Forty Niners Forever

The Brock Purdy train keeps rolling along. Against the toughest defense he’s seen so far, Purdy got a hard-fought win over the Washington Generals. Purdy used a revitalized George Kittle for 2 scores, a big 4th down conversion, and 6 catches for 120 yards. Washington pretty much dared us to throw by packing the line and stifling our run defense. And it worked for the most part, but for an end around by Ray Ray McCloud, which garnered 71 yards and the first score. Half our rushing yards for the day.

Purdy was an efficient 15/22 for 234, 2 TDs and a pick. The pick should have been a 12 yard completion but Jennings batted it into the air for the INT. Which led to the tying score. Shanny did a good job of calling plays today I must say. The red zone offense wasn’t all that, but Shanahan is designing play-action plays that work. The first TD to Kittle was a designed pitch to CMC with the option to throw.

The kid makes good decisions. Defense is on fire. Keep rolling.

Merry Christmas all!!! All I want for Christmas is Super Bowl 6.

This looks like the wrong week to step off the gas for Kyle Shanahan. More like he wants to step on Danny Snyder’s throat. Troubled waters run deep, and the Shanahan family is still pissed at the way Danny (#metoo) Snyder micro-managed and bad-mouthed the Shanahans as Snyder whispered behind the scenes that he would override Kyle’s dad Mike’s QB decisions as the team imploded.

So, I think this one is pretty big on Kyle’s radar. Washington’s defense is surprisingly good this year, and looks to get better with DROY Chase Young making his return from a knee injury. They are 3rd in yards allowed and 9th in points given up. And they have a crop of stud WRs in McLaurin, Samuel, and Dotson.

Their offense is not too dynamic, but they did have Carson Wentz stinking things up to start their season. Heinekie is nothing special either, but still, they have a dangerous set of WRs. Should be interesting anyway given Shanahan’s abject hatred for Snyder.

Step on their throats and don’;’t let up.

Still one of my favorite sound bites from the history of post-game interviews. Colts head coach Jimt Mora was asked about his team’s fading playoff hopes after a loss, and went on his mini-tirade. “I just want to win a fricking game!!”

Anyhow, the 49ers are NFC West champs, and the #3 seed in the playoffs. The Minnesota Vikings are the 2 seed, one game ahead of us. We would own the tiebreaker should we end up tied with them. And Indianapolis did us no favors by choking away the largest lead in NFL history. A 33-0 half time lead ended up not being enough for Jeff Saturday. It sure was interesting to watch as everything the Colts did backfired and Indy simply couldn’t get out of its own way.

But the real issue is, how hard do we try to gain the 2 seed. Being the 2 would keep us from playing the Iggles on the road in the divisional round of the playoffs, and we would instead play the winner of the Minnesota Washington (or Giants) at home.

So I guess it is a pretty big deal. But does it justify putting all the starters at risk for 3 games? I’l love to see the 49ers play the starters like 1.5 quarters and coast home these next 3 games. I guess this is all fluid depending on what Minn does. I mean, in theory we could catch the Eagles should they stagger badly. Doubtful, but hey. it’s out there.

I just want to see the team hit the playoffs as healthy as possible.

In a game with huge playoff implications for both teams, clinching the West for us, and kicking Seattle out of the hunt for them, Brock Purdy led the 49ers to their 7th straight win to clinch the West. Playing with a strained oblique (why do baseball players miss 8 weeks with a strained oblique?) and bruised ribs, Purdy calmly led the team to victory in one of the most difficult places for opponents and especially us to play, Seattle.

The 21-13 score ended up being more of a nail-biter than it should have been. The refs did their best to keep Seattle in the game by negating a pick 6 on a hit that was pretty much a textbook hit-the-QB-on-the-chest move, but nowadays you have to somehow alter your trajectory once you have shed a block and leapt toward the QB. And there was a great play where we got called for THREE penalties on a single play. The best part was Nick Bosa was grabbed around the neck and twisted down from behind and while trying to keep his balance knocked the helmet off the lineman holding him. Penalty Bosa.

Robbie Gould even got into the act buy missing a field goal that would made it a 3 score game, but alas, no luck there either.

Still and all, the defense did a great job stifling Seattle’s dink and dunk offense, and Dre Greenlaw had the hit of the night when he blasted Homer all the way home and caused the fumble that Mooney took down to the 5 for a quick score before the half.

Got to say, this game showed a lot from the young Brock. He read through his progressions, esp on the 2nd TD to Kittle when a slant to Aiyuk lined up on the right side was the 1st read, and he looked to the middle for something, then saw Kittle wide open on the left. Yeah, he had the dropped pick, but hey, them’s the breaks. He showed a lot of guts getting through that game hurt, and was 11-11 to start the contest.

