National Football League Thread

[Matto_lsi]

 

*snip* (for space)

 

And the 9ers.  I'm really hoping they get things figured out sooner than later.  I'm already missing the rivalry between our teams.  You may hate my team, and I yours but you have to admit, a couple of years ago when everyone was calling the NFC title game "the real Superbowl" it felt pretty good  

 

I would agree with you, but I don't count the terrible Bears offense, especially when missing 2 of their only 3 good offense players, as a valid test of Seattle's D.  And despite the Lions offense being decent in previous years (and they aren't as bad as their record), they are still quite bad when considering this is NFL level.  Holding them to 10 points looks good on paper, but  most other teams would easily score twice that against the same D.  Don't forget Seattle was playing at home.  In the past that's been enough to gain a significant edge on better teams, and these were the Lions...

 

As for the rule, yeah, it's the not the greatest rule, but I knew it was a rule, and I don't play professional football.  I would expect anyone at the pro level to know the rules that would affect them.  Another rule, besides you can't bat a ball intentionally out of bounds, is that the ball returns to the last team who had possession if it goes out of bounds.  The back of the endzone is the only place on the field that doesn't count as out of bounds (the sides do).  As a defender, you should know all of this, especially when you get paid millions of dollars for your craft.  Too many young players spend their time working on celebration dances instead of knowing what the hell is going on around them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VISEvr3c0wg. So while it might be a weird rule, you still have to know it's there.  Personally, I think the back of the endzone should be considered out of bounds, that way a defender would have to actually go for the ball.  Then this situation would never occur in the first place as the Seattle defender would have just jumped on the ball and everyone could say 'yep, game over, congrats on a great defensive stop' without any controversy.

 

Anyway, the part I left in your quote is there cause I agree.  I both loved and hated the Seattle/SF rivalry, but it was definitely a good one.  Regardless of what happens in Seattle, it's over for a while cause the 9ers are gonna suck for a long time going forward....

[acasser]

Take Detroit out of their stadium and they suck -- especially their offense -- but that shouldn't be a surprise.  It's long been a truism in the NFL that a lot of dome teams build their offense to take advantage of the peculiarities of the dome and such an offense doesn't work very well outside of it.  The game is faster on turf and it's a lot easier to have an ideal passing game in the weather-controlled environment indoors.  There's a reason why dome teams have a putrid road record in the NFL playoffs and why you don't see dome teams win Super Bowls very often.

 

As for the botched call on Monday night?  My first reaction when I saw the play was that it was a smart reaction by the defender to knock the ball out of the end zone and then I changed the channel.  I didn't even know there was a rule against that.... but then again, I'm one of the guys who switched off the Raiders-Patriots game ~15 years ago having believed that the Raiders forced a fumble, recovered it, and therefore iced a win in the closing minutes.  (Imagine how surprised I was to turn back to CBS some time later to see Adam Vinatieri lining up the game-winning field goal in OT.)

 

I don't expect any player or coach to know the entire rulebook at this point.  The fucking thing is getting to "War and Peace" levels of huge and there are an awful lot of things in there that come up maybe once every few seasons.  There need to be fewer regulations and more common sense, but we can say the same thing about trying to figure out whether a catch is a catch.

 

Detroit probably loses that game one way or the other anyhow.  They're not a good team, they have a terrible coach, and Seattle was going to get a good shot to march down the field and respond with a score of their own with a fair amount of time remaining (and probably some timeouts to boot).  One call didn't swing that game the way "Fail Mary" did.

