Here’s my list of the top five and bottom five 49er moments from the 2011-2012 season.
The Best Moments
5. Justin Smith’s forced fumble v. Jeremy Maclin in Philadelphia to beat the Eagles in Week 4. The Niners’ record was 2-1, and although they had just stormed back from a 17-point deficit to take a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The Eagles had plenty of time to drive down the field – as they had easily done all day – and kick a game-winning field goal.
They had two timeouts, the two minute warning and the ball at midfield when Michael Vick completed a wide receiver bubble screen to Jeremy Maclin. Maclin caught it with plenty of space but he didn’t make a quick move. He leisurely considered where to run like a guy taking too long to order at McDonald’s. Should I get the Big Mac or the McNuggets? Should I get an apple pie, too? How about some extra ketchup? It’s like he thought the Niners gave up and wouldn’t chase him.
So, naturally he didn’t see or expect Justin Smith punching the ball out of his hand from behind to win the game for the Niners.
4. Alex Smith’s 6-yard TD pass to Delanie Walker in Detroit to beat the Lions in Week 6. Here was the formation: Smith in the shotgun standing next to Kendall Hunter, Vernon Davis at tight end on the left side of the offensive line. Michael Crabtree in the right slot, Ted Ginn Jr. split out to the left and Delanie Walker split out to the right.
Clearly, the pass wasn’t going to Ginn.
But it probably wasn’t going to Walker, either. He dropped a touchdown pass when he was wide open in the end zone in the third quarter.
The Lions were expecting Smith to throw to Davis on this make-or-break play. When it started, Davis ran a five-yard curl in the middle-left of the field, immediately drawing double coverage. Crabtree ran an out to the front-right pylon and Walker ran a quick slant to the middle of the field toward the space Davis created.
Louis Delmas, the Lions cornerback who was matched up with Crabtree, did not bite on the play by following his man to the pylon. He read Smith’s eyes, broke towards Walker and wrapped him up as soon as he caught the ball two yards away from the end zone. Delmas almost dragged him down, too, but Walker powered forward for a yard and half with his right knee one inch off of the ground to score the game-winning TD.
Jim Harbaugh went back to Walker in crunch time. He showed confidence in him guy even though Walker had already bungled a big play. This time, Harbaugh’s loyalty and persistence paid off, but it foreshadowed postseason disaster.
3. Donte Whitner’s goal-line knockout hit on Pierre Thomas in the divisional playoff round. It was the first series of the game. The Saints had driven down the field easily, and they had third down and goal from the Niners seven yard line. Thomas leaked out of the backfield and caught a short pass from Drew Brees at the five. He turned up field expecting to walk into the end zone, but Donte Whitner was in his way. So, Thomas decided to run over the Niners 5’10” strong safety. This was the wrong strategy. He lowered his head into Whitner’s and got knocked out cold, fumbling the ball and crumpling to the field.
2. QB9. That was the play call on Alex Smith’s 28-yard touchdown run to put the Niners up 5 points against the Saints with 2:18 left. The Saints were bringing an overload blitz from the right of the Niners’ o-line – the weaker side, the side with Adam Snyder and Anthony Davis. It’s the side of the Niners line that blitzing defenses had successfully attacked all season.
To bring this overload blitz, the Saints lined up most of their players on one side of the field. So, Alex Smith ran to the other side and scored easily.
1. Vernon Post. Also known as the Catch III, or the best throw of Alex Smith’s career. He fired a whistling dart into a tiny window before his receiver, Davis, had turned his head. Smith needed to throw a perfect pass for that play to work and boy, did he.
The Worst Moments
5. Joshua Morgan breaking his ankle at the end of the blowout win over the Buccaneers in Week 5. It was fourth and three from the Tampa Bay 20 yard line with a few minutes left, and the Niners were up by 38 points. Morgan should not have been in the game. Harbaugh should not have been going for a touchdown. He called an unnecessarily aggressive play call – a pass to Morgan on the sideline. Morgan caught for a 19-yard gain, but he also broke his ankle and missed the rest of the season. The Niners never adequately replaced him on the roster.
4. Chilo Rachal’s fingertip chop block in Baltimore to negate a 75-yard touchdown catch by Ted Ginn Jr. in the second quarter of the Harbowl. If this play counted, the Niners would have had a 10-3 lead and momentum on the road. They might have won. But it didn’t count. Frank Gore cut block Ravens strong safety Bernard Pollard, who was blitzing. Gore dove at his legs and successfully took Pollard out of the play. But Rachal, who was playing right guard in place of the injured Snyder, decided to wipe his fingertips across Pollard’s jersey as he fell. That’s technically a chop block – two guys hitting one guy high and low – and that’s what the refs called.
3. The sack Alex Smith took on the first play of the first offensive possession of the second half against the Giants in the NFC championship game. Greg Roman called one of the Niners bread-and-butter “shot plays” intended for a long, instant touchdown on first down. It was the wheel route to Delanie Walker, and it worked for a touchdown against the Cowboys in Week 2. It would have worked again here – Walker was open – but Smith froze and didn’t throw the pass. Instead, he scrambled around and got sacked by Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul. For most of the season, Smith shied away from taking shots when the Niners weren’t losing – he only goes for it when he has to. Remember the first offensive play against the Ravens? Delanie Walker was wide open deep down the middle of the field and Smith never looked at him. He locked his eyes onto Davis in the flat and completed a two-yard pass to him.
If Smith had thrown the ball to Walker on that critical third quarter play of the NFC championship game, Kyle Williams’ blunders probably wouldn’t have been so tragic.
2. Kyle Williams’ first critical fumble of the NFC championship game, the one where he let a bouncing punt hit his leg and then stood still while the Giants recovered the ball. This was two blunders in one. First, he didn’t get out of the way of a rolling punt. That was bad enough. But then, once it hit him, he just stood there and watched as the Giants recovered it. It’s as if he didn’t feel the ball bounce off his leg, or he was trying to fake out the refs.
They reviewed the play and there were multiple camera angles that clearly showed the ball hitting Williams. So, the Giants got the ball and scored six plays later when Eli Manning threw a TD pass to Mario Manningham.
1. Kyle Williams’ second critical fumble, the one in overtime that sealed the loss to the Giants. Harbaugh expected Williams to redeem himself. Right after Manningham’s touchdown catch following Williams’ first fumble, Williams returned a kickoff 40 yards. In the live blog I called that “semi-redemption.” Still, that was a kick return.
In overtime, he caught the fateful punt cleanly – he didn’t show the nervousness he’d shown all game. But Jacquain Williams, a Giants special teamer, dove at Williams at the perfect time and knocked the ball out with his right hand.
It was like the Hand of God caused the fumble. After the game, Harbaugh blamed the football gods. Clearly, redemption was not their fate for poor Williams on that night.
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KW will be remember and known in 49er history as the biggest buffoon ever, if he just screwed up just one play instead of two, we may have won the game. No freaking way will that guy be on the team in the Fall, he needs a new start, maybe the arena football league, playing with TO.
Also AS has tunnel vision, he does not see the entire field, it will be interesting if we get one or two top receiver’s, if he has the ability to move from the primary receiver to the second receiver without becoming frozen.
Glad someone else sees that as well. It’s a HUGE part of the problem.
Hey Bay, tell everyone again for the millionth time how you think Alex does not see the entire field, but when Vernon gets open downfield he does, any correalation or just your everyday bias?
FDM-I think Grant ot Cosell pointed that out..Alex see’s VD..and goes blind on everybody else too quick. There WERE many plays this year that Alex tossed the ball away rather then scramble more and give time for somebody to get open.
@Stan
Oh, you’re right.
Just like JC the Raider QB.
How did that turn out for him, the HC, Palmer and the whole Raider Nation?
I know Alex works hard and gives his best but the tunnel vision comment, their is something their, when a play is called like the Vernon Post, and he takes the ball and fires , he does ok, but when the play breaks down and needs to find others, that is where he struggles, Steve Young struggled with that his first few years but then “it slowed down” , so you never know, but like I said other options will be developed by Harbaugh, I sure like him as a coach, The type to ride the river with! He won’t leak anything which would be hard for a Journalist, Good post by the way Grant, Thanks for putting up with all of us knuckle heads!
@rebelscum
Have you thought one good reason for AS’s tunnel vision thing may be that the TE/RB are the ones who get open much more often.
As a result, AS has developed the tunnel vision issue you describe because he knows they get open and the WR’s by and large don’t.
Also the OL rarely gave AS a lot of time to scan the field. Like the NO-Det game. DB had forever back there. AS has never had a game remotely like that where he had that kind of protection, or a WR core like NO either.
If AS had decent CONSISTENT time and WR’s who can get open all on their own (noneof this throwing the WR open BS), I think AS’s tunnel vision problems will just magically go away.
What 2nd option. Alex Smith has no second option. He cant process things that pass. He has one read then its checkdown time. Sometimes its checkdown time before the actual read.
Well-you agreed didnt you Ds9?..all I wanted.
DS, If if if if if if. If Alex Smith was as good as you try to make him out to be than he would make everyone around him better, just like Brady and Manning do.
Kyle Williams better be on the team next year. Because he is going to tear it up, if we throw him the ball. Don’t let his mistakes against the Giants obscure the talent.
Staying on the 49ers is a no-win situation for Williams. Every good play he makes will be met with “too bad he didn’t do that in the championship game.” Every bad play will result in “there he goes again.”
Williams was the 5th receiver at the beginning of the year. Everyone acknowledges that the 49ers need to upgrade their receivers.
Harbaugh is not the kind of coach to throw a player under the bus but if Williams is on the team next year that will be a monumental failure on Baalke’s part. If they don’t upgrade the position enough to bump the 5th string guy then something is horribly wrong.
ms, you forget that while he was the 5th receiver on the team at the beginning of the year he earned the trust of his coaches enough to allow them to get rid of the mal-content that was Braylon Edwards, and he was pushing Ginn for playing time throughout the 2nd half of the year.
Say what you want about his mistakes in the championship game, but he has the potential to be a very good slot receiver, or if they need an X or Z so that they can put Crabtree in the slot to get away from the jam off the ball.
Don’t think he will make the team, hoping the Niner’s upgrade big time, and all I will remember is the buffoon diving for a punt, fumbling the ball on the reverse, the ball hitting his knee and then another fumble, wow he was 4 for 4, that is a accomplishment.
Neal: I looked at the ESPN play-by-play of the NFC Championship game. The fumble on the reverse was given to Hunter. I thought Williams should have caught the ball, but Hunter made a bad toss and deserved the fumble “credit”.
MS: There is at least one alternative way to handle Williams. Harbaugh could go over his errors in a way that makes Williams feel he owes us all one (which he does). Coach could turn that into an incredibly strong motivation for Williams. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Everyone has a reason for the loss to the Giants. One person blames JH for leaving Williams in the game to fumble. Did he have anyone else to put in there at the time? AS has tunnel vision and can’t find a receiver. Where the receivers open? When I watched the game most of the time the receivers couldn’t get open. AS couldn’t win the game when it counted. He won the game and without the fumbles the 49ers win the game. Is it one persons fault? Some argue yes and some argue no. If the score was 56 to 10 the 2 fumbles wouldn’t matter. If the Giants had been in the lead 17 zip it wouldn’t have mattered. In this close game it did matter. As to Lowell Cohn’s comments, I feel that he is just a curmudgeon that has to find something wrong. I believe that his analysis is incorrect and that his arguments are biased. See the reasons above.
After watching the game tape Cossell was saying that Crabtree was wide open for a big play but Smith didn’t even see him, and Delanie was open for a big one too. While Smith did have the best season of his career its pretty clear that he doesn’t see the whole field and he locks on to his first read for too long or checks down too quick. Also you have to give your receivers a chance to go up and make a play or as Steve Young calls it, “throwing your receiver open” which is something Smith doesn’t do very well.
Grant, good read and more 9er info to debate. I’d say the JMorg injury should be higher in the ranking. Probably number three of the worst moments of 2011. JMorg being hurt affected the whole offense and left the team with a very weak WR corp when they needed it to be one of the strengths especially during the playoffs.
He would of made a difference, hard worker that guy! calming influence also!
