49ers vs. Cardinals live blog

SANTA CLARA

This is the live blog for the 49ers’ Week 5 home game against the Cardinals. I will update this with information and analysis from the press box.

4:00 Here are the 49ers’ inactives:

  • QB Christian Ponder
  • WR Keshawn Martin
  • CB Jimmie Ward
  • OT John Theus
  • TE Vance McDonald
  • DT Glenn Dorsey
  • DT DeForest Buckner

4:10 And here are the Cardinals’ inactives:

  • QB Carson Palmer
  • DT Robert Nkemdiche
  • DT Ed Stinson
  • DT Josh Mauro
  • DT Olsen Pierre
  • TE Darren Fells
  • OG Cole Toner

5:20 The Cardinals win the toss and elect to receive the opening kickoff.

5:27 J.J. Nelson returns a short kickoff to the Cardinals’ 43. Good start!

5:30 Tramaine Brock breaks up a deep pass intended for Jeron Brown on third-and-10, and the Cards punt. Jeremy Kerley makes a fair catch at the Niners’ 20 after a 19-yard punt.

5:34 Blaine Gabbert overthrows a wide open Garrett Celek running a deep corner route on first down, and the Niners punt three plays later. Gabbert nailed that throw last week. What’s his deal??

5:40 The Cardinals commit the first FIPS of the game — a false start penalty on third-and-6. On third-and-11, David Johnson drops a pass in front of Michael Wilhoite and the Cardinals punt. Niners’ ball at their 11.

5:46 On third-and-4, Gabbert scrambles out of the pocket and throws a pass that bounced off Celek’s chest. Good throw. Cardinals’ ball at their 7-yard line after the punt.

5:53 On third-and-5, Jaquiski Tartt jumps Larry Fitzgerald’s slant route and breaks up the pass from Drew Stanton. Great play by Tartt. The Niners should use him in man coverage more often. After the punt, Niners’ ball at their 16.

5:59 On first-and-10 from the 30, Gabbert overthrows a wide open Rod Streater running a deep post route. Should have been a touchdown. Two plays later the Cardinals blitz and sack Gabbert on third-and-12. After the punt, Cardinals’ ball at their 24.

6:01 First play of the drive, Tramaine Brock breaks up a deep pass intended for J.J. Nelson, then gets blasted in the helmet by teammate Antoine Bethea.

6:02 Second play of the drive, John Brown beats rookie corner Rashard Robinson on a crossing route and gains 12 yards. First-and-10 at the Cardinals’ 35 when the second quarter starts.

6:06 Nick Bellore and Michael Wilhoite blitz and sack Stanton on first down, and the Cardinals go three-and-out. This game is winnable for the 49ers. Can they win it? They get the ball at their 22 after the punt.

6:09 On second-and-11, Gabbert throws low and behind an open Jeremy Kerley. Next play, Calais Campbell sacks Gabbert and then the Niners punt. John Brown fumbles the punt, but the Cardinals recover. It’s like they’re trying to give this game to the Niners and the Niners don’t want it.

6:15 On third-and-4 from the Cardinals 44, Stanton throws high over Fitzgerald’s head and the pass bounces of his fingertips. Then Kerley fumbles the punt, but the Niners recover. Kind of feels like both teams are trying to lose.

6:16 More punts than completions so far.

6:23 On third-and-5, Gabbert throws a touchdown pass to a wide open Jeremy Kerley. 7-0 Niners. Gabbert looked like a Hall of Famer on that drive. He was 4-for-4 for 64 yards, and he ran twice for 13 yards.

6:31 Stanton throws to a wide open Michael Floyd on third-and-6, but he’s out of bounds when the ball gets to him and the Cards go three-and-out. Niners’ ball at their 26 after the punt. Time to put this game away.

6:35 Gabbert throws too high for Torrey Smith deep down the middle of the field and the pass bounces off Smith’s hands on first-and-10.

6:38 On third-and-10, Gabbert throws over the middle and his pass is tipped and intercepted. Bad play call. Pass should have been safer and toward the sideline.

6:39 Next play, Tramaine Brock falls down while covering Fitzgerald, who makes a 21-yard touchdown catch. 7-7. What a huge mistake. Cardinals would have no points if the Niners simply had ran the ball on third-and-10.

