San Francisco 49ers Forever

Everyone has hopped on the KC Express to Titletown it seems. Pat Mahomes is the second coming of Len Dawson, Otis Taylor has been replaced by Tyreek Hill, Ed Podolak has been replaced by Kareem Hunt, and they pile up yards like shit gathers flies.

Will they obliterate us? Sure, it’s highly possible.

Thing is though, KC is not the lockdown defense they were not so long ago. No Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Curley Culp, or Bobby Bell. Gone are Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson. Gone are Marcus Peters and Sean Smith. Eric Berry is hobbled with a heel injury.

Thing is, the only thing that gives me hope is that KC has given up a shit-ton of yards. Over 1,000 in 2 games. they are last by a pretty big margin. KC has given up 860 in the air! In 2 games! Serious numbers there that we need to take advantage of.

If we can control the clock and actually grind out some drives, we can win this. To me, as usual, it comes down to our pass rush. And with Reuben Foster set to return, the hope is the play overall gets better defensively. Ahkello Witherspoon is going to have a monumental task in slowing down KC’s WRs, but we also need to provide help for him over the top. Hopefully we can stop the run well enough to get pressure on Mahomes. Not as easy task, but our D line has been solid against the run.

Crazy stats of the week? Matt Brieda leads the league in rushing, DeForest Buckner is #2 in sacks with 3.5, Fred Warner is 3rd in tackles with 22.

This is our coming out party. 49ers 33 – KC 27.

Richard Sherman said it best. He said “It was a win but it felt like a loss. The defense played like crap in the second half.” He’s right. the 49ers had a 17 point lead with 11 minutes left in the 4th quarter,  and had Detroit pinned back deep facing a 3rd and 17. Ahkello Witherspoon, who is the guy with the target on his back, as no one seems to want to throw to Sherman’s side, was torched for a 65 yard pass to set up Detroit’s first 4th quarter score. Witherspoon had a holding call, a PI (which could have been called a push-off), and gave up two TDs after missing most of practice with week with a bad ankle.

Jimmy G, who had a horrible game last week, had a much improved game. 18-26 206 yards, and a couple TD tosses, yet he nearly gave the game away with an absolutely horrible throw to Matt Brieda running an out route near the sideline. The easiest route for a corner to jump. Garoppolo did make the tackle to save the touchdown, but Detroit was called for a holding penalty on Greg Kittle and the play was overturned. As was a punt return for a TD earlier in the 4th quarter by Detroit.

Bright spots were Matt Brieda, who cranked out big runs of 20, 22, and 65 yards to get the 49ers to their 17 point lead. Kittle kept his game-with-a-drive-killing-drop streak intact as he dropped what would have been a first down. Celek made a nice catch and drag into the end zone on a nice call by Shanny to throw a quick slant to him on 2nd and goal. The 1st TD came on another nice call, having Kendrick Bourne lined up in the backfield and no one picked him up as Jimmy hit him for an easy score.

However, 2 red zone drives stalled early, the biggest one being the fumble forced by Elijah lee on Stafford that was recovered by Cassius March on the 18. Garoppolo, whose quick release wasn’t as apparent yesterday, was sacked 6 times for 50 yards in losses. He seemed averse to throwing into coverage even though he had plenty of time on most of the sacks he took. Mainly on our first drive to the red zone.

First and goal from the 9 turned into 4th and 27 after two needless sacks and a 0 gain run. As  I said, Jimmy played better, but he still is learning the game. This was start #9, and he has to do a better job of feeling pressure and knowing where and how to either slide away from pressure, or simply get the ball out and not take the sack. The only sack that made sense was when we were trying to get the 3rd and 8 to run out the clock. Taking the sack allowed the clock to keep running. rather than an incomplete pass to stop the clock. That got rid of 45 seconds.

What does this mean for next week? Nothing. We are a young team finding our way. We played tough but sloppy against the Vikings, and played sloppy and inconsistent against Detroit.