“The sack Alex Smith took on the first play of the first offensive possession of the second half against the Giants in the NFC championship game.”
This guy needs to go just as much as Kyle Williams. If he had just thrown the ball to the receivers when they were open Williams would never have been out on the field in OT. Stop blaming Kyle and start blaming Alex. He is the real buffoon!
AS is just a one hit wonder, he has zero play making skills, and what a way to end the season. 1 -13 third downs and 4 offensive series and 4 and out in the 4th quarter. Sometimes it’s better to just throw the damn ball and hope a receiver will catch it instead of being afraid of throwing a interception. This conservative crap was getting old. Also he probably leads the league with throws being blocked.
Sometimes it’s better to just throw the damn ball and hope a receiver will catch it instead of being afraid of throwing a interception.
I think he will try that next year when he has some recievers who can actually get open like Vernon can. Theres no denying the 11 -85 connection.
FDM,
You mean open like Kyle Williams and Delanie Walker were? Broken record….
Neal states, “Sometimes it’s better to just throw the damn ball and hope a receiver will catch it instead of being afraid of throwing a interception.”
Neal not a bad comment if you’re talking about LF or CJ but not KW or MC! Everyone and I mean everyone has discussed the 9ers need a major upgrade at WR.
@ Hoffer,
I agree that our receiver’s suck, but not to try and throw the ball in the 4th quarter instead of throwing worm burners .Needed to take some risks.
If Wiliams just runs off the field on that punt, Harbaugh’s strategy, which Smith was following, gets us to the Superbowl.
I’m pretty sure Harbaugh’s strategy was for him to complete one of those TD passes that he called.
Grant, a good recollection of the good and bad. I’d remove the Kyle Williams second critical fumble and replace it with the overtime playaction bite against the Cowboys.
I have a huge problem with the bouncing ball hitting his leg. If you aren’t going to catch it in the air get out of the way. Go to the bench, grab a drink, just get away from the ball. I would make that the number one worst moment.
Sean, I agree. Fumbles happen but the very poor play of letting the punted ball hit your leg is inexcusable but to some may be splitting hairs.
I just remember texting a couple buddies when it happened and basically saying “what was he thinking?” only with a few f bombs sprinkled in. It still makes me shake my head. My avatar is pretty much a photo of me at the time it happened, seconds before my palm smacks my forehead.
That muff is the only time this season I remember a 49er doing something stupid. There were bad plays here and there during the year but that was the first “what is that moron doing?” moment I had all year.
Too bad it had to happen in the championship game.
@msc
Very well put.
Any team can beat any other. Especially if the team makes no mistakes. The Niners proved that to work this year.
When they finally made a mistake, they lost.
Completing just one of the two open TD passes would have won the game as well. He had two “shot plays” where the targets were wide open. He overthrew one by six yards and didn’t throw it to the other and got sacked. The targets did their job on those plays, Smith didn’t.
Eli also overthrew two open receivers that would have turned the game for the Giants. But he is going to the SB and is lauded as one of the all-time greats because *his* team recovered the turnovers.
See how that works, BigP? All QBs leave plays on the field. The way the ball bounces in other parts of the game determine whether those “missed” plays have any bearing on the outcome.
Poor Smither Ribico. You can’t see the forest through the trees.
@ribico
Careful. Their brain may melt/explode if they have to think that far in advance.
It’s just 2 misses. Ignore the 2 perfect strikes for TD’s. That is what they call “objective”. No credit given for good. He’s supposed to do that. Only negatives for the non-good.
As BW told JM in that 1 video:
When you throw the ball, there are only 3 possible outcomes. And 2 of them are bad.
Ribico,
He left two TD’s on the field, that is the bottom line. The team was 1-13 on 3rd down. He had under 50% passing. Do you even know that the Giants were rated #27 in total defense, #29 in passing defense and #25 in points allowed? Manning (who is overrated by way of his last name) was facing the top defense in the league.
Yes, and had we not handed 10 points to the Giants on a silver platter, our defensive oriented team would have come away big winners.
And if Smith completes just one of those wide open TD passes we win the game. That seems to be too much responsibility for you to place on the QB, who handles the ball on every offensive snap.
@ribico
I’ve been meaning to ask you if you thought AS left as many plays on the field as EM? You were there, and did you see DW open on this one play before AS got sacked?
Well big, we’ll just have to disagree as to where the reason lies for this loss. Giving up 10 points in a game where the teams are separated by razor-thin margin – you will find much more historical predecent for that contributing to a loss than the completion ratio of one of the QBs.
ribico,
I agree with you about Williams losing the game, my point is Smith had two chances to complete TD’s and didn’t. If he completes one of those wide open passes for a TD they win. People keep slamming the receivers, but they had opportunities to make plays and Smith didn’t get it to them. The opportunites were there for Smith to lead this team to victory. That’s a QB’s job.
@DS, clearly, the Giants team has a more effective offense than ours. All 3 of their WOs could be our number 1. This was a game of team strength (Giants O) vs team strength (Our D) and conversely, team weakness (Our O) vs team weakness (Giants D), in that regard both teams were very evenly matched. Despite not finishing drives (and mostly not even starting them) we generated enough big plays on offense that, along with our amazing defense, kept us in the game. This is nothing new – we rode that scenario to 14 wins this season.
What didn’t happen this game, which was just as important to our team’s success this year, was winning the TO battle. We didn’t – a fluke bounce, a strip, a strip that wasn’t called, a couple of DBs colliding… and that was the difference. Not some single overthrown pass.
Hof… Yes letting a punt hot your leg is unacceptable, but so is fumbling one, and so is missing two td throws. Those two throws are what separate elites and average qb’s. It’s not smiths fault we lost. But he did have a part in it. Are you ever going to place any blame on smith? Can’t blame receivers, and fumbles only. Fourth quarter stats speak for themselves.
Exactly. He’s a WR away from being elite yet he twice missed wide open receivers for TD’s.
>>But he did have a part in it. Are you ever going to place any blame on smith?
I’m not Hof but absolutely I blame him. Not entirely him, but rightly or wrongly, QBs should and do take the blame for a team loss. I’m sure AS would agree.
Who would Giants fans blamed had officals ruled that Bradshaw strip a fumble and they lost? Eli? He had better stats than AS. Or O-line for allowing him to get creamed? Or Bradshaw for turning it over in the red zone with 2 minutes to go?
@ Big P: “And if Smith completes just one of those wide open TD passes we win the game”
Would the TD’s that the 49ers have scored on prevented the fumbles by KW or are your playing fortune teller by predicting the future? You realize that there was more than a half of football to be played right? Just because you score in the 1st half does not mean you automatically win.
FDM, If Smith had hit those throws they would not have been in OT so the second fumble would never have occurred.
Alex Smith should be blamed partly for the loss. What shouldn’t happen is all the singling out of Alex Smith that happens repeatedly. At the end of the day, this team lost because of the TO’s. We can say coulda woulda shoulda, but those are the two plays that were the difference in the game. Neither QB was overly impressive so you knew it was going to come down to mistakes deciding it and that is what happened.
>>If Smith had hit those throws they would not have been in OT so the second fumble would never have occurred.
If Williams had not bounced a ball off his knee, Smith doesn’t need to make that throw and we would not have been in OT so the second fumble would never have occurred.
If Goldson doesn’t knock out Tarell Brown, our secondary is not down a man and Eli doesn’t throw that last TD on 3rd and 15. Niners win 17-14 and Alex is giving interviews leading up to the Superbowl.
See how assinine this woulda-coulda what-if game is? Keep playing it until you find the right goat.
Rib, You are missing the fact that all of the missed throws took place prior to any of the muffed punts. The score would have been at least 21-10 by the time Williams has the muffed punt.
Jack, your missing the point that these receivers get open 3 times a game and you expect AS to be perfect on each and every throw? EMannings outstanding receivers get separation on almost every play and he has 3 WR options to choose from not just one. This will change and the 9ers have made WR a priority of the offseason.
Other than overactive imagination, there is no “fact” or “point” to hypotheticals.
FDM,
It isn’t an automatic win, but it is 21 points on the board. I think that would have held up.
The 4th qtr of the Dallas game leading in a game that we should have one should have been on your list. I HATE DALLAS!
One honorable mention I’d like to point out (probably because I was at this game) was when the Cowboys got that blown coverage in OT that resulted in a long pass play that eventually led to the game winning FG. While it was pretty early in the season when expectations were still pretty low, it SUCKED losing to the Cowboys at home and having to walk back to the car being taunted by the tons of guys wearing blue, silver, and white jerseys. Bah.
Luckily, the rest of the season softened the sting of this particular loss.
+1
I was there too, surrounded by Cowboy fans. Losing was bad enough, but losing in front of a stadium that was almost 50% Dallas fans made it really tough to take.
That game is definitely in my top 5 worst moments!
Here are three terrible moments that I would put on the list among the worst.
The TD pass thrown by Manning on 3rd and 15 immediately following the first Williams miscue. The D played lights out the entire game, but broke down at the worst possible time. 3rd and 15!! You simply cannot give up a long TD in such a situation.
The moment in the NFC championship game when two Niner DBs went for the interception at the same time and ended up knocking the ball out of their own team mate’s hands. I had a terrible feeling that the missed interception would come back to haunt us and it did.
The moment when an official eagerly jumped in to negate an obvious Giants fumble deep in their own zone late in the 4th quarter of a tie ball game. Worst call I have ever seen.
That TD wasn’t a defensive breakdown. Perfect throw before the receiver (Manningham?) turned. Coverage was tight but sometimes there’s nothing you can do.
@Wilson
Maybe, but TB had dominated that game. And make no mistake. EM knew where to go before the snap. You get a new guy in there, you go at him. DC said as much on CSN Postgame show.
If DG does not take out TB, not only do the Niners possibly score more, but that Manningham is draped by TB and EM has nowhere to go on 3 and 17.
I do not understand why people are still blaming Alex Smith. True, he did not have a great game against the Giants in the NFC championship. Matt Ryan didn’t score a single point against the Giants defense and Aaron Rodgers also had a bad game. Alex Smith threw 2 TDs and had a 30 yard run to put us in field goal range. He was responsible for 17 points. Eli Manning completed less than 50% of his passes and threw the ball twice as many times as Alex did. We also dropped an interception. Alex Smith helped our team to a 14-3 record. The way he plays complements our defense and special teams. Yes, he can be overly cautious at times, but that also correlates with the least amount of turnovers in the league! If he didn’t play that way we wouldn’t have even been in the NFC championship game. People are to quick to judge. Give the guy another year and an actual offseason with the system. Next year will be the first time he gets to stay in the same system. He threw for over 3000 yards with half as many attempts as the rest of the league. If the refs don’t make a terrible call on the fumble and Kyle Williams remembers what he was taught in pop warner to stay away from a bouncing ball the haters would have nothing to say. Alex Smith is a 49er and will be one for many years to come. How did Eli Manning do any better than Alex Smith?.. Yet everyone is crowning him this great qb, but he had no more to do with his team winning as Alex had to do with our team losing. You can’t make every play, and it is so easy to talk smack from your couch.
The difference? Eli won. Alex didn’t.
@Anthony
Good post, and I’m pretty sure that you’ll sleep well at night having put the game to rest….it’s history. There are posters on here who will be taking anxiety meds and coming up with more hate to spit out about AS and Kw all off-season. They won’t really get over it until around April after free agency yields us a WR or two, and everyone gets jacked-up for the combine. Then their fan juices will begin flowing again….and they’ll have more hate to spew.
Geez, when are you people going to quit whinning about Alex Smith? He took almost all the snaps in a 18 game season and rarely turned the ball over. He’s smart, he’s tough, and he still has room to improve over this season, which by the way he took the Niners to the NFC Championship. Give it a rest already.
Pablosh,
Alex Smith was one of the worst QB’s in the NFL last season. If he didn’t have such a strong defense behind him then there would be no way that this team gets to the playoffs.
Jack,
If, if, if. If Drew Brees had this or Aaron Rodgers had that, they would’ve been in the NFC Championship.
Guess what, they weren’t. Worse qb?? I watched lot’s of football last year and saw some truely lousy qb play, that’s quite a statement you’re making.
