San Francisco 49ers Forever

Turned out to be a fun game, as the juggernaut 49ers offense rained down points galore on the used-to-be upstart Colts who started the season an impressive 8-2, only to lose their 5th straight. Which follows along with the Niners 5 game winning streak. The defense even got into the act with a pick 6 from Old Man Winters, who beat Old Man Rivers to the spot on a toss to his TE for a pick 6.

Funny to hear Aikman blame the TE for the stick route he ran. Winters obviously had position on the play, and Rivers shouldn’t have thrown it, but hey old QBs stick together I guess.

Still and all a frustrating game for the defense as they did a fantastic job stuffing Jonathan Taylor but were continually beat by the quick dump offs to a trailing RB or TE for 3 quarters. Rivers threw for 277 yards and 2 TDs and Indy kept pace with the Niners scoring machine for most of the game. Rivers obviously struggled with passes over 15 yards, and the deep shots were pathetic, but that didn’t stop them from scoring 17 firdt half points.

Biggest play of the game was the fumbled KO return after the first Niner score. Not sure how the game would have changed had tht not happened, but the dramatic improvement of the special teams has a lot to do with the 11-4 record.

For all the guys coming back from injury on defense, none of them are DEs that can get home. We did manage 2 sacks of Ichabod Rivers, but we need a ton more pressure than we are getting.

But, hey a win is a win and we are still on track for the #1 spot. Improbably. And we passed the Rams in the playoff standings.

Well, we didn’t back in, not with our four game winning streak still intact, but we did get in through the side door with the Deetroit Lions fade to oblivion with their own set of injuries and whatever their problems were.

Truth is, we kinda control our destiny with the 1 seed should we win out and end up in a three-way with the Rams and Hawks.

Nutty.

Not sure how realistic running the table is, but tomorrow screams trap game even more than the Tuxedos game last week. These east-coasters are usually a bitch, but we get the extra day, AND a late start so that should help.

From what I hear, Bethune is back, Sam O is back, Kendricks is available, and possible YGM.

The story will be beating the fuck out of Old Man Rivers. The offense should be fine.

I’ll tell you, the Rams defense is not very good. Slow their pass rush, and they can be had. Yeah, they killed us last time but we were moving up and down the field on them. With Mac Jones.

Their offense is out of this world, yeah, there’s no denying that, but the hope is that we can get some kind of health back on our defense to shore things up for these last few games and a close-your-eyes playoff run.

I guess we want the Seahawks to win? Win out and we own the tiebreaker with the Seahawks, but not the Rams. I don’t see the Cards beating LA, but maybe the Falcons find lightning in a bottle and win their game at home vs LA. So, LA would have to lose 2 out of these 3.

Doubt that will happen, but just watching McVay go for it 4 times in this game already makes me think the Rams just may very well trip over their dicks tonight.

So I guess it don’t really matter. If we win out we are the 5 seed. Or maybe the 1. Being the 5-6 seed gives us TB or Iggles. I don;t know. I just want to see a pass rush. This offense can win a Super Bowl.

Rams have 250 yards halfway thru the 1st half and are losing.

Well, here we are at 10-4. Still in the 6 spot despite our 4 game winning streak. We almost got help from Deetroit and Indy, both were losing yesterday while our game was going on, but alas, no such luck. It weould be nice to jump either Seattle or LA, but not sure we get any help. Sea is our best shot with the last game of the season.

The game yesterday was cool to watch, and pretty damn cold to boot. Watching Pearsall get open pretty much at will was great to see, despite the 2 times he hobbled off the field. His presence is a big need for the offense going forward. He opens up thiings for Kittle mid-range and even CMC for the checkdowns as they can’t roll extra guys up close on Kittle and CMC. Purdy missed him a couple times on big plays, and the one thing that you just don’t see on TV is how the secondary is playing these deep shots. The deep crosser that Purdy hit him on was s thing of beauty, and just watching his break on the ball was textbook perfect and the ball was delivered on a dime. The deep shoit he missed was SO wide open as to be insane. The deep shot Ward missed on was the same. Easy to tell that he was wide open, and that Ward totally missed the shot when he threw it.

