A Super Bowl victory won’t take the monkey off Joe Flacco’s back

By BOB PADECKY Torrey Smith, the Ravens’ wide receiver, was singing the praises today about his quarterback. I brought him to a screeching halt with a question. “If the Ravens win the Super Bowl, will the criticism of Joe Flacco finally stop?” “No,” Smith said. “I don’t think it’ll ever stop. I mean, look at Eli Manning. He’s won two Super Bowls and he still gets it. If Eli can…

January 30, 2013
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NFL power pendulum swings back to the NFC

It’s the morning after Super Bowl XLVI, I just woke up and I have two points to make. Here’s the first: The NFL is an NFC-dominated league once again. They’ve won three Super Bowls in a row. Three years ago it was the Saints beating the Colts. Last year it was the Packers beating the Steelers. Now, the Giants beat the Patriots for the second time in four years (Before…

February 6, 2012
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Week 12 grades

Here are my Week 12 grades for the 9-2 Niners. Alex Smith: D. His primary job on this team is to not turn the ball over, and he failed at that assignment tonight. With eighteen seconds left in the first half Smith was supposed to throw a pass to Braylon Edwards’ back shoulder in the end zone, but instead he threw the ball short and towards the middle of the…

November 24, 2011
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HarBowl live blog: 49ers @ Ravens

This is the live blog for the Niners’ Week 12 Thursday night game against the Baltimore Ravens — The Harbowl. I will be updating this frequently from my bedroom in the Oakland hills. 4:18 Moran Norris will start in place of Bruce Miller (concussion) at fullback, and Brandon Ayanbadejo will start in place of Ray Lewis (toe) at inside linebacker for the Ravens. Here are the Niners inactive players: Bruce…

November 24, 2011
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Prediction: Niners 30, Ravens 3

The Niners are going to blow out the Baltimore Ravens 30-3 on Thursday, and I’ll explain why. First, the football reasons. The Ravens offense revolves around their running back, Ray Rice. The Niners defense will stop him with their front seven. That means the secondary can double team both wide receivers, Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith. Those are the Ravens three main weapons on offense, and the Niners D is…

November 22, 2011
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