[Matto_lsi]

I dunno, Seattle did have 2 timeouts left, but there was only about 1:45 on the clock at the time of the fumble.  If the right call had been made, I'm sure Detroit would have run at least a few more seconds off, and if they ran the ball and didn't get into the endzone, Seattle would have had to use their timeouts to stop the clock.  Best case scenario the Lions get an immediate touchdown or are somehow held 3 straight downs to less than half a yard (that's where the fumble occurred) and kick a field goal.  First situation leaves Seattle with about 1:30 and 2 timeouts to get a touchdown (down by 4 they would have to) in a game they barely scraped by with 13 points.  Second situation means they'd have to score points in OT, and if anything the momentum would have been with Detroit scoring the last 10 points (assuming they got the field goal to go to OT).  So there's definitely no way to say Seattle would have won, it actually looks more like the odds would have been in Detroit's favor in either scenario, especially if they ran and failed twice and still got the TD.  Then Seattle would have under a minute with no timeouts to get a TD.  So yeah, again, the rule is weird, but none of us play football, especially at a pro level, so I don't expect all of us to know the rule.  I do expect players to know the rules, despite them being strange.  All of Seattle's coaches knew the rule cause they showed video of them freaking out on the defender who pushed the ball out cause they all knew it was a foul.  And after the game every Seattle player and coach they interviewed admitted it was a foul, even the guy that did it.  The problem isn't that he didn't know, it's that the back judge who is paid to know didn't call it.  It was his responsibility to know and call it, and even the head of officiating said it was a bad call he should have made.  In the end the game is over and Seattle gets the win, but considering it should have been 1st and goal on the half yard line for Detroit, I feel like they had a much better chance at winning that game had the right call been made.  I doubt it will matter later in the year, but sometimes it comes down to 1 win (just ask the Cards who missed the playoffs at 10-6 2 years ago after beating Seattle at home in a really important late season game).

 

Oh, also, I've always known batting the ball is a foul, and if you want prior examples there was another terrible no call in the Patriots-Steelers game a couple years ago when Brady was sacked and fumbled the ball and Troy Polamalu punched the ball backwards into the endzone.  I hate the Pats slightly more than the Steelers, so I was ok with it at the time, however it was a bad no call, and even the announcers at the time said it should have been called a batted ball.  The only time you're allowed to move a loose ball in any direction is if you're trying to acquire possession.  You're not allowed to push, bat, punch, kick, or move the ball towards or away from any other players or out of bounds intentionally.  Here's the play I'm referring to for reference (listen to the announcers) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFxxhjQZQMk.

 

Anyway, regardless of what could or should have happened, the end result was the ref didn't call the foul when he should have.  We can go back and forth all day about what would have happened after that, but there's no way to know, cause the call wasn't made.  As it was a foul, the call should have been made as the rule currently stands.  It wasn't, and maybe the rule will be changed, tweaked, updated, or removed in the future.  But it's a rule now, and the call was missed.  I feel bad for the Lions in this one, cause they are now 0-4, and with all the pride they developed the last few years moving past that 0-16 season and winning games and making the playoffs, I can't imagine it feels good to be the only 0-4 team in the league... hell even the Jags have a win...

Edited October 8, 2015 by Matto_lsi

[skidmarkgn]

  Holding them to 10 points looks good on paper

One quick correction, the defense held them to 3 points.  The Lions only TD was on Wilson's fumble.  

 

The Bears game was the 1st time since the NFC title game against the Packers that the defense was actually healthy and complete and they pulled off a shutout, which is no easy task against any NFL team.  Then they followed it up by only allowing 3 points to Megatron, Tate, and Stafford.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting a similar result against the Bengals but I am expecting them to hold them to under 20 which, for the last couple of years, was almost always enough for the offense to pull out enough to win.  This year though...

 

I also fully expect the players to know the rules.  My problem is that this particular rule is soooo easy to bypass.  Like I said, put out both hands and pretend you're trying to grab the ball while you're knocking it out and you're set.  I also heard that the back judge reached for his flag then decided not to through it because he wasn't sure of the intent, which is another reason the rule is iffy, it's a judgement call.   

 

Anyways, it's done and I'm sure it'll blow over soon enough.  At least I hope it will because I sure don't hear anyone talking about the Panthers Patriots Monday night game from last year anymore, I guess people only dwell when the "villain" wins.