6:44 Andrew Tiller gives up a sack on third-and-7, and the Niners go three-and-out.

6:44 Cardinals’ ball at their 43 after the return.

6:47 Arizona goes three-and-out after three-straight Stanton incompletions, two of which were almost picked. NIners’ ball at their 15 with 39 seconds left in the half.

6:49 Hyde gains 11 yards up the middle before the half ends.

7:03 Chris Davis fumbles the kickoff and the Cardinals recover at the Niners’ 14-yard line. The Niners are making more mistakes than the mistake-prone Cardinals. Sad.

7:05 Cardinals run three times, then kick a 25-yard field goal and make it, but Rashard Robsinson is flagged for running into the kicker. Automatic first down at the four.

7:07 Next play, David Johnson scores on a four-yard touchdown run. 14-7 Cardinals.

7:13 Gabbert throws a one-yard pass to Hyde on third-and-7. Not a misprint.

7:20 Fitzgerald beats Brock down the right sideline for a 29-yard touchdown catch. Brock looked slow on that play. Fitzgerald burned him. 21-7 Cardinals.

7:32 Hyde scores a touchdown run from 1-yard out. 21-14 Cardinals.

7:41 Blaine Gabbert double pats the ball while eye-balling Kerley, which allows Marcus Cooper to break on the pass before it leaves Gabbert’s hands. Interception. The Cardinals kick a field goal a few plays later. 24-14 Arizona.

8:05 David Johnson scores a 2-yard touchdown run. 31-14 Cardinals, who have 17 points off 49ers’ FIPS. The team with fewer FIPS won 86.6 percent of the time last week. The Niners beat themselves.

This article has 400 Comments

    1. Yeup the 49ers have to be the softest team in the NFL they drop like flies in almost every game there’s a lack of toughness for sure with this team

      1. No, remember? Boone said they were the toughest and grew tired of being on top of the mountain….

      2. Fire Chip Kelly
        Fire Baalke
        Sell the team
        Get rid of Gabbert/Kaepernick
        Stop this knee down for the flag, you’re really ticking off the football fans.

      3. They sure do and Gabbert once again threw for garbage. Don’t care Curly did his Curly Shuffle, he’s the only ‘false hope’ for the 49ers that needs to learn that his team SUCKS and they need a QB.

  1. Conspiracy theory… What if Trent isn’t allowed to spend big bucks, because if this year continues to suck, the new gm will have something to work with…

    1. They should just stop the slow torture, and kick Baalke back into the gutter. Gamble is ready, and cant be worse than Baalke.

      Baalke did not spend the big bucks because decent FAs avoided the Niners like the plague. That is all on Baalke.

        1. We get stuck with tricks from San Francisco, but I plan on harvesting my own treats come Halloween….

  2. Things to look for and predictions –

    Will the niners exceed 100 total yards in offense in the first half.
    Will the niners once again pad stats in 2nd half when Cards D falls back into deep zone to prevent once in lifetime long pass to Torrey Smith.
    How many empty seats
    Does Jed make an appearance

    1. How many Cardinal fans? If we find nothing offensive from the 49ers during the first half, will Kelly feel pressured to insert Kaepernick?

        1. What significant, measurable improvement will Kap bring, Seb? His ability to read defenses, make quick accurate throws?

          The 9ers future QB is not presently on this team.

  3. Chip Kelly is a smart guy , if Blaine Gabbert is anything it’s a practice player , he wets the bed when the bullets go live . Kaepernick is more of a gamer . Kelly has to realize this and make that switch , because there is plays out there to be made and Gabbert is not doing it

      1. That would be an improvement. I would suggest gold pants with gold jersey. The numbers would still be red.

    1. It’s ironic that for the color rush the 49ers choose a uniform with the absence of color.

      1. Well, not wanting to get all nerdy on you, but something coloured black actually absorbs all the colours of the visible spectrum, so in a sense it is the most colourful colour around!

              1. Hey, I just heard Cowher allude to what I have believed happened to Colin Kaepernick. He no longer has the passion for the game. He went on to say he’s a loner and not a leader. It begs the question as to why he’s still on the team. I don’t get it….

