffs. Parity being what it is in the NFL these days, there is NO room for error. If you look at last year’s games, there were maybe 3 plays that kept the team from being 9-7 instead of 6-10. Look at Sunday’s Eagles win. There were missed FGs all over the place, fumbles, and drive-killing penalties. But the game hinged on the pursuit of Justin Smith to strip the ball from Jeremy Maclin, and Dashon Goldson having the wherewithall to simply fall on the football and not try to do too much and be the highlight hero (hello Nate Clements).

So, here we sit, atop the NFC West with a 2 game lead 4 weeks into the season. I sure as hell didn’t think we’ll have a lead like this at this point in the season. I knew the other teams were weak, but I figured it would take the 49ers time to get acclimated to the new systems and schemes they are all learning. I guess we should all be thanking the scheduling Gods, because the Rams, on paper at least, the best team in the west, has a brutal schedule, and looks like they’ll end up 0-7, with Green Bay, Dallas, and NO as their next 3 games. Seattle and AZ certainly aren’t doing very well, and all my thoughts on getting Kevin Kolb (talk about Checkdown Charlie. AZ fans are blasting his signing now) were unfounded and silly.

TB is one of those fair to middling teams that, when on can be scary, but watching that game last night, they spent 3 quarters shooting themselves in the feeet repeatedly. They must have had around 10 holding penalties. Freeney was unstaoppable, but Curtis Painter kept Indy from doing much offensively. But, as the thread says, this is a big test for your 49ers. And one where the head coach has to REALLY stress the importance of staying focussed. They are coming home after their best road trip in probably 15 years. They are getting press (albeit it’s more of the ‘how the fuck did the Iggles give it away?’), but Harbaugh is already getting praise from the talking heads around the media-sphere. The threat is very real that these guys come in with swelled heads, and thoughtsw of prime-time glory. This is where your coach HAS to beat on these guys to remond them that it’s all about hunger. All about not reveling in the recent past. It’s about pushing forward and not believing the hype. Matt Maiocco interviewed Harbaugh after returning from Philly, and it gives me a good feeling regarding just this fact. The gist of the interview is:

Is part of your task this week to sort of gauge the pulse of the team and make sure they don’t get too high after this win?
Harbaugh: “Yeah, that’s one. It comes back to – you’re getting better or you’re getting worse, you never remain the same. We’ll keep that blue-collar mentality.”

His experience as a head coach at Stanford defintely gives him an edge that the previous head coaches didn’t have. Even more so, when you consider that keeping college football players from going to the moon after big wins (say beating USC in LA), is tougher than doing that with professional football players. Still and all, these guys, as a team, are winning games that they had previously lost. The difference is the coaches back then would praise the team for close losses (GB, Minn, Atl, NO, Colts, Titans, ring a bell in the last couple years?), and then come up short down the road becasue they would rest on their laurels and fall flat. I can’t count how many times the Niners had (to steal a phrase from Skeebs) GPS games. Statement games. Ones that would show the team’s mettle. Invariably they’d fall flat, lick their wounds, and have to rebuild themselves from scratch. The problem came from the coaches building up the team needlessly and not putting in the work. Nolan would regularly give the team Monday off if the team won the previous Sunday. While that may sound good from a player standpoint, it doesn’t drive hiome the point that you need to keep working to get better, not take time off. There plenty of time to rest in the offseason.

Here’s the entire interview with Harbaugh. It is an excellent study in motivation techniques, self-deprecation, and the ‘us-vs-them’ mentality that Bill Walsh always drove into his players.

http://tinyurl.com/3qxvkbc

 Harbaugh understands what to do to keep these guys moving forward and not looking back. Well, the proof will be in the pudding this weekend, but he seems to have a much better grip on this than his predecessors.

. . . or does he? Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Every time Alex Smith comes up with a nice satisfying win, the pundits, fans, and anyone with an interest in the team says, there it is. This is what we bargained for when the 49ers made him the #1 pick back in April 2005. Is this the new beginning? Can Alex rise above the myriad obstacles that have been thrown in his direction? Can he finally gain redemption as the starting QB of the 49ers and lead them to the playoffs? Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?

Everyone knows the story. The chicken-egg thing with Smith has been going on since he was thrown into the starting job back in 2005. He had Nolan as HC, Mike McCarthy (yes, THAT Mike McCarthy) as his OC, and little talent minus the rook from the U, Frank Gore. Next year it was Norv Turner as the OC, and a big dose of Gore, and incremental inprovement. 2007 was the Hostler/shoulder/Smith-run-over-by-his-head-coach deal. 2008 was a season on the IR, Nolan tossed midseason, and Martz as the OC.  2009, Martz was out for the peripatetic Jimmy-Hat Raye. He of his head coach’s like-minded 1975 offense. Smith started the season as Shaun Hill’s backup. After replacing Hill in week 6, Smith showed signs of life and nearly pulled off some nice comebacks. 2010 was the heralded continuity theme under Jimmy-Hat. Unfortunately, the team started 0-5, Jimmy-Hat got fired, and Mike Johnson was supposed to come in and start implementing a more aggressive offense. No such luck. Smith got hurt, lost his job to Troy Smith, and the QB merry-go-round was on. The high point being the big win over Seattle last December, and the season-ending win with Tomsula as the head coach.

So, the question is, what can Smith do with an offensive minded head coach? Or even what can he do with any kind of coaching at all? Harbaugh has said on more than one occasion that he has had to deconstruct Smith and get him to work on his footwork and his mechanics. If early indications are to be believed, the prognosis is good.  

Smith is now the 8th ranked QB in the league with a 97.7 rating. He’s only got 4 TD passes, but more importantly, he only has one pick. Yes, it’s early, but even from game one this offense is growing. There are more 3-4 WR sets. Runs from these sets as well. The early play-calling concerns I had were dispelled in the 2nd half yesterday. My hope is they continue with this style of offense, as it finally opened up the run game in the finest Bill Walsh tradition. Once they started hitting their passes, the run game magically opened up. Plus, it’s time for Smith to put 2 great games together. This Tampa Bay game (normally the Pigs Of Bay (C) ) becomes the all-important reality-check game. Can they continue with their success on the road in their friendly confines? We will see.