Forty Niners Forever

Well, thank God that was a practice game. Unfortunately, this team looks like it is going backwards. Whatever that was, it was bad. Sure, we didn’t have Deebo, Kittle, Aiyuk, Mitchell, Williams, and McGlinchey playing, but you’d think the offense would have done something. Even the meaningless 4th quarter touchdown would have done something for the guys, but alas, that pass was dropped by Norm Snead the IV. Soon to be Norm Snead the ex-football player.

10 penalties for 100 yards was also a bit unnerving as this kind of shit has been an issue in the Shanahan era. False starts mainly. This shows a lack of cohesion and discipline. Still and all, it was a tune up game. Thankfully they have 17 days to work on things.

On defense, Samuel Womack continues to impress with his solid breakup of a TD pass that turned into a pick, and another play on a TD pass that he broke up but was called for PI. Iffy call, but hey, he’s in there breaking passes up. We were also pretty much not playing our star defense with Bosa, Warner, Kinlaw, Greenlaw, Moseley, C Ward, and AA all on the sidelines.

So, not much to take from this game other than it gives the coaching staff something to point at and say, don’t try to pull this shit off in the regular season. I’m glad they lost because I remember the bad old days of Aluminum Mike Singletary saying ‘Every win is important,’ going 4-0 in the preseason, and then going 4-12 in the regular season. So, no, pre-season games are not important.

Hopefully we can pick up some interior line help come cut-down day. But it is now the quiet before the storm.

Hmmm, haven’t listened to Yes in a while. they were a fun band back in the day. Saw a great show at the Coliseum Arena in like 1978. Halfway through the show, Rick Wakemen’s keyboard miasma caught on fire, and they had to stop the show for 45 minutes while they put out and reassembled the plethora of keyboards, Moogs, and wires galore. Still a great show.

Speaking of great shows, we are getting closer to the real thing. The Jimmie Ward injury prompted the signing of Tashaun Gipson. And also the reincarnation of Dontae Johnson as he is now getting time at safety. He’s the guy that just doesn’t go away. He’s sometimes in the right place at the right time, but more often than not he’s a penalty or a burn waiting to happen. Hope Gipson catches on fast.

Other than that, the defense looks great. Should be dominant.

The offense is hard to gauge as we haven’t put the real guys on the field yet. I suppose we think we are good enough to treat the Bears game as a tune-up for the offense, as Chicago is pretty much a mess all over the place. We shouldn’t have too much trouble with them running or passing. But then again, anything can happen in the NFL these days. And this is more true now than ever.

Teams fly up and down the good/bad charts faster than shit through a goose, so last year’s turd is this year’s diamond. Shit, we were a dropped pick from the Super Bowl last year, and I don’t think anyone thought we were for real. Including me. The only time I felt comfortable in the playoffs was when we were to face the Rams. The game we fucking lost. Then again, it was still pretty sweet to knock both the Packers and the Cowsills out of the playoffs.

We are better defensively. That is certain.

The O is the Q.

Only big fuckup was the goal line fumble. All in all the worrisome thing is the interior line was our starters. Not sure about the center, but Banks and Sutherland were bad. 3 sacks and a lot of pressure.

Lots of drops by both teams, but this was mainly 2nd and 3rd string guys. DBs are making plays all over. Womack especially. Run game showed signs of life among a lot of short gains. And a boatload of false starts. Quick preseason ends next Thursday. The real thing awaits!

Solid game for Trey in limited action. Backup D played well. Even Sudfeld had an easy TD on his first throw when GB busted their coverage. Brock Purdy did fine as well. All in all, a decent game. And this is likely what we get all (short) preseason. 2 series for Trey, 4-5 throws, a deep shot. Word out of practice is Lance does much better when our starting CBs are not in. With them out yesterday, Trey was 11-14. Jimmie Ward is out for a month with a bad hammy, and it looks like T Moore is winning the starting job with him out. But all in all, we are pretty much in rest mode for the starters.

Not sure how this works out strategically but at least they are practicing. There’s saving players for the real thing and there’s not preparing them for the rigors of a 17 game season. Both sides of the coin are valid, but there you go. Injuries sure seem to be hitting teams harder now that they have gone to a much softer training / hitting preseason. Guys coming in fat and out of shape needed 6 preseason games to get themselves ready. Now, guys stay in better shape, more or less, but there are now only 3 preseason games to get ready, and the starters get maybe 10-15 plays. There’s got to be a happy medium, but losing a guy to a preseason injury is much more damaging than a rusty QB to start the season.

Speaking of practice, the Niners travel to Minnesota for a couple day of practice ahead of their Saturday game. A good thing I guess as these guys get to hit other guys instead of their own. It also gives the Niners a chance to see how Trey responds to a lesser talented defense. It would be nice to see him light these guys up, but we’ll see.

Less than FOUR weeks to kickoff!!!

Here we go. I’m sure we get one series or 2 out of the first string, if that. But here is your 2022 Niners!!!!!

We have a top 3 defense, some highly talented skill players, and a bit of a questionable interior line.

The main thing that may hold this team back is the guards and the center. As we know already, Trey is getting a LOT of practice running for his life and making plays out of the pocket.

The hope is, playing against lesser D lines will give Lance time to make throws out of the pocket,

The rest of the team is nails. If the offense can produce at even a top 8 level, the Niners should be up there with the best teams in the league.

