Well, there you have it-----

[Catfish]

It turns out that the uneasiness felt by several of us on the board during this weekly buildup to the road game with the Niners was justified. What was nice about this occasion however, was that the 'Old Cards' did not rear their ugly side and give in to a divisional rival who was laying in the grass for us.

It was quite apparent that the new coach in San Francisco had his charges well prepared and hugely motivated to exact revenge for the 47-7 trouncing handed them by the Cardinals in U of P Stadium earlier this year. Having nicely completed the transition from Kaepernic to Gabbert, and with ten games under his belt, their new coach nearly pulled that feat off in Santa Clara yesterday.

BA, Palmer and company, despite the fiercely contested effort thrown at them by San Francisco in front of a packed house of rabid, and raucus Niner fans, refused to lay down and play dead, and did what good teams do on a day when things are not exactly going according to their game plan. They pulled out of town with a win under their belts, though they had a number of new injuries to show for it when they boarded the plane for Phoenix. It was not easy, and it certainly was not pretty, but there was a certain satisfaction in knowing that the Cardinals could weather such a storm, and still escape with a win at the home of a bitter division rival. How fitting was it, that when it seemed that after a 14 play drive stalled, late in the game, CP3 literally put his team on his own shoulders and ran the ball in from 7 yards out to cap the drive with a game winning TD, (and that was even as a missed extra point seemingly mocked the effort as if to say, "do not forget this game").

BA, true to his character, remarked after the game, that it is much better to learn a lesson from a close win than it is to need a loss in order to learn. Hopefully the guys from the desert take that caveat to heart and continue their winning ways as they work their way through the remaining schedule and strive for a good spot in the playoff picture. And by the way, it is very nice to see that the 'same old Cards' did not make an appearance in Santa Clara on Sunday afternoon. This is so much nicer.

 

[jmt]

Not long ago we were like the the 3-8 49ers. All the penalties against them was deja vu. GBR!

 

[cardpa]

Not long ago we were like the the 3-8 49ers. All the penalties against them was deja vu. GBR!

I think now that the season is in the final stretch you are going to see the teams (Cardinals, Panthers, Broncos, Patriots, Bengals and maybe the Vikings) get close calls their way or extra protection for their QBs because the NFL wants to have top teams in the SB. They really do not want teams that are barely above .500 playing in their big game. Yes, it has happened however it's not ideally what the NFL would prefer, especially two teams like that.

There are only 9 other teams above .500 with Minn at 8-3 and GB at 7-4 with a record that is more than one game above .500 The rest are all 6-5. The last thing I think the NFL wants to see is a Super Bowl with a 9-7 team vs. a 8-8 team or worse two 8-8 teams.

After next weeks games there is the potential that 6 of the 7 teams with a 6-5 record could fall to 6-6 which would leave just 3 other teams above .500 along with the top 5 meaning you could have just 8 teams with a better than .500 record in the entire NFL with 4 games left to play. That is just 25% of teams with a winning record.

In the NFC Least you have the Cowboys with a 3-8 record still in contention for the division crown because they are only 2 games behind the first place Redskins. Looking at the schedules of the NFC East teams there is a real, wait a very real possibility that the division is won with a sub .500 record. Considering the remaining schedule for the Giants and Redskins, they could very well come into the last week with 6-9 records, finishing their schedules against the Eagles and Cowboys respectively. It's possible the winner of this division could end up 6-10 going into the playoffs. With a bit of luck you could see a sub .500 Super Bowl team. I guess one thing almost a guarantee is you probably will not see a team with a 10-6 record miss the playoffs.

On other notes only 4 teams have a point differential that is +100 and they are the Patriots, Bengals, Panthers and Cardinals. No other team is close to these teams. Funny they also have the 4 best records in the NFL. 18 teams are negative in point differential with the 49ers leading the way with -119.

 

[Catfish]

On other notes only 4 teams have a point differential that is +100 and they are the Patriots, Bengals, Panthers and Cardinals. No other team is close to these teams. Funny they also have the 4 best records in the NFL. 18 teams are negative in point differential with the 49ers leading the way with -119.

Great point cardpa-----------I was not aware of the separation that is beginning to show through the whole NFL between the really good teams and the also rans.

 

[jbeecham]

It seemed like we were really trying to force the run & SF was really trying to focus on stopping the run after they got run over last week against Seattle. It really wasn't working for us at all & kept putting us in 3rd & long all game.

We have more success running when we use the pass to set up the run. We tried to use the run to set up the pass & Chris Johnson averaged 1.4 ypc! 12 rushes for 19 yards before getting injured. Ellington at least had a respectable 4.8 ypc before he went down, but it was on only 5 runs.

Overall, we had 40 passes & 29 runs, which is fairly balanced, but I just didn't like the play calling & how bad we were on 3rd & 1 (or 3rd & goal) at running the ball. Our run plays are so incredibly obvious most of the time too... Fitz motions in behind/beside one of the tackles with only 1 WR outside so it looks like a jumbo set. They stack the box against it and we get maybe 2 yards if we don't lose yards. Why not put 4 WRs out there & spread their defense out & then run a draw or a toss to the weak side.