Looking at KC next week, they of the Pat Mahomes Experience, one would think we will get slaughtered. It very well could come to pass, but they have given up 65 points in 2 games. it’s not like they are shutting anyone down. We just need to GET PRESSURE. 2 sacks on 53 pass attempts is not nearly enough. Detroit had 6 sacks on 26 Jimmy attempts. Buckner looks to be the most consistent guy on the line. But we seem to get shoved out of every rush easily. We run the same stunt over and over. There is NO pressure up the middle. Stafford is no Elway, and like I said, he had 53 passes.

The Niners were lucky Stafford missed so many deep passes. He could have easily thrown for 400+ yards as his team dropped 4-5 passes that would have set them up for the tie at least.

A win is a win, but we are still suffering rowing pains. I may have been a little premature in my assessment of this team, but then again, the season is young.

Home opener. Detroit Lions. Hopefully a non-eventful win. Then again you have to look at Detroit’s home opener last week for a game that got away. And if this was the previous regime, this is a game that the team would usually fall well short of expectations. Are we that team anymore?

I’d like to be sure we aren’t but that’s why the play the game, as they so oftenly say.  We are getting dinged up pretty decently so far what with Goodwin out, 2 guards out, Coyle out, and Jimmy G coming off a shit game. It’ll at least be interesting to see how he reacts to his less-than-stellar performance last week and if he gets a little less dangerous with his passes.

Any given Sunday and all that, but it looks like Patricia is already in over-his-head mode. All I know is Deetroit really pushed to upgrade their running attack, and the Jets, 24th in the league vs the run, shut them down completely.

I think we have one intrepid blogger, 12th man, going to the home opener, so I’d love to get some in-game reactions from where the action is. And this game should be one of the easier ones. Detroit spent a shit-ton to improve their run game by getting LeGarrette Blount, drafting left guard Frank Rag in the 1st round, and RB Kenyon Johnson in the 2nd round. That addition of talent netted them 33 yards in total rushing.

Without their perennially missing run game, the Jets picked off Matt Stafford 5 times. I think we can stuff their run as good as anyone. It remains to be seen if we can stop their passing game. Kirk Cousins wasn’t spectacular, but he did hit a lot of dinking and dunking to move the chains. However, Cousins was 0-6 ion 3rd downs in the 4th quarter, and the D kept the game within reach despite the pick 6 from Jimmy G. The pass rush was fair to good, but most of the passes were short and therefore not too easy to get at. Minus Tartt’s no-cigar moment on a near pick 6 of his own.

That being said, the offense is what lost the Minn game. 2 end zone picks, a dropped 60 yard bomb, a fumble on the 1, and the pick 6 that came after the dropped bomb means that 2 of the picks wouldn’t have happened had balls not been dropped. 14 point swing on those 2 plays, 14 points on the end zone drops, and the fumble means we left 35 points out there. minus the 3 FGs.

Sure the game would have been played differently had we scored all those points, but the point is, the 49ers are struggling to score in the red zone, Jimmy G did much better than the previous collective clown show at QB last year, but this team needs to show that last week was an aberration, not the norm.

Detroit. A team that just got shellacked 48-17 by the newly minted QB Sam Darnold of the New York Jets. He of USC fame and fortune. Detroit was an above .500 team last year led by Matthew Stafford. He was his usual good to decent self with 4400 yards, 29 TDs and 10 picks and a 99.3 QBR. Solid across the board. Their problem was their defense. They had a lot of losses of the 52-38 and 44-20 variety.

Stafford came out for the 2018 season by throwing 4 picks amid the slaughter at home. The Jets didn’t roll an enormous amount of yards up on them, but they didn’t have to what with the 5 turnovers (hot tub Matt Cassel chipped in with a late pick as well) and their 20 yard drives, but Darnold threw for 198 with 2 TDs and Isaiah Crowell (?) ran for 102 and a couple scores of his own.

I don’t really know what Detroit’s  offseason consisted of, other than the hooraw around new head coach Matt Patricia, and I don’t really care, but this is a game that we have to win. Home opener, high expectations, our own newly minted savior quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo, the time is nigh to put together a game to show the fans this team is ready.

