Jim Harbaugh has the 49ers in control of the NFC West at the midpoint of the season for the second season in a row.
The 49ers are 6-2. They have a two-game lead in the division. If they go 6-2 the second half of the season, they probably will earn a first round Bye. Harbaugh gets credit for putting the 49ers in a good position for the playoffs.
Harbaugh also takes blame for not preparing the 49ers well for the Vikings and the Giants. Alex Smith told Mike Florio Friday morning the 49ers lacked their usual edge for those two games. That’s on Harbaugh.
The 49ers also had bad offensive game plans for those two games – too many passes in the first half. Greg Roman makes the game plans, but Harbaugh signs off on them. He’s responsible.
Harbaugh has done an excellent job, but I am forced to factor in the 49ers two losses.
MIDTERM GRADE: B+.
Depending on how he does in the playoffs, this grade could move up or down.
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Have you watched the coaches film of the AZ game?
The Cards had some crazy defensive packages, particularly when the 49ers went with their 22 personnel.
Not yet. Are you going to write a blog about it?
Was thinking of putting one together later tonight.
I’m sure Harbaugh and Bill Walsh would feel the same way about Grant’s report card. “this grade could move up or down” or stay the same? Hahaha
Since Mariucci left we have had coordinators plucked left, right, and centre. Throw on top of that we have not had a competent head coach, Harbaugh’s signing last winter was maybe the best thing to happen to this organization in 10 years.
He has steered this ship straight. Brought in one of the best coaching staffs in all of football and it’s very rare to see this team ill prepared.
I can’t even look back without a straight face to the debacle of Nolan and Sing and compare it to what Harbaugh has done. Truly remarkable. I know that every game, the 49ers have a very good chance to win. Could not say that 3 years ago.
My grade is A+.
Prime i agree JH was the best move Jed York made in the offseason with JH we would still be in rebuilding mode! He should get at least an A- for his coaching
The game plan is created by the coaches and it is executed by the players. One or the other can fail and you lose the game. It isn’t always the coaches fault. It appeared that the players couldn’t execute the game plan against the Vikings or the Giants. Going with our weakness against their strength really didn’t work to well. Do the coaches have to change or do the players have to execute? It is a team and both have to perform to be successful.
B+ is extremely harsh. A- at the least. Teams will have stinkers, even the great ones. Considering the overall body of work, a B+ is like gobble gobble turkey.
Would any other coach in the league be 6-2 with Alex Smith at QB? Yes, Jim signed off on a couple of bad game plans that featured Alex – not good. But still, gotta give Harbaugh an A just for winning.
Smh.
This guy is so bitter at Alex that he will say anything. Could you imagine watching a game with the jive turkey club? Pure Torture!
@Claude – name a HC that would be 6-2 with Alex at QB.
>>name a HC that would be 6-2 with Alex at QB.
If I were to listen to you guys, any of them. It’s the defense, running game and special teams that win these games, isn’t that right?
Ribico Alex is just a mirage back there. Do you think Ron Rivera wished Cam Newton had some Alex Smith intelligence in him? How bout Andy Reid? Could he use a smart QB like Alex right now who is not going to cough up the ball and give his team a chance to win?
Maybe even the Jets with a good defense could utilize Alex?
Lemons is one of those guys that just likes to gobble gobble! Alex is the prefect complimennt to this offense that is getting better each week with each game plan. People who can’t see that are just turkeys!
Jordo (laughably) likes to call Alex a coach killer. And if he did kill Sing, we should run a parade in Smith’s honor.
The real coach killers this season will be Cam and Vick.
Bays favorite QB’s and Palmer as well.
Rib, Reid will be the 2nd coach Vick has killed. The Eagles jumped on him way too quick.
Just about the time 23welcher and Bay were campaigning for Sing and the 49ers to sign him. You would not know that Jack cause remember you were on the blog a very long time, just chose not to comment right?
But now you have your own blog in which you piggy back this one for. Pathetic!
You hang around even though you’ve been asked to leave as well as kicked, and then return because you just cant accept that you aren’t wanted around anymore. I’m guessing and am probably 100% correct about this that you’ve already been banned from the main 49ers forums which is why you keep coming back here.