              2. Sorry Grant, but I disagree. Kaep is being low key, and is just playing it smart. Eventually, Gabbert will implode.

  4. Chip said he would have to adjust his offense if Kap was in. Just like last year. Kap is Tebowesque.

  5. Right on cue, the suckage continues…. Gabbert missing a wide open TE, throwing short of the sticks to Kerley on 3rd down and Pinion is no Andy Lee. Not to mention the players are showing no enthusiasm. Kelly could very well be one and done.

  6. Over/under on total punts tonight: 14.5

    It’s hard to pick a number here where I would take the under.

  7. Off topic, but thoughts and prayers to those are in the path of Hurricane Matthew.

  8. Man. Every week teams just stack the box showing zero respect for our passing game.

      1. obviously Arians understands the double move concept and affords his QB a max protection to have the time to allow it to develop

        1. Good call. The Niners are using open formations on every third down. Gabbert has no time to throw.

    1. Give it time. Sadly, our defense will make him look good by the end of the game.

      1. They made Johnson look great for Arizona, 27 carries 157 yards. You can’t tell me Buffalo can’t wait 10 days from now to whip the 49ers in Buffalo. Buffalo gets the ‘Harbaugh’ pay back on the 49ers.

  9. Palmer is out and yet we’re still getting pushed back with a loaded box… Justin Smith must be disgusted watching this.

    1. Reaser looked worse like he was afraid to clean it up as Robinson got dragged for a few yards…

  10. 9ers can find anyone on the street to play just as bad as Gabbert. Maybe even better.

  11. Throw deep and miss on first down and count on it an option run up the middle. There was more selections in Tecmo Bowl

    1. Arizona is a blitzing machine. Count on another book bein opened for other teams if it continues to work. It’s been decades since we’ve seen a qb that kills blitzes.

  12. How bad of a QB are you if you can overthrow Fitzgerald on a short pass?

  13. I will say this as a positive so far this season. Curlley is a keeper. With a decent qb and another threat he could be a very good other option.

  14. Looks like the leading rusher for the 49ers will be Gabbert.

        1. Not really. They both are putrid. Besides, let’s not dive into a political back-and-forth.

          1. We should not talk about politics at all, left, right, whether you like them or not…hence my reply.

            Instead letd talk about religion

    1. Time for the banners to fly …

      how about this one to start the “banner season” .. ??

      ..”Trade Baalke & Gabbert for Bridgewater” ..

  15. I think Blaine’s arm is too strong for his own good. He’s got a cannon. A cannon he simply cannot control. Gritty kid. Doesn’t make a lot of dumb decisions. he simply has no touch, and can’t control enough of his passes to make it in the NFL, and that’s a shame!

  16. The commercial for next weeks TNG.
    “Anything can happen on Thursday night football” if that’s not a plea to watch a blowout coming i don’t know what is.

      1. Not at all. If Ellington is healthy they need him. Kerley has been nice, but his production really shows how far away from NFL quality this receiving corps is.

  17. Torrey smith has to hate Gabbert as much as Crabtree did Smith.

    Oh look 1st down play deep that misses and then a run up the middle. Now where have I seen this before? Smh

    1. You obviously didn’t watch thid years top 100 on the nfl network. Crabtree wss talking up Alex, saying he liked him.

      Torrey needs to stop halfassing it out there

      1. Easy to say when he’s not throwing to you anymore. That wasn’t the case when he was in SF. Throwing fits after every Miss says a lot

  18. There he goes again. Torrey had position, and that could have been a nice, long completion. But Blaine simply cannot control his downfield throws. What a shame!

  19. Once again 49ers shoot themselves in the foot. Hyde controls his emotions, that drive plays out differtly, just like the hit on dak last week.

    1. Yeah, then they give up the lead. Just like last week. I guess we can expect no adjustments from Chip in the second half.

  20. yaaaaawn….stands half empty..are we really as boring as last year..yes…yes we are

  21. What is helping the defense is Stanton being afraid to scramble if nothing is there.

  22. Oh Baalke ..can you just include leather helmets with all your players in next year’s draft?

  23. Chip you are dumb, What was that? A hurry up offense to run out the clock? This offense has looked confused throughout the season. WTF is going on?

