HAts off too Nolan

[slanidrac16]

I think he coached 1 hellava game. He knew the Cards were going to have the adrenaline flowing and took advantage of that with the misdirection calls. Also kudos for a young team not folding when they fell behind 21 - 7.

Lets take this win like many of the good teams do when they don't play their best. This team can and will play better. We need to realize our running game is going to be a work in progress. Oh, and if I were Green I would tell my players if anybody gets a blatant personal foul next week, they will be inactive for week #3. That crap has to stop.
Our special teams played great except for the punt return which falls square on the shoulders of Femi for losing contain.
Running game wasn't great but it was better than last year. We were able to control the much of the 4th quarter on our final drive and we would have had the game iced on Edges run to the 1 yard line if not for the holding call on Wells.
Seattle can't be feeling to great about how they played. Refs helped them tremendously.
Finally , this team is built more along the lines of the Rams of 5 years ago. We cannot play smash mouth but we can sure the hell out score you. We will need to score 30 pts. next week to win.

 

[PACardsFan]

I was also impressed with Nolan & the Niners. This team is not the joke they were the last couple years. An organization that has won 5 SB's won't stay down for too long. I still think that this was a win we will be happy with by season's end.

 

[Assface]

I'd like to see the Cards do that double-reverse that SF used on the first drive, that was a nifty little play.

Nolan had his guys playing hard. Kudos to the Niners for not giving up, especially when it seemed that we were scoring at will. Fortunately for us, SF just doesn't have that much talent yet.

Edge came close to 100 yards. He's already had a more productive game than JJ and Ship did all of last year. I think our highest rushing total last year was 59 yards and he had 73. He didn't have much to work with but he made a few guys look silly out there.

 

[az1965]

I'd like to see the Cards do that double-reverse that SF used on the first drive, that was a nifty little play.

For some reason, it has never worked for us in the past...

 

[Russ Smith]

I'd like to see the Cards do that double-reverse that SF used on the first drive, that was a nifty little play.

Nolan had his guys playing hard. Kudos to the Niners for not giving up, especially when it seemed that we were scoring at will. Fortunately for us, SF just doesn't have that much talent yet.

Edge came close to 100 yards. He's already had a more productive game than JJ and Ship did all of last year. I think our highest rushing total last year was 59 yards and he had 73. He didn't have much to work with but he made a few guys look silly out there.

Mainly because Edge got the carries because we had the lead the whole way. He had some nice runs but his overall YPC was actually less than JJ's last year and about the same as Shipp. the difference was as FOX pointed out a few times, SF actually RESPECTED Edge and brought the safety up in the box at times, something we NEVER saw last year because nobody respected JJ or Shipp.

On the long punt return, Femi did lose contain but the key to the whole play was Darling missing the initial tackle, he literally got straight armed by Battle that was really disappointing.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Mainly because Edge got the carries because we had the lead the whole way. He had some nice runs but his overall YPC was actually less than JJ's last year and about the same as Shipp. the difference was as FOX pointed out a few times, SF actually RESPECTED Edge and brought the safety up in the box at times, something we NEVER saw last year because nobody respected JJ or Shipp.

On the long punt return, Femi did lose contain but the key to the whole play was Darling missing the initial tackle, he literally got straight armed by Battle that was really disappointing.

I don't care what anyone says. I am very excited about the run game after today and its all thanks to Edge. He will have a few 150 yard games but mostly he will grind out betweent 70 - 95 yards a game and get us a TD. And thats all we need. Anyone notice how much better we are in the red-zone now?

Watching Indy get 2 FGS so far in drives that looked much like ours of last year in this Giants game tells me what the ultimate difference between scoring 3 and scoring 6. Its Edge.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't care what anyone says. I am very excited about the run game after today and its all thanks to Edge. He will have a few 150 yard games but mostly he will grind out betweent 70 - 95 yards a game and get us a TD. And thats all we need. Anyone notice how much better we are in the red-zone now?

Watching Indy get 2 FGS so far in drives that looked much like ours of last year in this Giants game tells me what the ultimate difference between scoring 3 and scoring 6. Its Edge.

Yep that's the respect I refer to, teams have to play us differently.

That said, SF's defense figures to be pretty mediocre this year, I dont' think we should make long term decisions based on one game.

But I agree Edge makes us a much more complete offense.

About the only compaint I had on Edge today was the sack where Warner fumbled, he was blocking Walt Harris and he is the one that allowed the sack. Maybe Kurt held the ball too long but I was surprised a CB got by him that easily Edge is pretty well known for his blitz pickups.

 

[ajcardfan]

The first week is always crazy, there are always teams playing over their heads. Examples: Detroit and Buffalo today. Also, remember the Niners won their opener last year.

The Niners played very hard today. Frankly, in my mind, this game was nothing more than survival for us. I feel like this W gets a 500 lb gorilla off our backs.

 

[Scot1]

Very good point by ajcardfan. We almost yielded a comeback; that stop after the punt return, and that long drive that used up just enough time, saved us. When(if?) we get used to winning, the punt return and the lost onside kick won't happen.