Other than that. the 49ers played 3 perfect quarters of football, and got sloppy in the 4th. Tenn is 2-12, but they have a pretty solid O line and Pollard is a stud RB. They are beyond injured in the defensive backfield, and we killed them in that regard, but they look like a young team that should improve.

I’ll say one thing that I’ve seen in the games that Purdy is back. We are converting 3rd downs a lot more, and we are scoring TDs in the red zone. Fun game if only to see the offense rolling like it should. The pas rush was again missing, and the run D got very soft by the 4th quarter, but Purdy’s fumble wasn’t a fumble.

We are at what really looks like a trap game in the extreme. 9-4 team vs 2-11 team? Of course that means nothing in todays’s NFL Anyone on any Sunday (or Monday or Thursday) can beat anyone.

Those are just the facts. How it goes today, who knows? CMC might be on the shelf, and really, I’d love for him to get a game off, but this souldn’t bee that difficult. But the Tuxedos put a hurt on what is supposed to be one of the toughest defenses in the league last week by beating the Brownies and ran all over them. A bit shocking to me, but like I said any team on any given day.

I just hope we don’t let Tenn hang around. Get on top of them and run them into the ground.

As of now, the 49ers are fairly secure in their quest for the playoffs. After last year’s disastrous injury-filled season was followed by the offseason purge, there was not a lot of hype surrounding this team. At least nationwide. I think here, we had a little better perspective on the success of the team. Mainly because of the revamped coaching staff additions of Robert Saleh and Brant Boyer.

But those plans were severely tested by the injuries to Purdy, Pearsall, Kittle, Bosa, Warner, etc. etc. etc. But here we are at 9-4 and in the thick of it.

If all goes well and we win these next 2, we would be at 11-4 and surely some of these other teams would have stumbled. That will be the point where we can maybe go for the #1 seed. Our test of course will be the Bears and Seattle games. If we get there and win out, we’d need the Rams to drop 2 (Deetroit, Seattle) and the Packers (Chicago) to lose a game to get the 1 seed. Us winning out is predicated on beating Seattle and that would give us the 2-0 advantage.

Without 2 Rams losses, the division is out. The Rams are ahead in the better-record-in- head-to-head games tie-breaker. They are at 9-2 and we are 7-4 with 3 common games remaining. So it looks like the path to the division is a rough one. The Rams would need to drop 2. After that, I don’t think it really matters. We would end up somewhere in the 5-7 seed and be on the road regardless.

I must confess.I’d really like to get the 1 seed improbable as it is.

Oh well. Both Seattle and LA were on the road yesterday, and both crushed their opponents. After LA’s somewhat stunning loss to the Panthers, they smoked the Cards to the tune of a 45-17 win. Seattle also beat the shit out of the Dirty Birds in Atlanta 37-9. Of course those 2 teams have 7 wins between them, so a loss by either would have been surprising.

After winning 3 in a row and not moving up in the playoff picture, the 49ers moved to the 6th spot over Chicago on their bye week with the Bears loss to the Peckers. Funny, eh? All that means is that these guys cannot afford to lose any more games. Starting this weekend. Mainly because Deetroit is hot on our heels at 8-5. But they have a rough set of games to close the season. And the improbable Panthers and Cowpokes are lurking (but they suck).

The Niners? We have the 2-11 Titans and the reeling Colts these next 2 weeks. The Colts just lost Danny Dimes to an achilles tear, but next up is the Titans. Funny thing about the Titans is they just smoked the vaunted Cleveland Browns defense to the tune of 31 points. Cam Ward was average but he hit some big plays, and Tony Pollard rushed for 164, so they played pretty tough. Of course they also gave up 29 points and over 410 yards to the mediocre Browns offense, but hey, I’m sure they’ll take a win any way they can get one. We can’t rest on our laurels and have happen to us what happened to the Rams and Carol.