    1. He’s been taking Seb’s advice lately. Maybe he’s taking something else as well…; > )

      1. Yup, I actually saw a player go in motion.Too bad he stopped, which defeats the whole purpose of having a man in motion.

        In a couple weeks, I will have some stuff that will help his creative juices.;p

  24. Sanders and Simms both say the O line is not providing much pass protection. I thought the line had improved.
    Has anything improved in the last year?

    1. it’s a mirage because Gabbert (for all his flaws), tends to get rid of the ball ultra quick (some might argue too quickly).

    1. It’s hard to be an offensive genius when you have guys running wide open and the QB can’t get the ball to them.

      1. I’ll give him for Chryst’s sake, but the play calls just before half time were dumb. You take a knee and attempt to adjust your strategy….

        1. Oh I definitely scratch my head quite a bit at some of what he does, but there has been at least once, sometimes twice in every game where they’ve dialed up a TD and the QB has just flat out not executed.

          I used to say this all the time during the Roman/Harbaugh years, it’s real hard to call plays and look good when the players aren’t executing consistently.

  25. Here come the Boo Birds from a half empty stadium…haha..wow can’t belive this..this is worse than the Erickson era..

    1. Half filled stadium USED to be called a BLACKOUT in the LOCAL MARKET. This game NEVER should’ve been on Channel 5. Shame on the NFL.

  26. Let’s blame our Defense for how bad our Offense is. Let’s keep rolling out Gabbert for the rest of the season.. Top 3 pick here we come…

  27. Cards don’t need to do anything else in this game. They just gotta wait for the 9ers to give them the game. What a joke this team in Santa Clara is! Thank you Trent and Jed for your incompetence.

  28. This is high school crap. Time to clean house. Even Singletary’s team was more competitive than this… Niners are trying to become the Cleveland Browns of the NFL.

    1. 49ers became the San Rafael Bulldogs, they can’t win either in their own division.

  29. so the new preacher in town is the new rave and he’s holding open house on Sunday doing baptisms..even the town drunk Tom came down..he hops in the pool..the preacher dunks his head in the water and says..Tom did you see Jesus?he replies ..no..dunks him again…Tom did you see Jesus?Now Tom’s gasping for air..no!Preacher dunks his head again…Tom!Did you see jesus?!!!Tom now gasping for air and spitting out water says…NO!!!..then Tom says…Aread you sure he fell in here?!

  30. Is it me, or do these guys look like they are coached to rip at the ball while tackling, instead of wrapping up and letting the second man rip for the ball. That’s why they’re such piss poor tacklers….

  31. Fire Chip! The team isn’t prepared. They don’t play with energy. Players are out of position or confused about their role on both sides of the ball.

  32. Why are the coaches not having the 49ers secondary double team Fitzgerald?

  33. Well Stanton is a terrible backup QB, yet he looks just like Gabbert, minus Gabs running ability. This TD means game over.

    1. nice double move, but it was by AZ!!!!!!!! and it worked for a TD. maybe Chip can take note!!!!!!!!!! of course, he will have to watch the film first!

  34. Drew Stanton about to be 2-0 against the Niners… Tearing up this pee wee defense. Thank god Palmer isn’t playing :/

  35. To review;
    The Niners cannot:
    Run the ball
    Throw the ball
    Stop the run
    Defend the pass
    That pretty much covers it.

  36. Kaepernick has proved that he can lead. He dominates sports news for a month and made the National Anthem interestbg, Give him the ball.

    1. Please give him the ball so we can be re-reminded that he’s lousy QB. For some strange reason ppl think his political grandstanding enhances his playing ability. LOL

  37. Why is Chris Davis handling Kickoffs? Defensive backs are playing defense because they have bad hands, and our genius coaches think this is the guy to handle kicks.

  38. Just let Gabbert run the ball because he is more patient than Hyde.

    1. Ya Hyde is the problem with this team lol! 6 Tds already this year with the worst starting QB in the NFL… Oh the worst Wrs as well..

