Rough Niner Game. Epic Season.
I posted on Saturday that I saw Roger Craig at my friend’s restaurant and spun it to mean this was a sign we were going to win. Hmmmm. Clearly I need to go back to “Sign Reading Skool” because there’s now no doubt what his sighting was really all about. “Hello Kyle Williams.” Actually, I should say “Goodbye Kyle Williams.” I don’t see how he would survive this and still be a Niner next year. Maybe if he was an established receiver. But the bottom line is, Kyle Williams just isn’t very good. He’s fast. So was Renaldo Nehemiah.
Anyway, KW was forced into a role yesterday that ate him up in the end. Two horribly timed mistakes. The first one was a brain cloud melt down. You learn in pop warner to get away from that ball. The 2nd one was also a mistake simply because there is no way in hell you can fumble the ball in that situation and he didn’t look to be doing anything extra to hold on to it. In fact, he didn’t secure it with both hands till the last second and by then the defender was making a play to strip the ball from him–too late to secure it.
It’s funny, after the Niners took the lead in the 4th Q and the defense stopped the Giants and forced that kick from their goal line, it was the first time I was allowing myself to start believing that this was actually happening (SB appearance). We had just taken the lead and had all the momentum after the D stopped the Giants. I envisioned a nice drive by Alex, maybe another score and then put the end of the game in the D’s hands. Then Williams did that weird hesitation dance thing. And the ball just….bounced the wrong way. Grazed his knee. Poof. Momentum gone. Dream of Super Bowl. Gone.
But I’m not going there today. We lost the game for a lot of reasons. In fact, pretty much all facets of our game were substandard yesterday except for our magnificent defense. Even our defense, the absolute rock for us in this game, didn’t force a single turnover all day. And 1 for 13 on third down conversions? What the HELL is that? Crabtree was ghost-like. Rogers was awful in the first half covering Cruz. Our offense was pretty ineffective. Alex was ok, but he missed a couple of wide open guys and threw more balls at ankles than he has in quite some time. Lots of blame to go around. I didn’t blame KW solely for the loss last night and I’m not going to do it today.
If anything, I’m just gonna put this one on Roger Craig. I’m used to blaming him for stuff and I’m good at it. And seriously, who goes to a restaurant and sits at a table next to his framed jersey? Pompous ass. We deserved to lose because of that. 🙂 🙂 🙂
It was a fabulous, magical season. I’ll never forget it…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
They gave up on the running game in the 4th quarter. After we kicked the field goal to tie it and then stopped the Giants on 3 plays, there was about 5 minutes left and the play they ran on first down was that short out that Alex Smith threw 5 feet about the receivers head. Why were they noty trying to run the ball there and shove it down there throat? That then lead to 2nd and 10 and Giants were waiting for the run and stuffed it.
That should have been the drive to seal the game….they played above their heads all season and we saw that Alex Smith, even with a phenomenal game against the Saints, may not have it to win the big game in trying conditions and against a good defense. I think the play calling lacked sophistication if they go 1-13 on third downs. That is not championship quality football, but we still had the game in the bag, that is what hurts…when do pitchers and catchers report?
I see the definition of blow job has been updated, it now includes Kyle Williams picture next to Monica Lewinsky.
Great season by the 9ers but today SUCKS (which if I’m not mistaken, the definition also includes a reference to Kyle Williams)
Less than a month until pitchers and catchers report, just how will I spend my time? “Be vewy quiet. I’m hunting wabbits”.
Add the curse of Roger Craig to the many sport curses.
The fumbles killed them, but they could have gotten Williams off the hook and won it in regulation when they had the ball inside the red zone late in the game and had to settle for 3. His runback had set them up.
Still, as you say,plenty of blame to go around. They shoukd be back next yr with a weak division. Hopefully it’s a good draft for wideouts.
Willams is an experienced kick returner- his blunders cost the game. Period. I’ll explain how that works if anyone needs help.