It’s pretty sad every time you show back up. You must have an amazing ID to be able to know that not a single person here likes or respects you and yet that deters you in no way, pretty interesting.
Clem, if you aren’t careful I’ll cut and paste your comments right after the N.O. playoff game last year! LOL Stay positive my friend!!!
That is some funny stuff Hofer! Something about joining the cult right ; )
The Smither cult!!? According to Bay, I’m the leader! Ha!!!!
Not really just want the kid to play well so my 9ers make it to the playoffs!!!
There is a good one from Neal in there too! Something about never talking bad about Smith again!! That live blog is a full of good stuff…
Yup, lots of material from that win! What’s interesting are the many personalities here based on the writing style and what they (we) say. It would be interesting if Grant picks up on the differences in the blog personalities.
The personal battles are interesting as well. Many weren’t here when MD, Bay, Jordo and I use to battle back in 2009/2010. These new battles are mere skirmishes compared to our battles! Wow! Some were here and remember such as AES. That’s when I use to write nice reads along the lines of Rocket. Not so much now because everyone has their biases and you can’t change them. Good times!!
Jack, I had a moment of weakness and ofcourse the real Alex showed his ugly flaws the following week. Then I actually said that AS was a top 1 0 QB, after his first two games this season and then again your blog showed receivers wide open,along with poor pocket presence. What can I say, we are a prisioner of the moment
Yep Hofer, I’m a member of the “Burned by the Precious” club. He has a good game, folks hop on the bandwagon and the very next week he goes back to being Alex Smith.
There are a lot of victims. For instance, see this weeks’ blog entries. I’m not getting burned for a 4th* time by this bum until I see him put 3 or 4 competent games together.
He’s had 5 great games out of 60. 1 in 12 is a Rex Grossman style anomaly, not a trend.
* 1) vs Seahawks, 2006 – followed up with 2 years of injuries and benchings.
2) vs Rams, 2009 – got Singletary hired
3) vs Saints, 2011 – returned to being AS the following week
This year I was smart enough to avoid the bandwagon after the Bills game. Sure enough, Alex reverted to normal the following week.
Neal,
Now you know why I try to avoid commenting on the live blogs.
Jack,
I will have some restraint next time. I learned my lesson.
Jack, I guess posting comments on the live blog just validates that some are negative until they’re not! LOL
I think the Kaepernick experiment is why I’d knock down Harbaugh’s grade from an A to an A-. He should have intimate knowledge of what that transition does to the psyche of your QB.
I also think he inherited the amazing D that SF has. That D has been in tack for about the last 5 years. They just had to play 48 minutes of a 60 minute game so they ranked among the bottom in the league.
I credit him though for building for the next 5 years. A-
How is giving the potential future QB some game experience a bad thing? The team needs to find out if CK has it or if they need to hit the draft again.
Agreed with the Kaep experiment. It killed all the momentum in drives where Alex would march the o down the field. It’s no coincidence 4 of Alex’ 5 picks have come the next play aftre Kaep was thrown in and lost yardage.
I really like JH. He has taken the talent on this team and used it wisely. In my most unexpert opinion those two losses against the Vikes and the Giants were totally on JH. In the Vikings game the team was unprepared and flat, in the Giants game I felt he was outcoached and also the team seamed flat. I could only muster a B for him but I wont be surprised if at the end it was a solid A.
What’s the deal with Aldon Smith?
An altercation in the middle of the night at a restaurant is what, strike three?
Come on! Somebody needs to get a hold of this kid and steer him away from some of this stuff. It has to be damned hard to be young, popular and loaded with cash. He needs some mentoring – quick-like before something really serious happens.
He seems like a nice kid and we know what kind of an asset he is to this team. I just hope he doesn’t go too far and get himself in to something he can’t get out of.
Adam
I think Aldon should take lessons from Boone. When he arrived, he locked himself in his apartment when he wasn’t at practice. Trouble seemed to find him, so he had to vanish from the scene.