  39. seen they keep trying to sell the “faithful” theme more than ever ..Nice big flag before the game..Only thing you people who show up to games are 9ers puppets..I watch every draft follow this team faithfully but this is beyond anything I can take anymore…I can’t believe a team I loved so much I now openly root for empty stands and blow out losses hoping for change!This is pathetic

      1. I’ve been a realist for 15 years since York stole the team. This foundation is more destroyed then what’s going on in Florida right now, which is sad. Our Qb can’t pass for 300, we got no Wr, running game is garbage as Hyde is like Gore, too much ball hogging, and where is the WCO?

  40. Long time lurker first time poster. Just want to chime in to say how painful this is to watch. Like daggers in my eyes.

  41. Stadium is nice but not a lot of talent. I am at the game with my 11 year old. We want a new qb! Cheerleaders look nice in their wet suits but I am tired of two yard runs. Long season!gabs sacked again, long drive home but good memories with son!

    1. Those cheerleader uni’s should be mandatory. That right there tells you York is not doing his job!

      1. I love it razor! Are you also at the game . We are in section 402 up in the clods, I can’t believe how many jets fly bye!

        1. Ha, I wish, dude! I’m here in Notre Dame trying to talk Brian Kelly into being the next coach of the 49ers; > )

  42. Did you guys see Gabbert look for his checkdown? That was a coverage sack. Cover 1 guy and get the sack. Pathetic.

  43. Niners = worst team in the league. The whole org has become the league’s bottom of the barrel.

  44. We gave this game away and we’re not Goodnuf to recover from that kind of mistakes

  45. This is painful.
    Do the Niners have any pro bowl caliber player?
    Another 2nd half collapse.
    If the Niners win 4 games this year I will be surprised.
    I am turning the game off now. Have a nice evening and best of luck to the people in Florida.

  46. Turned to weather channel and announcers are sadly giddy with excitement over hurricane and the misery of others. Have to admit that I feel the same way watching this train wreck only because I hope Jed and Trent are seriously suffering for this…

    1. He won’t because he thought that was on Harbaugh. Now its clearly on him, we won’t hear a thing.

  47. Phil Simms just called it. Worse run defense in the league, can’t protect the QB. That’s rock bottom!

  48. Looks like I will be off by 8 points on my prediction of the final score.

  49. If we’re going to have a QB that runs the football better than he throws we have one on the bench that’s better than this one at running. I am ready for this experiment to be over. No more TB ACL picks, no more wasting picks on low round DB’s, low budget low talent rosters. Its time.

  50. The only positions I see not needing to be addressed are at CB and slot WR.

  51. I knew a safety was coming. Also Celek is really showing that he is not a starting TE.

  52. You can’t hold onto the ball that long, behind that line, in that situation. Stick a Chip in them….

      1. You start Kaepernick vs. Brady about 6 weeks from now, NE going to put up 50 points easy on this poor defense. Gronk will have 12 catches easy for 150 yards.

  53. Where’s our special friend 49reasons? What was it you were saying about this OL being fixed? 30th in run blocking and I bet they fall 4 spots to 20 in pass blocking this week.

    1. The funny thing is that the O-line has gotten high grades from Cohn and others. They failed to see that the “good play” of the Oline was a function of the defense, which opted to play the run and not put pressure on Gabbert. The O-line didn’t allow many sacks/pressures because teams didn’t care to pressure, they wanted to contain the run and take their chances with Gabbert’s awful passing skills. The O-line sucked last year and it sucks now.

  54. Head coach Kelly did the same in philly ……. make them miserable ….. Balke and Kelly and #7 toghether with the Yorks got to GO!!

  55. Finally watched a full game because I had to stay in because of the hurricane. Gabbert is a big “meh” at QB this year. He had his chances but I think even with a solid WR he will still miss throws and he will make bad reads. He’s not given you anything as far as out-foxing any defense.

    Chip Kelly’s system will only matter if the offense is a threat and right now they have too many 3 and outs that the defense gets worn out. No surprise there.

    I’m glad they yanked Colin last year but he’s a better fit for this offense. He’s a better improvisor then Gabbert so if Gabby can’t make the good throws consistently, like Colin, then put CK back in there.

    This season is wasted anyway — mainly because we have a sorry roster.

    1. Fan,
      You sure that you don’t want to blame Kap? (Ha!)

      It’s going to be a while before we see a formidable 49ers team again. I was thinking about 2-3 years before seeing a big improvement, but I’m starting to have my doubts.