I’m sure H will regret not running the ball more, since Gore and Hunter were rolling. Talent level at wide out has been an issue for a long time. Crabs mostly invisible, tho not sure why—film will hopefully figure that one out. but unlike Cruz, they couldn’t get open.
Telling thing for me was quote from eli today’s chron: “…I had to be smart and not turn the ball over. Try to be patient. That’s what I kept telling myself. Don’t force anything.” So he kept taking the sacks instead of trying to do too much, they didn’t turn over the ball, and got the breaks on the punt return fumbles. Worst ball he threw might have been the one SF would have surely picked off when the DBs collided and Brown got hurt.
H has set up the foundation tho, and raised the bar of expectations. give him a full off season, and look out.
What he will regret is not having a different punt returner. “Thowing balls at ankles” is not a fucking mistake- the alternative was throwing interceptions. And getting beat by a great receiver ( Cruz) is not a mistake. They played a good game- better than NY…except for Kyle. As I said last night- Preston Riley has lived with it for 40 forty years. Scott Norwood missed a TOUGH missed a tough FG- Kyle is going to have to live with it too- HE LOST THE FUCKING GAME.
No one is arguing about williams wearing the goat horns. but SF had the ball often enough to put up more points, and didn’t. You put yourself in that situation, where one f-up (sure, 2 in this case) costs you the ultimate prize. 1-13 on third down is unacceptable, and the catches by NY wideouts vs. SF is unacceptable too.
When you lose, everyone could have done more. Might sound like coachspeak to you, but I believe in it.
WillieD— I just saw your response to my hoops Q yesterday. Thank you, that was a big help.
Every team, including NY last night, has plays that don’t work, passes that are incomplete, running plays that go nowhere- those are not mistakes. Kyle made 2 huge mistakes. That was the difference or we’re in the Super Bowl…
Cruz was completely shut down in the 2nd half, not one catch. And the adjustment at half time was to put Culliver on him. Rogers covered him in the first half like he had a blanket on his head.
Have to agree, that the blame needs to be spread around, two passes to the WRs??? NY Corners and Safeties are that good?? On K Williams, every punt return man who lets the ball bounce usually runs so far away from the ball that he is on the side line by the time the opposing teams special teams has picked up the ball. and the fumble?? he is a wide reciever, but if that had been a pass he caught and he held the ball that loosely it would have been strip also. Cover the frigging ball like a running back you fool!! Yes blame can and should be spread around, but those two gaffs cost the niners the Super Bowl. Score woulda/shoulda been 17 – 10 Niners
I knew the Niners were hosed when they had Kristen Chenoweth sing the anthem.
WTF is that? Huey Lewis and the boys last week, they should have had them again….
Really Snarkk……. faulting Kristen for singing that horrible anthem……. Oh say can you see…?
OK, I know I shouldn’t still be this pissed off but I am. Kyle Williams sucks, end of story.
And another thing, I can see why Joe Fuckwad would root for the Giants and Pats SB just so he could be the good Fox lapdog. But Troy Aikman? Step away from the Fox Kool Aid man. You were a Cowboy for christ sakes, it’s just wrong on so many levels for you to root on NY.
Good for you- there are guys far less responsible for losing a game who have wearing it for years.. BTW, as far there being enough blame to go around. That’s what coach says on the podium.In private he’d like to strangle the squirt..
Not our Harbaugh!
Well, did you see Tyler before the NE game? I thought there was a cat in heat in my yard..
NY and SF put on a hard nosed game outside in the rain. Football despite the weather is way more interesting outside rather than playing in those boring domes. I hate domes.
But you like the DH?
NO……I just don’t appreciate a pitcher coming to bat. To me it’s a pure waste of time.
Don’t know if this has been linked on the Flap before, but Timmeh reportedly turned down 5 years for $100M.
http://jon-heyman.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/33714192/34519023
Yeah, the 2nd fumle is bad, horrible, stupid, but at least it was the result of someone ELSE hitting him. The 4th quarter one was flat brain-dead stupid.