Got to think Purdy needs the reps, but I’m of a mid to treat these last 3 games like preseason ones. Give the starters 1.5 quarters and rest them the rest of the way.

NFC West champs. With our 3rd string QB. Feels great, baby!!

This improbable season of weirdness continues with a trip to Seattle and the opportunity to clinch the NFC West. This seemed very unlikely as we stumbled out of the gate by losing our starting quarterback and losing to the 3-10 Bears, and the 3-10 Broncos. Both eliminated from the playoffs already. This team has even overcome losing their once and former leader Jimmy Garoppolo.

So, here we are with our 3rd string guy, the improbable Brock Purdy, taking the NFL by storm and taking no prisoners. Purdy is even coming of an oblique injury suffered early in his first start, against Tom Brady. So, the 22 year old is racking up quite the impressive resume in his rookie season. One that could rival Brady’s epic rise should things go even more improbable.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. As the NFC stands now, we are the 3 seed at 9-4. Win on Thursday and we are 10-4 with the West won. The only thing in play for the Niners would be getting the 2 seed from the Vikings at 10-3. We own the tiebreaker with them, for now, based on our better conference record, but it doesn’t change much as we would play either the Giants or the Redskins, uh, Generals, uh, Commanders in our 1st round game. Either one of those teams is eminently beatable, so the 2 or 3 seed isn’t a big worry. We can’t fall behind the Bucs, so we have a home game regardless. Dallas and TB is pretty much a lock as the 4th seed and the highest WC.

Which means, win this game, and treat the last 4 like preseason games. Give the 1st string offense a few series, and bring in the backups. Same with the defense. I sure didn’t see this coming when we were 3-4 and had just gotten shellacked by the Chiefs.

In the never-ending parade of injured 49er quarterbacks, Brody Purdy joins the list as he is undergoing an MRI on his oblique that he apparently strained during a 2nd possession scramble. I guess we will find out later today, but wow, the fun never ends.

This Seattle game has lost the bigger picture of being one that would determine the winner of the NFC West, but Seattle would be eliminated if they were to lose on Thursday. A win by them would still put them a game back, and even if they tie us, we hold a better conference record so the West is ours to lose. But this is Seattle. A team that always gives us fits. Well, except for earlier this year when Jimmy G came in as savior of the season. The 49ers have exorcized a lot of demons this season, flopping on a national stage, losing to the Cards, losing to the Seahawks, losing to Russell Wilson (ooops, not ALL of them), losing after the bye, so the hope is we can win this one, even if it happens to be with our 4th string QB. One that looks kinda like Geno Smith, the Seahawks QB.

Yesterday’s game was awesome in so many ways, but if we lose Deebo AND Purdy for any length of time, this season may fade away. Maybe Lance can come back? Who knows? The merry-go-round continues to spin.

I really really want to be happy about this win, but as usual, Kyle Shanahan sucks the life out of this win with a needless injury to one of our star players. Jordan Mason, a stud of a running back, who is averaging 5.4 yards a pop, was of course on the sidelines while Kyle Shanahan though, hmmmm, how did I injure my future QB? Oh, yeah, putting him in harm’s way by having him run up the middle against 320 lb defensive linemen.

Unsurprisingly, Deebo got rolled up on by a 320 lb guy and sustained an ankle injury. Don’t know how bad, but Deebo was very upset and crying coming iff the field on a cart. Shanahan is so smart that he’s outsmarting himself. Use your fucking RB to run! What a thought.

I’m sure I’ll feel better about the amazing game that Purdy, CMC, and the defense pitched, but at this point I’m just supremely frustrated that Shanahan thinks he can just use these guys up and let them get ground down needlessly. Fuck.

The Bucs have looke like an afterthought this year, but what with their devision suddenly becoming the worst in the NFL, they are division leaders at 6-6, what with their improbable win over the NOS-aints last Monday. Lucky for us, they come off a short week and have a day of travel. Lucky for them it looks like Nick Bosa is gonna rest up for the Seattle game next Thursday as he is dealing with a hamstring injury. One that caused him to miss practice all week.

Other than that, it’s Tom Brady the Turtle in this scenario vs the speedier Bug in Brock Purdy. I’m very curious to see how Purdy does. His game last week could not have gone much better. He sure moves around the pocket much more confidently than Jimmy does. Did. Can he keep hitting the open guys quick? I mean it isn’t like the game plan is being altered at all. It’s the same quick read, get the ball out, nothing too deep passing game. I kinda wish this is how Kyle used Lance, but that’s a different story.

