Best QB in the NFCW at the moment. McVay was a great hire by the Rams too. They are proving to be what Shanahan/Garopollo isn’tThis just in: That Jared Goff guy is pretty good. The Lombardi trophy might be coming back to the NFC West really soon.
Last warning. Keep it 100% on Football.If you put turnips on ignore you dont have to see their posts. Just sayin.
That said, I chuckled at your comment.![]()
Point #2 is why I call CJ "Beatenhard". Last season he got mercilessly pummeled because he was slow in his reads, had poor pocket presence, and of course didn't have great weapons at his disposal. Year two in the system, well it remains to be seen if that has improved. Beatenhard is pretty tough I'll admit, he hung in there after getting hammered for the games he started. He just needs to quietly manage the game, get the ball out quick, and push the pace faster.Here are five ways the 49ers can pull off a crazy upset:
1. BIG-PLAY BREIDA: Running back Matt Breida shares the NFL rushing lead (with Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott; 274 yards) in large part because of a big-play ability. Rushing yards should be harder to come by now that defenses will be daring Beathard to air it out and prove he’s as capable as Garoppolo.
But Breida isn’t just lucking into a NFL-best 8.6 yards per carry, with a league-high six carries of 20-plus yards. He credited his blockers, then explained why his vision is as impressive as his cut-back ability and speed.
“Once I get to that second level, the field just opens up and I feel if I see green grass, I’m going to hit it,” Breida said. “Of course, my speed helps me.”
Chargers coach Anthony Lynn called Breida “a classic zone runner” who’s flourishing under running backs coach Bobby Turner. Breida splits time with Alfred Morris, but both are battling knee injuries from last game, and their run threat is vital to help Beathard’s re-entry at QB.
2. DON’T BE BALLHOG: Beathard’s tendency to hold onto the ball so long in the pocket resulted in him taking punishing hits last season (19 sacks, 63 hits, 5 1/2 games). That needs to change. But can it if receivers aren’t getting open?
Garoppolo’s pocket courage saw him get sacked 13 times as receivers struggled. Coach Kyle Shanahan said the Lions and Chiefs frequently held receivers and it’s a tactic that generally succeeded, aside from a defensive holding call on the Lions that nullified a would-be interception.
Shanahan’s wily schemes will need to create mismatches more than ever against a susceptible defense.
Marquise Goodwin’s Week 1 quadriceps injury is looking better, so that could boost the offense. And Beathard surely will turn often to his former Iowa teammate George Kittle, whose 191 receiving yards are sixth-most among tight ends.
Past two games, the MIN defense looks a little suspect. with 65 points scored against them. Of course Goff is unreal at this point, but still.had to chime in on Minnesota. They are still a top 5 defense in the league, regardless of the ridiculous outcome of today's game
Well it is year #2 of a total rebuild on both offense and defense, yet the bolded text of the article seems a bit strange to me. A lot of times, the first choice of coodinator do get away from you as a head coach searching for one, but the second choice is always a good scapegoat when things don't go well as planned. Like the article points out, points on the scoreboard are at a premium without their best quarterback starting, so the blame won't go there if the losses pile up and are big losses too. The 49er brass are notorious for scapegoating coordinators, even though they lack the talent for any coordinator to execute their schemes. It's a big challenge for Saleh to at least get them to respectability. The first step is to stop Philip Rivers this weekend.Kurtenbach: Saleh out? The 49ers defensive problems are bigger than coaching
SANTA CLARA — I hear the calls for 49ers’ defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to be fired.
I saw them cascade in on Twitter as the Chiefs scored touchdown after touchdown in the first half last Sunday. The torrent of “Fire Saleh” tweets created a pool that doesn’t look like it will evaporate anytime soon.
But I have a question for all those 49ers fans out there who are calling for the defensive coordinator’s head: do you really think the Niners’ defensive woes are Saleh’s fault or do you just want someone to blame?
I venture to think that it’s the latter.
But I can’t fault you for wanting someone’s head to roll.
The 49ers’ defense has stunk in the first three weeks of the season — it’s one of the worst units in the NFL and key injuries at key positions don’t exactly inspire confidence that anything is going to change in the weeks to come.
I’m not alleging that the failure is a blameless situation, but a coach’s job is to maximize the talent he has available to him.