Either go after it in the air, or get the fuck away from it. End of story. Pretending it didn’t hit you didn’t help much either.
Stomp your feet Chuck and yell out a few BLEEPS!
Your right Chuck, this game shouldn’t even have gone into OT. Everything that the O did or didn’t do would have been addressed for the next game, the SUPER BOWL.
A magical season? Yes, but so was 2002 for our Giants and this one is going to sit with me just like game 6 of the WS.
Sorry, You’re not Your.
Williams seemed indecisive through out the game. He fumbled the end around. He dove to catch one punt, and signaled fair catches on at least a couple that could have been returned. He made me nervous on each punt much the same way folks used to worry about fly balls to Fred Lewis. He dropped the big one Fred never did — twice.
The Giants batted down 3 passes, and made at least a couple of very nice finger tip defensive plays to break up what would have been big completions. They also stopped 3 running plays from behind with the defender on the ground, all plays that looked like they were going to be large gains. I mention those in defense of the SF offense, not in praise of NY.
Not sure what to make of the Heyman piece that Snarkk posted. I’m leery of rumors especially when the article itself already has a factual error in it. He says Tim has always gone year to year but that isn’t true. He’s coming off a 2 year deal—not a huge factual error but still an error.
Williams was trying to make something happen. No one is talking about his *make up* return after the knee-play. That was a fantastic return from him that helped set up our game tying FG.
I’ve watched the knee play like 30 times. He approaches the ball and thinks it’s going to keep bouncing *the wrong way* down the field. He has a split second thought of picking it up to run with it and just as he makes a move towards it he sees #15 approaching and then decides to back off— but he doesn’t back off far enough. Then the ball takes a weird, terrible bounce to the left–then, disaster strikes.
I’m not making an excuse for him, he should have been no where near the ball. As I said in the main thread, you learn that in pop warner.
I’m just trying to imagine what he was thinking and the dude certainly was TRYING to make something happen every time he touched the ball.
That’s more than I can say for Crabtree who didn’t seem to have had his head in yesterday’s game at all.
Well, I mentioned it on my blog, becasue it WAS a big play. It set up the game-tying FG.
And yeah, I’m with you on Crabs. He’s got no feel for the position. He does not know how to decipher a hot-read pass to save his life. They showed some shots from behind Smith, and there’s Crabs running down the field while Smith is waiting for him to at least look for the ball. But no, Crabs is looking at himself on the jumbotron or the girls in the end zone or some shit. And Smith takes a sack because his WR isn’t even looking for the ball. Awful.
Chuck, what did you think of Manning’s play? I thought he played an amazing game from the standpoint of being able to get rid of the ball during immense pressure that lasted all game. I think he got hit 20 times. Wow.
As James said he also made at least two fair catches when he should have run. He had no clue all day. If some blame should be spread around, it’s fair to wonder why he was still returning punts in overtime. in that situation they have plenty of DBs who could just make the fair catch.
Yeah, he gets props for standing in there. The Niners adjusted pretty damn well in the 2nd half to take away Cruz. And Eli was under tremendous pressure in the 2nd half. The pisser is that there were 4 balls that Eli either got hit while throwing, or were just bad throws, that could have been picked. 2 that Goldson broke up. If not for the 2 short fields that KW gives them though, the Niners win. Smith made the bigger plays on offense. Believe it or not.
The 1st half was straight out of the niner handbook though. Short safe passes to crossing WRs or TEs. And a few deep shots. Again, though, Smith was the one who hit the home runs.
It didn’t help that at least two interceptions were not made because our guys ran into each other. Both were slamdunks.
Well said, BF. The 49ers didn’t have their “A” game there, other than the defense, overall.
And Harbaugh’s use of defensive lineman to block failed yesterday. Having to settle for a fieldgoal after that first and goal early in the game wasn’t helpful.