The Bucs have a pretty solid defense so there’s that. But they don;t defend the run that well, so see the ball control game rear its head. That’s fine with me. As bad as Brady looked last Monday night, he still won the game on two late TD drives.

So, as usual, no glaring mistakes. Limit the penalties. As immobile as Brady is, we can’t let him get comfy in the pocket. They will have to step up w/o Bosa, so it’s all hands on deck. Throw in a blitz to shake Brady up early and he WILL get skittish. Send Hufanga in unblocked to rock hos world and he’ll short-arm shit all day. Gonna be wet, so our run game should be able to grind this one out.

Strange days indeed. The 49ers hope and dreams this season now hang on the young shoulders of 22 year old Brock Purdy. Brock was 4 months old when 45 year old Tom Brady was drafted by the New England Patriots. That’s pretty trippy to think about. As a fan. I wonder how Purdy is holding up wondering how he will do with his first NFL start being against one of the greatest QBs in the history of the game.

Purdy came out playing like a guy who wasn’t scared one bit about the game in front of him. And Mike McDaniel gave him a heavy dose of blitzes to start the 3rd quarter to try and rattle him. Brock calmly beat the blitzes and led the Niners to their 2nd TD of the game to increase the lead to 23-10.

Was this just the workings of a guy who went from clipboard guy to the man and simply rode the adrenaline rush to victory? Can he simply keep playing like he did? Crazy thing is, the players in the locker room give him nothing but respect and accolades as him being a hard worker and a guy who has, as many a player put it, balls. Huevos. Nuts. Cojones.

I guess it’s better to have big balls because Big Dick Nick Mullens got us nowhere. So, next up IS Tom Brady. If anyone watched the Bucs Saints game, you saw Brady underthrow, overthrow, throw behind, and throw picks all night. He looks pretty bad these days, although he did manage to squeak past the hapless Saint with a couple 4th quarter TDs.

So, yeah, Tom Terrifically old can still call upon his arm to win games. But all we have to do is manhandle the Bucs O line and this should not be too hard a game to win. That is, if we can score TDs, unlike the Saints merely knocking on the door all night.

As a side note, the rumors of Jimmy G’s demise are a little exaggerated as word is now that Jimmy doesn’t need surgery, and may be available in 7-8 weeks. Right in the middle of the playoffs.

Playoffs? Playoffs! I guess we will know shortly if Purdy’s game was an aberration or the real deal and we make the playoffs.

Man, this team just can’t seem to shake the injury bug as Jimmy G is the latest guy to go down with an injury very similar to what took out Trey Lance earlier this season. He’s undergoing surgery to his left ankle, which got bent and crush by Jerome Baker on a 3rd down scramble.

So, where does that leave the 49ers in their quest? Very hard to say at this point, but for the rest of the game anyway, Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy, led the team to victory with a couple TD drives, and 3 FG drives. Purdy took shots, made clutch 3rd and 4th quarter completions, and generally kept the offense going as it likely would have under Jimmy’s control. It was enough to overcome the highly-vaunted high-flying Miami offense. And for all intents and purposes, the defense ruled the day.

The defense forced FOUR turnovers on three interceptions and a strip-sack by potential DPOY Nick Bosa that was picked up by Dre Greenlaw for the final nail in Miami’s coffin.

The bigger picture of course is, how badly does this affect our playoff run? I mean really, Purdy did what Jimmy does. And he seemed to do it with a little more style and a little more zip. Sure, it’s only one game, and teams will now scheme for him, but really, he’s a little more mobile than Jimmy, and he made all the throws he needed to. He’s not gonna be asked to carry a huge load a la replacing Dan Fouts, he just has to hit the short to medium routes and keep the drives going.

The run game is essential to our success, as is the defense, but this was true before the injury to Jimmy G. And it will be with Trey Lance at quarterback. I feel bad for the guy as he was having a pretty solid year amid the absolute weirdness of this past offseason, and the team is really starting to gell, but it is next man up. Purdy seems to have the respect of the locker room as he’s the one that runs the scout team offense for the goal line defense practices all season.

Fred Warner had this to say bout Purdy:

“You can just tell by the way he walks, you know when somebody has just kind of got the ‘It,’ you can kind of see it, and I think he does. I know he can take that. That’s how I know he’s prepared, he’s ready. He’s played against the best defense in the league for the past 13 weeks. So, he’s going to be just fine.”

Purdy does have a bit of swagger to his game, and that’s better than seeming overmatched, but this is where we are, and the hope is the 22 year old can keep the team rolling.

And, news flash, Baker Mayfield was released by the Carolina Panthers. He’s a free agent, but I’m sure the Rams will pick him up before we get the shot. He’s better than Josh Johnson, but I suspect the Rams take him so we don’t.