The 49ers will blow out the Lions on national television Sunday night, 33-13. Take this prediction with a grain of salt. I was way off last week, predicting the 49ers would lose by 11 to the Packers. Whoops. Here’s why I think the Niners will beat the Lions by 20: Detroit’s offense will be one-dimensional. They’ll pass almost every offensive snap. Detroit’s offensive line is completely overmatched by the Niners’…
Some things I forgot to mention about the 49ers’ performance against the Packers: Alex Smith and Greg Roman called brilliant running plays. What Smith did: Each time the Packers brought an extra linebacker or a cornerback to the line of scrimmage, Alex Smith audibled to a running play away from the blitz. These audibles worked beautifully. Peyton Manning couldn’t have made better pre-snap adjustments. Smith’s were near perfect. Before the…
The 49ers play the Detroit Lions Sunday night at Candlestick Park. In the meantime, I’ll break down one key matchup per day. Alex Smith vs. the Lions’ secondary: CB Drayton Florence, CB Chris Houston, CB Jacob Lacey and FS John Wendling. The key for Alex Smith is to avoid obvious passing downs, like third and 9, because the Lions can put a ton of heat on him with only four…
SANTA CLARA – Matthew Stafford spoke on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. He talked about the 49ers defense, what the 49ers offense does well, and what he remembers from their game last season. Here’s a transcript. Q: What jumps out to you about the 49ers’ defense? STAFFORD: It’s obviously similar group to the one we played last year. Physical up front, good in the back end, two really good linebackers….
SANTA CLARA – Alex Smith spoke in front of his locker Wednesday afternoon. He talked about turnovers, Randy Moss and the upcoming opponent – the Detroit. Lions. Here’s a transcript. Q: You’ve gone 185 pass attempts without an interception? Who do you give the most credit to that? ALEX SMITH: Throwing the football – the quarterback gets the attention, but it’s very much a team thing. A lot to do…
When you watch football on television, you only see what’s happening at the line of scrimmage. That’s just half the story. When I watch a game from a press box, I get to watch the other half. I want to tell you about the other half. I watch how the wide receivers run their patterns and how the defensive backs try to cover them. Seeing all that, I try to…
I was in an airplane somewhere above Nebraska or Colorado when Jim Harbaugh spoke to the media in Santa Clara Monday afternoon. He reiterated all the good things his players did against the Packers on Sunday, and he spoke about the upcoming opponent – the Detroit Lions – and the “mini-controversy” surrounding last year’s slap handshake with Lions’ head coach Jim Schwartz. Here’s a complete transcript, courtesy of the 49ers….
One curious stat from yesterday’s dominating win over the Green Bay Packers: The 49ers offense converted just 2 of 9 third downs – 22 percent. That’s worse than their average last season – 28 percent. Granted, the two third downs they converted were impressive. One was a 20-yard completion to Michael Crabtree on third and 8, and the other was a touchdown to Vernon Davis on third and goal from…
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Here are my grades for the 49ers, who upset the Packers 30-22 at Lambeau Field in the season opener. QUARTERBACKS: A. Alex Smith may have played the best game of his life, even better than his comeback win against the Saints in the playoffs. Granted, the Packers secondary was horrendous, but Smith threw 2 TDs and no picks. He averaged a stellar 8.1 yards per attempt….
The Packers will beat the 49ers Sunday, 34-23. The Packers are going to double-team both Justin and Aldon Smith. The left guard and center – T.J. Lang and Jeff Saturday – will take Justin Smith, and the left tackle and running back – Marshall Newhouse and Cedric Benson – will take Aldon Smith. Aaron Rodgers will have enough time to find open receivers and exploit the 49ers secondary, which is…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Greg Roman’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Good afternoon. We had a really good training camp. Thought our guys were dialed in every day. I think we got accomplished what we wanted accomplished in camp and we’re able to turn the page here this week, get into the regular season. So, obviously we’re knee deep in Green Bay. Looking…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s the transcript of Alex Smith’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. What are your emotions for the regular season opener? “Just to prepare myself this week. It’s the opener, everybody has a lot of emotions. Pretty jacked up, getting ready for this. But for me, just to not get ahead of yourself. Just kind of focus on the next meeting, next practice, day-to-day and putting…
SANTA CLARA – Aaron Rodgers spoke to Bay Area reporters this afternoon on a conference call. He spoke about the Justin Smith, NaVorro Bowman, Alex Smith and the term “game manager.” Here’s a transcript. Q: What makes the 49ers’ defense stand out among the NFL’s defenses? RODGERS: They have the best players. Front the front-seven to the back end they’re solid. They don’t have any weaknesses. A lot of Pro-Bowl…
SANTA CLARA – Here’s a snippet of Packers head coach Mike McCarthy’s Wednesday teleconference, in which he discussed Jim Harbaugh, Alex Smith, and Colin Kaepernick. Q: Is the read-option play with Colin Kaepernick something you have to prepare for? McCARTHY: It’s definitely something you have to prepare for. You have to put the time in, and we feel fortunate to have had the extra time to prepare for the 49ers….
SAN FRANCISCO – Here are my grades for the 49ers 35-3 preseason victory over the San Diego Chargers, who may or may not have shown up to play. Alex Smith: P. Smith gets a “Pass” even though he didn’t pass the ball once. He played five snaps and handed off five times, and he looked good doing it. Smith may be the finest hander-offer this side of the Mississippi. Colin…
Here are my grades for the 49ers preseason game against the Denver Broncos. QUARTERBACKS: B. Alex Smith and the first-team offense was 1-for-4 on third down and 0-for-1 in the red zone (Peyton Manning was 2-3 on third down and 2-2 in the red zone). Smith did complete 5 of 7 passes, including a deep TD to Vernon Davis. Smith also had one fumbled snap, one delay-of-game penalty and two…
SANTA CLARA – The 49ers play the Denver Broncos today in their third preseason game. As you already know, the third preseason game is typically the most serious preseason game, the “dress rehearsal” before the regular season – starters play into the second half and coaches game plan for the opponent. But Jim Harbaugh said this preseason game would be no different than the other Niners preseason games. He doesn’t…
SANTA CLARA – Yesterday I asked the defense five questions. Today I asked Greg Roman and Alex Smith four questions. Here are their responses followed by my conclusions. Question 1: Now that Moss and Manningham are on the team, can we expect more long passes in the games? ROMAN: It all depends on who we’re playing. If (the cornerbacks) are playing way off (the line of scrimmage) then I doubt…
SANTA CLARA – Here is the full transcript of Alex Smith’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Both head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman said something recently that you have great ideas, what are they talking about? Are they talking about different plays to run, different ways of running them? “That’s a good question for them. I think it could be anything. I think the great…
SANTA CLARA – Here is the full transcript of Greg Roman’s Wednesday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers. Opening Statement: “Good morning. Grinding through training camp right now. It’s a great opportunity for us to look at guys and how they deal with the day in and day out, week after week. So much of the NFL season is how consistent guys can be day-to-day, week-to-week. So many players over…