I have a hard time believing anyone who is currently asserting that the talent on this 49ers defense is better than Saleh’s ability to coach it.
Because what talent are we talking about here?
I don’t know if Saleh is a good coach. I think he’s a smart guy — that counts for something in the NFL — but it’s fair to say the jury is still out in his coaching ability.
Well, for those who haven’t already had a knee-jerk reaction.
But I don’t think we don’t need any more time to make a determination on the 49ers’ defensive roster — while it’s probably improved since last year (Fred Warner is pretty good), it’s oh so far away from being a top-half NFL unit.
We knew that going into this season as well. It seems that some of you have forgotten that.
There wasn’t much preseason debate to the notion that the 49ers were going to have a weak pass rush, questionable cornerback play (particularly if Richard Sherman didn’t play well or didn’t play at all), and a serious lack of depth across the board.
Sure enough, those preseason presumptions have played out in the first three weeks of the season. This defense is straight-up bad against the pass — ranking fourth-to-last in the NFL per Football Outsiders’ DVOA rankings — and the defense as a whole looks bad because of it. Pass defense is kind of important in the modern, pass-happy NFL.
But again, that was a predictable outcome — while there was hope that the team’s top safeties could make a leap to excellence in 2018 along with cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, the base of any argument that the 49ers’ were going to have a positive pass defense was rooted in wishful thinking.
If nothing else, the lack of a viable pass rush — this roster’s best edge rusher might be Cassius Marsh (and that’s not a good thing) — was going to limit the potential of the pass defense.
But instead of those wishes coming to pass, we’ve seen a nightmare: Through three games, the Niners have 19 quarterback hits and are sacking the quarterback on a paltry 5.5 percent of drop-backs, Witherspoon has looked rough, safeties Adrian Colbert and Jaquaski Tartt are injured, and now Sherman will be sidelined for a few weeks (despite what he might say).
Does Saleh deserve criticism for some play calling and the Niners’ poor tackling in the first few weeks? Absolutely. You can blame a coach for not meeting expectations — fair or not, that’s how professional sports work.
But blaming a coach for not exceeding expectations? That’s a new one to me.
Ultimately, I’m not one to blame the chef for a bad meal when he wasn’t given good ingredients (and other, key ingredients spoiled).
Coordinators are always easy scapegoats, but perhaps Saleh is even easier to target for the Niners’ fan because he was not Kyle Shanahan’s first choice to be defensive coordinator — it’s well established that the Niners’ head coach wanted Saleh’s former boss, Gus Bradley, to run his defense. I get it: When you’re not the top choice and you haven’t exactly covered yourself in glory, you’re always going to seem expendable.
And to his credit, Saleh knows that all eyes will be on his defense going forward. It’s highly unlikely that the 49ers will be able to put up serious points on offense with Jimmy Garoppolo out for the season, so if the Niners are to make anything of this season, the defense — as banged up and inadequate as it might be — will need to find another gear.
It’s not as if everything has been terrible for the 49ers’ defense — they have been solid against the run so far this season, posting the eighth-best DVOA in football to date. That area of solid play, of course, aligns with the defensive roster’s strengths.
Isn’t that funny? In the area that Saleh has some talent to work with — the front-seven — there is solid play.
This isn’t to let Saleh off the hook. He’s the leader of the unit, so he will always be culpable — in some way — for its failures. And entering his 20th game on the job, he hasn’t done anything to convince me that he’s the right man for it.
At the same time, what has he done to disqualify himself?
You have a buddy?Buddy of mine texted me
Bolded text for things to key on this weekend.SANTA CLARA — As safety Eric Reid reboots his career with the Carolina Panthers, the 49ers defense marches on without him, while also applauding him.
“I’m happy for him to get a chance on a good Carolina team,” cornerback Richard Sherman said. “He’s a good player and always has been.”
Added linebacker Reuben Foster: “It’s about time they did that. I’m happy. Thank y’all (Panthers) for doing that.”
Reid’s 6 1/2-month wait in free agency didn’t end before the 49ers (1-2) made another run at him, prompted by injuries to starting safeties Jaquiski Tartt (shoulder) and Adrian Colbert (hip). Tartt missed last Sunday’s loss at Kansas City and hasn’t practiced ahead of this Sunday’s game at the Los Angeles Chargers.