      “Blame Baalke!”

      1. Well if Kaep was missing all those throws yeah I would have blamed him. I respect the dude for taking the knee, and growing out his fro. He is his own man and I always thought that Chip’s offense was suited for him. If you look at some of those naked bootlegs that Blaine was running, imagine that was Kaep and a few of those would have been TDs. Gabbert got starter reps and he’s been given his chance and he’s not exactly lighting it up. He’s a lesser version of Smith, who grew into a smart and capable QB. He would also be good in this system but oh well. I am all for Kaep’s redemption tour!

    2. Exactly! This is an awful team, so let’s just keep this awful QB as the starting QB. A better QB, even if marginally better, will not improve this team one bit.

  56. Time to start Kaepernick. He is not going to do any better, but the team needs to see what he can do in the horrendous Kelly offense.

    1. I thought that was the whole point of hiring Chip Kelly, but if Kaepernick no longer has the passion for the game, I’d rather they trade or cut him. I prefer just blowing up this mess and York handing the keys to the professionals….

      1. Razor,
        Montana with Steve Young as the backup couldn’t help this team. This team is all-around bad. Heck, we couldn’t even kick an onside kick correctly!

        Baalke must go, along with our college scouts. Baalke will likely finish the season because his roster is set and no changes to the line-up can help at this point. I feel for Chip because Baalke handed him a bad deck of cards to play with.
        This team could become one of the all-time bad teams in 49er history.
        Thank you Baalke and Jed for sucking the life out of a once enjoyable football team.

  57. Wonder if all those sacks on Gabbert were b/c
    the O-line is as fed up with him …as the crowd is

    Grade = Gabbert sucks

    (that’s for prime )

    1. The sacks were a result of the talent on the 49er OL matched up against the Cards DL. That includes Staley.

    1. Hyde did not cost the team the game, but his stupid taunting was indeed the turning point because the 49ers had the momentum before that dumb penalty.

  58. Kap will start against Rex Ryan who – if Chip preps like old Chip – will be thunderstruck.

    But we need to prep for situations of momentum. No fumbles! Cover. The. Ball. And button up those emotions.

  59. said it a hundred times ..Eric Reid is the most overrated player on this team..he sucks butt!

    1. Problem with Reid is he kneels next to Kaepernick and that’s affecting his game big time.

  60. Players kneel to pray and they kneel when a player stays down. You have to learn to compartmentalize….

  61. 17 points off of turnovers.

    Missing wide open receivers, costing the 49ers big plays.

    Celek’s dropped pass.

    Dumb penalties costing the 49ers points and momentum.

  62. And none of the players on the field are garbage. They’re better than 99.99% of people who’ve played football. They put their bodies on the line for our enjoyment. Show a little respect.

    How about criticizing plays / game performances and not the players personally?

      1. It doesn’t really matter, jack. I guess I had just read one too many “foaming at the mouth” post.

  63. Niners gave away the game.17 points off turnovers. They keep shooting themselves in the foot.

    Gabbert, with his errors, are hurting the team. Missed 2 wide open players, and turning over the ball on the 20 yard line changed momentum.

    Still think a SB QB would be better than a 9-31 QB.

    Baalke and his stubborn insistence to sit Kaep makes me wonder if they are tanking for a high draft pick.

    They should have replaced Bellore with Skov, Garnett for Beadles, and Dujuan Harris instead of Chris Davis.

    One bright point was watching them go for it on 4th down. It was bold, but a little too late.

    1. Not sure if you noticed Seb, but Garnett played towards the end there in place of Tiller. He was responsible for the safety.

      1. If they wanted to establish the running game, they should not wait until they are way behind and backed up on the 1 yard line, screaming that they are going to pass the ball. I though Calais split a double team, so garnett was not soley to blame for the safety.

      1. Well, he also said that Kaep would go in if Gabbert went down, so that meant he is ready to play……

        1. No Seb. That means that Chip thought, when he made that statement, that Gabbert was their best chance to win at that moment. He will remain their best chance to win until Chip thinks Kaepernick is ready.

          The most likely time that Kaepernick will be ready to replace Gabbert will be after the break.