Good point. If that doesn’t work, I’m thinking Justin Smith needs to step it up a bit with the big brother thing.
They can’t give these kids some money and fame and then turn them loose without some guidance. I was a complete goon in my early 20s, can’t imagine what it would have been like with money! :P
DS9, Aldon was there for a fundraiser for Camp Kasem, a summer football camp for youth that have lost their parents to cancer. The twitter that this part-time local reporter wrote has already been denied by Smith and the 49er organization as being nothing more than a rumor. Ashley Zavala is a young reporter trying just trying to make a name for herself and used bad judgement by calling this a case of Aldon being jumped, which is a physical confrontation, not an argument in a parking lot, one that police officers did not believe worth even putting down names for.
Boone’s case is totally different. He is an admitted alcoholic who had very violent and destructive incidences in college that caused him not to be drafted. He had his own demons which aren’t necessarily the same as Aldon’s issues of late. I am sure there has been plenty of mentoring that has already gone on by his teammates, but since there is no proof of any wrong-doing on his part in this incident, I don’t think there should be a rush to judgement by fans who really don’t know what happened. As far as we know, since this took place in Missouri, it could have been a Rams fan talking smack about the upcoming game and Smith was just telling him he has plans to put Bradford on his back. ;)
Adam, I remember seeing him before the draft on NFL network and he is a good kid. I don’t get it! Sometimes these kids are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I hope he matures quickly so his career stays on an upward track!!
Agreed.
Looks like emotional immaturity to me….almost wish the Mike Singletary were here in this instance.
the Mike Singletary….kinda like ‘THE Ohio State University’ or Miami ‘THE U’ University
I would think Harbaugh has that same kind of credibility (and maybe more because they’re winning) as a former player. He should know the pitfalls. But yeah, Sing worked some magic with Vernon, gotta give him that. Nothing but respect for that whole deal.
Harbs has the respect points, he needs to spend a bit of it if he isn’t already.
@Adam….
DS mentioned Alex Boone…..Singletary did the same thing with him as well. Hopefully, just some immaturity issues here….the vets need to step in.
The Niners drafted an OG from USC during the ’80s…a guy named Jeff Breagle…same thing if I remember correctly….got in trouble with the CHP on Hwy 280….short tenure after that.
I am just shaking my head. Come on someone on the Niners needs to step up and mentor this kid before he becomes a casuality of his own decesions.
Aldon scares me! i am just worried he will either get himself killed or kicked out of NFL for something! Everyone will make mistakes in that age but to have so many incidents in the row is concerning!
We need a group of players such as Willis and Gore to take him under their wings.
Funny, though, that it has not been mentioned that this occured after a charity event that Aldon had volunteered to assist with. I guess going for a late mexican dinner with two others that had worked the same event should never have even entered his mind because of his earlier problems. Seems even when he attempts to do good things they go bad. Still, there is no police report with Aldon Smith’s name on it. Here are Ashley Zavala’s follow-up tweets following her original tweet stating Aldon had been jumped:
Ashley Zavala @ZavalaA 2d
..police report, CPD says it has “no further information” other than clothing they were wearing.
Ashley Zavala @ZavalaA 2d
CPD police report says disturbance broke out btween 2 black males at 1:56am last night in front of El Rancho. Names were not included in the report.
I think there is a lot being read between the lines as far as the type of incident this was. Obviously there were no punches thrown or there would have been an arrest. Honestly, nobody knows what really happened, but because of Smith’s prior problems the worst is assumed. My advise: Aldon, don’t eat after dark!
In comparison to what we experienced with the previous two Head Coaches, it’s tough for me not to give Harbaugh an ‘A’. I say that based on the plain fact that he’s taken basically the same ‘key player roster’ that Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary had, turned that roster into a winner last season and stayed the course this season. Is there room for improvement? Yes, there always is….and that being said, I have no doubt that Jim Harbaugh and the coaching staff would agree that there is room for improvement from both the players and coaches. His ability to ‘sell’ his philosophy to the players last year, then, turn around and do the same this season with the influx of the big name FA players we signed, speaks for itself…..IMHO
Grant,
Need to post a mid-season grade for the offensive line….those 5 guys have played as well as any 49er O-Line during the Dyansty years….the line from ’70 or ’71 is probably the best group the ’9ers have had….giving up 11 sacks during a season….pretty damn good line!