[Matto_lsi]

Yah, well when you're successful (like the Seahawks and 49ers were 3-4 straight years) or when you cheat (like the Patriots do), the outcome is the same, every team in the league comes after you.  A few years back a bunch of Seattle's players were suspended for, or accused of, doping with adderall (as a masking agent for steroids) and it was a huge scandal.  I actually forgot about it until recently when people started bringing it up again, but I remembered how the team was overly scrutinized by everyone, including media and game announcers.  I haven't heard anything since, so I assume the players in question cleaned up their act, which is good, but the down side is it's out there.  So when you get that coupled with the fail mary and now this bad call, other players get angry.  Just look at the Patriots, after the tuck rule debacle, then spygate, then deflategate, you have players, former players, coaches, etc all calling the Pats cheaters, and now anything is the scandal.  They'll never live it down (and in my opinion, they shouldn't, I do consider them blatant cheaters).  However, I feel like Seattle's doping scandal was a one time thing and should be forgotten.  But each generation has it's villains, and in a league as competitive as the NFL, if one team wins too often, even the slightest hint of a scandal becomes an unending controversy.  It doesn't take much to become a villain in this league either, especially with all the fair weather fans who just like the drama.

 

Also, can you refresh my memory on the Panthers-Patriots game?  I don't get ESPN so I only watch local Monday night games (49ers and Raiders, if they play) dual-broadcast on local stations, and I can't recall any scandal from that game off-hand (and google was no help).

[skidmarkgn]

@Matto_Isi, sorry man, I'm on my laptop for the next couple of days so I won't be able to actually quote you in my responses.

 

I don't remember the exact details on the Panthers Pats game but I recall the pats being down by a small margin and having the ball inside the 10 with very little time.  The final play was, of course, a toss to Gronk and I wanna say it was picked off in the endzone.  The thing was, it was picked because a Panther defender pretty much tackled Gronk while the ball was in the air.  It was really, really bad and the refs either didn't throw the flag or picked it up.  Pats fans were, of course, steaming mad but everyone else on the planet just turned their head.  I'll do a little research to see if I can find out the details to make sure I'm being accurate but the Pats definitely got screwed in that one.

 

And the doping thing, I think most people are off Seattle's case because they got rid of every player but one (Irvin, who'll be gone after this year for sure) who were found guilty and suspended (Sherman was acquitted and never suspended).  Several of those suspensions were for things like pot as well but the players all got lumped into one PED group in the public eye.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Okay, Nov. 18th 2013 Monday Night Football.

 

Patriots, down by 4, had the ball on the 19 with 3 seconds to go.  Brady throws to Gronk in the endzone and it's picked off.  Flag gets thrown, refs huddle up and announce there's no PI foul because the ball was "uncatchable".  The reason it was uncatchable, Keuchly had Gronk in a straight up bear-hug in the back of the endzone so Gronk couldn't get to where he was supposed to be.  So that one was even worse in my opinion because the flag was actually thrown correctly before the refs went "nah" and picked it up.  My amazing laptop also can't copy and paste links but if you put the teams names and the date into Youtube there's lots and lots of videos of the play.

Edited October 8, 2015 by skidmarkgn

[Conker]

My Week 5 NFL Tips

Texans over Colts

Falcons over Redskins

Titans over Bills

Chiefs over Bears

Bengals over Seahawks

Ravens over Browns

Packers over Rams

Saints over Eagles

Bucs over Jags

Cardinals over Lions

My Cowboys over Patriots

Broncos over Raiders

Giants over 49ers

Chargers over Steelers

Edited October 8, 2015 by The Three Stooges

[Kubanga]

My Week 5 NFL Tips

Texans over Colts

Falcons over Redskins

Titans over Bills

Chiefs over Bears

Bengals over Seahawks

Ravens over Browns

Packers over Rams

Saints over Eagles

Bucs over Jags

Cardinals over Lions

My Cowboys over Patriots

Broncos over Raiders

Giants over 49ers

Chargers over Steelers

I agree with everything but the Cowboys. We both know that isint happening.

[Conker]

I agree with everything but the Cowboys. We both know that isint happening.