In retrospect, we’ll be amazed at how well the 49ers did this season with the wide receivers they had.
Williams lost the game. Not having your “A” game has something to do with your opponent’s play. Wiiliams sucked on his own..
The crucible of the playoffs exposes things. It exposed Williams, but it also exposed some other things the Niners need to improve on.
I think it exposed some coaching weakness, too. Play calls in the second half were very suspect; why they went away from Gore so much is questionable. He averaged 4.8 yds/rush. The first down passing calls were going nowhere, leaving 2nd and ten all the time. Where were draws and screens? As usual, nowhere…
One thing I really noticed during the game (and during the season in general) is the lack of throwing lanes our line gives to Smith. There were crossing routes that NY threw where the blocking was designed to open up areas to throw the ball. Mainly for those crossing routes. NY either cut-blocked the D linemen down, or pushed a gap open to create a lane. More often than not, slants are batted down by the D linemen when we try them.
Unfortunate that both SP teams were undeserving winners. As I posted on Chuckie’s blog, Flacco would have a big game and he clearly out played Brady. The missed FG was not even the big mistake- it was the botched TD catch from Evans..
I guess I’m more of a Niners, and football, fan than I had realized. Once KW fumbled, I walked upstairs, the TV still playing, my wife knitting. I couldn’t take it. Just could not watch it. And refused to read about today until coming here. I’m ready for baseball. THWACK. Horsehide into leather.
I have not watched or read anything about the game except the Comcast postgame. Frankly our local people are just as bad the ESPN and other national media.
I’m sure this won’t cause the slightest bit of debate, but I’m turning the POTW archives into a dumping area for what I consider the best POTD’s.
Had to take Brian’s down for something a little more topical and, as usual, I turned to Loo. You can find Brian’s great post (and future posts from all of you) in the “best of-POTD’s”
I love Loo as much as the next guy, probably even more. But who the hell is the bunny?
he’s referencing the rabbit I threw over the fence from yesterday’s thread.
Kyle Williams and Billy Crundiff…Hand down winners of the “Mr. Irrelvant Awards”.
No, they are the winners of “Who Needs a Job, 2012 Edition?”
KW, for all his speed wasn’t consistent enough. he couldn’t get open enough. Then again, neither could Crabs. I think they shit-call all of them. Crabs, KW, Swain, shit, who else we got? Morgan is fine if he comes back healthy. I’d keep Ginn for PR/KR duties. Goldson’s contract is up. I think he’s gone as well. 6 picks be damned. His play is erratic at best, and his situational awareness sucks. He’s got to feel the presence of his own guy on those near picks. At least on the 2nd one he should have seen Rogers and backed off.
Top FAs at WR include Colston, Manningham and Bowe. You ya want?
I would take Colston in a heart beat Dennis.Has the size and strength to break tackles for extra YAC …Solid Big Time Player.
I remember not too long ago that the Niners used to carry 7 WRs.
And that was when Simpletary was coach. 7 WRs to run all the time, and 3 to pass?
I guess we need more TEs.
Getting to the Championship with essentially two targets in the playoffs ( Davis deep, Gore for checkdown) was a pretty incredible accomplishment.
Excuse me? Gore only had 17 receptions this year. That’s coming off of totals of 61, 53, 43, 52 and 46 in his previous five. Gore for a “checkdown” was a non-factor the regular season. Sure, he had 13 in the postseason, but that right there should tell ya there’s something rotten in Denmark.
You can’t even read anymore, Death Threat.
Ralph Barbieri, even after all the replays still doesn’t think it was conclusive that the ball bounced off of Kyle William’s knee. And I thought I was in denial.
I thought it was obvious that it did.
Well we all know The Razor is the biggest homer and Idiot on Radio.Hell he still thinks Shaun Estes should win a Cy Young.
