Haloti Ngata vs. the 49ers’ offensive line

The 49ers play the Ravens Sunday at the Super Dome in Super Bowl XLVII. In the meantime, I’ll break down the key matchups. DT Haloti Ngata vs. The 49ers’ offensive line As good as Justin Smith is, Haloti Ngata might be a better defensive tackle right now. He’s younger – Ngata is 29 years old and Justin Smith is 32 years old. Ngata is bigger – Ngata weighs 340 pounds…

January 30, 2013
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49ers NFC Championship grades: Offense

ATLANTA – The 49ers beat the Falcons 28-24. The 49ers are going to the Super Bowl. Here are the grades for the 49ers’ offense. Offensive line: A. Mike Iupati gave up a sack and was flagged for a holding penalty, but the other four offensive linemen played almost perfectly. Collectively, they helped the 49ers average 5.1 yards per rush. Running backs: A. Frank Gore got the 49ers’ offense going in…

January 20, 2013
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Harbaugh on the Falcons: “They’re solid in every regard.”

SANTA CLARA – This is the transcript of Jim Harbaugh’s Monday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.   How did DT Justin Smith make it through the game? “Good. Played well. Came out of the game as clean as possible.”   And did you expect him to kind of pick up where he left off? “It looked good in practice and the feedback that we were getting from him was…

January 14, 2013
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49ers divisional playoff grades: Offense

SAN FRANCISCO – The 49ers massacred the Packers 45-31 on Saturday night. Here is the grade for the 49ers offense. Offensive line: A. Joe Staley gave up the one and only sack. He injured his arm in the game and did not play particularly well. But the other four offensive linemen sure did. Mike Iupati, Alex Boone and Anthony Davis all were terrific run blockers. Jonathan Goodwin only had one…

January 13, 2013
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Why the Packers are a lucky draw for the 49ers

The 49ers are lucky they get to play the Packers on Saturday night and not the Seahawks or the Redskins. Why? Let me list the reasons. 1. The Seahawks and the Redskins have two of the best running backs in the NFL. The 49ers run defense has been mediocre to bad recently. They do not want to face Marshawn Lynch or Alfred Morris. They want to face the Packers subpar…

January 5, 2013
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Laurinaitis says 49ers run game is like Tecmo Super Bowl

SANTA CLARA – St. Louis Rams inside linebacker James Laurinaitis spoke to Bay Area reporters on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what he said about the 49ers offense. Q: You say your defense needs to force more turnovers. Is that more difficult this week, because the 49ers generally don’t turn the ball over? LAURINAITIS: Yeah (chuckles), it’s extremely hard. You have team that’s very good with ball security. You…

November 7, 2012
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Jacobs on Iupati: “Monster. Mon-ster.”

SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Brandon Jacobs said Tuesday about the 49ers offensive line. Q: What do you see from the offensive line? JACOBS: It’s a young group, physical group, fast group. They’re doing one hell of a job. They’re moving folks out of the way and they’re not taking ‘No’ for an answer. Q: What have you seen specifically from Mike Iupati? JACOBS: Monster. Mon-ster. Nasty. He does a…

November 6, 2012
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Which 49ers made Pro Football Weekly’s midseason All-Pro team?

Pro Football Weekly just announced their midseason All-Pro team. Considering how good the 49ers defense is, you’d expect a few those players to make it. They didn’t. Surprisingly, two players on the offense made the team – Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis. Punter Andy Lee also made it. PFW named Aaron Rodgers the midseason All-Pro QB, Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch the running backs and Rob Gronkowski the tight end….

November 6, 2012
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Midterm report card: Anthony Davis

In the past, Anthony Davis needed help from tight end Vernon Davis in pass protection. This season, Anthony Davis is the best pass blocking offensive lineman on the 49ers. Now it’s Joe Staley who’s getting occasional blocking help from Vernon. Anthony Davis mostly is holding his own. He gave up three sacks against the New York Giants in Week 6, but he hasn’t given up a sack in the other…

November 4, 2012
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49ers midseason awards: Best offensive player – Mike Iupati

The 49ers are halfway through their season. Today, I’ll give midseason awards for the best offensive and defensive players. Best offensive player: LG Mike Iupati. Iupati arguably is the best guard in the NFL. He’s definitely the best offensive linemen on the best offensive line in the NFL. Two weeks ago, Iupati ruined Seahawks DT Brandon Mebane – a top-5 defensive tackle. Iupati planted Mebane on his back all night,…

October 31, 2012
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Roman on Iupati: “He’s playing extremely fast and he’s dominating people.”