Maybe they won't win, but Im always hopeful my team can win, remember anything can happen

[Lithium_Lemon]

My Week 5 NFL Tips

Texans over Colts

Falcons over Redskins

Titans over Bills

Chiefs over Bears

Bengals over Seahawks

Ravens over Browns

Packers over Rams

Saints over Eagles

Bucs over Jags

Cardinals over Lions

My Cowboys over Patriots

Broncos over Raiders

Giants over 49ers

Chargers over Steelers

Decent picks. But, theres no way in hell the Dallas Cowboys beat NE. I predict 37-13. Sorry to burst you bubble. Hopefully Dallas will have enough in them to reach the playoffs. I like watching them compete. As of this week though. They will drop to 2-3. 

[Kubanga]

Maybe they won't win, but Im always hopeful my team can win, remember anything can happen

The Cowboys should start Kellen Moore. He is one of the best college QBS ever and Brandon Weeden is awful.

[Matto_lsi]

@Matto_Isi, sorry man, I'm on my laptop for the next couple of days so I won't be able to actually quote you in my responses.

 

Patriots, down by 4, had the ball on the 19 with 3 seconds to go.  Brady throws to Gronk in the endzone and it's picked off.  Flag gets thrown, refs huddle up and announce there's no PI foul because the ball was "uncatchable".  The reason it was uncatchable, Keuchly had Gronk in a straight up bear-hug in the back of the endzone so Gronk couldn't get to where he was supposed to be.  So that one was even worse in my opinion because the flag was actually thrown correctly before the refs went "nah" and picked it up.  My amazing laptop also can't copy and paste links but if you put the teams names and the date into Youtube there's lots and lots of videos of the play.

 

No worries   And yes, I remember that now!  When you first mentioned it I assumed it was a call that helped the Pats.  I totally forgot about this, but yeah, Keuchly was face-guarding Gronk, had his back to the ball, and outright tackled him.  I can't remember where the ball was thrown, but if it was catchable, it's PI, but if not a defender can outright tackle a receiver with no call (once the ball is in the air, otherwise it's holding).  So yeah, Panthers got super lucky either way, cause if that pass was uncatchable, that's rare for Brady (I hate the guy, but he is a good QB and he is very accurate most of the time).  But I must admit, I never shed tears when the Pats lose, even when they get screwed on a call.  I like a fair game, but, well, you already know what I think of them *cough* cheaters *cough*.  You wanna talk about getting screwed, remember that undefeated regular season of theirs?  I'm sure you do... but you might not remember the Baltimore game.  When the terrible Ravens, who had maybe 4 wins that season, were beating the Pats and the refs kept throwing flags for things that weren't penalites just to give Brady more time and yardage so he could score and win and remain undefeated?  That was such a terrible game.  I felt bad for the Ravens on that one, cause they won that game.  They deserved that win.  I really, truly felt like the Pats had the refs help to win that game.  There were like 11 defense penalties on that drive and even the announcers were complaining that the refs were throwing flags for nothing.  Oh well, they got what was coming to them in the SB that year thanks to the Giants

 

Oh, and in more relevant news, my Colts (yep, I love them almost as much as my niners) somehow managed to win last night.  And Frank Gore, the old 9er workhorse, has his first great game with the Colts too.  That was nice to see.  So mad that they let him go in SF, he was, and still is, one fo the best backs in the league.  He just isn't an every down back anymore.  But the 9ers cleaned house with all the releases, trades, firings, and players retiring.  In interviews Gore sounds happy to be out of there, so hopefully he finds continued success with the Colts.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Matto_lsi

[Conker]

The Cowboys should start Kellen Moore. He is one of the best college QBS ever and Brandon Weeden is awful.

Or Matt Cassel, Weeden is just bleh, but he did OK against the Saints,

[Kubanga]

Or Matt Cassel, Weeden is just bleh, but he did OK against the Saints,

Doing good against the Saints isint saying much. They have one of the worst defenses in football. I still say start Kellen Moore but then again I'm a Boise State fan so I have my prejudices lol.

[skidmarkgn]

*snip* for space -thanks for teaching me that-

It was kind of a chicken or egg call.  Gronk was no where near the ball so it looked uncatchable but he was no where near the ball because of Keuchly's bear hug holding him back.  At any rate, that game has already been long forgotten by everyone while us Hawk fans still have to hear about the "fail mary" game every single week.  Meh, oh well.  Sometimes you get the call sometimes you don't.