 

[mesacardsfan]

I give the niners their props they came to play and played hard. That being said they sure got alot of calls that helped them score when we had them stopped. I am sorry but the unsportsman like calls were bogus and would not have been called by most crews. Everytime Hockulee (spelling?) does a game their are way too many flags thrown, guy likes his airtime way too much. The cards thankfully hung on to win in spite of the rediculous calls being thrown around left and right!

 

[AZ Shocker]

Having attended the game, I thought the same thing mesacardsfan. It seemed like there were a lot of calls that probably shouldn't have been called. But when I got home...I watched the tivo version (cuz I'm sick like that lol ) and I have to say pretty much all those calls were legit.

I especially didn't like the Warner called "downing" call when Edge was in the vicinity, but Hockaly (sp?) had some sic explanation for it that made unbelievable sense and one I haven't ever heard before.

 

[az1965]

I believe all unsportsman like conduct calls were correct.

They however ate the fumble by Antonio Bryant. That was a clear fumble.

 

[Osbern61]

I don't think the Niners are going to be as bad as last year. Alex Smith's accuracy on those deep balls was very good(and our d'backs not so good).

 

[Derm]

I was impressed with Alex Smith; he looks like the real deal. The niner's (if they remain healthy) should be fine but without a chance for the post season.

 

[Russ Smith]

I was impressed with Alex Smith; he looks like the real deal. The niner's (if they remain healthy) should be fine but without a chance for the post season.

Bay area papers are all over that how much more confident Smith looked. Let's remember he had 2 clear picks dropped yesterday(Macklin and Rolle) and another that could have easily been picked. But he made a lot of plays downfield in the 2nd half and last year he never even looked downfield. Looked a lot better that's for sure.

 

[john h]

Mainly because Edge got the carries because we had the lead the whole way. He had some nice runs but his overall YPC was actually less than JJ's last year and about the same as Shipp. the difference was as FOX pointed out a few times, SF actually RESPECTED Edge and brought the safety up in the box at times, something we NEVER saw last year because nobody respected JJ or Shipp.

On the long punt return, Femi did lose contain but the key to the whole play was Darling missing the initial tackle, he literally got straight armed by Battle that was really disappointing.

I was sure not supporter of JJ last year but must say I think he has a home at retruning kickoffs. He looked good to me and it is only a matter of time until he breaks one. Like to see him on some passes out in the flat every once in a while. Our OL did a crediable job with providing some protection for our QB and he showed he still can move his feet when he has to. He also got up after some big hits. If he stays healthy we will be in the hunt as he still has the magic in his arm and the guys who can catch it. I suspect the Edge is giving the OL a piece of his mind about opening holes. The longer the Ol can stay together the better they should become. Zero pass rush. We seemed to have called very few blitzes for what ever reason? Wilson got a big sack at a critical point. It was only about a yard but the edge did score a TD in the first quarter and it looked like he was not going to be denied on that run. 78 tough yards for him. He will do better but that is not bad compared to last year. I do not know how any team can shut down our passing attack with Warner and the receivers we have. Awsome passing attack.

Our buddies the Cowboys lost. Made me feel sort of good. Seattle escapes barely. Next week should give us a good idea of just how good or bad we are going to be.

 

[john h]

Yep that's the respect I refer to, teams have to play us differently.

That said, SF's defense figures to be pretty mediocre this year, I dont' think we should make long term decisions based on one game.

But I agree Edge makes us a much more complete offense.

About the only compaint I had on Edge today was the sack where Warner fumbled, he was blocking Walt Harris and he is the one that allowed the sack. Maybe Kurt held the ball too long but I was surprised a CB got by him that easily Edge is pretty well known for his blitz pickups.

When he coughed up that ball I thought his arm was in motion but I will not argue with the refs. I would argue with them when they called intentional grounding. He was clearly trying to toss that ball to a guy whether it was left handed or not. If he was going to ground it then it would not be so close to the other team where they could intercept it. Warner is still a very accurate passer and can thread the ball in a crowd. He sees guys I could not see in the end zone who seemed to be closely covered.

 

[CardinalChris]

Their Defense was as bad as expected, but their offense surprised me. They used a lot of motion and misdirection against a fast defense and it worked. I prefer to congratulate the Niners instead of thinking our defense was that bad.

 

[CardinalChris]

I believe all unsportsman like conduct calls were correct.

They however ate the fumble by Antonio Bryant. That was a clear fumble.

I disliked both the Bryant Personal foul call and the hit on Smith on the sidelines. I think it should have been a penalty, but the ref said it was for hitting him out of bounds, and it looked like to me he had yet to step out. Now, had Ed said the PF was for hitting around SMith's knees (a new focus of the league this year) I would have shrugged and accepted it.

BTW, anybody else feel the irony overload when Gilmore got that huge gain on the reverse? I just shook my head and told my Niner friend with me that Bryan must have been confused and thought it was a preseason game