Tag Archives: San Francisco 49ers

NFL

The Bearor’s Den Rises/Quick Thoughts on a Young NFL Season

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Alright, its been a while.  I’ve had the craziest summer of my life, traveling from coast to coast, then back again.  I spent practically no time at home over the past 5 months, and now I’m back at school and still busy.  Let me rephrase that: I’m still busy and I’m still lazy.  To be honest, I  could have found time in my schedule to throw up an article or two a week at least.  I just lacked that itch to get back to it, but now with this web publishing/design class I’m taking and the NFL season starting back up, I’ve got the urge to write again.  So sorry for dangling my few loyal readers along, and I’ll do my best to stick with it this time around.

That being said, here are couple quick thoughts that I have on the young NFL season:

The 49ers are who we thought they were. Maybe some people were surprised by how effectively San Francisco’s defense stifled Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Week 1, but many also expected Harbaugh’s team to rebound after a disappointing loss in the NFC Championship game, myself included.  Through 2 weeks, the 49ers are one of a only a few teams that looks just like they did last year.  They have the same smash mouth mentality on both sides of the ball that last year’s team had, and they’ve built upon that.  The defense is a carbon-copy of last year’s group and Alex Smith still epitomizes the ultimate game manager.  Usually it doesn’t catch my eye when a team doesn’t change from year to year, but seeing sizable differences in teams like New England and New York makes me think a little longer about consistency.  The season is in diapers right now, but the 49ers are the scariest team out there simply because they are the same as last year.

Michael Vick still isn’t a Quarterback.  This may be a little bit of the New York Giants fan talking, but it still baffles me how someone can look so lost on passing plays after 9 years in the league.  Anytime I make a comment on his ability to throw a ball, apologists start talking about how strong of an arm he has and how dynamic of a playmaker he is.  Those are great perks for a QB to have, but there has to be fundamental quarterbacking skills underneath that.  Mike Vick is all frosting and no cake, and nothing about that has ever changed in my eyes.

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NFL

NFC Championship Game Prediction

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 NFC Championship Game: New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers   6:30 PM ET

So here we are at the NFC Championship Game, and instead of a Drew Brees/Aaron Rodgers shootout, we have another (unlikely) chapter to add to a storied rivalry between San Fran and New York.

These teams have met in the postseason on quite a few occasions – with many of the contests being defined by a single play or going down to the last second – and this is a game that will surely be one that both teams will remember for a long time.  In their latest meeting, San Francisco mounted a historic comeback and took down the Giants as New York botched a field goal snap as time was winding down in a 2002 Wild Card Game.  This series has had its fair share of classic moments in the past: The signature over the 49ers in 1985 when the Giants held Joe Montana and Roger Craig’s group to 3 points, as well as the ’91 New York team putting the kibosh on the Montana dynasty among many others.  Bottom line, these teams have some of the NFL’s most classic playoff matchups. Continue reading →

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NFL

Divisional Round Playoff Predictions

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Saturday 4:30 PM ET: New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers

The unstoppable force meets the immovable object.  Unstoppable is not an overstatement either; Brees and the Saints’ offense have been rolling on all cylinders and show no signs of slowing down.  One piece of information that I have noticed many experts and analysts using against New Orleans is the fact that they have struggled when playing outdoors.  When playing without a dome this year, the Saints were 3 and 2 (13 and 3 overall), which may or not be significant.  You could argue that 60 degree weather may not affect a dome team as much as numbers suggest but the Saints have averaged a full two touchdowns less in those games.  What I keep coming back to are the memories of exciting, high-flying, flashy offenses being stopped in their tracks by a big boy defense (as the Ravens and Steelers have shown us in many recent years).  As incredible as Drew Brees has been all year, I really think that we could see an instance where he actually has some issues throwing those accurate, 20 yard missiles downfield that he has made look so easy.  In a year that has definitely been a breeze for the New Orleans offense, this one looks more like a grind. Continue reading →

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