Should read Dynasty….broke my glasses today
Grant, I think you should do a blog grading your first half predictions. If I remember correctly, you had us losing to GB, The Bills and the Giants. Whats worse is some of the reasons. Things like spread offenses will have their way with us and FG is only good for 10-15 carries. Gore has had over 15 carries in 5 of our games. The 2 losses he had less than 15 and the blowout to the Bills. I think you had alot of things wrong about the 9ers. What grade would you give yourself for the 1st half considering your reasoning?(Not just on the losses) And, knowing what you know now, what changes would you make to your 2nd half predictions? I think you have us losing in NE and in Seattle. The reasons were like Matt Flynn will be good by then and NE is a spread offense. Remember, AZ won in NE. Have fun!
It was Green Bay and the Giants.
Game 5: vs. Buffalo. L. Why: Mario Williams. It’s no secret that right tackle Anthony Davis has struggled against the league’s best pass rushers, and Mario Williams is the league’s best pass rusher, and he’ll be lining up against Davis, making life tough for Alex Smith and the offense. On the other side of the ball, the Bills have are committed to the spread offense, and they’ll use the Packers blueprint to sqeak out enough points to win this game.
It was the Bills also. This was from his predictions on July 11th for the whole season. Week by week predictions did change however!
@montana
Good blog topic. How about Grant grades his predictions since the title game? He says he’s a tough grader. See what he grades himself.
Did Grant mention Flynn? Did he have him winning more games than AS? Did he extrapolate Flynn would have 96 TD’s by the end of last year judging by his 1 game against Detroit?
@DS
Game 14: @ New England. L. Why: A great spread offense that can force the Niners into tough matchups, like Perrish Cox against Brandon Lloyd in the slot. The Patriots will outscore the Niners in Foxboro.
Game 15: @ Seattle. L. Why: It’s tough to beat the Seahawks in Seattle two seasons in a row. It’s so tough the Niners have never done it. They barely beat them in Seattle last season – Michael Crabtree had to make that amazing catch and Larry Grant had to strip Tarvares Jackson at the end to seal the victory. The Seahawks will be better next season, and by Week 16 their offense should be pretty good behind Flynn. On defense, rookie LDE Bruce Irvin could force Vernon Davis to block. The Seahawks will win the game by a point or two.
I dont see us losing either of these games because we’re going to be playing our best football in December!
New England is fading fast but if the Seawhawks stay in the playoff hunt, that game will mean a lot and it could be as ugly as that Thursday night game.
Grant how about you mid season grades for the most annoying poster.
These can be the measurements of annoying.
1 always wrong
2 talk about people’s mom and has the nerve to call others a wuss
3 all Alex smith all day posts
4 thinks they are a coach/player/GM
5 hates Michael Crabtree and calls others haters
6 posts daily and nightly AT LEAST 60 times
7 Rambles on about weird out space and alien subjects
8 calls out the host of the blog if he doesn’t say Alex Smith is the greatest alien EVER, this side of Jupiter
9 backs oneniner
10 has a proud profile on Xbox live with a hideous character and licious in the name.
Now I won’t say no names. But I have the perfect candidate. And it rhymes with ds.
Lol
Other than the space alien stuff I thought you were talking about Jordo. But then it didn’t include:
10-100 His word is the very thing he flushes down his toilet every morning.
btw, where has welcher #1 been this week? still in heartbreak mode after AS’s performance this last game? Hell, I’m in Sandy power-outage, and I’ve been posting more than that jive gobbler.
oh and bay, and wouldn’t be lol’ing too loud. Your days as a 9er fan and poster in this board are dwindling. Unless (much much more likely) you become welcher #2
Rib,
Bay would be welcher #3, behind Jordan, and Prime Time…err…Axel Foley.
Still without power out there Rib?
I’m not a Welch. Primescum is.