Jack Hammer,
Alex Smith was one of the worst QB’s last season???
They guy took us to the NFC Championship and is in the top 10 in QB rating and throw the least amount of picks. Maybe you should root for another team. What were you saying about him when he won us the game against the Saints? Oh and the beautiful TD passes to Vernon against the Giants?
Just change your name to Jack Ass, that seems to fit you better along with the rest of the Alex haters.
He will be starting for the 49ers for many years to come. So if you don’t like it then go root for someone else.
The real truth is that his QB rating and lack of picks came from the fact that he wouldn’t throw the ball unless the receiver was completely wide open. This caused him to take unnecessary sacks that put the offense in bad situations directly attributing to the low 3rd down conversion rate.
As for the Saints game, even a squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
Jack- the saying goes “even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while”.
+1
Alex Smith was the reason we won maybe three times last year. Like against N.O. there is no denying that. The rest of the time he played safe, left his team in a constant dog fight and rode the tails of his defense.
Good enough last year, but won’t be good enough going forward. And for those of you that say he has good chemistry with Vernon, those were first reads and Vernon won the individual matchups. Force Alex to look at a second option down field and he can’t do it…. Won’t do it.
Well, at least you can take solace in the fact that you get to bitch and moan about having the “one of the worst QB in the NFL” for the next few years, cuz the coach of the year, and the executive of the year clearly, clearly disagree with your opinion, and Alex will be resigned to a nice contract, which his play this year dictates he deserves.
So….deal with it.
Angus, What’s your deal!
The worst-and you need to fill in the blanks for me…was that fake FG try that worked perfect..and was called back because of some bogus penalty. I think the 49ers lost that game?..
You just had to write this article didn’t you. If watching, hearing, and reading all about the Giants being in the Super Bowl isn’t enough. If I weren’t a 49ers junkie I wouldn’t have read this, I need my fix though…
Alex Smith plays scared. He acts like he knows he is inaccurate and therefore is too afraid of the int, to throw long. The old saying goes “he plays not to lose , not to win”. He will not lead us to the SB, the media knows it, the fans old enough to remember the Brody know it, and sadly i think everyone in the nfl knows it.
Could not have said it any better myself.
Be careful, some people here will label you a ‘hater’ for pointing out facts and deficiencies in Alex Smith’s game.
Let’s hope that some of his major flaws are ‘fixable’ and that we’ll get some decent production out of him while he keeps the seat warm for the next QB.
Remind me again which SB Brody was in….
@oregon
Me being at least 55 years old, I can tell you that Brodie never played in a Super Bowl.
But I can’t tell you what Brodie has to do with todays Niners or AS. So, why is his name even coming up?
“Me being at least 55 years old, I can tell you that Brodie never played in a Super Bowl.”
Yeah right. And, I’m 102 years old. No, wait, I’m 157 years old…from planet alpha omega kai…and even though I wasn’t on planet Earth back then I can confirm Brodie never won the SB.
Your hypocricy is amazing, DS, considering you are constantly looking up old Niner info from the JM and SY days and comparing them to Alex. Why shouldn’t someone else be able to bring up Brodie as a comparison? Is that somehow different from your usual MO? Is it not OK because it’s not a favorable comparison?
It’s sooooooo ironic coming from you – especially given how upset and defensive you get when someone tells you to stop comparing JM and SY to AS.
@49erGirl
Was not addressing you.
You seem to want a girlfriend on this blog soooo badly.
Look someplace else. You’re wasting your time with me.
Stop quoting me as well. You want me to stop bringing your name up…get a life and stop directing my quotes. Skip my posts. I don’t need others to like me as you do.
It was you who said bloggers skip and ignore posts. Take the only good advice you ever gave and apply it with me.
“It was you who said bloggers skip and ignore posts. Take the only good advice you ever gave and apply it with me.”
Yes, we only read posts in here if they are addressed directly to us – this isn’t a public forum!! Shame on me for responding!!!
Did I really give you that advice? Crap, I created a monster with that one – I honestly don’t remember saying those words, but maybe it was good advice for you. I mean, you seem to be prone to melt downs when someone you don’t like disagrees with you – seems to cause you great mental anguish.
Personally, I like to debate, discuss, disagree, and don’t take it personally when someone has a difference of opinion. Even when your boy, oneniner, throws insults my way I just chalk it up to the fact that he’s just a tool and don’t take any of it to heart. (Where is he btw, funny how he disappears when Alex has a mediocre game, but I digress). Bottom line is that I don’t skip posts, I just choose when to respond based on my mood.
Today I’m in the mood to point out your inaccuracies and hypocricy. So you might want to continue to skip my posts or you could go insane before the day is done.
But wait, why are we even having this conversation – I thought you never read my posts….shall I find the 50+ excerpts from your previous statements to point out yet again what a hypocrite you are?
Bwahahahahaha!!! Thanks for making this so easy for me, girlfriend!!!
Wow, what does this all have to do with Brodie vs Smith?
I have no idea ribico.
Just somebody who needs attention I suppose.
I don’t know.
ribico -niner is saying that AS reminds him of Brodie – a good qb that he feels will not be able to lead the team to a SB. He is comparing AS to a past Niner QB.
DS is upset because it is an unfavorable comparison so comes up with the “what does Brodie have to do with AS and the current team” statement. However, DS constantly brings up JM and SY to prove positive points about AS, yet they have nothing to do with the current team either.
I was pointing out the double standards and hypocricy of the statement made by DS – she is trying to weasle out of it by attacking me instead. Which is fine, I deserve some backlash given my combative attitude towards her.
BTW, DS, someone who is on this site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week responding to every single post (especially ones that mention AS) sounds kinda silly telling someone else they are starving for attention and need to get a life.
No worries though, I’ll move on…I’m sure there’ll be something else deserving of a smart a$$ response in the near future :-)
>>niner is saying that AS reminds him of Brodie
Are you sure about that? He mentioned some entity called the “the Brody”. Could mean Tom Brady for all I know. Or the actor Adrian.
You’re absolutely right, how could I have been so blind. Of course, everyone knows, he can only lead us to within a hair’s breadth of the superbowl, only to lose because of two muffed punts late in the game. No chance of ever making it to the superbowl.
Dumb. dumb. dumb.
as a team
And BTW, some us fans old enough to remember the Brody remember how to spell it too ;)
“Morgan should not have been in the game.”
~~~
If you cover the 49ers, you probably know who’s on their roster. “A few” minutes was four minutes. The 49ers can’t stop playing football and kneel on every down.
Exactly who do you have Kaepernick throw to when you’re resting Alex at the end of a game? Harbaugh CLEARLY explained this in a press conference after the game…
It was fourth and three.
And they were up by 30 or 40 something at that point. Absolutely no reason to be throwing to one of your starting receivers at that point.
+1
Grant….Honorable mention should be. The Dallas game when Harbaugh decided not to take the first down after an Offsides. That lost us that game. IMO. That one bothered me because I had to walk back to my car through a sea of Dallas fans with smiles on their faces.
Very good order, wouldn’t alter it. Alex complaints are surfacing once again, I propose a moratorium and see what he does next year.
The good news is…… the 9 Pevious years this list would have contained 2 good moments and 10 bad.
+1000!
The JH hire should be ranked #1
Exactly, the staff pulled the strings perfectly this year.
That’s what I was thinking, Nick. All the team’s success flows from that outstanding move.
Big P you have identified 2 plays. Does 2 plays that Alex missed on constitute Alex not being able to see the entire field or lack vision or lacks letting it rip?
Otherwise we would need to look at years of film and identify if Alex really does lack all these skills. But wait Harbaugh did that last offseason and came to the conclusion Alex could be a winning QB. But of course whos Harbaugh and what has he ever done when it comes to developing QB’s after a certain amount of time, which he has, remember 5 year deal, 25 million?
Something you haters might agree with. The next step for Alex is to make others around him better. The true measure of an athlete is to make mediocre players around them into good or great players. This will be a huge challenge for Alex especially if the 49ers decide to upgrade the WR position through the draft. That means taking chances, that means these guys will have to have speed and they have to develop instant chemistry right after the draft. This I believe is the next step for Alex Smith.
“Does 2 plays that Alex missed on constitute Alex not being able to see the entire field or lack vision or lacks letting it rip?”
Not necessarily, but it does mean that he had two opportunities to score TD’s and failed on both in the most important game of the year. It wasn’t just the championship game, it was that way all year. That’s why the 3rd down and red zone offenses were terrible. That’s why David Akers broke JR’s scoring record. The Smithers will blame Crabs, but he has been open plenty of times this year and has not gotten the ball. People yap about Smith’s improvement, when the biggest improvement was cutting back on turnovers. His accuracy is still very inconsistent. The SMithers will champion his 61.3% passing but never mention that it drops by 19% in the redzone. They had one 3rd down conversion out of thirteen in the championship game and that was completely irrelevant.
“The next step for Alex is to make others around him better. The true measure of an athlete is to make mediocre players around them into good or great players.”
The next step for Alex is to convert some 3rd downs and not send Akers onto the field on almost every drive. Making mediocre players great? Isn’t that what V.D. did for Smith in the playoffs?
Grant, has anyone asked Alex WHY he didn’t make that throw to Walker in the title game?
Excellent question. Same for the other instances when receivers were open against the Giants.
@49erBoy
AS’s mind needed an extra second to process what he was seeing. Somebody open. lol
We all have that one friend that never has a clue what is going on. DS94everXev, you are that friend. #CLUELESS
Hammer
Were you by any chance hit in the head with a hammer at a young age?
Please point out any post anybody has liked of yours who is not somebody, who like you, has very low self-esteem and feels the urge to insult others for no reason to feel better about their worthless existence.
Your insults are pathetic. Pre-school level…if that. Not amusing or insightful at all. It doesn’t even make it fun for others you’re so bad at it.
And since you never post anything about football, you’re knowledge of the game must somehow be worse than your insults…all I can say is be grateful for government hand outs.
You’re going to have to deal with the one thing you truly can’t handle from me now on. You’re going to be ignored. You really are not worth the time it took for me write this post.
DS, I don’t really hate you, it’s just that if you were on fire, I’d roast marshmallows.
LMAO. Smores……..
We all know what happens when DS ignores someone. He refers to them in every other post.
Sorry Jack.
DS is a woman.
DS
Thanks for correcting my spelling on Brodie; please check the post by ‘niner’ three posts before mine.
I must admit I only saw the condensed film from the NFL but I didn’t see any nervousness in Kyle Williams catching punts. I put this on your father’s blog but I thought that I would post it here too.
NOTE: I define catching the ball easily as no bobbles or second grabs to catch the ball
#1 – 1st Quarter 7:33 remaining
Kyle Williams caught the ball easily at the 13 – got back to the 27 yard line
#2 – 2nd Quarter 2:59 remaining
Kyle Williams stayed away from the ball as it was bouncing as he should have as it goes out of bounds
#3 – 3rd Quarter 13:34 remaining
Kyle Williams diving catch at 32 yard line, he actually caught it well – poor decision or trying to gain more field position (commentator pointed out it was a line drive and could have continued bouncing forward)?
#4 – 3rd Quarter 7:00 remaining
Kyle Williams catches the ball easily and gains 24 yards
# 5 – 3rd Quarter 3:26 remaining
Kyle Williams tracks the ball and moves backwards to catch the ball easily and gains 9 yards
#6 – 3rd Quarter 1:00 remaining
Kyle Williams makes adjustment on ball and fair catches it easily
# 7 – 4th Quarter 11:17 remaining
Kyle Williams looks like he gets caught in two minds and decides to leave it alone. Poor decision as 49ers woul dhave got the ball on the 25 to 30 yard line.
# 8 – 4th Quarter 4:15 remaining
Punter kicks it out of bounds. Kyle Williams nowhere near it
# 9 – 4th Quarter 1:55 remaining
Kyle Williams backpedals and fair catches the ball easily
#10 – 4th Quarter 0:27 remaining
Kyle Williams catches the ball easily going forward and gains 14 yards
# 11 – Overtime 13:50 remaining
Kyle Williams didn’t have to adjust much, caught the ball easily and tried to make a move that lost him a couple of yards instead of heading up the field.
