Greetings from Candlestick, a place filled with memories and gunk from the Steve DeBerg era. (Really, how much would it cost to take a high-pressure hose to the outside of The Stick?)
Anyway, I’ll be posting inactives, tidbits, fun facts and stuff that never wriggled free from my notebook here leading up until kickoff. Please feel free to borrow any of the below to impress friends and family during the game. Also, I’ll fire up a live game blog around 12:30 p.m.
It should be fun. Here we go:
• Niners inactives: QB Alex Smith, T Alex Boone, T Barry
Sims, WR Jason Hill, CB Tramaine Brock, LB Thaddeus Gibson, LB Keaton Kristick,
WR Kyle Williams.
• Rams inactives: CB Justin King, CB Quincy Butler, S James
Butler, TE Fendi Onobun, LB David Vobora, G John Greco, WR Danario Alexander, DE
Eugene Sims.
• The Niners, as you know, are 2-6. Only one team in NFL history — the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals — has
started 2-6 and made the playoffs. That Bengals team was coached by Paul Brown and had an assistant coach of some distinction. A guy named Bill Walsh.
• Has there ever been a division quite like the NFC West, which has a
combined road record of 2-14 this season? Consider that the Niners would
control their own playoff destiny with a win today over St. Louis and a
Seahawks loss at Arizona. The Seahawks-Cardinals clash, by the way,
features two of three lowest-ranked offenses in the NFL.
• Safety Reggie Smith on Rams rookie quarterback Sam Bradford, his
teammate for two seasons at Oklahoma, “He’s real calm. He’s going to be
real calm and even-keeled. He’s not going to get too high or too low.
And I like that about him.” Funny, how that personality plays just
fine when you lead a 1-15 team to a 4-4 start.
• Bradford on Smith, who returned kickoffs and punts and dabbled at wide
receiver in college, “He’s a great player. Great athlete. Really good
ball skills. I remember my redshirt year he was going both ways for us
at Oklahoma, playing wide receiver and defensive back. So he’s great
athlete and a great player.”
For what it’s worth, Smith will share time with rookie Taylor Mays
today. The move has not been publicly couched as a reflection on Mays’
performance. But defensive coordinator Greg Manusky acknowledged this
week that Mays’ own ball skills could stand improvement.
• The Niners and Rams have combined for 10 losses, seven by four points or less.
• LT Joe Staley and rookie RT Anthony Davis will face
stiff challenges today. Staley will battle veteran DE James Hall, who has a
team-high 6.5 sacks. Davis will square off against Chris Long, the No. 2 overall
pick in the 2008 Draft who has a sack in three straight games and 4.5 this
season.
Despite his inexperience, Davis has played without the
benefit of double-teams this season. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson was
asked why this week.
“He’s on an island, but that’s what the tackle business
is in the NFL,” Johnson said. “You can keep help in, but then you play teams
like the Denver Broncos and you play teams like the St. Louis Rams and the more
people you keep in the more people they bring, and it’s a catch-22. Sometimes
you have to allow people to get out to give the quarterback quick outlets so
that he can throw the ball quickly in case they do get beat, or you have a
blitz where they bring one more than you can protect.”
• The Rams’ starting wide receivers (Danny Amendola and
Brandon Gibson) and tight end Billy Bajema have a combined 162 career catches.
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