          With overall strength of the 49ers, it probably doesn’t make any difference who the starting QB is this year or next year.

          1. Sir, Gabbert has shown that he is not the answer. He has shot himself in the foot too many times.

            I wish to disagree about it not making any difference. With Kaep leading the offense, he may inspire the whole team to play better. With hope, miracles may happen.

            1. Seb

              May I remind you that we’ve been through having Kaep as a starter for 3 different years….and he’s gotten WORSE not better…It was his job to lose…and he did

  64. Jed: “Daddy why do the peasants care about the outcome of these games of ‘football’?”
    John Y: “You know I have pondered over that many times and have never figured it out. Your mother and I have just come to the conclusion that it’s not our job to understand it. Our job is to own the team and make it as as profitable as we can.”
    Jed: “It amazes me how they still care even though it is pretty clear I don’t.”
    John Y: “Your mother and I couldn’t be more proud of how you have handled the team. Other owners get all emotionally wrapped up in whether their team is winning or not. We’re focused on our financial results.”
    Jed: “Well we have to seem like we are trying to win, don’t we?”
    John Y: “Yes, that’s true. But that actually isn’t that hard. You just have to find someone to take the fall: the coach, the quarterback, the GM. It’s always surprised me how a change like that really quiets the fan base down, even though it’s pretty obvious the problems run a lot deeper. Not that bright, football fans. But what business wouldn’t love customers that never go away, no matter how terrible your product?”
    Jed: “And solutions to those bigger problems might be very costly or mean losing some control.”
    John Y: “Jed, I couldn’t have said it better myself. “

  65. Forward the Light Brigade!
    Was there a man dismay’d?
    Not tho’ the soldier knew
    Someone had blundered.
    Theirs not to make reply
    Theirs not to reason why
    Theirs but to do and die.
    Into the valley of death
    Rode the six hundred.

  66. Thank goodness that Trent Baalke has been stockpiling all those picks on the defense. Just imagine where we would be without our run stuffing top 10 defense.

  67. https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-nfl-ari-sf-grades-offensive-line-paves-way-cardinals-win/

    Unsurprising to anyone, Gabbert and the offensive skill position players not named Kerley get dumped on by PFF after that rather offensive display.

    Also unsurprising to anyone, the run defense gets piled on for another straight week by PFF. Worrying though is that Armstead has been absolutely atrocious against the run for two straight games. At this rate he is playing himself into a 3rd down specialist role. Nowhere near good enough for a former 1st round pick, especially someone with as much physical ability as he has.

    1. Cowboy also was not the same player after he hurt his arm. Need 2 good arms, or the play suffers.

      1. I can accept not being as good. I can’t accept being rubbish. If his injury is so bad he is unable to play to an acceptable level, time for him to be shut down and get surgery.

        1. They’ve shown how stupid they can be in that regard, when they continued to play Hyde after he broke his foot early last year….

  68. Baalke is looking pretty bad right now. The defense was supposed to be his strength. The Niners are ranked 32nd against the run.

    Chip is supposed to be an offensive genius. The Niners are ranked 32nd in passing.

    1. All Kelly can do is create the open targets, he can’t throw the ball to them, as well.

      Gabbert has missed 6 wide open receivers for TD’s or long gainers, in the last 4 games. Maybe more, that’s just off the top of my head. There have been other open receivers missed and times the ball wasn’t thrown.

      There have been dropped balls at key moments.

      I’m not saying that Kelly’s scheme is good, I’m saying with the level of execution by the players, how do we know?

  69. Only the Niners would fire one of the best coaches, the kind of coach that comes around once in a generation, and replace him with third-rate coach, Tomsula. Only the Niners would fire a third-rate coach and replace him with another third-rate loser.

      1. Kelly had a talented roster in Philly and drove them to nowhere.

        Kelly game planning this year, and the team preparation has been atrocious. It is on him, to have the players ready to play.

  70. Grant

    I missed your ‘grades Tuesday…I guess that’s saying “figure them out for yourself ”
    I like that after two beat-downs to loaded Defenses, we still are getting points…a little more every game….None of us is fooled…Gabbert is fine. ‘Great insults today…Family folks….

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