 

Anyways, no Lynch again on Sunday morning so I've pretty much given up any hope for the Cinci game.  10AM road game against a good team with no Lynch... nope.  Hopefully the defense will still put on a show I guess.

 

The 9ers Giants game seems like it could go 2 ways.  Either a shootout (if Kaep's got his head right and gets those legs moving) or a blowout.  Not too terribly familiar with the Giants defense so I don't know if Hyde and Kaep will be able to make things interesting, hope they can though.

 

The Colts are dead in the water.  They're outside of their division against the best team in the AFC (having to say that hurts my soul).  The Colts bug the crap out of me because they don't have to even try to win that "division" every year but I'll for sure be pulling for them tomorrow.

[Matto_lsi]

It was kind of a chicken or egg call.  Gronk was no where near the ball so it looked uncatchable but he was no where near the ball because of Keuchly's bear hug holding him back.  At any rate, that game has already been long forgotten by everyone while us Hawk fans still have to hear about the "fail mary" game every single week.  Meh, oh well.  Sometimes you get the call sometimes you don't.

 

Anyways, no Lynch again on Sunday morning so I've pretty much given up any hope for the Cinci game.  10AM road game against a good team with no Lynch... nope.  Hopefully the defense will still put on a show I guess.

 

The 9ers Giants game seems like it could go 2 ways.  Either a shootout (if Kaep's got his head right and gets those legs moving) or a blowout.  Not too terribly familiar with the Giants defense so I don't know if Hyde and Kaep will be able to make things interesting, hope they can though.

 

The Colts are dead in the water.  They're outside of their division against the best team in the AFC (having to say that hurts my soul).  The Colts bug the crap out of me because they don't have to even try to win that "division" every year but I'll for sure be pulling for them tomorrow.

 

Cincy is looking good, but don't forget they're a finesse team (like many AFC teams), and Seattle still plays west coast smash mouth ball.  If the D comes to play, they could be a nightmare for the Bengals.  If I had to pick, I'd take the Bengals at home, but I see this as 40-60 game.  Seattle are only slight underdogs in my opinion, which might make for a good game.

 

The Giants always have our number, and not just recently, since the 90s, lol.  I'm fairly certain they'll win.  Hyde is good, but the O-line is meh at best and Kaep's in a tailspin.  Put 7 or 8 in the box and our 1-dimensional team shrivels up and dies.  It's really sad actually, cause the game plan for all defenses the 9ers play will be just that unless Kaep either pulls himself out of this 3-year long slump (not likely) or they replace him.

 

Colts aren't looking great, but I still have some hope for them, more than the 9ers anyway.  If you mean next weeks game, yeah, that's a big 'L' against NE.  I still fondly remember the days of old when Indy vs NE was a good matchup... At least they'll win their shitty division though

 

 

 

QUICK EDIT:

 

Just wanted to throw this in - http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000553603/article/jim-harbaughs-michigan-wolverines-thump-northwestern

 

After losing their opener, Haraugh's team has won 5 straight, the last 3 all SHUTOUTS, including the most recent game against a previously unbeaten team... good job Jed York and Niners front office, this proves that Harbuagh was the reason for the teams success the last few years and you guys are the joke of the NFL... someone please print out 1000 copies of this article, roll it up into a club and beat Jed York senseless with it, PLEASE!

Edited October 11, 2015 by Matto_lsi

[acasser]

Just wanted to throw this in - http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000553603/article/jim-harbaughs-michigan-wolverines-thump-northwestern

 

After losing their opener, Haraugh's team has won 5 straight, the last 3 all SHUTOUTS, including the most recent game against a previously unbeaten team... good job Jed York and Niners front office, this proves that Harbuagh was the reason for the teams success the last few years and you guys are the joke of the NFL... someone please print out 1000 copies of this article, roll it up into a club and beat Jed York senseless with it, PLEASE!