#12 – Overtime 9:42 remaining
Kyle Williams catches the ball easily, tries to make the first guy miss (#57) and was forced the fumble. He had two hands on the ball and then takes his left hand off the ball which is really odd as the right hand was where #57 was from. Anthony Dixon was trying to go inside NYG #57 (were they going for a block) and that’s they #57 was free to get to Williams first.
So in total 12 punt returns
3 times he should have left it alone, 2 times he did – the one time he didn’t (#7) make up his mind fast enought it cost the 49ers a large loss of momentum and field position
8 times he caught the ball easily, including the fumble in overtime when he took one hand off the ball
1 time he caught the ball well (#3) and got away with it
So going back to this idea of whether I would have yanked him during the game based on his ability to handle punt returns. I would personally have kept him in the game. But heck – I ain’t an NFL coach!
You are right on Rowland. Unfortunately most people can’t get past their own myopic view of what actually happened in that game. The loss should not all be on Kyle Williams.
Instead it should be laid at the feet of Alex Smith, and his inability to put points on the board when the opportunities presented themselves.
You are a funny guy! Amazing.
Thanks Jack. I must admit I think that when a game goes to overtime then whoever wins after that is a bit of a roll of the dice. So to me the loss wasn’t really a loss and they played well enough to tie the game. Does that make me happy? No :P But it helps to keep it in perspective.
If we are also talking about one play momentum changers – after Kyle Williams knee touching the defence had the Giants in 3rd and 15 at the 17 yard line and completed the TD to Manningham on a good throw by Eli. Sometimes you just get beaten by a better team with a little more luck :(
But DS that would mean your just highlighting the Alexcuses once again?
Do you think any or oneof Crabtree, Morgan, or Williams could start in NO, NYG, or GB or DeT?
@prime
Did you happen to see that video that niner61(?) posted. It was of some bozo. He is the king of the Smithers and he brought up everything any of us (you and me) have brought up.
That loser bloke was the Almighty one himself…JM.
I actually think the answer to your WR question is not the expected answer I had in mind before you asked me.
I think MC has been our best WR this past season. The numbers bear tht out, as well as the experts. JM I can’t grade as anything but Incomplete. It looked like he and AS were starting to get somehing going there. At that point AS and MC were not connecting due to MC injury and chemistry issues. Now, would AS have been able to develop the same connection between himself and MC had JM not been injured (or vice-versa)? Would JM/MC have developed due to one anothers presence or not,or would they have impeded one anothers development somehow.
Anyway, I actually think KW would start ahead of MC for all the teams you mentioned. KW is much more explosive than MC, and everything MC is better at than KW really isn’t as valued as the things KW has the advantage over MC in.
I don’t know if he would be the top 2 WR’s, but considering how often those teams field 3 or more WR’s at once and how often they throw the ball, KW would get more chances there than he would here as a starter based on noting but the numbers.
Well, looking that way (in retrospective) Alex Smith did play a good year.
Not great, but really good.
After all, he was responsible for 3 of the 5 best moments of the season and only 1 of the 5 worst.
No WRs were responsible for any of the best moments and 3 of the worst involved one WR.
Also, Crabtree was not decisive (either good or bad), not showing in any of those moments.
So clearly we need to keep Crabtree, re-sign Morgan ans add at least two more weapons to the WRs group.
That was our biggest weakness by far, even considering Alex Smith problems and the conservative play-calling.
I expect improvement in all those areas next year (QB play, WRs options, and play-calling) and a much more enjoyable offense next year.
Top 10 Cornerback prospects in the draft. More analysis to come later …
Morris Claiborne CB 1 LSU 6-0 185 1 4.45
Dre Kirkpatrick CB 2 Alabama 6-2 192 1 4.49
Alfonzo Dennard CB 3 Nebraska 5-10 203 1 4.49
Janoris Jenkins CB 4 North Alabama 5-10 191 1-2 4.46
Stephon Gilmore CB 5 South Carolina 6-1 193 2 4.52
Chase Minnifield CB 6 Virginia 6-0 185 2 4.49
Jayron Hosley CB 7 Virginia Tech 5-10 172 2 4.52
Trumaine Johnson CB 8 Montana 6-2 204 2-3 4.52
Brandon Boykin CB 9 Georgia 5-09 183 2-3 4.44
Leonard Johnson CB 10 Iowa State 5-10 198 2-3 4.49
Totally agree with the 5 best, but switching 4 and 5. I do not see how Smith taking a sack could be labeled as a top 5 worst moment. I’d say the Romo pass to Holly in OT was worse than that, or the Dashon Goldson play in the NFC championship where he knocked out TB because on the very next drive a TD was scored on Brock on a 3rd and long play.
I can say-in all honesty- I was proud of Lowell to stand up to Mark Purdy and his agenda on Comcast. Thumbs up and a toast to ya Lowell!
And what’s Purdy’s agenda, Stan?
Now for the worst idea of the year. It’s come to light the 49ers offered Alex Smith a one-year contract. He didn’t accept it at first and now he can’t until the lockout is over. But he could at some future date. The Niners offering Smith a deal is the worst idea of the year. Hey, it could be the worst idea of the century.
Lowell Cohn – April 16 2011
AlbertS, your findings have only proved to convict L.Cohn of a written commentary that most of the 49er fanbase seconded. Last April, all we had to go on was an inconsistent and inaccurate QB that seemed completely lost after the 2010 season.
Even many of the ardent Alex supporters had their doubts at that point.
Fast forward to 2011-12, and Alex has virtually redeemed himself. Though to be fair, Harbaugh and the system he’s inacted deserves a great deal of the credit for Alex’ success.
Having said that, I believe Harbaugh is a no-brainer for coach of the year, while Alex receives the comeback player of the year award. But honestly AlbertS, who would have predicted that back in April?
@AES
Moral of the Story: Know which person to trust.
I am willing to give Harbaugh, a known QB evaluator, a chance to work with Alex. If JH thinks someone else is better than Alex next season, I will take that too.
As usual, LC wrote a “in your face” blog almost mocking JH..”Can’t make Smith a winner..You’re wrong.” And LC kept on going.
And what’s Purdy’s agenda, you know?
To move the A’s to San Jose. Not just that-but make the city of SJ give billionaires Wolff and the Fisher family a 14 million dollar giveaway of free real estate off the backs of taxpayers.
Once again-the rich cliam they have that billions for a new stadium…but they want free land?..ala the Yorks also.
The A’s are not losers because of Oakland. It’s what Slick Billy created that is a perpetual loser.
Billionnaires getting the public to subsidize their professional sporting team is a significant part of the business plan around pro sports. Now that I think of it, it’s a significant part of the business plan of most major corporations…
Exxon paid no income taxes. And the Oakland police bash the Occupy people for living in huge buildingd left to rot by other corporations. The police are more them then us.
Good for LC then.
Justin Smith almost deserves his own category…not just the Maclin fumble, but that batting-down of Eli’s pass to end the first game against the NYG, then pushing the Saints G/T back into Brees, then an almost identical move in the championship game. The most disruptive force on defense for the Niners since Bryant Young.
good stuff Grant, a lot of happy memories there, hopefully more ahead.
Too bad Randy White, a 70s Dallas Cowboy had the nickname that fits Justin to a tee…the manimal. LOL He does deserve his own category for what he accomplished this year. Total stud.
good one, Niner61…Randy White was a beast…highest praise i could give is that i respected and hated him on those damn Cowboys.
With only 4 losses it’s sort of tough to come up with “5 worst plays”. The regular season losses didn’t matter in the end so you pretty much have to take all 5 from the championship game.
On the flip side, with 14 wins it’s really hard to narrow it down to 5 best plays. I’ll bet we could come up with a top 5 for nearly every player on the team. Or at least, every player on defense.
And honestly, this play has to make the top 5 somehow:
http://i.imgur.com/fLzF5.gif
Great list, but I would have to include the Harbaugh/Swartz handshake in the top five best moments. That was a classic.
I heard today on KNBR that the Niners play Detroit next year. If this is true I hope it’s a nationally televised prime time game cause everybody will be interested in seeing this rematch.
If they sign Manning and keep the same WR corps, I’m sure he would only have one option and then checkdown. He wouldn’t even look Crabtree’s way after a few dropped passes and/or interceptions where Crabtree can’t get open. Heck, I think any elite QB would ignore Crabtree since he can’t grow up or even improve his game.
Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon looked remarkably bad this year without Manning. Once they had a mediocre QB throwing to them they also looked mediocre. Peyton is the sort of QB that makes receivers look a lot better by throwing them open rather than waiting until they are open by 5 yards.
That said, I don’t see a snowball’s chance in heck of the 49ers signing Manning. I don’t think he’ll play again. No way the Colts would let him go if they thought he was healthy.
@msc
PM’s injury had the same effect on his team as SY’s. The fact is the Colts have not been a good team for awhile. Their only competition in their division are the Texans, and they always self-destructed until this year. So the Colts, like the Niners at SY’s time at the end basically won the division by default.
Eric Davis talked about how the Colts have other good players and they need to step up. Well they never did. The HC looked lost all season, and we all know how a team plays with a lost HC.
And PM does not make his WR’s look good in the post-season. Now, that is our standard again. To not just get to the playoffs (a healthy PM could do that just as AS did assuming he can give up the power to call his own plays, learn a new system, etc.) but to win in the playoffs. Which I don’t think PM can do any better than AS.
It is the fact that PM calls his own plays which I believe is the reason why he is so bad in the playoffs. Playoff intensity is much higher than regular season intensity, plus you are likely playing top defenses much of the time who don’t fall for all the BS PM does which beats weaker defenses. Without that BS stuff, PM is not the same QB. So he can get to the playoffs every year because there are a lot of bad/mediocre teams out there, but can’t win in the playoffs because his main material does not work against the better teams. As opposed to AS, whose main thing is to be smart with the football. Don’t turn the ball over, and take advantage of opprtunities as they arise. That is a formula that will work (regular or playoffs) as long as you get the opportunities. In NO he got them. In NY he did not. And between the two, I’ll take the strategy employed by AS over the one employed by PM.
What second option? Unless you’re considering the other team’s secondary since the WRs have a case of the dropsies and can’t even get open. I get tired of listing the games the team won because of Alex Smith so I’ll let you live in your delusional I HATE ALEX SMITH world and stick with actual facts Bay.
He couldn’t throw to Crabtree because he wouldn’t be open. I said it before: Victor Cruz can get open, Crabtree can’t. And I want Manning to retire as well. No sense in risking further injury to his neck that could haunt him for the rest of his life.
I’ll take a small WR that can blow up a guy on defense any day. KW will be back next year, and better than ever.
I hope you’re right, Midwest. If Harbaugh decides that KW can stay, I’ll be fine with it. But for now, he’s the guy who blows up Offenses, not Defenses.
has anyone posting here actualy seen delanie walker getting open on a wheel route on the 1st play of the 2nd half vs giants? Apparently the fox crew didnt see it, with all of their ameras and spotters and able football minda in the booth in aikman and buck..Apparently none of the niners beat writers saw it—no one wrote about it immediately following the game, when you would expect them to pounce on a missed opportunity.
the 1st mention of this supposed play came from greg cosell, a guy who (like many posters/whiners on this board–bayarea, jordan etc) alex smith made foolish with each passing moment of the season. I think cosell may ne trying to do a CYA with this.
Against the Ravens you can hear the coach yelling ” you missed one deep” and it was Delaney. Same thing against the Giants.
no yelling involved
@mark
Considering Troy Aikman is a first ballot HOF QB, you would think he would have seen that from the booth above.
But the only thing they repeatedly said was the Niner WR’s were not getting open.
I don’t recall even once hearing how AS missed seeing a wide open WR.
“The year was great, it is just too bad that Smith blew it for us in the Championship game.”
I think that’s what they call “rewriting history”. Stunning, really.
Mark,
Have you seen the game when it came on or were you at the game? I went to the game, however I Dvr the games as well. I looked at every play that Cosell pointed out. He mentioned 4 total. On the fox replay, they show you several angles of the play and on the final replay from behind Smith, you can see wLker ahead of Webster in single coverage running up the left sideline. Take a look if you still have the game. A couple of tge other plays are visible as well. Look at the game at the 1:47 mark of regulation and tell me what you think about that series from Smith. Then maybe we can talk.
