Forty Niners Forever

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Just found out Brock Purdy is in the concussion protocol. Apparently on the flight home, Purdy started feeling the effects. No word on when/if/who/Darnold starts, but there’s a chance he will get cleared. Or not.

Those great feels after the Cowboys game seem like last season.
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Who the fuck are you? The glorious season that was 2023 took a hard U-turn as Brocktober turned into Octopussies. The vaunted #1 defense let a 2nd string no-name guy from Cleveland beat them, minus Nick Chubb, and the 49er gave up 453 yards to one-time Shanahan protege Kirk Cousins, who were without their star WR Justin Jefferson. No sacks, no pressure, no coverage on screens, and no stopping the short passing game that Minnesota torched us with all night long for a total of 378 yards. 8/13 on 3rd downs. That’s just bad bad bad defense.

Even the Ram game, which was a fairly easy win, the defense gave up 300 yards in the air. 55 passes, ONE sack. What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here? The defense on paper improved this offseason by getting Javon Hargraves from the Eagles, and the recent addition of Randy Gregory from the Broncos.

But on the field, we have fallen from 1st to 8th in yards allowed. We are a shitty 16th in passing yards allowed per game. And this is directly tied to the non-existent pass rush. Drake Jackson and Hargrave lead the team with 3. Billion Dollar Bosa has 2.5. So, what gives? Well, the most obvious issue is Steve Wilks. He has taken a world-class defense and made it mediocre.

The 49ers are 23rd in pressure rate. This team needs to get D line help immediately. Wilks may be a decent coach, but this defense is floundering, and his background is in defensive backfields.

Preferably now. Before this game with Joe Burrow. This could get ugly real fast next Sunday.

Well, that sucked. Kinda feel like Steve Buscemi in Fargo getting stuffed into the wood chipper. The 49ers again fall to an underachieving team without their big player in a pathetic defensive effort for the ages. Sure, we kept Minnesota out of the end zone for the most part, but their drives of 89 yards, 67, 75, and 77 yards ate clock and kept the ball out of our hands. We really should have lost worse, but the defense did stiffen after giving up 452 yards. Ouch.

Like last week though, the defense did just enough (with the help of a missed FG) to have a chance to take the victory in the end. A victory that a good team would have secured. The 49ers had the ball down 5 with 2 minutes left (and no time outs). But Big Cock Brock went flaccid at the worst time and threw a pick to end the game.

Unfortunately for Brock, he had really come back strong after the lackluster Cleveland game, and had the team moving well until the 4th quarter, where his last two drives ended in INTs. So, he’s falling back to Earth a bit, but this loss was a team effort. Mooney Ward started off in spectacular fashion wrestling the ball away from Jordan Addison to give the Niners great field position.

But CMC fumbled that opportunity away on the 11 yard line, and Minnesota went 89 yards downfield for a 14 point swing. 3rd round curse Nick Moody then miss a 40 yard FG on the next drive as Minn took the ball to our 3 and kicked a 21 yard FG.

The Niners finally got in gear with a nice scoring drive to cut the lead to 10-7. All looked well until Steve Wilks decided to go all out blitz on 3rd and 6 with 16 seconds left. Foolish call? Uh, yeah. The one time you WANT a prevent defense is THAT SITUATION. Instead, Jordan Addison returned the favor to Ward by wrestling an INT away from him and scoring a 60 yard TD.

The rest of the game was the same shit. Long time-comsuming drives by the Vikings that led to 6 points. The 49ers only managed 7 themselves but pissed away 2 late opportunities with those Purdy ducks.

Still and all, this game was a complete and utter failure by the defense to do anything. Steve Wilks did NOTHING to alter Minnesota’s game plan of quick passes and the occasional run. The defense got NO pressure and no sacks on Cousins, who threw FORTY FIVE passes. Our base D line is one of the best, but I did not see ANY stunting, all the blitzes were picked up with ease, and Cousins simply played pitch and catch with his guys all night.

8/13 in 3rd down conversions, including a way too easy 3rd and 12 on their first TD drive after the fumble. Maybe Wilks needs to get down on the field like his predecessors did.

Yeah, winning on the road is tough, and there are no pushovers in the NFL, but this game made us look like chumps. That fast start is fading into the rear view mirror pretty quickly, and this isn’t gonna get any easier.

Good news? We are at home next week. bad news? Joe Burrow is healthy, and we left a lot of tape on how to beat us. Sure, we are a game up on Seattle, but we sure don’t look like a team gunning for the #1 seed anymore.

The rosy injury picture got worse this wee as Deebo was found to have a hairline fracture of his shoulder, Trent Williams is still gimpy with his ankle, and CMC is iffy for tomorrow, although he seems to think he’ll play.