The 49ers offered Reid a one-year deal, a league source said. Instead, the Panthers’ one-year pitch wooed a versatile safety who played the past five seasons with the 49ers, the final two of which were overshadowed by his social activism and his kneeling during the national anthem, which he first did next to Colin Kaepernick in the 2016 exhibition finale.
“E-Reid is a guy we’d love to have here in that situation, but it was harder for us, just ’cause we don’t know what’s going on with our starting safeties,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said on KNBR 680-AM. “We paid Tartt this year. That’s why we didn’t go after E-Reid (earlier).”
Shanahan went on to note that neither Tartt nor Colbert are hurt enough to go on injured reserve and thus open a spot for Reid, whereas the Panthers put one of their safeties on injured reserve and thus had a more long-term void. Reid also drew an offer in August from the Seahawks, the NFL Network reported.
“It wasn’t the right situation for him or us to make it happen,” Shanahan added.
Reid joined Kaepernick in May in filing a collusion grievance against the NFL. That is a bigger deal than Sherman finally getting employed, at least according to Sherman, who’s on the NFL Players Association executive committee.
“The (collusion) case that they have will be more of a landmark movement than anything,” Sherman said. “A football team signing a good football player isn’t really a landmark in my opinion. It’s kind of too little too late for it to be a landmark.”
Reid’s Panthers is worth up to $1.9 million, including a $1 million base salary that, prorated, amounts to $832,529 the rest of the season and just above the league minimum $790,000.
The 49ers defense hasn’t fared well without Reid. In Sunday’s 38-27 loss at Kansas City, Tartt did not suit up and Colbert left after three series, leaving Antone Exum and D.J. Reed to serve as the safeties against the NFL’s highest-scoring team. “They did an admirable job of playing their tails off and I’m pleased with their direction,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said.
— TACKLING EMPHASIS: Foster spoke for all players, coaches and, well, fans in acknowledging that the 49ers’ league-high 47 missed tackles. “That’s uncalled for, just missing tackles like that, then getting up and doing it all over again to miss another tackle,” Foster said. “That’s not like us, not like our team. I don’t take it lightly.”
Nor do the coaches, who’ve ramped up tackling drills in practice this week. “We’re lunging and ducking our heads at the point of attack,” said Saleh. The preferred approach, he added, is to “get a body on a body, step on their toes, wrap up, keep your feet moving, drive for five and get them to the ground.”
— RUSHERS UPDATE: Running back Matt Breida practiced in full Thursday after being limited a day earlier because of the right knee he hyperextended. All indications are he’ll play against the Chargers. Alfred Morris, who’s split time in the backfield, showed up on the injury (knee) and was limited.
— SHERMAN STATUS: Sherman confirmed he’ll miss the Chargers game (and possibly a couple more) after straining his left calf Sunday, doing so on in run defense. He said the injury is not related to his offseason surgery that removed bone spurs from his left leg, nor his right Achilles repair.
“This was just me not playing in eight months, getting back out there and going through the trials and tribulations of the season, the wear and tear of football,” Sherman said.
— FATEFUL SERIES: So how did the protection break down leading up to Jimmy Garoppolo’s season-ending knee injury, seeing how he got sacked the two plays before he was flushed from the pocket and tore his ACL? It was a combination of factors, right tackle Mike McGlinchey said, and one was how the Chiefs were able to anticipate the snap and beat the linemen off the ball, which Justin Houston did twice to McGlinchey.
Said McGlinchey: “The (second-down) strip sack, I got beat. Houston got a great jump on the ball and just beat me around the edge. I didn’t get off in time,” McGlinchey said. “The next one, we were beat off the snap again. It was a long-developing play, he was flushed out the pocket and a freak thing happened with his knee.”
The Chiefs knew in the fourth quarter the 49ers were passing to get back in the game, and the crowd noise prevented a variance in cadence, thus allowing defenders to take off fast. “We’re not expecting too much an issue this week but you can never take it for granted,” McGlinchey said.
— HEALTH CENTER: Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin (quadriceps) practiced in full. Limited were Colbert and guard Mike Person (foot). Not practicing were Sherman, Tartt and guard Joshua Garnett (toe).