Jordan, even if they watch it the Smithers will still come up with an excuse to defend him like they always do.
The year was great, it is just too bad that Smith blew it for us in the Championship game.
Why do you keep bringing up the point that ‘you were at the game?’ You get one shot at seeing it and then it’s the same as it is for 50 million folks on TV. If you flinch for a second, it’s gone. It doesn’t change what happened in the game. We (at home) got to see the play over and over, real speed, slo-mo, upside down and backwards. Yeah, it’s more fun being at the game, but that doesn’t change what 50 million saw.
Oregon,
I missed delaney
Being open at the game. I saw how open he was when I watched it on tv that night. Hard to watch the game live in person from Oregon. At least you got the Ducks! Lol
Happens with every QB. There isn’t one out there that hasn’t done that. Probably happens more often than the fans know about it. Missed opportunities are part of the game no matter who is playing.
That’s right, it happens all the time. We don’t see it often on TV, because the cameras rarely, if ever, show all 11 guys. But once in a while, I see a great QB like Brady, or Brees, or Rodgers toss an easy pass too high, or behind their receiver, or into the dirt… and I’m in total shock. Based on what I read here, only Alex Smith misses those passes!
@Rusty
If one depended on this blog for their education on football, it would be akin to depending on this blog to learn basic facts. And one idea that would run free and be accepted readily by many on this blog is the fact that the earth is flat.
I think when Walker’s jaw was broken should be in the top 5 worst things. That happened shortly after the teams released Edwards and it depleted the receiving corps. It probably also had an effect on how he was utilized in the NFC Championship game.
saw the one on the Ravens game ..but we are talking about the giants game…i take it you didnt see it either
I’m so sick of hearing about how bad the Niners were this season. So we didn’t make it to the Superbowl…..neither did a lot of other teams. Yes it hurts….I was at the game. They lost as a team!!!! I’m sure if someone else would of fumbled you would blame them too. Why don’t you take your so called loyalty across the bay where there are real losers !!! Niners fan for life !!!!
I have no problem with that landshark.
It is like after theTB game where we won 48-3. But several so called “fans” were blasting the Niners (AKA AS when we lose, and we won 14 games despite of AS…yeah, right.) like it was us who had lost the game 48-3.
Well said Landshark.
Should have lumped the Kyle Williams fumbles and added Harbaughs blown penalty decline against Dallas. He accepts the penalty and has three more plays to at least run the clock. Would have felt really good to beat Dallas. Instead Dallas pulls off the comeback and we have to hear about Tony “expletive” Romo all freaking week.
@GeneG
No matter what, you would have heard about Tony Romo.
Grant,
Great read. For individual plays, I think your list is solid. The only other play that might warrant an honorable mention would be the Justin Smith knock down of an Eli Manning pass on 4th down to seal the win against the Giants in their regular season game.
Having said that, the real trend that was the absolute most important issue for this team this year was 3rd Down Conversions. I know it was 221 separate moments but it ended up being a huge factor in every loss this year. The 9ers were ranked as the 30th team in the NFL in converting 3rd downs at 29.4%. The 9ers were the worst team in the playoffs at converting 3rd downs, only converting 17.9% of their chances. 3rd down failures should make this list. Or you should do a separate list of top 5/bottom 5 trends of this past season.
The 9ers had a fabulous year and some continue with the negativity. So AS missed a couple of passes during the Championship game so what. Even TBrady missed passes against the Ravens plus he also threw two interceptions and he is an elite QB and arguably the best QB of all time, so his bar should be higher. Every game I watched this year (other teams) QB’s missed open receivers. Remember when Eli missed a wide open receiver in the 4th qtr that would have won the game against the 9ers during the season?
Some of you people act as though it is only AS missing open receivers. When you watch the SB this week, count how many times EManning or TBrady miss on throws to quality receivers that can get open more than two or three times a game. I’m sure GCosell will do an autopsy of the SB game – he’ll point out the misses won’t he?!!
Last year the DB’s were the weakest area of the team and TB and staff strengthened that group during the offseason with the signing of Rogers and Whitner. This year the weakest area is the WR group. Stay tuned…
Tom Brady is NOT arguably the best QB of all time. JOE MONTANA however is!!
If Brady wins the Super Bowl he will be ahead of Montana in SB wins and total postseason wins. And he has done it with an ever changing cast of receivers to throw to. The only other offensive player that was on the team when they won their first SB against the Rams is Kevin Faulk.
i’m recanting an earlier blasphemy: i said Aaron Rodgers is playing at a level i’d never seen before (apparently Joe Montana and Dan Marino said the same thing). but as the playoffs showed, he’s human.
so, if i had to win one big game and i could pick any qb from his prime, hands down Joe Montana is the winner. before he had the back surgery and became a pocket qb (and still won 2 SBs, if i recall correctly), he could beat you with his legs, his arms, his brain, and his heart. accurate, athletic, aggressive…a true sports predator, snatching victory away from the other team.
Brady 3-1 Montana 4-0
Actually vinetary 2-1 Brady 1-1 and Montana 4-0
Ah, so the QB *doesn’t* get all the credit or all the blame for a loss after all. Interesting concept that.
Mr. Hammer, Mr. Montana has 4 Super Bowl World Championships along with ZERO INT’s. Enough Said!
Mr. Razor, I don’t think that I said Mr Montana was not great. He is one of the best QB’s to ever play the game, maybe even THE best. All I was trying to get across is that Brady deserves to be in that discussion of best ever.
Mr Jack Hammer, sorry i didnt mean to pile on, dont know about Razor but i didnt think you were slagging off Joe…i just used that spot to recant my earlier testimony. Dont know how old you are but for anyone that missed Joe from 1980-1985, you missed an athletic magician (ok ’82 wasnt so great). He wasnt perfect…just the closest thing we’ve seen yet :-).
fesnyc, I am lucky to be old enough to remember the greatness of Montana. I meant absolutely no disrespect to the legend. I just feel that what Brady has accomplished puts him in the conversation with Montana as the best ever.
Remember, Montana did it during a time when teams could stockpile talent. Shoot at one point our 3rd string QB was better than most starters in the league. Brady is doing it in an era where there is constant turnover, and the level of play from team to team is much more equal.
He’s also doing it in a Goodell era where you can’t take the receivers head off or kill the QB.
@ Jack Hammer, Brady has 3 Super bowls and Joe has four, so let’s get the math right before you give us your 2 cents.
smith will be back because harbaugh says he will. harbaugh knows 1000% more than any of us so shut the hell up about alex and enjoy the best season in 10 yrs
@oldcoach
At least 1 person here has never answered “no” to the question:
“Does JH know more about football/Niners/AS than you do?”
I have repeatedly asked this person many times, but they have never answered because they played football in college.
To make it clear, I know nothing next to JH on any of these matters. And this question really revolves around AS.
the question revolves around alex smith and harbaughs evaluation of him because withouts harbaughs blessing he does’nt touch the field
On a side note, I enjoy reading LC columns but I can’t get past the first sentence when he writes about the Raiders. Zero interest but that is just me.
JH, knows eventually that we are going to need a big upgrade in the QB situation, he was dealt with a only a couple of options this year. Rome was not built in a day and the Niner’s will not be rebuilt in one season. Open the doors for a QB competition, AS only big contract would be with the Niner’s, no other team in the NFL is going to offer him 8 to 10 mill for 3 years, the Niners might have to give him a 3 year deal but they are thinking down the road, they can afford that, with a better team and new stadium revenue down the road in a few years. Interesting that the Raiders say that CP will be their starter for next year and JH has not said that about AS. That is a very good thing. Don’t have to be a mind reader he is looking at that position very seriously.
JH said AS is a pro bowl QB. AS lead the team to the title game.
You are correct. I don’t have to be a mind reader to guess how JH feels about AS.
And if you don’t think other teams would pay 8-10 million a year for a QB who did what AS did, then you don’t watch enough NFL football. The Colts paid Collins $4-5 million this year. He stank so bad they started another guy who stank. AS was way more than twice as good as Collins.
8-10 million is not that much for a QB who lead his team to a title game.
Funny he is a pro bowl QB , but their is going to be open competition, well maybe he is not a pro-bowl QB.
@neal
All positions have open competition in the NFL. If any team gets somebody better at any position that previous starter may not start.
And a Pro-Bowler should be able to beat out anybody a team brings in.
You are putting way too much emphasis on one quote, while completely ignoring like every press conference/post game conference all season long where JH praised AS. JH doesn’t just bring up anybody who he feels like. He brought up AS a lot without ever being asked. And it was JH, not those of us here who believe in AS, who started the Pro Bowl talk. Did he ever do the same for Chilo at any point? Or just talk how great CR was playing without being asked about him? I don’t think so. And if he did,we certainly did not hear it all season long like how we heard JH talk about AS all year long. Are you not curious as to why and what the differences are between the 2?
You can choose to ignore that, but it will not make you right.
That means he wants him back. That means he is going to start.
That means the Niners will win lots of games with AS.
100% disagree DS”,All positions have open competition in the NFL.” Really, does Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have open competition?, no because not only are they all Pro-Bowlers and Elite QB’s they all have won Super Bowls too. Alex Smith is not a elite QB, and probably will never win a Super Bowl or be a Pro bowl player, the guy has never thrown a 300 yard game, he was spectacular in the last two drives against the Saints, and was invisible for more then 1/2 of it. He greatly improved maybe from a D to a B-, but that is it. As of now, he is just a one hit wonder and has zero and I mean zero play making abilities.
I am not addicted like some of you who get wet dreams for AS, enjoy the off season talking about a wanna be. I will be on here off and on but now I am off to see the San Jose Sharks, not going to be thinking about the 9er’s and AS every minute of the day. seeya
@Neal
Is JH the coach of those teams?
And if those teams got somebody who can compete with the starter, you really don’t think they would?
You’re a Niner fan. More than any other teams fan you should know this to be true. We said “bye” to the best QB ever in favor of SY because SY was the up and comer.
We all saw how PM’s backup played, so no wonder why the Colts had no competition at QB there.
EM along with his HC were almost run out of town earlier this year, so had the Giants not made the playoffs, EM may very well have lost his job outright, or at the very least been competing in 2012. Was EM eilte at this time? If so, why did some in NY want him gone?
MH who played for Seattle was a very good QB. But, Seattle wanted some competition at QB this year, and MH said “nope.”
So they both went their seperate ways. And they both failed to make the playoffs. Would you have been happier if AS was a weakling like MH, who did not want competition, and left so that we started CK who showed nothing of worth in the preseason and was just given the job? Just like Seattle’s QB? Would CK have lead the Niners to a division title even?
Hockey?
Hockey players can’t skate as well as figure skaters and can’t do all the cool things figure skaters can either. Could figure skaters perform the basics to play hockey? Yes. Can hockey players perform the basics to figure skate? Not without a lot of time and coaching.
Hockey players can’t fight as well as boxers or martial artists.
Hockey players can’t entertain like pro wrestlers.
But enjoy watching the Sharks. To each his own.
Neal,
If the 49ers offer Smith more than the market rate, which you seem to be implying they may do, they’ll have to take back Baalke’s executive of the year trophy he’s about to win.
But, they won’t do that. They’ll offer him what they expect he’d get offered on the open market, or slightly less, knowing he’s settled in the area, and familiar with the scheme and staff.
So, to say the only team that’s going to offer him a big contract would be the 49ers is just plain silly.
I thought 8 to 10 mill per season was the going rate, of course if the going rate is lower then we should offer that.
Neal,
Give smith a 2 year 12 million dollar deal with incentives. Bring Josh Johnson in to challenge smith for the starting job on a 1 year deal. May the best man win.
I hope manning gets healthy. Hed take a major pay cut to come here. This is a super bowl wIting for him.
@23 jordan,
I like the JJ part, although he is a restricted free agent, so it is not a given if we can get him. PM coming here, I don’t see it, if he is healthy, that is wonderful but bringing in a 36 yo with 3 neck surgeries is very risky, rather have a couple of healthy young guys competing. I never saw JJ play but heard nice things about him.