No your just idiot who will be looking for a new team next year cause he thinks Alex is average. The only thing average is your coaching abilities with 13 yearold girls!
Now go cry to Grant about how I make fun of you coaching girls but spin it and say I am making fun of children. Dumb a55!
md, we just got it back on yesterday. Lots of people in the area still without.
Ok who are the 6 morons that think the 49ers would draft Alex smith? Wheeeew!
MD,
LMAO, good one, don’t think it is hard to figure out who those six are. Although I think BS, went to 6 separate libraries in Oakland and casted his vote for the man she loves.
The poll is about who all teams would pick, not just the 49ers. No way the 49ers would make that mistake again but there are some really stupid teams out there – Cards & Chiefs for example – who would waste picks on a system QB.
As many bad decisions as there are out there, no team showed any interest in Alex Smith when he was available. I also don’t understand the 6 votes for Smith. The NFL already answered that question about Smith. 0 teams are interested in him. That includes the stupid ones.
Sooo…
Only the teams who are more stupid than stupid, wanted AS then.
That would be the Niners oh great chess master.
And why would any team want to be a patsy? Everybody knew AS was staying. Everybody who wasn’t stupid anyway. Why bring a guy in when you know you’re going to be used?
Another great point chess master Matt. My checkers level posts don’t compare to your post above.
The GM’s of the league, know that AS has many flaws and it might take him 3 or 4 seasons to learn the new playbook.
DS, Now I get it, DS stands for Down Syndrome, I am so sorry, didnot know you had have that awful disorder.
@DS the 49ers didn’t want Alex all that much. Remember, they left him hanging in free agency and no other team wanted him.
But I’m sure you know more than the NFL GMs who weren’t interested in Alex.
Jack
Please show your even keel here and tell Neal to shut it. You had a problem with me using the r word about mental capacity, Downs Syndrome is just as serious.
Wuss boy
All you’re doing is proving me right:
1. You are a hater. So you hate. How else do you explain Downs Syndrome on a football blog to somebody not named DS, but DS94everXev. That is my name stupid. People cut it down to DS to shorten it. You can’t figure that out, no surprise.
2. You’re a wuss. Bet you wouldn’t say that to my face or anybody elses. If you did, you would be in a hospital sooner rather than later.
3. You’re a wuss because you can’t take a mans bet while you are all alpha male here (or think you are).
4. You are a wuss. Just in case you I didn’t make that clear.
Jeez it was a joke. But I know now one of the culprits. And I love it when bs calls someone a wuss, when this cowardly kitten talks about people’s mom over the Internet. Jack do as it says. It commands you. Or else it will beat with with one paw tied behind its back, heck it will beat you with two paws tied behind its back….. Put em up! Put em up!
Neal , i know we sometimes disagree with each other on this blog about Alex and DS has many times made me feel like she was on drugs but come on dude lets not throw below the belt punches with hurtful comments! We are all niner fans, right! GO NINERS
Neal is a d- bag, he will say anything as an insult and think it’s okay. It’s called immature jive turkey gobbler!
Down syndrome is a serious condition and not one to use as an insult. Total classless from a guy who offers nothing on this blog. I would love to meet you someday Neal!
Neal, why the unprovoked name calling with DS?
Prime Axel Foley Time, pipe down squirt.
BS , called me a skin head, which I found to be disturbing and gross.Also skinheads despise my religion, so she can go to hell.
Bs always tries to get the attention off of itself by calling people racist, retard, wuss, blah blah blah. C’mon in all seriousness. Who really takes this fool serious?
Prime slime Axel, I have no interest in meeting you, why even waste a second of my life, on a insecure loser like yourself.Gobble Gobble
Your just a little follower Neal. Whatever you hear you believe. Never can think for yourself. Sad but true.
Prime Slime Axel Welcher, you got to be on crack, if you really think for a second if I really care what you think of me, your nothing but a spineless phony.
Just keep agreeing with all your jive turkey gobble club says. Whatever Jack says, agree. Whatever Bay and 23welcher say, agree.
Just follow and never think for yourself. It will be dumb but better than anything you will ever come up with.
