LoyaltyisaCurse
IF AND WHEN HEALTHY...
I guess the Cards should just fold up shop now and go play golf!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/04/SPJB1A1285.DTL
Your playoff-bound Niners
This might be just the Rams game talking, but fact is, the 49ers clinched a playoff berth with their 35-0 victory Sunday.
True, it is only the NFC West berth, a bar that takes so little effort to clear that the 49ers at this point could trip over it. And true, the 49ers still have the hardest part of their schedule ahead.
But we have seen the rest of the field, and the word "rancid" really only begins to cover its landscape.
First, so you don't get your knickers in a twist about excessive negativity and other such nonsense, the 49ers once again crushed an inferior team with its defense. Second, a wide receiver caught a touchdown to end a streak of almost four full games without one. Third, the 49ers are 3-1, and the one very well could have been an "0."
It's the "3" that leaps out at you, because the 49ers have faced each of their divisional opponents, and they are what we in both the scientific and religious communities like to term "God-awful." And the Rams are the very worst of all - Detroit- and Oakland-level bad, and that's giving them the best of it.
What we're saying here is that three more wins could seal the deal, and we can see the three from here: Week 12 at Seattle, Week 13 against Arizona and Week 17 at St. Louis. Sure, a long time from now, but those opponents probably will have eliminated themselves well before then, anyway.
Of course, this flies in the face of Mike Singletary's stern weekly warning about needing to work harder and improve more and not give into the temptations of playing in the NFL's version of the Sun Belt Conference.
"We're young, we're excited, and that also makes us a little vulnerable," he said in a postgame newser that covered, among other things, the ongoing deficiencies of the offensive line. "We have to continue to get better, and we will do that."
The 49ers' vulnerabilities, though, have remained beyond the use of their divisional confreres, who have been outscored by the 49ers 78-26 and against all opponents 258-155. They are 2-9, and threaten the all-time worst combined record for also-rans in a four-team division set by the AFC East two years ago: 12-36.
Which is a convoluted way of saying that San Francisco, which used to be the best proof of why the NFC West was awful, is now the exemplar in yet another awful NFC West.
"When you look at the NFC West," Singletary said, "a lot of people think it's a weak division. I don't think that's the case.
"
He's wrong, by the way. The division stinks on ice. Dreadful on ghastly, with a side of cornea-searing hideous. And if that cheapens your enjoyment of what looks more and more like a divisional title, well, that's between you and that bottle of Jagermeister on your end table.
But he continues:
"As we go forward, we want to be one of the best teams in the NFL. That's where we want to go. Near sight is winning the division."
The word he actually was looking for here was "hindsight." As in the rearview mirror. Work to do or no, that much is done, and if it isn't, let the firings commence.
The 49ers' offense is still a frustrating operation. The running game, the strength of the operation, averages 2.5 yards per carry if you take out Frank Gore's two long runs against a badly aligned Seattle defense. The passing game looks slightly better than expected but is still not explosive. The defense and special teams have scored four of the team's 12 touchdowns.
But this divisional title thing is not a complicated equation. The Rams have maybe one winnable game, in Week 8 against Detroit. Seattle is likely to be a favorite against the Lions at home, the Rams on the road, Tampa Bay and maybe Tennessee at home. And Arizona can bank on Carolina at home, St. Louis at home and at Detroit. By that reckoning, the 49ers need to finish 6-10, 7-9 tops, which, in either event, would be the worst divisional winner's record ever.
And they're pretty likely to exceed that on defense alone, even if it's the offensive players who are starting to feel the bandwagon forming.
"Oh, most definitely," running back Glen Coffee said when asked if he thought the 49ers were the division's team to beat. "We wanted to come out and make a statement, finish out the game strong and we did that, so I definitely feel that we're a force to be reckoned with."
A superior force to those being offered in Seattle, Glendale and most assuredly St. Louis, anyway - which for those of you who enjoy your progress delivered incrementally, is all they really need to do to play that elusive 17th game.