>>I hope manning gets healthy. Hed take a major pay cut to come here. This is a super bowl wIting for him.
Despite the fact that “knowledgable” fans of the Jets, Redskins, Bears, Titans, Eagles, Broncos, Cowboys, etc are all saying the very exact same thing…. There’s that slight matter of getting through the season intact first. Then there’s that pesky history – he only did it once in his previous 14 seasons with pretty darn good teams. If you ask me, we would be looking at Namath/Rams, Favre/Jets, Favre/Vikings, Montana/Chiefs, etc.
All you hyperexcited “Superbowl just waiting for the Manning/Niners combo” advocates, can you give a historical example of a celebrated veteran QB taking a new team all the way in his first season? Second season? Third? This fan wants to know if that $20 mil a year for a 36 year old QB is a good deal or not.
Typical ribico.
Always asking for any actual evidence of the plans laid down by so many here (nearly all hate AS).
You’re just the real hater. Attacking a Super Bowl MVP winner with 4 NFL MVP’s and a host of records. But we are to ignore his horrible playoff history completely. For no other reason than it disproves our view that anybody is better than AS. Even a guy who is 1 hit away from a life altering disability.
If PM plays anywhere, he’s an idiot. There is nothing to gain, and everything to lose.
DS, attacking PM? Me? No, if the Niners Front office along with Harbaugh, suffered a collective brainfreeze and brought in PM, I’d totally support them. But it will never happen in a million years, this PM to Superbowl scenario is just the product of the hyperactive imaginations of the armchair fantasy GMs, in other words every ignorant fan of every middling NFL franchise.
Though if PM makes himself available, some desperate real life GM will pull the trigger and mark my words, that will be his last season as that team’s GM.
The Niners are not desperate, they are building a team for the long haul.
@ribico
“…I’d totally support them”
Yes. As would I. If I didn’t, I would not be a fan. Something that some here don’t know yet. You support your team by encouraging/having their back. Not by saying how stupid their players are and telling others who support their players that they are stupid and don’t know any football.
Fans of other teams may say that. But, your own teams fans? Pathetic.
Neal, JH has already stated that there will be an open competition for the QB spot next year. We can only hope that CK has developed to the point where he can push AS out of the starting lineup.
“We can only hope that CK has developed to the point where he can push AS out of the starting lineup”
Thats and you and the minority population who wish that.
>>. Interesting that the Raiders say that CP will be their starter for next year and JH has not said that about AS.
Interesting that you compare two teams with vastly different methods of handling personnal and media relations. If you can get past LC’s ego, it’s been reported in one of his earlier columns.
“I’m not going to turn this press conference into a personnel meeting.”
(Jan 22, 2011, New York postgame)
JH does not divulge to the chattering classes plans for any of his players. But like DS reports he’s dropped enough hints as to what he feels about Alex’s future.
“Do you think Alex is the long-term quarterback for the 49ers as a starter?
Harbaugh’s answer: I do.”
(December 20, 2011)
“Might be time to give Alex a little credit, huh?”
(Jan 14, 2011, New Orleans postgame)
@ribico
What is interesting is how a Niner fan would refer to the Raiders as a way of conducting business in a more positive light than how the Niners did it last year.
Also interesting that the Raiders without this starting QB for next year were a winning team, and the playoffs seemed all but asurred.
Then they get CP, who leads them to a losing record under his tenure, fails to make the playoffs, and whom the Raiders gave up a 1st and 2nd pick for by a HC who lead the way in the decision who was fired after his only season.
Yet, somehow the Raiders did it right.
@jack hammer if harbaugh felt ck was ready they would’nt be offering smith the money they are. I’m a huge ck fan but i believe he needs about 2 yrs to become the kind of qb that harbaugh will put on the field
Agree
agreed
I agree, CK is a project with huge upside. No need to rush his development.
Kevin Lynch -I hear- wrote that the 49ers are better with Alex Smith then even a healthy Peyton Manning. NO THEY AREN’T! I would take a healthy Manning over Smith any day.
Grant-never sink to Kevin’s level or Sue S.,..I don’t care how nice they are as people…why write if your THAT afraid to tell the truth as they are? Get jobs in their PR department if as a writer your THAT compromised. Or,go back to school and be a Doctor and make moms happy. Kev and Sue arent too old..wait,ohhhhh-I seeeee. Ok, take the money and run..
Stan take it easy guy. Most people with half a football IQ know that Alex is the better option based on age, health, and cap space. Maybe Alex is not as technically sound as Manning but the ceiling for Alex to improve on last season with a new WR core and a full offseason of coaching is high. Do you doubt Harbaugh?
Actually-no I dont. I doubt Kevin Lynch a whole lot. IF Manning did the proverbial pay cut to go to a team to win his last Super Bowl..and he’s healthy,yes,I think the 49ers would do it. Too many if’s to make it ever happen..its just Lynch stretching common sense as he will do to stay on the good side of the Yorks.
But,I admit..I haven’t read him in ages. When he said he saw the brilliance in Singletary? I knew he was one of those.
Lynch is always put down for his views. He hasn’t been an Alex fan in the past and got laughed at by some fans. No credit, no brain………. A healthy manning is a major upgrade. And some are stating he may not pick up the offense in one year. That’s a joke. Smith did ok without an offseason. Yes he had the playbook but equal the time without ota’s. Manning would pick up this offense and take us straight to the Super Bowl and would win it. Easily!
Agree, Manning could learn that playbook in a week, he’s that smart and been around a long time.
Disagree only beause of his health and salary. Big risk to take with any neck injury and if didnt work out, thats a lot of cap space he would take up. Better option if you go the free agent route is Matt Flynn.
+ 1000
If the plan is to replace the QB then go young so the team and org is set for more than a year or two!
Will anyone hate harbaugh if he lets someone else start next year? I’ve got a feeling smith will not be starting next year. Don’t know why. Just got that feeling. So before any of you attack. I’m not saying I do or don’t want him to start. Just got a hunch.
MD in the grand scheme of things, I dont care who starts, as long as they can get us further into the playoffs and win a championship. Right now, Alex seems to be the best choice based on the improvments he made last year, the organization identifying they need some WR’s, and JH ability to get it done in develping him.
Thats all anyone should care about, Smithers, haters, who cares, winning is all that matters!
FDM……I totally agree. All that matters is winning.
@DS… I didnt say they would get rid of Smith, I just have a gut feeling he wont be the starter all 16 or maybe none of the games next year.
Rocket and Bay. True that.
@Neal……. I dont see them getting JJ….I think if my gut is right it will be Tolzein or CK doing the starting.
@md
AS is one of the top 32 QB Pro football players in the world. If he is not a starter here, he will be some place else.
If I were him (and did not get the starter job), I would go ring the doorbell in AZ. AS is way better than Kolb (who sucks big time!) and Skelton put together. Plus it gives him the chance to throw to the best WR in the game today in LF. He’s never had anybody remotely near as good a WR as LF here in SF.
AS appears to be a system QB….going to Az and having LF would not allow AS to be great unless many other aspects of the Az offense is dangerous….OL, RB, and a couple of dump off weapons that AS would not be in tune with until probably his second year….
AS best choice is to stay in SF…. he needs to take his game to the next level by making this offense his own and if he can’t make it his own,…. i.e. knowing where all his rcvrs are and seeing the route progression of his rcvrs without actually seeing them so that he can go back to them when his read progressions break down as well as reading presnap defenses and capping it off with running a hurry up offense to keep defenses on their heels……and i did not assume AS need to accomplish all this this year but he has to do a lot of this successfully next year…then I am sure JH will not go into year #3 with him and probably trade him for a 2nd rounder the next year if JH has a suitable replacement…..
so i only expect AS to get a 2 year deal 9mil/yr with post season incentives with team option for a 3rd year….this gives both sides some wiggle room and some near term stability either way….
niners have a lot of other team issues to address that are probably bigger than the QB position going into next year….
the defense may seem like a stable situation but it isn’t because does culliver take over for rogers in covering the slot rcvr and if so niners need another press/cover corner who can handle the blackmon, fitz types,
and we all are just holding our breath on the RB situation,
and of course need a couple of good things to occur on the WR front whether it is getting morgan back as a possession type rcvr to go along with crabtree (and i would not be surprised to see MC get traded for the right price of course….but on this front it is kind of hard to read the dynamics going on behind closed doors) and then get a reasonable speed rcvr with coordination size and blocking abilities
and that OL needs to be stared at …. is it improving enough or does it need a big infusion…(as much as i wouldn’t be surprised if MC was traded it wouldn’t surprise me if chilo remains as a back up)
@jg
“AS appears to be a system QB…”
I really hate this statement (not you jg, just to make that clear).
What good/great QB is not a system QB? What I mean by that is what QB has ever been good/great in one system and then changed systems and been just as good/great with the new one as he was with the old one?
Our two HOF QB’s were system QB’s. JM only played in the West Coast offense in SF. And, KC changed up their entire team, personnel, philosophy to fit JM’s when they traded for him. JM did not convert to the KC’s ways. KC converted to JM’s ways.
And SY was in Tampa, and he stank. He came here, and he was great. So he must have been a system QB as well, right?
And jg, is AZ’s OL really that much worse than what AS has had to deal with here in SF his whole career? How could it be? The Niners OL is bottom of the barrel. They started to show real progress late in the year, and not so odd, so did MC.
But MC is no where near as good as LF. Not even close. Just look at LF’s postseason performances. He nearly won AZ a Super Bowl that one year. Then look at MC’s performances in the same pressure cooker playoff situation. Sorry. But LF is light-years ahead of MC. I know one reply may be “Well, they throw it more in AZ because they had KW.” KW did not throw LF open. LF was open by a mile all that post season. Even against the best defense in the league, the Steelers.
AS’s numbers to WR’s would be a lot better if he had LF on his team. LF is a great player. At this point, better than AS. Just as JR was a better player than SY when he came to the Niners. But like all great players, they make those around them better. In SY’s case, he got first ballot no questions asked HOF better throwing it to JR. I have no doubt that AS could follow a similar path if he was throwing it to LF.
As for the RB position, I said I would not be surprised if the Niners took a RB with their pick. The very best WR/CB/DL picks will have been taken already. RB’s are not popular 1st round picks anymore and the Niners would likely get a better RB where they are picking than they would a better WR/CB/DL
maybe should have said a certain system….but my main point with AS is just having a weapon like a VD or an exchanged weapon in LF will not make AS better…QBs need multiple weapons and AS won’t be able to take advantage of a multiple weapon system until there are multiple weapons….is Az a multiple weapon offense…when Az had boldwin then i would say yes and then the TE would not have to be a VD like weapon to make work……thing with the niner system offense this past year was that VD had two big jobs to perform to make that offense work and it was a balancing act to make sure he was in blocking at the correct times and out on patterns at the correct time which either opened up DW or JM or MC and if BE had ever become a weapon…yet as we know one lugnut (BE) never got put on, one fell of early in the season (JM) and another in seattle (DW) leaving really only MC who AS was sporadically leaning on later in the season but there wasn’t any real replacement for the other lugnuts because KW and Ginn and AS didn’t really catch on fire, the running game had to be put into some kind of hibernation to protect gore as AS worked on the passing game without any real glowing success probably because of those missing lugnuts with really only the promise of DW coming back…this made the VD balancing act all that more precarious and for that glorious 5 minutes in the NO game we got treated to a gun fight …but i have to admit the niners limped into the playoffs because the system was sputtering because the weapons were fractured… and because of this AS was not able to rise above the system,…except for those 5 minutes and even then it was the system that got VD into tight windows that AS had to thread….