Here we go!!!

Here’s a good synopsis of yesterday’s camp. Sounds like the team is coming together nicely. Lance is pretty much under pressure all the time, but the line is apparently doing a better job. The good news for the Niners is, our defensive line is top 3 in the league, so the ability to keep our guys at bay will go a long way to helping protect the pocket against lesser defensive lines.

https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/9/23298934/49ers-day-11-recap-training-camp

Highlights: O line coalescing, running game is looking solid, Wilson had a big day, Lance had his best practice. Charvarius Ward has a muscle strain and will miss 2 weeks. AA is ready to practice next week and will likely travel with the team to practice with the Vikings when the team goes out there.

The Niners released struggling safety Leon O’Neal, and signed CB Ken Crawley. Given the injury to C Ward, I think the Niners will be very circumspect regarding who practices now and who gets game reps.

Heading into the heart of training camp, and the 49er offense seems to be clicking a little better now that McGlinchey and Trent Williams are on the field. Almost time for game 1 on Friday! As the protection is getting better, so is Trey Lance’s completion percentage. Sounds good to me. And we get the Green Bay Packers to open our preseason.

Bring me the head of Aaron Rodgers! I’m sure he’s still butt-hurt from being knocked out of the playoffs by us, but he prolly won’t touch the field anyway, so sorry ass-hat. Stay on the sidelines and fuck up another playoff opportunity later in the season.

Seems like others are noticing that practicing against our dominant defense should be helping Lance in the long run. Heard MJ-D bring it up last week, and just read an article in the Athletic about it and a bunch of other stuff hopefully it posts and you can read it. I wasn’t blocked so maybe it works.

Got some good stuff about the rookies, UDFAs and such.

https://theathletic.com/3481933/2022/08/08/trey-lance-49ers-undrafted-rookies/

. . . and the 2022 football season has begun! This is gonna be a crazy season what with a ton of player movement and lots of story lines. Von Miller is in Buffalo, DaVante Adams reunites with fellow Bulldog Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield to the Panthers, Mitchell Trubiscuit to the Steelers, Wetz to the Foreskins, AJ Brown (!!!) to the Eagles, Russell Wilson to the Broncos, on and on.

We of course have our new QB Trey Lance, and our guy who we can’t miss because he won’t go away, Jimmy Garoppolo.

On the line, Spencer Burford is playing very well, and hopefully 2nd year guy Aaron Banks will solidify the middle, along with whoever we put at center.

As far as this season goes, I can’t wait. I think this team right now is about as good as we have been in a long long time. I never felt that way with Jimmy G manning the QB spot. Will Lance soar over the game-management plodding passing game of Jimmy G? Well, the weapons we have seem to say yes. Deebo is back. Aiyuk is tearing up camp and kicking ass. We have speedster Danny Gray, Late-bloomer Jauan Jennings, and of course George Kittle. Elijah Mitchell, and rook Davis-Price should lead the way at RB.

The D looks even better than the last 5 years as we finally have a deep secondary. Charvarious Ward is a bona fide Press cover corner, Moseley is in top form, Jimmie Ward is still bringing it, and Hufanga’s play allowed the departure of Jaquiski (oooops) Tartt. If Verrett bnrings anything he’s found money. Ambry Thomas and Lenoir have some seasoning, and Thomas especially survived his trial by fire to come back strong.

Funny enough, I’m kinda jazzed to see what Derek Carr and Davante Adams do in Oakland. They put up Madden numbers in Fresno.

Another funny thing, Trubiscuit is sucking so hard in Pittsburgh, I wonder if they take a flier on Jimmy.

I thought this would happen the way it did. and it did. We didn’t lose Jimmy yet, but Deebo got a 3 year, $73 million extension. All the media BS and the blathering going on now about why did they wait so long, Deebo wants out, yadda yadda yadda, the deal was he was concerned about how much he was being run. And Shanny wasn’t shy about using him up the middle.

I also think the reason we went RB in round 2 was a direct result of making Deebo see that the team was serious about getting and fielding a deep enough RB corps so he won’t be run up the middle 10 times a game. So, we’ll get to do this is again in 3 years, but hey, Deebo is the real deal, and he is imperative to be on the team and hitting all the practices now to get him going with Trey and the offense.

Bring it on!

In a move that surprises no one, the 49ers are reporting that Lynch and Shanny met with Jimmy G and said happy trails. Don’t come to practice, you can work out on your own. He’s got his physical today and he will apparently be able to start throwing soon. The hope is once he proves his arm is able to throw those 12 yard curls, he will get traded. Texans? Falcons? Giants? Jets? Bucs? Who knows. Who cares. Who loves ya, baby!

In other slightly encouraging news, Deebo Samuel reported to camp today, ending speculation in my head that he might decide to sit this one out. Good for him. I get that some of these wr types are prima donnas, but I felt all along, and even before he deleted his social media accounts earlier, that his main complaint was how Shanny was using him. Sure, we had injuries at the RB spot. But that doesn’t mean hey, let’s run Deebo up the middle. Dumb dumb dumb. Walsh would have been crucified if he put Jerry Rice in harm’s way like that.

But hey! Today is opening day!! Training Camp had officially started!