E-mail Ray Ratto at [email protected].
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/04/SPJB1A1285.DTL
Your playoff-bound Niners
This might be just the Rams game talking, but fact is, the 49ers clinched a playoff berth with their 35-0 victory Sunday.
True, it is only the NFC West berth, a bar that takes so little effort to clear that the 49ers at this point could trip over it. And true, the 49ers still have the hardest part of their schedule ahead.
But we have seen the rest of the field, and the word "rancid" really only begins to cover its landscape.
First, so you don't get your knickers in a twist about excessive negativity and other such nonsense, the 49ers once again crushed an inferior team with its defense. Second, a wide receiver caught a touchdown to end a streak of almost four full games without one. Third, the 49ers are 3-1, and the one very well could have been an "0."
It's the "3" that leaps out at you, because the 49ers have faced each of their divisional opponents, and they are what we in both the scientific and religious communities like to term "God-awful." And the Rams are the very worst of all - Detroit- and Oakland-level bad, and that's giving them the best of it.
What we're saying here is that three more wins could seal the deal, and we can see the three from here: Week 12 at Seattle, Week 13 against Arizona and Week 17 at St. Louis. Sure, a long time from now, but those opponents probably will have eliminated themselves well before then, anyway.
Of course, this flies in the face of Mike Singletary's stern weekly warning about needing to work harder and improve more and not give into the temptations of playing in the NFL's version of the Sun Belt Conference.
"We're young, we're excited, and that also makes us a little vulnerable," he said in a postgame newser that covered, among other things, the ongoing deficiencies of the offensive line. "We have to continue to get better, and we will do that."
The 49ers' vulnerabilities, though, have remained beyond the use of their divisional confreres, who have been outscored by the 49ers 78-26 and against all opponents 258-155. They are 2-9, and threaten the all-time worst combined record for also-rans in a four-team division set by the AFC East two years ago: 12-36.
Which is a convoluted way of saying that San Francisco, which used to be the best proof of why the NFC West was awful, is now the exemplar in yet another awful NFC West.
"When you look at the NFC West," Singletary said, "a lot of people think it's a weak division. I don't think that's the case.
"
He's wrong, by the way. The division stinks on ice. Dreadful on ghastly, with a side of cornea-searing hideous. And if that cheapens your enjoyment of what looks more and more like a divisional title, well, that's between you and that bottle of Jagermeister on your end table.
But he continues:
"As we go forward, we want to be one of the best teams in the NFL. That's where we want to go. Near sight is winning the division."
The word he actually was looking for here was "hindsight." As in the rearview mirror. Work to do or no, that much is done, and if it isn't, let the firings commence.
The 49ers' offense is still a frustrating operation. The running game, the strength of the operation, averages 2.5 yards per carry if you take out Frank Gore's two long runs against a badly aligned Seattle defense. The passing game looks slightly better than expected but is still not explosive. The defense and special teams have scored four of the team's 12 touchdowns.
But this divisional title thing is not a complicated equation. The Rams have maybe one winnable game, in Week 8 against Detroit. Seattle is likely to be a favorite against the Lions at home, the Rams on the road, Tampa Bay and maybe Tennessee at home. And Arizona can bank on Carolina at home, St. Louis at home and at Detroit. By that reckoning, the 49ers need to finish 6-10, 7-9 tops, which, in either event, would be the worst divisional winner's record ever.
And they're pretty likely to exceed that on defense alone, even if it's the offensive players who are starting to feel the bandwagon forming.
"Oh, most definitely," running back Glen Coffee said when asked if he thought the 49ers were the division's team to beat. "We wanted to come out and make a statement, finish out the game strong and we did that, so I definitely feel that we're a force to be reckoned with."
A superior force to those being offered in Seattle, Glendale and most assuredly St. Louis, anyway - which for those of you who enjoy your progress delivered incrementally, is all they really need to do to play that elusive 17th game.
E-mail Ray Ratto at [email protected].