So, as we stand, we are one game out of 1st in the West, but really 2 games behind the Rams due to their 6-1 record vs 3-3 in common opponent games. The Seattle tiebreaker will be determined a lot by that last game. If we can get to 11-4, I think we make the playoffs. but we could fall anywhere between 1 and 7. I think we stick at 6. Chi and Seattle is a tough finish.

Well, another game, another raft of injuries. The latest IR winner is OG Ben Bartch. He got the career-threatening ListFranc sprain to his foot. This requires surgery and a long rehab. Juice (bruised ribs) and Nick Martin (concussion) both look to possibly be back from their latest injuries, so there’s that. And Gross-Matos could be back

Bartch has been on half-time anyway, rotating with Burford, but I guess Colby is next man up if they keep the rotation going. I guess I’m glad our bye week is this late, as it forces the Seahawks and Rams to play one more game down the stretch to the playoffs.

• Seattle has: Atl (road), Indy (home), Rams (home), Panthers (road), and us (road)
• LA has: AZ (road), Lions (home), Sea (road), Falcons (road), AZ (home).
• 49ers: Bye, Tuxedos (home), Colts (road), Bears (home), Sea (home).

Sea has 3 (2 east coast) roadies and LA has 3 roadies (1 east coaster), we have 1 eastie roadie.

Anyone can beat anyone. Well, except for the Titans. We will hopefully be a little more healthy, and sitting at 10-4 after week 15.

12th, you gonna be at the Titans game? Gonna go to this one.

If ever a team needed a break, it’s your San Francisco 49ers. They’ve been torn, spindled, and mutilated for 13 weeks now and are looking to get some of their injured brethren back. LB Tatum Bethune, DL Sam Okuayinonu, and K Eddy Piñeiro are all slated to be available for the week 15 game against the Tennessee Tuxedos. And they may even open WR Jacob Cowing’s practice window.

So, yeah, getting those guys back, mainly Bethune and Sam O, would be a step in the right direction i this team wants to make some noise in the playoffs. Matt Gay didn’t miss a FG during Dinero Piniero’s downtime, and Jake Moody even made his attempts yesterday in the Commandos narrow loss last night, but Gay may have bought himself a job somewhere else in the immediate future with his makes here.

As far as the playoffs go, the 9-4 Niners are 1/2 a game out of the NFC West lead, but hold the last spot in the playoff chase at 7th. Our 3 wins have gained us one spot to the inside of the race. The Carols did the Niners a huge favor by beating the pants off of Matthew Stafford and the LA Rams yesterday. It has made the NFC West race very tight, and the good news is that the Rams and Seahawks face each other in 3 weeks, and both have 5 games remaining to the 49ers 4. Wonder how those teams would do relying on their backup QBs.

Funny how when Purdy had a bad day (in a win no less), the talking heads cry for Jones to be put back in. But when Stafford throws an INT in the end zone, followed by a pick 6, and then fumbles away the Rams’ last chance, it’s “oooh, he had a bad day”. Yeah no shit. Fuck the Rams. I’m surprised Stafford hasn’t gotten hurt yet, but I guess there’s still time for that. Their juggernaut hit their own speed bump, and they have some tough games remaining.

So, we are all tied in the win column, they face each other, and we have the Titans in 2 weeks. Sea has Indi as well as us. We may need to win out to take the West. If that happens, I wonder if the #1 seed would be in play. I don’;’t really believe the #1 Bears (!!!) are all that.

Cleveland games never seem to go well, and even during the glory days they beat us here something like 13-7 during one of our 13-3 seasons. I saw Tim Couch win one of his few NFL game where the Niners controlled the ball 45 minutes only to kick 4 FGs, and Tim Couch led 2 TD drives late to beat us.

In Cleveland, we’ve played 10 games there going back to 1950. We’ve won twice.

Gonna be cold and windy so let’s hope we can run. Brock hopefully lives up to his number.

That being said . . .