If I were a Niner fan, I’d be a little twisted over that non-fumble call on Bradshaw…
You know, I didn’t talk any smack with my friends from NOLA after that game, yet one of my wife’s FB friends posted this “Hows it feel now 49ers !! Congrads GIANTS !”. So we’re responding with “Well, it feels like shit but after going back and watching the 9ers Saints game, it feel a little better”. Which, by the way, I did watch the condensed version and I do feel a bit better.
Kill the wabbit, Kill the wabbit.
Bozo, anyone who can quote Elmer Fudd from Chuck Jones’s parody “What’s Opera, Doc?” that included him mimicking Wagner’s ‘Valkries is a friend of mine.
Cheers.
Your latest comment entitles you to a 1-month free “Get out of being told fuck you Bozo! card.” Enjoy.
Hey you old horse thief, I’ve always kinda liked the fuck you bozo bit.
Cheers man.
They defintely need to add Big Tall WR’S with Speed in the draft.Along with a big back.Like Gore and Hunter but Gore has alot of mileage on him.Dixon has the size and bulk,but seems to be in the doghouse / the coaching staff is hesitant to use him.When he did get his 1 carry, he damn near broke it before gettin tripped up.
He gained 3 yards on 2 carries at a crucial time when they needed 4. They had to punt on 4th and 1. Very curious decision by Harbaugh.
Stupid fans are posting death threats on Twitter to K williams, did they not learn anything from what happened to Brian Stow. Granted he is not a player but still!! Stupid
Yeah real sad when it gets to that.Hell Bill Buckner still gets death threats.
I know my predictions and prognostications have SUCKED this year. But this one can’t miss.
Cam Cameron will be shit-canned, and shit-canned soon as the Ravens OC. 3rd dn and 3, late in the 4th quarter at a crucial point and time in the game and he gives it to the FB, Vonta Leach, whose had 15 carries for 38 yds in his CAREER. Big surprise that play negated in a 3 yd loss.
Bring in Eddie D. “He’s gone!”
I think the NFL Network babes trump those at ESPN. I’ll take Melissa Stark and Stacey Dales over Erin Andrews any day. Though I am partial to Wendy Nix when she wears her glasses. She’s got that whole “librarian” thing going on.
There are some very good woman announcers, but if your’re 12 years old and rate them by their “babe-itude”, you wouldn’t know. Beth Mowins does a very credible job doing college football play-by-play, BTW..
Death threats to players. Certainly that doesn;t happen here. Right Dennis?
Going back to your idiotic response earlier, DTD- when just 2 guys are getting open and one is the checkdown, your darn right something’s wrong. As I said, incredible job by the QB putting up those numbers..
Forward fucking progress, my ass. The fuckwad ref who blew the whistle while the Bradshaw fumble was in mid-air should be summarily relieved of his duties. He had every bit as much to do with the Niner loss as Williams.
“Forward fucking progress, my ass.” – Check
“The fuckwad ref who blew the whistle” – Check
Welcome to the Flap Lasttrain, this clown thinks you fit right in.
Cody Ross–1 year, 3 million, Red Sox.
Does something seem a little wrong about this? I’m not a big Ross fan at all but I appreciate what he did for us in 2010 and he’s better than Justin Christian. We couldn’t have given him 1 year, 3mil? That’s insane…….
Agreed Flav. That was my point a few days ago. As we all know he’s a streaky hitter, but man when he was in that zone…
well shit, if I had known that your point was that we could get him for a year at 3 Mil I might have trumpeted your opinion more forcefully. Maybe a POTD>>>>>Sabes sees that and….>>>> he signs him. See, Influencing the direction of our team is as simple as finding your way to the POTD widget. 🙂
I think I said I thought we could get him for 4, course I thought they should have platooned him with Torres.
Well, I didn’t mentioned $s, but said something about Cody being on the cheap. And I think you did make it a POTD. It was a plea to Bobby Evans to get a couple of bucks from his pal Larry. I should have made the plea to Sabes but thought he might be busy with all of soph’s requests.