Jimmy G had his own baffling day last week, but it came against a Super Bowl favorite and the drops, yadda yadda yada. He can assure the fans he’s worth the coin delivered to him by the truckload by putting together a strong effort. Then again, we have to stop dropping the ball. Goodwin will likely be a game time decision, and he’s not gonna be full speed as it is, so Dante Pettis, who looked a little starry-eyed early but settled in nicely, needs to get his separation and catch some big passes. And fucking Albert Morris can’t fumble twice on the 1!!!

17 years ago today . . .

I haven’t been to New York since 1973, and when we were there, they were just finishing the South tower of the WTC. Flew around NYC in a helicopter and was amazed at the sheer size of the buildings.

Flash forward to 2001, and I got a phone call from a friend to tun on the TV just in time to see the 2nd plane hit that south tower. It was surreal. After watching the news for about an hour completely freaked out, I drove to work in Mountain View right next to Moffet Field and will never forget seeing a UAL jumbo jet being escorted by 2 F-16s flying really low over the Bay.

Everyone in the office was watching whatever TVs were available and crowded around them. The company I worked for then, VeriSign, had an office in tower 2 somewhere around the 60th floor (8 people), so some people were trying to get a hold of them. After a couple hours, we found out they all had gotten out safe. We all went home to just try and grasp what was going on.

I used to eat my lunches out in the parking lot for the Shoreline Pavilion and watch the planes fly in and out of Moffet. It wasn’t a lot, but it was so bizarre to see completely empty skies for the next 3 weeks, or whatever it was.

. . . of history. Well, we all saw what we saw. A young team make enough mistakes to blow a game they very well should have won. The problem is, the biggest mistakes were by a couple of vets. namely Alfred Morris and Pierre Garćon. Morris actually fumbled on two consecutive plays on the 2 yard line. He of course lost the 2nd one. Garćon dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone a couple drives later to end another drive.

Add to that a drop by Dante Pettis in the end zone that he should have fought for, and a perfectly thrown ball to George Kittle that he misjudged and dropped for a would-be 80 yard score. That mistake was followed by a bigger mistake when Kendrick Bourne ran a hitch instead of an under route, and the ball went inside instead of out for an easy pick 6, and Garoppolo missing a wide open Kittle in the end zone late to settle for another red zone field goal.

The defense played well enough to win this game, but the offense didn’t. Still and all, after the mistakes and fuckups, they still had a shot late to tie. Jimmy ended that thought with a throw into triple coverage.

The good news is the pass rush was solid early, and the defense did its job for the most part.We held their run game in check, and stopped their dink-and-dunk offense well enough to win this one. Minnesota is no offensive juggernaut, but the offense left them hanging more than a few times with the turnovers and missed opportunities. Kittle and Pettis, but for their drops, still both had solid games as Pettis caught a prefect pass from Garoppolo in the back of the end zone for the only 49er TD in the 3rd quarter, and Kittle had 5 catches for 90 yards. 6 for 170 would have been a lot nicer though.

The hope here is that this will be a learning experience. The team HAS to execute much better in the red zone. And they have to stop with the mental errors. Solly Thomas’ jumping offsides on 4th down was beyond stupid.

We come home next weekend for a battle with the Detroit Lions. Hoping for a much better result. Go Raiders! It would be something to see every NFC West team lose in the first week.

Well, good bad or indifferent, the 2018 San Francisco 49er season starts! Expectations are all over the place. All the way from 7-9 also-rans to 11-5 playoff participants. I’m wavering around 9-7 and 10-6. Even with McKinnon gone, and a couple LBs hurt (and one suspended), I think we can hang with the Vikings on the road tomorrow.

Win? Well, that’s a different story. Much depends, in my mind, on our pass rush. I think as a whole, the team ha more depth on the lines, better defensive backs, more offensive weapons, and solid specials teams play. The big but is the pass rush. The good news is Arik Armstead is back, and he takes up a lot of the offensive line’s time. Enough so to give Solly Thomas and DF Buckner room to push upfield and the LBs time to fill.