Prime Slime Axel.Welcher, and you always agree with, Hof, BS, Claude, and Ribico, so.what your point you Spinless phony.
“Ok who are the 6 morons that think the 49ers would draft Alex smith?”
MD, you forecasted that AS would be a top 7 QB this year so that would entice an expansion team to select him would it not??
Maybe the expansion team hires GR as the HC and the offense is built solely on the run. AS would fit in wouldn’t he??
BTW, looking at the poll numbers, MC and CK aren’t doing so well. Hmm.
Willis would not be my choice. He is great, but too old.
I would go with Iupati, Aldon, and Bowman in that order. All are young All Pro calibre guys to build around.
Jack, FYI in the pole I chose Iupati. If building a team from the ground up, the OL is key.
@Jack and Hofer,
I made a snap decision and chose Willis just because, well, he’s Willis. Like a Raven’s fan might choose Ray Lewis without thinking about it.
After more thought Aldon is an obvious choice. Iupati is a monster but is he the #1 choice on the 49ers when considering positional value?
Neal is a d- bag, he will say anything as an insult and think it’s okay. It’s called immature jive turkey gobbler!
Down syndrome is a serious condition and not one to use as an insult. Total classless from a guy who offers nothing on this blog. I would love to meet you someday Neal!
This is the same guy who had called my HS kid dumb and has claimed to banged my mother over and over, how quickly do they forget.
Nothing compared to the garbage you display daily. Low life!
I have a question: Are the Warriors ever going to not suck? At least the A’s can stumble into the post-season every couple of years or so.
Hey. My Lakers are like 0-13 I’m their last games. Wheeew! Still early. Got to get some continuity
The Warriors need to completely clean out the front office and start from scratch. Literally go into expansion team mode. Too many years of ingrained acceptance of mediocrity.
Isn’t it time to offer us a poll to offer our midterm report card for Grant??
Let’s be real here and remember that Grant is related to Lowell (Thank God for Grant’s mother’s DNA to minimize the defect); Harbaugh is the best thing to happen to the 49ers since the early to mid 90′s towards the end of the Walsh regime with Seifert as the head coach. Better than Mariucci and the incompetency that followed for nine years after him. Harbaugh brings a no non-sense vision and focus. He gets, without a doubt an A for bringing stability, vision and trust to the franchise, which are qualities that have been sorely lacking for almost a decade. His job isn’t to appease writers like the Cohns, but to prepare his squad to succeed on Sundays, which he has been very successful at doing. In Jim I trust.
Agreed 100%. In my book Harbaugh gets an A just for not being Singletary. The winning record since he took over is the cherry on top of the ice cream.
Even if the team was 0-8, I would still give Harbaugh an A. What could be better than no longer having to listen to a deep voiced fraud talking about wanting winners and looking at film.
Eli and the giants were gonna whip us regardless
He was rolling that day, like a HOF
Minnestota got lucky
Go Niners!!!!
Sorry 3rd King. I can’t let that one go unchallenged. Minnesota did not get lucky. They had good offensive and defensive game plans, they executed well and outplayed the Niners. They were the better team that day and deserved the win in every way. Let’s own the reality.
In the Giants game, the solid play by their OL (embarrassed by the previous matchup) enabled Eli to perform. Our DL, in a rare departure, got outplayed. Let’s own that too.
Coach gets an A+ for what he’s done thus far, however not securing a 6th Super Bowl would bring that down to a B grade IMHO.
Given the dire need for and difficulty in obtaining good pass rushers I bet Aldon Smith would be taken quite a bit more then the poll suggests by most GM’s out there. I’m thinking PW 35% AldonS 25% with Bowman and JustinSmith taking up the majority of the remaining 30%. Davis and Iupati would get selected by a few but for the most part the original 4 players would mostly be the ones selected.
oops /bonk wheres that darn edit button. aldon smith 30% remaining 35% to Bowman and JS.
oy!
/sigh i’m going back to bed or maybe finding stronger coffee. i’m all full of fail this morning.
Aldon is okay. Dumber than a bag of hammers but not a bad kid…