‘field vision’ apparently is the AS demise catch phrase ….. suggesting that was 90% of the reason the niners are not in the SB….marginalizing the positive effects of AS operating the system missing a couple of lugnuts for most of the season and then losing another lugnut late only to get one marred up lugnut for the NFC championship game and still AS made the best of the situation he could in the system that a couple of fumbles put asunder
next year will be much tougher for AS and the niners in general….StL is going to be the equals of the niners and seattle are not going to be slouches to be ignored….it will be imperative AS elevates his game and improve his field vision by making this system his own….that is supposed to be his strong suite and for the first time it appears AS will get that chance and if he doesn’t step function improve like he did this year then he would probably make for good trade bait in 2013 offseason….
damn it now i am the blowhard
@jg
I agree that any QB needs multiple weapons. If the QB is already great, he got that way by having multiple weapons. And if he lacks them now, he can make up for it somewhat, but had he never had the weapons, he will not learn to be great. First you need the weapons. Then you become great. If you lose your weapons, you still maintain the lessons you learned while becoming great, even if you can’t apply it fully. This is how I view SY near the end of his career. But, if you never had the weapons, you never learned what you can only learn by having the weapons, and you won’t ever be great. This is where AS is right now.
But, I disagree with exchanging one weapon for another. VD maybe the best TE in the league right now. LF is easily the best WR in the NFL right now, and I think he is second only to JR. The catch he made in SF to prevent the shutout was amazing. The concentration he must have to make that catch was JR like. So, AS would lose MAYBE the best TE, but be gaining the unquestionably BEST WR. That is a gain.
Your main gist though I agree with. Which is why I spent so much time last week talking about doing whatever we had too to get LF on this Niner team. Give up 2 1st, and a great player, whatever it takes. Because now with VD and LF, AS and and any other QB has the weapons to be great (all depending, as all things always have, on the OL). Who would you double cover then? Try to double cover both, and we just run it. No LB’s hanging around, our OL can break thru easily, and let FG/KH/other(?) run free in the open field.
The “field vision” thing goes away when AS consistently gets time in the pocket.
All of his career, he has been smashed into who knows what when he plants his back foot on a 3 step drop. Consequently, his body/mind have been trained to not scan the field completely. Because if he tried, he would be sacked. JM talked about it on that interview a bit which niner61 had a link for, as well as another interview on CSN. So, I hated when the “original blowhard” Cossel comes in and says “AS failed to scan the field on this one play.” He is ignoring the whole rest of much of the season (AS career) where the OL did not give him time to scan the field.
Better playcalling will lead to defenses not being able to tee off on AS so much. Which will help the OL some. Which will help AS get more time. Which will help the playmakers get more time to get open, and as long as they catch the ball, the Niners are set to face off against anybody. Especially if they had LF.
@md
I have said it before. JH sees himself in AS. If AS is not starting next year, or the Niners don’t resign him, it will be all of TB’s doing. Because JH loves AS.
Look at their respective careers md. There are an awful lot of things between them that are similar.
If/when the Niners get rid of AS, I just don’t see it being due to JH not trusting (insert any other word if you like) in AS. But TB would be exerting his power in some sort of power struggle between the 2 strong minded individuals.
It’s about who gives the Niners the best chance to win. Doesn’t matter which guy. It always has to be best player plays scenario or you not only lose games, but you lose the Locker room.
Well said Rocket. That is a comment from a true fan. The team is not about one player. Especially about a player who is not performing at a very high level.
I learned these hard lessons when my childhood idols were released or traded. 16, 42, 80.
+1
NinerMD,
I don’t know at this point, who would take the place of AS, JH might be saying that their will be competition in the QB position, so AS can not rest on his accomplishments this year, he still has a few flaws, he throws worm burners, get’s his passes blocked, tunnel vision, if one guy not open he lack the fundamentals to go to a second or third receiver, and many times he becomes frozen in the pocket. If they can get Josh Johnson from TB that will help the competition instead of the current crop but I don’t know if JJ has a better upside then Smith.
manning is a far better qb than alex but would cost us at least 20 millon including bonus. with that contract we would’nt be able to sign half of our fa’s. we would be much better off to keep alex continue to develop ck and contnue to stregnth the whole roster. imho
Manning will not cost 20 million dollars. He will play for less than that.
Pipe dream! lol
Wager Hofer??? He plays for less thn 20 mil this year,?
I dont think Manning is going to play again, but if he did I dont think he would want that much either. NO team will pull the trigger on that much dough with his injury. And I think all he wants at this stage of his career is as many titles as he can snatch. If healthy and say he did end up here. Superbowl win, and an easy one at that.
MD, the point is it’s a bad plan. Favre wanted the same thing and he was healthier. That didn’t work out. It is a pipe dream and there is no short cut to success. Let some other idiot team set their org back 3-5 years by signing PM. It’s not a good plan.
My guess is that if Peyton is healthy enough to play (that’s still a big IF), his decision on where to go will be affected by whether or not Eli wins another SB on Sunday. If Eli wins – Peyton may be inclined to take less money to go with a team that is very close to SB level.
Never underestimate sibling rivalry!
hearing different things….he plans on returning …but also hear he still has numbness in his hand….
@DS don’t kid yourself, JH has complete autonomy when it comes to the QB position. Whoever he wants, he gets or keeps. TB maybe has authority on every other position.
Don’t know prime
But TB did have to bite one there in the offseason when he said the Niners don’t have their starting QB.
Peytons on ESPN right now..
LOL. and on ESPN’s comments board every team’s fan is clamoring for him to COME TO MY TEAM!
Yeah, a 36 year old damaged QB that has maybe two years left if he is deemed “able to play”!
He’s not the PM everyone remembers from 5 years ago so move on already. Never build an org with a 36 year old damaged QB. Look at the SB participants – both QB’s are drafted and home grown.
Hell, even the Eagles fans want him in Philly. Wait, I though they already had their free agent savior.
Here we go again…
AS iwill be the QB again this year. JH isn’t saying AS is the starter because that is his mantra – everyone competes. Additionally, stating AS is the starter increases his salary level and they won’t play that hand yet until he signs a contract.
Lynch is correct that AS is the best scenario for the 9ers and will continue to be as long as he is getting better. PManning is now the blamers “flavor of the month” and he to will fall by the wayside as did Kolb, McNabb, Orton, and all of the other former “flavor of the month” candidates. Keep trying though.
The staff is looking at WRs and we’ll see how that plays out via FA or more likely the draft – stay tuned.
Does anybody really think that JH couldn’t have walked into the Colts HQ and been hired as the HC this coming year had he stayed at Stanford?
He would have been able to stay with AL after drafting him. But he chose not to do so.
This talk that JH is looking for another QB really is silly. He would not have taken the job if he was so concerned about our QB in the first place. He could have stayed at Stanford with AL this year and still be the #1 HC prospect out there this year. And enter the NFL with the best QB prospect since sliced bread.
Of course he could have, but he was ready to move on last year so we got lucky and have him here.
We are lucky to have him and his talent to surrond himself with great assistants. Lock him up, keep him tense and focused on being the best Coach! Alot of the free agents signed were picked over but Balke and everyone has a good eye for talent! Who knows for sure but Harbaugh does not strike me as one who as to have just one type of player, he likes hard working charcter guys with talent and gets every one going in one direction. Foundation is in place and going to be fun the next few years.
One other point on Lowell’s Comcast appearnace with Mark Purdy-Purdy gave Lowell a couple of body shots..One,was that Lowell’s comic impersonation of Pat Burell “Is scaring me” ..ok,thats mild. The other- “I get paid to take Athletes..” as he tailed off Purdy meant HE could take being brushed off,insulted,crap,etc. And by inference..the man to his right couldn’t.
Purdy’s is so biased on the A’s moving that he ignores that the A’s problems have to do with losing..and the Org. is the cause of that-NOT a building.
Funny,that little Okcity rolled through town with THREE superstar players..and Durant signed for years more. Was it because they have a wizz bang stadium? they love Oklahoma weather?..or is it because the ORG. cares and WANTS TO WIN?. OakCa according to Beane in the 5th largest market can’t even afford ONE all star.
And that Mark Purdy insults out intelligence with his pandering and biased reporting.he just suuuuucks up to Wolff shamelessly. I’m glad Lowell said he was full of baloney..or balogna.
Purdy should be shamed.
When did this become an A’s blog?
How many of you though Branch was done when he was traded to Seattle a couple of years back? How many of you thought Moss was DONE when he was in Oakland?
Is it a coincidence that they both end up with a REAl QB and all of a sudden they are top 5 receivers again?
Just an example for those of you that think the WR makes the QB. It’s the other way around.
Bay, when the 9ers get someone in here at WR equal to those two then the discussion begins. lol
True-and why Alex couldnt make a deep threat of anybody wide..only Davis down the middle. I think he does have the arm..its the head that tells him no.
Would Alex make Wes Welker a THREAT? ..like Brady does?
@Stan
What are you talking about?
AS made a lot of deep sideline passes in the playoffs. They just happened to be to VD because he gets himself open, and he caught them all!
Plus that one pass in Seattle to MC. At the time Grant and others called it the best thrown pass of AS’s career. And it was a deep sideline pass.
Anybody expecting 100% completion rate on deep sideline throws is playing way too much Madden.
@Stan
Depends.
Does AS get the great OL pass protection TB/Welker benefits from? Or do we ignore the guys who make every play possible?
DS … you’re right.. Kevin Lynch, in an article about: should the Niner’s go after Peyton Manning, stated that according to an assessment by profootballreference.com, Alex has played behind below average pass protection EVERY year. s
Something a lot of the informed fans here have known all along. I’m hoping this o-line really continues to get a lot better with their pass protection this year for whoever the QB is. LOL
@niner61
You’ll find some oddity in the WR’s performance as the season wore on.
As the pass protection got better, the WR’s (MC especially) suddenly got the ball more.
The Niner OL was actually ok in the playoffs as well. But the WR’s really disappointed (MC especially).
Hence the call for a lot better WR’s.
Bay… Guess you never heard of Moss before he quit on the Raiders, I believe he was already considered one of the most physically talented receivers ever. LOL and Branch, well he spent his first 4 years in the league as one of Brady’s receivers. They already knew each other well. My how the hate blinds people!!! PS .. Brady’s been in the same system since 2000, you think maybe the passing game is second nature to him by now????
61, so true – also, count the seconds the Pats OL gives “the statue” to throw.
God you guys are so unobjective. The point is, both receivers were considered DONE! No more in the tank.
Bay…. another question for you : Did Gannon prolong JR’s career or did Jerry help him have a great year and become League MVP???? It’s not a one way street.
and Gannon’s pass protection that year was outstanding. Wow, another unobjective fact. LOL
Bay,
The questions about Moss when he left Oakland were regarding his desire to play, not his ability to play. It is well known he quit in Oakland. When he ended up in NE, he started giving a full effort [for him, anyway]. There is no doubt a good QB will make any WR better, just as there is no doubt a good WR will make a QB better, too.
As for Branch, his numbers since his return to NE are quite ordinary. So, the collective yawn that met his return to the Patriots seems quite justified.
Bay,
In what way is Branch a top five WR? He has 51 catches for 702 yards this year. Hardly top five numbers.
Bay, it will be much easier if you just acknowledge that every other player on the 49ers for the last seven years was total garbage. They all failed to make Alex look good.
We’ll conveniently ignore the fact that great defense and special teams carried Rex Grossman to the super bowl (which I guess means Rex was a better QB than Smith) and just concentrate on the fact that if the rest of the offense wasn’t horrible suck then Alex would be a combination of Mantana, Young and Sammy Baugh. It’s obvious man. Just turn off your brain and be a Stepford Fan.
Even Stepford fans have better examples than the one Bay was using as his argument.
No, just nowhere near as bad as the haters continue whine about. Since the Eagle game in 2010, he’s thrown 30 TD passes with only 6 picks. Not bad really with poor wideouts and very spotty pass protection and yes we do know he’s got his share of imperfections that need to be squared away. Let’s see what happens this year. So you’d take Grossman over Smith??? LOL
@niner61
30TD/6Int
Those are pretty good stats. Especially considering the Niners are not a pass happy team.
Of course his record since that time (games where he started and finished) was pretty good as well.
Yet, the haters want more TD’s and more wins and think that somebody living on a street corner can give it to them better than AS.
And nobody said AS was perfect. I do wonder though if the haters opinion of themselves is that they are perfect beings in an imperfect world.
How about the reverse – look at Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, and Austin Collie. They were all awesome last year with Peyton Manning. This year they were awful…
If the WR’s were the true greatness of the team, then Indy should have been fine this year without Manning.