 

It "proves" nothing.  Yes, Jim Harbaugh is a good coach and has some level of responsibility for San Francisco's success, but a good coach can't take a bunch of scrubs and manufacture a winner any more than you can make chicken salad from nothing but chicken feathers and chicken feces.  Things such as the attrition of San Francisco's talent has to be taken into account.  Things such as the other Coaching Staff losses have to be taken into account.

 

Harbaugh is a good coach, but let's not pretend that his Michigan teams have been beating a murderer's row of opponents, either.  Just because one beats up the blind kid in a wheelchair down at the corner doesn't mean one is the heavyweight champion of the world.  The best non-conference win on the Big Ten's resume is quite possibly Northwestern over Stanford -- that or Michigan State over Oregon -- and that doesn't look so very wonderful at the moment.  Throw the rankings of teams at the time of a game out the window because the polls make very little sense until November given they still have a heavy bias on where teams started (based on reputation and expectations more than anything else).

[Matto_lsi]

It "proves" nothing.  Yes, Jim Harbaugh is a good coach and has some level of responsibility for San Francisco's success, but a good coach can't take a bunch of scrubs and manufacture a winner any more than you can make chicken salad from nothing but chicken feathers and chicken feces.  Things such as the attrition of San Francisco's talent has to be taken into account.  Things such as the other Coaching Staff losses have to be taken into account.

 

Harbaugh is a good coach, but let's not pretend that his Michigan teams have been beating a murderer's row of opponents, either.  Just because one beats up the blind kid in a wheelchair down at the corner doesn't mean one is the heavyweight champion of the world.  The best non-conference win on the Big Ten's resume is quite possibly Northwestern over Stanford -- that or Michigan State over Oregon -- and that doesn't look so very wonderful at the moment.  Throw the rankings of teams at the time of a game out the window because the polls make very little sense until November given they still have a heavy bias on where teams started (based on reputation and expectations more than anything else).

 

I stick by what I said 100%.  Harbaugh went into Stanford and they started destroying opponents.  He moves to the niners who didn't have a winning season in almost 10 years, and with the same 'scrubs' goes to the NFC title game 3 straight years, and goes to the super bowl for the first time in nearly 20 years, and becomes the winningest coach in his first 3 NFL seasons in NFL history.  Now he moves to Michigan and they win 5 straight including 3 straight shutouts.  Unless you're new to football, you should see the significance of 3 straight shutouts.  It's very hard to shutout a team, it's almost impossible to do it 3 straight games.

 

Coaching makes a big difference.  You can say what you want, but you just sound like a Harbaugh hater.  The Niners front office is the problem, Harbaugh was the solution.  They fucked up by getting rid of him.  Go ahead and try to dispute it if you want, but it's a losing battle.

[skidmarkgn]

*ugh* the scariest thing I can think of right now is a 10 point lead for Seattle in the 4th... not a great history in that scenario lately.

 

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

 

Another fucking 4th quarter meltdown by Seattle's defense.  

Edited October 11, 2015 by skidmarkgn

[Avatar_Of_Battle]

Wow...I basically turned the Seahawks/Bengals game off to get some grinding done...

and...

well...

FML. That must have been some comeback.

[acasser]

Coaching makes a big difference.  You can say what you want, but you just sound like a Harbaugh hater.  The Niners front office is the problem, Harbaugh was the solution.  They fucked up by getting rid of him.  Go ahead and try to dispute it if you want, but it's a losing battle.

 

Coaches are a reflection of the talent around them.  Some coaches are better than others, but Bill Belichick isn't going to make a bunch of scrubs into world-beaters and Rich Kotite isn't going 1-15 if he has talent around him.

 

The 49ers are a flawed team.  They lost several key defensive players from last year's club and what's left just isn't very good.  They don't have good quarterbacking, and good quarterbacking is very important in today's NFL.

 

The Michigan Wolverines aren't such a marvelous team.  They're certainly better coached than they have been for a while, but they haven't played a tremendously demanding schedule and the best team they matched up with clobbered them.  Give Jim Harbaugh a few years to recruit and that might change, but if it does it will be because he has players, not because his X's and O's are so wonderful that you can dance to them.