Yeah, actually happy for him despite him being a Ram. Kid took a lot of grief his rookie year. Great thing for his career to go from possibly the worst offensive coach in the league to probably the best.This just in: That Jared Goff guy is pretty good.
Gotta love the whole "fake news" thing Sherman is putting out there lol. Either way, Sherman may never get back to the old Sherman of Legion of Boom days. Was he worth signing him? Why not? But he is on the downside of his career, and injuries may hamper him from season to season.Is 49ers’ Richard Sherman out for a while?
Jimmy Garoppolo’s torn ACL has diverted attention from another significant injury for the 49ers: Richard Sherman’s strained left calf.
The three-time All-Pro cornerback is expected to miss multiple games with an injury that likely is connected to his offseason surgery to remove bone spurs near his left Achilles tendon. And his lower-leg issues could linger throughout the season.
At least that’s the opinion of Dr. Ken Jung, a Los Angeles-based foot and ankle surgeon who is a consultant to five professional teams, including the Lakers and Dodgers. Jung works at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute.
“It’s all connected,” Jung said of Sherman’s calf injury. “The Achilles connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. ... It’s all in a chain.”
Sherman, who remained in a walking boot Thursday, exited late in the second quarter of a 38-27 loss in Kansas City on Sunday. He was sidelined three days after he missed practice with what the 49ers termed a heel injury, although they did not specify which heel was ailing Sherman.
Jung said it’s not uncommon for patients who have bone spurs removed to develop heel pain. The surgery involves elevating the Achilles away from the heel bone, where the spurs are located. The area can become aggravated post-surgery where the Achilles heals back to the bone. In addition, calf tightness is not uncommon after surgery is performed.
“If the (heel) was causing him problems, there are times when a tight calf muscle is present with individuals that have had heel spurs, as well,” Jung said. “So if that area was flared up on him, or was tight, he may have just further exacerbated it Sunday.”
Sherman, 30, signed an incentive-heavy contract with the 49ers in March after his procedure on his left Achilles was preceded by surgery on his right Achilles, which he tore in November.
Last week, a day after Sherman missed practice, head coach Kyle Shanahan said his heel injury was a matter of “wear and tear.” He added that Sherman’s practice schedule would be tweaked to help him deal with the issue.
“I’d like to give him some time off, anyway,” Shanahan said. “He’s going through some stuff, as he will probably be all year.”
However, Sherman said Thursday his calf injury was not connected to his offseason surgery. Sherman had played every defensive snap this season before he was sidelined Sunday with 1:32 left in the second quarter.
“It just makes it an easy story for you guys,” Sherman said. “It makes it lazy reporting. It’s just me not playing in eight months and getting back out there. Going through the trials and tribulations of a season and the wear and tear of football. And taking all these reps after not taking them for eight months. My body has to get used to doing it again.”
Whatever the case, Sherman acknowledged he wouldn’t play Sunday against the Chargers, although he didn’t rule out returning when the 49ers host the Cardinals on Oct. 7.
That could be optimistic, but defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said Sherman has an “unbelievable pain tolerance.” Saleh, who spent three seasons (2011-13) with Sherman in Seattle, noted Sherman has played with a torn hamstring.
It wasn’t clear if Saleh meant the torn hamstring Sherman sustained in the 2017 season opener against the Packers. Sherman didn’t miss a snap in that game. And he played in Seattle’s first nine games last season until his right Achilles, which had been ailing him in training camp, finally tore in early November.
“You find a way to manipulate your body,” Sherman said of playing with a torn hamstring. “... You’ve got to stop thinking about it. It makes your other muscle and stuff compensate and you’re going to be sore as hell after the game. But when you’re a ballplayer, you just figure out a way. If I can walk, I can run. If I can still get down the field, then I think I can do my job.”
Given their injury issues in the secondary, the 49ers might welcome Sherman back at far less than 100 percent.
Strong safety Jaquiski Tartt (shoulder) hasn’t practiced this week after missing Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, and free safety Adrian Colbert’s status is up in the air after he exited in the second quarter in Kansas City. Without Sherman, the 49ers’ cornerbacks will be Jimmie Ward and Ahkello Witherspoon, who was benched last week before Sherman’s injury necessitated his return to the field.
