The Giants are parading through the streets of streets of San Francisco today, and some of them are being driven by Alex Smith and Jim Harbaugh. Spefically, Alex Smith is driving Matt Cain’s car, and Jim Harbaugh is driving Brandon Belt’s car. Here’s what Harbaugh said to CSN Bay Area about the SF Giants: “It’s very inspiring, no question about it, just how they stayed together as a team and…
The 49ers are halfway through their season. Today, I’ll give midseason awards for the best offensive and defensive players. Best defensive player: Runner up – LB NaVorro Bowman Bowman is the best run-defending inside linebacker in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus. He’s also one of the best at covering tight ends and running backs in the passing game. Bowman was the front-runner to win the midseason best defensive…
The 49ers are halfway through their season. Today, I’ll give midseason awards for the best offensive and defensive players. Best offensive player: Runner up – TE Vernon Davis. It’s not his fault offensive coordinator Greg Roman has preferred calling pass plays for the 49ers wide receivers this season. Davis is the best receiver on the team and the best tight end in the NFL. He has been underutilized in the…
The 49ers are halfway through their season. Today, I’ll give midseason awards for the best offensive and defensive players. Best defensive player: Honorable mention – DT Justin Smith. Justin Smith was the best defensive player in the NFL last season. This season, he’s more like the fourth or fifth best defensive tackle in the league. He has zero sacks and 14 pressures. At the midpoint last season, he had five…
The 49ers are halfway through their season. Today, I’ll give midseason awards for the best offensive and defensive players. Best offensive player: Honorable mention – LT Joe Staley. The strength of the 49ers offense this season is their offensive line, and Staley is the best run-blocking tackle in the NFL by far. He’s cleared the way for two of Frank Gore’s four touchdown runs. Staley struggled in pass protection early…
SANTA CLARA — Here’s how Jim Harbaugh explained the four sacks allowed by the 49ers offense against the Cardinals last night, courtesy of the 49ers. Four sacks seemed to be the only question mark. Overlooking it together, do you see a trend, it looks like a couple times Alex pulled it down something wasn’t there right away and he had no other choices. What accounts for the four sacks, was…
SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Jim Harbaugh said at his Tuesday press conference about the red zone connection between Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree, courtesy of the 49ers. Michael Crabtree said he’s been working a lot in practice with Alex Smith, as far as getting into the red zone. He had two red zone touchdowns, obviously last night. But, before that he had only had two in the last three…
SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Jim Harbaugh said about the performance of the 49ers wide receivers against the Arizona Cardinals. HARBAUGH: “Great game for our wide receivers. That’s always a point of contention – why aren’t the wide receivers more involved? They were very much involved during this game. The way they caught the ball, the way they ran routes, the way they blocked for each other. Whether Michael [Crabtree]…
SANTA CLARA — Jim Harbaugh held a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Here’s what he said about Vernon Davis. HARBAUGH: “There’s some things that some defenses are doing, there’s no question about it. Just look at the tape, look at the action. They’re focusing a lot of attention on Vernon Davis. Even before he gets into a route, defensive ends are disengaging on their pass rush and making sure that they…
SANTA CLARA – Vernon Davis spoke at his locker Tuesday afternoon. Here’s what he said about his disappearance from the 49ers passing offense. Q: Could we talk? VERNON DAVIS: Let’s talk about how we can get me involved (laughs). No, I’m just messing with you. Q: You had just two catches yesterday, but to see other guys in the passing game pick up the slack, does that make it easier…
SANTA CLARA – Joe Staley spoke at his locker Tuesday afternoon. Here’s what he said about Alex Smith. Q: Did you see your coach’s “gobble, gobble, turkey” quote about criticism directed toward Alex Smith? STALEY: I did. Q: Has he ever used that language with you guys? STALEY: Never. Q: Do you know what it meant? STALEY: Just a lot of talk. Gobble, gobble. That’s never been an issue in…
There’s been a lot of discussion around here the past few weeks about whether Alex Smith has lost confidence as a result of Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman mixing backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick into games. Against the Cardinals Monday night, Kaepernick did not play, and Smith happened to play one of the best games of his career. After the game, Jim Harbaugh was asked if he ever felt Smith’s confidence…
Coaching: B+. Vic Fangio called more blitzes than usual and the 49ers defense got a ton of pressure on John Skelton. Greg Roman called some creative run plays in the first quarter out of Bill Walsh’s old “Blue” and “Brown” formations, lining Gore and Hunter up side-by-side in the backfield. After the first quarter, the run game did very little. In the passing game, Roman mostly called plays for the wide…
Here are the grades for the 49ers defense from their 24-3 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Defensive line: A. They completely shut down the Cardinals run game, holding it to 7 total yards. The defensive line often tackled running back LaRod Stephens-Howling five yards behind the line of scrimmage. Justin Smith got consistent pressure on a quarterback for the first time this season. Linebackers: A. The outside linebackers had dominant…
Here are the grades for the 49ers offense from their 24-3 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Quarterbacks: A. Alex Smith played one of the best games of his life. He only attempted 19 passes, but he completed 18 of them, and Delanie Walker dropped the one incompletion. That’s a 95 percent completion percentage. Smith broke Fran Tarketon’s record for the most completed passes in a game in which he threw…
This is the live blog for the fourth quarter of the 49ers Week 8 game in Arizona against the Cardinals. I’ll update this frequently with information and analysis from my living room in Oakland. 7:50 Dashon Goldson just destroyed Early Doucet on first and 10. Skelton threw a short pass to the slot receiver, and when he turned his head up field, Goldson leveled him. Doucet walked gingerly off the…
This is the live blog for the third quarter of the 49ers Week 8 game in Arizona against the Cardinals. I’ll update this frequently with information and analysis from my living room in Oakland. 7:15 John Skelton completes back-to-back passes for a first down to start the drive, then he hands off for no gain. The Cardinlals need to abandon the run game. 7:20 Skelton completes a 27-yard pass to…
This is the live blog for the second quarter of the 49ers Week 8 game in Arizona against the Cardinals. I’ll update this frequently with information and analysis from my living room in Oakland. 6:17 The 49ers have the ball. It’s second and 7 from their 47 yard line. 6:19 Calais Campbell tackles Gore a yard behind the line of scrimmage on second down, and Smith checks down to Kyle…
This is the live blog for the first quarter of the 49ers Week 8 game in Arizona against the Cardinals. I’ll update this frequently with information and analysis from my living room in Oakland. 5:28 Steve Young just said the 49ers offense needs to show tonight it can be explosive against a good defense. 5:36 The 49ers will receive the opening kickoff. 5:40 Ted Ginn Jr. will receive the kicks…
This is the live blog for the pregame of the 49ers Week 8 game in Arizona against the Cardinals. I’ll update this frequently with information and analysis from my living room in Oakland. 4:15 Brandon Jacobs is inactive. So is Scott Tolzien, A.J. Jenkins, LaMichael James, Trenton Robinson, Joe Looney and Ian Williams. 4:20 The Cardinals inactives are QB Kevin Kolb, WR LaRon Byrd, CB Greg Toler, LB Jamaal Westerman,…