In all honestly, I don’t think the 49ers have a great WR core, or a great QB. The WR’s are probably in the most desperate need of upgrading, but there is also room for improvement at the QB position.
Bottom line is that unless the Niners can sign Drew Brees, Alex is still our best option for 2012. Hopefully Harbaugh can work some more magic with him this summer and get him to loosen up a bit. If not, I’d love to see how CK is progressing and see a real competition between the two for the starting position.
@bayarea……i dont think its that simple i think its a symbiotic relationship between a qb and wr
@oldcoach
JR was great no matter who the QB was until very late in his career.
Was JM great before JR? Yes. Was JM WAY better after JR came? Oh yes.
Was SY great without JR? Nope.
Did SY benefit from JR? Yes.
Would SY had been as good without JR? No.
Would JR had been great without JM? Yes. He was great with SY. Never missed a beat when Joe left and Steve took over.
Would JR had been great without SY? Yes. He was already great with JM.
Did JR need JM/SY to be great himself? No. He was great with Rich Gannon when he left the Niners. And with Bono/Grbac when they played here as well.
Were either Bono/Grbac any where near as good without JR? No.
Was JR elected best football player of all time? Yes.
Of course there is a symbiosis relationship between a QB and WR. But make no mistake. An all world WR can make an average QB look good just as often as an average WR can look good with a great QB.
The QB is the dependent most on those around him. A great WR can always get open. A great QB can’t be great throwing to guys who are always covered.
Look no further than LF and Kurt Warner stank in NY. Got to AZ, and suddenly KW was great again. Why? LF and AB had a large part in that. And does anybody think Skelton is this good without LF?
It is a 50/50 (WR/QB) deal guys. Not (20/80) as some here think.
JM personally thanked JR for adding 5 years to his career
@jg
JM says in every interview that all he did was throw the ball 5 yards, and JR would get him more than 20 often.
Even then JM did not throw 300 yards every game like DB this year did.
I had not heard the 5 year deal before. Considering JR was drafted in ’86, and JM left the Niners basically 5(?) years later (sorry going off of memory here, so the years may not be exact), does that mean JM was going to retire just before BW drafted JR?
meaning JR made montana who he was
@jg
No.
JM was already pretty good. But, he would never have been the best ever without JR.
Why?
JM did not have great WR’s before JR. Dwight Clark was good. Not great. All any QB can do is get to the WR. It is up to them to catch it and run with it. JR did that better than anybody ever. And JM was the best, most accurate passer in history at the 3-10 yard passes. Or what we now call dump offs when AS throws them.
Of course there are those who will say JM won 2 Super Bowls before JR came along. And my reply to them is dependent upon how you read the history.
JM won 2 Super Bowls. The first in ’81 when JM played much of the NFC Championship game poorly throwing 3 Int’s. And if DC does not jump higher than he ever had in his life and pulled it down, then maybe the Niners dynasty never happens.
JM is also the only QB who has ever really benefited from having a new offensive system designed with a QB like him in mind where nobody took that same offensive philosophy to another team for JM’s whole time here. I think this is overlooked far too often as a major reason for JM’s success. The only time teams played against the offense JM ran was when they played the Niners. So, they didn’t see it in practice every day. Only on film and on gameday playing the Niners. That right there is a huge advantage that JM and the other Niners had over any other team. And since so much attention is given to the QB position, JM got very lucky in this regard.
so JR took JM to another level…then JT came along and spread that dynamic from sideline to sideline…and then all those complementary weapons like TE up the seam or dump offs and screens to 1000/1000 RBs…..
JR garnered a lot of attention from defenses that left other weapons open ….. and JR was highly disappointed for not actually getting the mvp when it went to montana in one of those SBs…
agreed JM was lucky to be in this system….it has been noted that if JM and Simms had switched teams that JM not being a strong arm QB would not have fit into parcell’s offense….but simms would have flourished even more in walsh’s…
“Was SY great without JR? Nope.”
1997 begs to differ with you. Rice missed all but one game of that season. Young had one of the best seasons of his career.
@msc
You need to explain how 97 was such a good year for SY. That was the year JR was injured. The stats from
http://www.nfl.com/player/steveyoung/2503843/careerstats
show a rather down or at best average year by SY standards. You will need to walk me thru this one slowly msc.
SY was not all pro that year (’97) , and the Niners did nothing of merit in the playoffs.
When JR was back in ’98, SY threw for over 4,000 yards, and he beat the Pack in the “He caught it game!”
But the Niners were really a run oriented team that year with Hearst. And when GH went down against Atlanta, SY was unable to pull his team above it all and win the game (sound familiar?). Then in ’99, SY’s career came to a crashing halt.
I told jg in an earlier post today that a QB needs a great WR/many weapons to become great himself. Once he is great, he can make others great who may not be as good. But, first the QB needs some great players around him before that can happen.
So, sorry for the confusion in the quote you have here.
DS says, “SY was not all pro that year (’97) , and the Niners did nothing of merit in the playoffs.”
This comment alone shows how little you know about this team. The 1997 team was the last team prior to this season to play in the NFC Championship game, and SY led them there without JR.
No wonder you are a Smith lover. You continue to show every day how little you actually know about football and this team.
@Ja Ham
…and SY led them there without JR..
You failed to mention Owens was on that team and did fairly well.
Albert, You are correct. TO was in his second year and just starting to find his way. The receiving corps was made up of TO, JJ Stokes, the great Iheanyi Uwaezuoke, and Mark Harris. They also got good contributions from their tight ends, Brent Jones and the young up and comer Greg Clark.
The team was used a very balanced attack to offset their young receivers. They ended up averaging 196 yards per game passing and 123 yards per game rushing.
Anything else you would like to know?
@Ja Ham
“Anything else you would like to know?”
No. I’m google-capable.
pro-football-reference.com LOL
Albert, Not much of a fan of google myself. Prefer to actually know the game. I have spent way too much time over the years following football at all levels. Not really anything that you could get past me.
Like I told Grant last week, There is no U in awesome but there is ME.
@Ja Ham
Okay then.
Just a simple yes/no question..
Are you football smarter than JH or not?
@Albert
The Niner D was ranked #1 I believe in 97, and SY averaged just over 200 yards a game off a strong running game in Hearst.
Hmmmm.
SY raw data in 1997
Strong D.
19 TD’s
6 Int
Strong Running game.
200 yards passing/game.
3,029 yards passing
12-3 W-L record
Title game at home lost 0TD, 1 Int
AS raw data
17 TD’s
5 Int
196.5 yards/game
3,144 yards passing
13-3 W-L record
Lost title game in OT at home throwing 2 TD’s, 0 Int
Strong Defense
Strong running game
Now, which QB was it that we worship and which is the one we hate on this blog again?
Never said I was smarter than JH, just that I have forgotten more about football than you can ever hope to learn.
@Ja Ham
But the smarter JH does like Alex. So who do I believe?
No brainer. Some here can tell what’s bs, and what’s BS.
DS, We worship Joe Montana and hate Alex Smith. Why do you keep trying to bring up Steve Young? Are you now trying to justify your Smither love by comparing AS to SY?
You have 7 unbelievably bad years with AS to look back on and you pick his one average season and try to say he is comparable to SY based on one of SY’s worst seasons?
Just face the facts that you are wrong. Please step away from the computer. We all love the sounds you make when you shut up.
@DS9
Yes. I’m betting on JH, he’s the only one who know Alex’s ceiling, and not outsiders.
@DS the 49ers did not play Atlanta in ’97. they played the Packers and Young had two broken ribs.
In ’97 Young posted a 104 QBR, led the team to a 13-3 record and reached the NFC Championship game – with broken ribs – all without Rice.
When you learn a tiny bit about football please come back. Your precious is a tiny little wart compared to Steve Young and no amount of revisionist history will change that.
@msc
http://www.nfl.com/player/steveyoung/2503843/careerstats
Those are SY’s. Now look at 97.
Those are it. Sorry if you can’t accept the facts. And tell me that they are that much better than AS’s who also does not have JR.
how great would jr/jm/sy would have been without those great o lines. the truth is all offense is interdependent
I agree to some degree. A WR is more dependent on a good OL than the QB. A QB can run around some and take off if need be.
A WR can’t run his routes and have enough time to get open without the QB having time to find him, and that depends on the OL. So he can’t even get the ball.
But I disagree with you about the Niners always having a great OL.
JM for the most part did. But that was due to Bob McKittrick (sp?) and the constant cut blocks Niner OL employed back then.
By the 90′s, the refs were really calling that a penalty more often, so the Niner OL could no longer emloy their #1 pass protection strategy. SY never had the OL JM had. Consequently, SY got his butt kicked much of his time here.
And that has not really improved since. Garcia, Rattay, AS, Drunkenmiller, TS, Carr. All have had bottom 1/3 OL’s.
more leg whipping was called
A great example of what happens when Crabtree actually works to get open. Now if only he could do it more often. Adding a couple of WRs via free agency and the draft should help him to quit whining and instead work on improving in that area.
Not trying to cover for AS, but you guys apparently did not watch Joe Montana play the first five seasons. Every week was a a different game. He rarely threw for more than 250 and he threw quite a few interceptions. You people are too young. It is a team sport, Joe Montana would not have been Joe without everyone else. Stop over analyzing it, you are fans, not coaches.
agreed….but i did fashion my game after JM and tarkenton
ONe thing is true about WR and the 49ers, we made people track yards after the catch. Our team this year had very little yards after the catch. Is it better defenses or bad receivers?
@houstonNiner Fan
In an age where you get fined for going high, and a finger on a WR is called PI (notice our WR were hardly if ever interfered with) I am most definitely calling the WR’s out here.
Seriously, did you see any PI penalties this year caused on our WR’s? Especially deep passes?
The only reason to commit PI is because the WR beat you.
No PI penalties, no WR was really beating coverage. And this has nothing to do with a QB. Any QB.
Our D was called for more PI calls than our WR’s got on opposing defenses. And we had 2 Pro-Bowlers back there along with 2 other guys who could have made it as well. So it’s not like our secondary stank.
And the stats JM put up were not that impressive. Especially before he got JR. Even then he never put up 4,000 yards. And JR was good for like a good 1,300 yards a year.
And Stafford threw for over 5000 yards this year. But is MS remotely near JM?
Just shows that stats don’t tell you crap about a QB. I remember if JM, or any QB threw for 225 yards, that was good. 275 was great. 300 was WOW. 400 was stratosphere.
stafford gets blackmon and with now with the new coach thing guess the 9rs will have a hard time keeping their divisional crown….that was an underacheiving team this year
Best part of the season….THE ENTIRE YEAR
Worst part/play of the season: 0 for 3rd down in the championship game…
Go Niners
Worst:
1 The Bradshaw’s fumble being ruled not a fumble
2 The KW fumble in OT
3 KW not getting out of the way of the bouncing punt
4 DG knocking out TB, preventing a sure INT and reqiuring the other TB to cover MM on the 3rd and 17 TD pass [3rd and 17?! really?]
5 Alex Smith missing KW for a TD in the first half
6 Alex Smith missing DW on the wheel route
7 DG colliding with CR preventing another sure INT
It amazes me how fans who some continuity on this team for a change are called Smithers. Last time I heard, it takes a team effort to go all the way. No matter what any hater says, AS put in the effort this year despite having really no offseason to learn yet another playbook, leading the league in getting sacked, and having a mediocre WR corps(including one that whine instead of working to improve). Not many QBs can do that. If you can’t admit that and say the team needs to focus on keeping its core together, then I suggest you switch your allegiance to another team. I’m sure the Cowboys and their QB, the December Choke, will welcome you with open arms.
@MidWestNiner
Nice post.
And if those you mention did leave, the blog would be more civil and fun for everybody else.
Yet many still think the Niners got to the final 4 with a QB who is not any good.
Havent seen football since the NFC final, so, here it comes, is there a posibility in signing Peyton Manning instead of Alex Smith the coming season??
I mean, it is clear for everybody, even Harbaugh that AS is not the longterm solution neither will Manning become but he could learn Kapernick some af the things he(Manning) does, to be so good a QB as he is, things that AS doesnt.
The 49érs will not win a SB with AS he is just not good enough when it comes to crunchtime.