On Sunday, the 49ers’ banged-up back end will face Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, 36, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection who has shown no signs of slowing. This season, Rivers has thrown eight touchdowns and one interception. Through Monday, he ranked fifth in passer rating (115.7) and seventh in yards per game (302).
Whenever Sherman returns, he might have to manage some discomfort, Jung said. And given Sherman’s medical file, he probably has plenty of experience doing just that.
“It may be something that they have to manage through the rest of the year,” Jung said. “Obviously, if he’s had a history of spurs prior to this, it’s something that he’s dealt with. Bone spurs don’t just form overnight. They take time to develop and are usually an indication of some sort of chronic condition.
“A couple of weeks may allow things to settle down — symptom-wise and pain-wise — to get him comfortable enough to get back out there and play.”
V. Timeline For Return
On average, NFL players return from an ACL injury in a little over 10 months and the outcomes on ACL repair in elite athletes, generally, are very good. Recent high level evidence on return to sport after ACL surgery has shown that nearly 83% of elite athletes (irregardless of sport) returned to sport following an ACL surgery and most performed comparably to non-injured counterparts.
Further, evidence shows that early participation and accelerated ACL protocols, like are often used in the NFL, do carry some risk of re-injury. Athletes in accelerated rehab programs may have ongoing abnormal motion and relative weakness for up to 22 months following surgery, in addition to an increased risk for knee arthritis (click here and here for more info).
Generally, the consensus amongst medical providers I’ve spoken to is the longer the timeline the better – it allows for the ACL graft to heal more and for the player to reduce side to side asymmetries which is a key indicator of injury risk. It would be very prudent of the Niners to let Jimmy G take his time but I expect he’ll be back on the field in nine or ten months, barring any setbacks (the most recent example is Carson Wentz who returned in a little over nine months).
Once he does get back to the field, what can we expect?
VI. Long-Term Ramifications
There are certainly some long-term consequences after an ACL rupture. Like my NAU professor Dr. Carl DeRosa alway said, “it’s never the same model.”
First and foremost, there’s nearly a 25 percent chance of re-rupturing the same ACL after surgical repair . It’s no coincidence that prior ACL injury is the best predictor for future ACL injury. Perhaps even more disconcerting, the risk of rupturing the other side (“contralateral”) ACL after surgical repair is upwards of 20.5 percent! Bio-mechanics, proprioception, and compensation are quite sensitive to injury.
Further, research has found that side to side movement asymmetries (jumping distance, landing distance, mechanics) can exist for up to two years after ACL surgery.
Lastly, there’s potential ramifications for the knee cartilage.
Credit – MyHealthAlberta
For reference, femur = thigh bone, patella = knee cap, and tibia = shin bone.
After ACL injury, research shows a higher degeneration rate of knee cartilage and nearly a 3.6x increase in developing arthritis compared to an uninjured knee. Arthritis risk is even higher when the original ACL rupture also involves direct damage to the knee cartilage, which may or may not be the case for Jimmy G. Research shows anywhere from an 18% to 48% increase in osteoarthritis risk with this combined injury compared to only an ACL rupture.
To top it all off, we know that kinesphobia (aka fear of movement or re-injury) is one of the last things to dissipate for athletes (click here, here, and here for more info) returning from ACL ruptures. In other words, one of the last things to return is confidence of movement.
As a Niners fan or just someone concerned for Jimmy G, you might be thinking “oh crap, he’ll never be the same dude”. However, that’s very likely NOT the case.
A research study specifically looked at NFL QB’s recovering from a torn ACL and it found that 92 percent returned to play with only one re-injuring the ACL and needing a re-repair. Additionally, the study found that these QB’s performed just as well after the ACL injury as they did before AND there was no difference between these QB’s who tore their ACL and their injury free counterparts.
When something is deleted, don't post it again.You have a buddy?Buddy of mine texted me
Huh. Would have never thought that.
Pretty bad, but after watching Pittsburgh last night, they may be worse. Not that it's any consolation, but some basic wrap up techniques seem to be lacking throughout the league..if the defense would learn how to tackle this team would be much more competitive than they seem to be right now.
Two weeks in a row they come out with a great opening drive for a TD and then give it right back. One play 75 yard bomb last week and a two play drive down to the 1 tonight.No excuse for pissing that game away. None. I don't care what pseudo fans say, this team has enough talent to win games even without Jimmy and Jet, but they just can't put a full 60 minutes together for whatever reason.