Fred Warner will be starting for Reuben Foster, and Malcolm Smith is still searching for his first play as a 49er, so we get Dekoda Wat – nope- out with a bad hammy. Uh I guess we get Elijah Lee. That may spell trouble for our short passing game defense as the weak side LB usually handles coverage duties, and Cousins throws a lot of short shit.

Again, I’m not too worried about the offense. I think we can score. Even against this defense. And they are banged up as well. I just know if we can rattle Cousins early, we should be able to win going away. Mistakes and a couple picks kill Minn’s chances.

Niners 21 – Minn 13.

And we go 10-6 . . .

So close, yet so far. the season can’t get started soon enough, but the scheduling Gods gave us a toughie as the 49ers face the NFC Championship game losing Minnesota Vikings on the road. This is the same Vikings team that stole their previous playoff game with an improbable 60 yard TD with time expiring on the clock to beat the Saints. They were so thrilled about the state of things at QB that they let Sam Bradford go, declined Teddy Bridgewater’s 5th year option, and let playoff hero Case Keenum walk to Denver so they could throw a 3 year/$84 million deal to our once and future savior, Kirk Cousins.

The NFL makes strange bedfellows, and we were gifted (maybe) our own savior in Jimmy Garoppolo in a mid-season trade while Shanny’s choice to lead us out of the wilderness is now a Vike. Certainly a storyline that will be followed by many around the league. Cousins certainly has a much better team around him, what with that defense, but we have added some weapons ourselves. Sure, we lost Jarick McKinnon, but we lost something we haven’t had, so there isn’t anything to really miss. He would be great as a pass catcher out of the backfield, but hopefully they’ve been working with Matt Brieda to pick up some of that work.

For this team, it is all about the pass rush. Our defense will go as far as Salomon Thomas, Arik Armstead, and DeForest Buckner can put pressure on the opposing QBs in the base defense. They’ve shown glimpses here and there this preseason, but Thomas looks worlds better than he did last year, and a healthy AA is imperative.

The defensive secondary has improved by a lot on paper, but we will see what happen on the field from the get-go. They face Cousins, Stafford, Mahomes, Rivers, Bradford (or Rosen), Rodgers, and Goff to start the season. Quite the who’s who of NFL QBs.

Two teams get an early kickoff to the season tomorrow as the 2017 divisional playoff game is revisited by the Atlanta Falcons and the Super Bowl Champion Philly Eagles. Should be a fun one. Foles gets the start while Wentz gets fully healthy. Atl will once again ride Matty Ice into the season.

Scrub-fest tonight in Santa Clara. The Walmart Brigade, whatever you want to call it, but of the current 86 players on the roster, 33 o them will be out of jobs, or a few young guys will be sent to the taxi squad. I suppose I’ll watch some of it mainly to see if CJ can get out of his mini-doldrums. He’s been kinda spotty this preseason, as has just about every other aspect of the team. Too many drops, too many penalties, too little pass rush, too little run game. Way too little red zone success.

But that’s why they call it preseason. Aluminum Mike Singletary used to say a win is a win is a win, whether preseason or regular season. You need to practice winning whatever the meaning. Which is why Aluminum Mike is out of coaching.  Unless you call the Alliance of American Football a thing.

But I digress. If anything, I’d just like to see a clean game. Greg Kittle, Matt Brieda, and Jerick McKinnon haven’t played at all, and won’t be tonight, so how they integrate in Minnesota in 10 days remains a mystery. As is our pass rush. Salomon Thomas sure looked solid with Armstead in there with him to take the blocking load off his side, and they’ve shown flashes of greatness, but I’m not getting the vibe that this team is completely on the same page.

Then again, they haven’t really been at full strength and played more than a few series together. Again, though, if they get out of their own way and nix the drops, I feel like this team will surprise people.

10 more days!