 

It's the talent, not the system.  No system is so wonderful that it can compensate for severe deficiencies in talent.  A good system works to the talent's strengths and covers up for their weaknesses, but the system and the coaching aren't what makes someone good or not good.

 

As for you, you sound like someone with a personal pet theory who refuses to accept any contrary evidence.  And when said contrary evidence is presented, you stick your fingers in your ears and scream at the top of your lungs as to try and pretend it doesn't exist.

[Conker]

Man the injury to Jamaal Charles doesn't sound good a could be a torn ACL

And finally Aaron Rodgers threw a home int

Edited October 11, 2015 by The Three Stooges

[Matto_lsi]

Coaches are a reflection of the talent around them.  Some coaches are better than others, but Bill Belichick isn't going to make a bunch of scrubs into world-beaters and Rich Kotite isn't going 1-15 if he has talent around him.

 

The 49ers are a flawed team.  They lost several key defensive players from last year's club and what's left just isn't very good.  They don't have good quarterbacking, and good quarterbacking is very important in today's NFL.

 

The Michigan Wolverines aren't such a marvelous team.  They're certainly better coached than they have been for a while, but they haven't played a tremendously demanding schedule and the best team they matched up with clobbered them.  Give Jim Harbaugh a few years to recruit and that might change, but if it does it will be because he has players, not because his X's and O's are so wonderful that you can dance to them.

 

It's the talent, not the system.  No system is so wonderful that it can compensate for severe deficiencies in talent.  A good system works to the talent's strengths and covers up for their weaknesses, but the system and the coaching aren't what makes someone good or not good.

 

As for you, you sound like someone with a personal pet theory who refuses to accept any contrary evidence.  And when said contrary evidence is presented, you stick your fingers in your ears and scream at the top of your lungs as to try and pretend it doesn't exist.

 

Wrong again, that's EXACTLY what Bill Bellicheck has done in NE.  That's why someone like Brady can be out an entire season and the backup QB can come in and win 11 games and take them to the playoffs and then be worthless on every other team he plays on.  That's why the majority of his Defenses are no names and get no respect, yet they place in the top 10 most years.

 

I don't know much about college ball as it's incredibly boring to me compared to NFL, but again, 3 shutouts, no matter who you play, is an accomplishment.  You sound ridiculous if you say otherwise.

 

And you're still not listening.  When Harbaugh came in he had the same team with the same players from the previous years who had losing records year after year and he took them to the NFC championship game 3 straight years.  I know they lost some key players THIS YEAR, but obviously Harbaugh didn't have a time machine and play the 2011 season this year.  He played it with those same key players who were there in 2010 and before who couldn't win games.  As a Niners fan I watch all their games, and as a fan I watch the coaches walking around dumbfounded right now.  It's like they're sedated and not even watching the game playing out in front of them.  Harbaugh was a leader.  Jed York is a privileged piece of shit who knows nothing about football.  Tomsula is a good line coach, but he's no leader.

 

And it takes one to know one bud.  Before I even read your response I already figured you were the type exactly as you described.  But again, go ahead and keep telling me I'm wrong, and myself and the rest of the 49er faithful will continue hating our front office's choices and laughing at people like you who think Harbaugh wasn't the key in our success the last few seasons.

[skidmarkgn]

The Superbowl against the Pats - 10 point 4th quarter lead, blown.

 

Week 1 against the Rams - 10 point 4th quarter lead, blown.

 

Week 2 against the Packers - ??point 4th quarter lead, blown (can't remember the exact number).

 

Week 4 against the Lions - 10 point 4th quarter lead, blown and saved by a bad no-call.

 

I don't (entirely) blame the defense for this trend, the offense needs to carry their weight and do something other than a 2 minute 3 and out late in games.  ONE fucking 1st down in 3 possessions in the 4th quarter while allowing 17 unanswered is a joke.  Seattle's offense is a joke.  Bevell is a joke.  He's been defended for far too long now, Seattle's offense has too much talent to constantly go; 1st down, run.  2nd down, run.  3rd down, sack.  4th down punt.