Williams is the immediate issue, as the Vikings are a pretty good pass rushing team. Danielle (?) Hunter leads the league with 8 sacks in 6 games. Other than that, their defense is fairly pedestrian, and they are a whopping -7 in the give/take. 6 created turnovers, and 13 of their own.

This game is a bit worrisome as we are not nearly as healthy as we were before that Browns game. Deebo is a big part of our misdirection offense, and if CMC goers down as well, then we may struggle again.

All about keeping Purdy upright and clean in the pocket.

We have been doing wel lately in these natioal games, so let’s keep this roll going. Seattle won, the Iggles won over a fairly strong Dolphons team, and the Lions were spanked badly by the Ravens. So we got to keep this roll going.

Stop two of this roadie is Minnesota, land of 1,000 flakes. I guess we can all thank or collective stars that the bromance between Kyle Shanahan and Kirk Cousins has never reached its fruition. Then again, if you listen to the pundits, Shanny would have turned Cousins into Joe Montana at this point and we’d have a few Super Bowls by now.

I guess we will never know, but Minnesota is seeing the flipside of all their close win last year with a boatload of close losses. Of their 13 wins last year, 11 of them were one score or less. This year, all 4 of their losses, and their 2 wins are all one score or less.

I have no idea what this means. Do they blow leads? Do their comebacks fall short? One constant is Kirk Cousins, the guy who can’t quite do enough at the right time to get the team on a roll in the playoffs. One playoff win in 12 seasons is a pretty small pull seeing he has reached the playoffs 5 times with the Redskins and Vikes. I mean, shit, Purdy has 2 playoff wins in what amounts to 3/4 of one season.

Cousins’ numbers are always fairly spectacular, he likely passes 40,000 yards this season, and he has 7 4,000 yard + seasons under his belt. He has a solid 266/109 TD/INT ratio, 67% completion percentage, and a 97.9 QB rate. These are numbers a lot of teams would KILL for, but the results just aren’t there.

Weird.

The news on our front is good, at least as far as the injuries go. Deebo, Trent Williams, and CMC all avoided major injuries and look to take advantage of the extra day’s rest to get ready for this game in the great white north.

The big question, to me at least, is how Purdy responds to this game. Even in his spectacular game against the Cowboys, he missed his first couple throws. Like the Cleveland game, they were mainly behind his receivers. He reset himself pretty quickly in that Dallas game, but never really did get on track in the shitty weather of Cleveland.

Yeah, it’s a big learning experience for him as he really is green at being a pro and playing in different stadiums in differing weather. He hasn’t even had the luxury of having a training camp as the #1 starter. So, I’m sure he’ll bounce back and put together a great game and the Niners take this one going away. This is my hope anyway.

One thing I wish I would see, and I was saying it last week.

GET MASON IN EARLIER.

And

STOP RUNNING DEEBO.

Well, we all knew the Cleveland defense was gonna bring it, and bring it they did. The 49ers were beaten, battered, bruised, and bloodied by Myles Garrett and company. Funny thing though, the 49ers kept Garrett in check to 1 solo and 2 assisted tackles. Our defense played well enough but for a couple mistimed and miscalled penalties on Gipson and Ward. Warner had a pick, and Lenoir had what could have been the gave-saving pick late in the game. But the refs made a bad call (and for fuck’s sake, these game-altering calls need to be reviewable for the 1,000th time) on Gipson’s hit to negate a turnover on downs, which would have ended the game. 334 yards to 214 is pretty awful, but in the end the 49ers should have pulled this one out.

Offensively, well, we were bad. Deebo went out on the first series, reinjuring his shoulder on a sweep, and CMC got hurt on the 2nd drive with an oblique injury. Don’t know the extent of either of these, but the offense went into hibernation with those two gone. It was pretty much a slog-fest as both offenses generated little but for a couple drives on each side.

Still and all, after all the shitty play, bad calls, and tons of missed passes by Brock, he DID get the 49ers in position to win, only to see Jake Moody miss his 2nd FG of the day.

A fitting end to a shit game. The good news? Both Philadelphia and Seattle lost. We are now in a 3-way tie atop the NFC with the surprising Deetroit Lions and the aforementioned Eagles.

Not much else to say about this, but the prime directive here is to put this one in the rear-view and take it out on the Vikings. A team that is crashing and burning in the breakdown lane. The team should be fine, but the bug question is how Brock Purdy reacts to this very disappointing effort. Is he able to play inless-than-ideal conditions? The Vikes are indoors, so that shouldn’t be a worry, but time will tell as we roll into winter.

You don;t need a weatherman to see which way the wind blows, but it’ll be blowing a little bit tomorrow. 15 mph. The rain should hold off till later. So, yeah, we might not make our majic number of 30 points, but if we can just keep the turnovers down, qwe should be able to beat these guys. They are offensively challenged in a big way without Chubb and Watson, and we are gonna get some points.