Vizquel marches on. He’ll be 45 next year. If you would have told me during his time with the Giants that he’d still be playing in 2012 I would have said you’re insane. The most amazing thing about his career stats (to me) is that he had 10 triples in 2006 at the age of 39, the most triples he ever had in a single season…….
I missing where Christian is the 4th OFer if even they carry one.
You guys may have suggested the 1y/4 mil thing and I missed it though if I made Bozo POTD there must have been something in there I found interesting. 🙂
I remember Ross and his *multi–year* fantasy had me waving a huge bye bye to him months ago. But shit, paying him 3mil for one year just seems like an automatic move. And he seemed to want to come back. Another year and another 4 million for Voggy is nuthin’ for Sabes but he can’t do a deal like this? On paper, none of this makes any sense at all………
Welcome to the Lunatic Fringe…
Hey, I just want the 49ers to sign DeSean Jackson.
Is that one of Janet’s sisters?
Maybe didn’t he want back here. For the same money or thereabouts of course he chose Boston. I am sure you found Bozo’s entry more interesting, BTW. I don’t even know what it was and I did too..
I don’t think they get Ross for the same dough, just like they weren’t getting Beltran for what Stl paid. With Cody, like with Renteria, pride may have been an issue
It was a smart move for Cody, Crawford probably won’t be ready to start the season so he could play a lot and resurrect a faltering career.
My read is that Cody DID want to come back, most definitely. I wish he had, for one year, sure. Looks like it went this way: he wanted more than a year, Giants wouldn’t budge, he saw no 2-year deals were out there, took one yr from BOS after Too Many Bridges Burnt With Baer [TMBBWB]. Kinda sad. So it goes.
Ok, here was the post. I think it got POTD for the picture of the Blade parking job or maybe the Blanco rave. Although, embedded in this remarkable piece of writing there was a plea to sign Cody. (insert one of them there smiley face things here).
Bozo said, on January 18, 2012 at 7:15 am
Hey Blade, good job parking that car on the flowers.
I know it would just be a ST invite, but Gregor Blanco? Are you fucking kidding me.?
A shout out here to Bobby Evans, I don’t complain much and I do understand budget issues and all but Gregor Blanco? You see Bobby, I’m thinking maybe just maybe you can squeeze a few million from your ol’ pal Larry and perhaps pick up that clown wannabe, you know, Cody Ross. At this point you can probably get him on a one year deal and the Giant would then, truly have some OF depth. Don’t get me wrong Bobby, I love Nate and as exciting as a platoon of Huff, Belt and Pill would be I’m thinking adding a true OFer just might be some decent insurance to have.
Thanks in advance.
Bozo
Well,it appears that $130m budget is ironclad and they are tapped out.
good night flappers. i’m just now re-joining the living.
welcome back!
Maybe it’s the Snarrkles influence but Sabean is still the GM. Baer, with the partners, sets an overall budget but there is zero indication that he interferes with Sabean’s job..and signing or not signing Ross is Sabean’s call.
I’m a drunk idiot just trying to start an argument. Tim Tebow is a joke of a QB
Harbaugh likes Alex. Alex likes the Niners! Looks like he will be back! Better take a nip, Dennis.
I’m a drunk idiot just trying to start an argument. Alex Smith is God. I worship him.
Too bad you didn’t enjoy the 49ers’ season. That was your choice. All pro sports is entertainment, to entertain on an ongoing basis, not just whether a championship is won or not. The Niners provided a lot of great entertainment this season. They brought back that feeling of Niner fan pride. To be in the NFL championship game, to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, to be RELEVANT to the football world again was a lot of fun. Too bad you missed it.
NFC championship game, I meant.
Dennis, don’t try to sneak your inflammatory bullshit onto my blog during the Hangman Hours. I will edit you all day long and I can make you say some really stupid looking shit so don’t fuck with me…..