 

I know that everyone around here (here being Washinton not psnp) is saying they were 3-3 last year too and look what happened but this year's different.  There's no locker room cancer (Harvin) causing a divide they can purge and there was no Green Bay team running away with the conference early in the season.  Right now, I'd be amazed to see this uninspired team even make the playoffs, let alone win a game on the road during them.

Edited October 11, 2015 by skidmarkgn

[acasser]

Wrong again, that's EXACTLY what Bill Bellicheck has done in NE.  That's why someone like Brady can be out an entire season and the backup QB can come in and win 11 games and take them to the playoffs and then be worthless on every other team he plays on.  That's why the majority of his Defenses are no names and get no respect, yet they place in the top 10 most years.

 

I don't know much about college ball as it's incredibly boring to me compared to NFL, but again, 3 shutouts, no matter who you play, is an accomplishment.  You sound ridiculous if you say otherwise.

 

And you're still not listening.  When Harbaugh came in he had the same team with the same players from the previous years who had losing records year after year and he took them to the NFC championship game 3 straight years.  I know they lost some key players THIS YEAR, but obviously Harbaugh didn't have a time machine and play the 2011 season this year.  He played it with those same key players who were there in 2010 and before who couldn't win games.  As a Niners fan I watch all their games, and as a fan I watch the coaches walking around dumbfounded right now.  It's like they're sedated and not even watching the game playing out in front of them.  Harbaugh was a leader.  Jed York is a privileged piece of shit who knows nothing about football.  Tomsula is a good line coach, but he's no leader.

 

And it takes one to know one bud.  Before I even read your response I already figured you were the type exactly as you described.  But again, go ahead and keep telling me I'm wrong, and myself and the rest of the 49er faithful will continue hating our front office's choices and laughing at people like you who think Harbaugh wasn't the key in our success the last few seasons.

 

I hate to let facts get in the way of your pretty little narrative, but the Patriots didn't make the playoffs the year Brady was hurt.  They lost a divisional tiebreak to Miami and a Wild Card tiebreak to Baltimore and sat at home despite the 11-5 record.

 

Moving on....

 

Jim Harbaugh didn't have the exact same team and no amount of your pretense can change that.  Most of the roster was the same, but you might have recalled that point early in his first season where Harbaugh switched quarterbacks and re-designed the offense to work around Colin Kaepernick.  Or you might not.  I suppose to you it makes no difference at all that Kaepernick went from throwing 5 passes as a rookie to 218 as a sophomore plus all the read-option runs.

 

And hey, pretend that losing Chris Borland and Patrick Willis and Mike iupati and Justin Smith and Aldon Smith (among others) makes no difference at all and that the only reason the 49ers suck this year is that there's a new head coach.  If that helps you sleep at night, more power to you.  I suppose you believe that if Jim Harbaugh had simply stuck around, he has a magic wand tucked in his shirt pocket that could have made everything better.

 

Hate your ownership if you feel like it and blame them for everything.  And spew your bile towards anyone who dares to tell you that your point of view isn't absolutely perfect and that anyone who disagrees with you is wrong and an idiot.  If that's how you feel better about yourself, far be it from me to stop you.

 

....

 

Finally, the college thing.  You admit that you don't watch and know very much but someone else is the idiot because they disagree with you?  Do you have the first clue just how large a talent disparity there is between teams at the college level?  Or just how bad some of those offenses they've faced are?  Just because you can beat up the runt on the playground doesn't mean you're a good fighter; it frequently means you look very good bullying someone who simply can't fight back very well.

 

The best team that Michigan played beat them rather convincingly -- the final score wasn't particularly indicitive of how close the game was (not).  Most of the rest of their schedule features teams that are awful and won't make bowl games in an NCAA landscape that features two-thirds of the teams making bowls.  One of those teams in question already fired their head coach.

 

Shut out good teams and it means something.  Shut out teams with garbage offenses and garbage rosters and it doesn't mean as much.  But what would I know, I only watch the sport while you look at a very small handful of numbers and make sweeping judgments about them.