Never been to Cleveland, I guess seeing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame would be kinda cool, even though they are like most other halls of fame, namely retarded. No Warren Zevon? Judas Priest? King Crimson? Nine Inch Nails? Iron Maiden? T-Rex? Devo? Soundgarden? Link Wray? Come on, man.

Anyhow, back to football. Cleveland’s only major advantage is, home field, and they are coming off the bye. Other than that, the Niners should be able to walk away with this one.

28-7 Niners.

The Factory of Sadness. Blight City. Lake of Fire. Call it what you will but the 49ers are heading to Cleveland. Much maligned, and riding a streak of shittiness a mile wide and 32 years long, Cleveland did themselves proud and signed DeShaun Watson, he of the rub-and-tug escapades times 24, and are actually playing kinda well.

Defensively anyway. Myles Garrett is a beast, and Cleveland is giving up the least amount of yards per game (197) by a whopping 70 yards. Offensively, they are in a bad way. Nick Chubb suffered a terrible knee injury on MNF a few weeks ago, and Mr. Illegal Use of Hands is battling a shoulder injury and may not even play.

The Niners? Well, coming off a big win over Dallas, the 49ers have this and the Vikings game on the road. It is games like these that can be dangerous. Weather will be a factor in Cleveland as it will be rainy and windy, so we have to be careful on that front. So far this year we have protected the ball very well. No picks and only 2 lost fumbles to 8 picks and 1 fumble recovery, while the Browns are -7 with 4 takeaways and 11 giveaways.

Cleve is 4th against the run and 1 against the pass so it won’t be easy, but they haven’t faced our offense.

Take the under. 21-10 Niners.

Here’ the all-22 breakdown of Brock’s sensational game against the Cowboys.

Unreal when you see it like this. Watching the plays unfold on the field is a sight to behold.

Well, the script couldn’t have been written any better than it actually played out. 42-10. The fans were pumped, the Sunday Night prime-time hype machine was set to overdrive, and the 49ers kicked the Cowboys to the curb, stole their lunch money, and feasted on the overrated wreckage that is now the Dallas football team. Jerry Jerk Off was ‘really excited’ to see how the Cowboys would play. Until they played.

Much was written about the Cowboys vaunted defense, how they shut teams down, and had only given up 41 points in 4 games. Well, Purdy and Co. put up 42. Micah Parsons was manhandled all over the field by Kittle and the offense. Vander Esch was a non-factor as the 49ers passed for 256 and ran for 170 (426 total yards) and were never really threatened in this game.

The crowd was loud and into it from the start. There were some Cowboys fans, sure, but not too many and not too loud. The beauty of live football is the atmosphere, the excitement, and the thrill of watching plays drawn up by the coaching staff being executed to perfection. We were sitting in the north end zone and got to see the flea flicker go off as drawn up. When Kittle broke down the sideline, everyone down the sideline screamed “he’s open!!!!” And you watch and think, does Purdy see him? Will he get the ball there? Is it gonna be a TD? All in the blink of an eye.

Purdy of course nailed Kittle for the easy TD and the rout was on. The int by Gipson was the exact same thing. Dak rolled left and I could see Gipson playing deef centerfield. I knew before Dak threw the pass that Gipson was in perfet position to get the INT. And he did.

I could wax poetic about this game for a while, but the tape dpeaks for itself. Deommodore Lenoir had a phenomenal game on defense. He was everywhere. As did Moonman Ward. Warner was his usual badass self. Greenlaw had some bonecrushing hits. Bosa had a strong game.

Offensively, CMC pounded the rock hard and was pounded early and often. I was very happy to see Jordan Mason get some meaningful carries. Purdy was outstanding yet again on his reads. 17/24 – 252 yards, FOUR TDs. He had a couple bad passes early, and had a couple knocked down, but as the game wore on he got better and better.

20 yard pass on 3rd and 4 to Aiyuk negated by a 10 yard penalty? Purdy followed that up with a 27 yard pass to Deebo. And these weren’t cheap dump-offs. These were 20 yards downfield dimes.

Tough early test for the Niners today. Fairly important in the fact that they are likely gonna be fighting for the 1st round bye with the Niners and the Eagles as well. There are many games to go, but as we all saw last year, we got pretty far behind the 8-ball with those early losses.

But to say we are inside their heads is an understatement. After knocking them out of the playoffs these last couple seasons Dallas is treating this game like their Super Bowl. In week 5. This is pretty much another game for the 49ers. Yeah, I would love nothing more than to crush these guys, but I don’t think we are gonna run the table, so a loss would not be a killing blow.

That being said, I think we will outlast them. Yeah, they have a talented team, but I think we can score on that defense. And I certainly think we can get some turnovers off Dak. Containing him in the pocket and limiting the scrambles is huge. Bosa comes up big today. We get a couple turnovers.