SANTA CLARA — Here’s what Greg Roman said at his Friday press conference about Mike Iupati. ROMAN: “I’ll tell you who really had the best game since I’ve been here, is Mike Iupati. He had an incredible week of preparation. He was on a short week. He was the first guy answering all the questions in our review meeting the day before the game. He just played lights out. It’s…

October 26, 2012
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Cosell: “The 49ers want to make this a physical game, not a run-around game.”

Greg Cosell spoke with Doug Farrar Friday morning on Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner Week 8 preview podcast. Here’s how Cosell said the 49ers will run against the Cardinals’ defensive front Monday night. FARRAR: San Francisco’s offensive line is much, much, much better. They were rocking (Seahawks DT) Brandon Mebane and putting him on his (rear) over and over. COSELL: Yes. That was a great offensive line performance. FARRAR: What the 49ers…

October 26, 2012
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Harbaugh on Gore, Jacobs, Iupati and Boone

SANTA CLARA — Jim Harbaugh spoke in the media tent Monday afternoon. Here’s what he said about a few of his own players. Q: Frank Gore has 103 carries through seven games. Is that about what you want from him workload-wise? He’s carried the ball considerably less than he had at this point last year. HARBAUGH: No, didn’t have a number in mind. Q: Generally speaking, did you want him…

October 22, 2012
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Pro Football Focus ranks 49ers

I’m passing along Pro Football Focus’ player rankings for the 49ers because I think you’ll find them fascinating. If you want to know how PFF grades players, you can read that here. If you want to see the grades, you have to purchase their premium stats. According to Pro Football Focus, Joe Staley currently ranks as the best run-blocking tackle in the NFL by far. Alex Boone and Mike Iupati…

October 22, 2012
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Week 6 grades: Offense

SAN FRANCISCO – The 49ers just lost 26-3 to the New York Giants. Here are the grades for the 49ers’ offense. Quarterbacks: F. This was Alex Smith’s worst game under Jim Harbaugh. Smith threw three picks – the most he’s thrown since 2007. In the first half he missed a handful of open receivers. Then he tried to force a few passes and got picked off. At the end of…

October 14, 2012
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Preseason Week 3 grades

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…

August 26, 2012
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Preseason Week 2 grades: The offense

Here are my preseason Week 2 grades for the 49ers’ offense. OFFENSIVE LINE: B+. They opened up big holes in the running game and played pretty well overall, but it’s important to note they didn’t have to face two of the Texans’ starting defensive linemen – Shaun Cody and J.J Watt. Alex Smith got sacked twice and took five big hits in the first quarter, but the offensive line wasn’t…

August 19, 2012
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Jim Harbaugh says the defense dominated the offense “about every which way it could be dominated.”

SANTA CLARA – Friday in the media tent, Jim Harbaugh explained that his defense dominated his offense in practice. He also explained why Mike Iupati did not participate and why Alex Boone did not finish the team drills. Here’s a transcript of the press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.   Opening statement: “Hello. [G] Mike Iupati was excused from practice today, expecting their first child, [his wife] Ashley and Mike…

August 3, 2012
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Assorted Niners stats

Although many of you disagree with Football Outsiders projections for the upcoming season, their 2012 almanac has some interesting stats from last season I’d like to share with you. “Alex Smith was out of the pocket on 19 percent of pass plays, fifth in the league, and was pretty bad on these plays, with just 4.4 yards per play and -25.1% DVOA.” What this means to me: Quarterbacks usually ad-lib…

July 17, 2012
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Ranking the Niners best players: Nos. 16-20

This is the fourth edition of my series ranking the Niners 25 best players. To read the previous edition, click here. 16. Chris Culliver, CB – Targeted 50 times in 2011 and allowed just 4.9 yards per pass, fourth best of all cornerbacks in the NFL (Carlos Rogers allowed 6.5 yards per pass – 19th best). Culliver played left cornerback in the Niners nickel defense, which is a tougher job…

June 27, 2012
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