It's just disheartening as ####.
Do they though? Lynch/Shanahan have purged the roster and haven’t drafted spectacularly well to replace them. I’m not sure they have many (any?) above average players outside Kittles, Buckner, Staley, and McGlinchey.No excuse for pissing that game away. None. I don't care what pseudo fans say, this team has enough talent to win games even without Jimmy and Jet,
I'm starting to wonder.Do they though? Lynch/Shanahan have purged the roster and haven’t drafted spectacularly well to replace them. I’m not sure they have many (any?) above average players outside Kittles, Buckner, Staley, and McGlinchey.
They need to smoke moreMarijuana use by NFL players is one of the worst-kept secrets in sports. Former 49ers linebacker Nick Moody didn’t treat it like a secret at all in a chat with Phil Barber of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Moody told Barber that he and several other 49ers used to smoke marijuana before games when he was with San Francisco.
“I feel like my best games were when I was highest,” Moody told Barber.
The linebacker said marijuana was part of his pregame routine along with several of his teammates. He said it was his anti-anxiety medication and kept him from “overthinking stuff” on the field.
Moody spent his first two seasons with the 49ers in 2013 and 2014 after they selected him in the sixth-round of the 2013 draft out of Florida State. He was a key special teams contributor on the 49ers’ 2013 team that went to the NFC Championship Game in Seattle. He also played for the Seahawks and Washington in 2015 and 2016, but hasn’t been with a team since.
The 28-year-old is now part of a slew of athletes advocating for, and aiming to de-stigmatize, marijuana as he vies for another job in the NFL.
It’ll be interesting to see if more players like Moody come to the fore as the long-term impacts of injuries and use of painkillers become more well-known among active NFL players.
Eight games in the can, with only one win out of those games, and that sole win had a gift from the refs too. Sure you can pin blame on injuries, but games like this one are winnable despite the lack of talent the 49ers have, and the team was overrated to begin with before the season started even without the injuries.GLENDALE, Ariz. — When the 49ers and Cardinals gathered here Sunday, many expected it to be the worst NFL game of the weekend.
It lived down to its expectations ... for three quarters.
Then the unthinkable happened. Things got interesting. An actual football game broke out. In the final minutes, the Cardinals marched 78-yards down the field to score the game-winning touchdown with 1:42 on the clock. The 49ers tried to tie it up, but fell short. San Francisco had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory once more. Cardinals 18, 49ers 15.
The Cardinals had proven, once and for all, which team is just a little less horrible.
Despite the relative drama at the end of this contest, don’t kid yourself. That was some putrid football at State Farm Stadium, folks. Hard to watch. Easy to ridicule.
Consider this: The two teams went to halftime with the 49ers leading 5-3. The baseball jokes were everywhere on television and Twitter. Who was warming up in the 49ers bullpen? Is that Hunter Strickland?
Could either team beat the Dodgers? In times of great sadness, you have to laugh.
Or else you’d cry.
The game featured many of the worst qualities of the modern NFL game. Conservative play calling. Shoddy blocking. Lousy tackling. General dullness.
Apparently no one told these teams the league was undergoing a scoring explosion this season.
Neither offense could move the ball consistently, until the closing minutes. 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard played OK, when he wasn’t getting clobbered. The man took another beating out there, victimized once again by the Niners’ porous offensive line.
The Cardinals’ rookie Josh Rosen, of UCLA fame, looked decidely uncomfortable in the pocket for most of the game. Happy feet and some poor decision-making. He’s lucky to have Larry Fitzgerald, the sure-fire Hall of Fame receiver who willed his team to victory, making big play after big play down the stretch. And Rosen gets full credit for finding his star target and delivering.
Despite the defense collapsing and giving up the game in the end, the 49ers had some bright spots.
Running back Matt Brieda continues to run hard. Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin showed off his world-class speed in beating perennial All-Pro Patrick Peterson on a slant for a 55-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Rookie tackle Mike McGlinchey steamrolled a Cardinal defender right off the field on a big run by Alfred Morris. Richard Sherman somehow remains a lockdown cornerback, despite a littany of nagging injuries this year. Kicker Robbie Gould is the best guy on the team.
So, maybe head coach Kyle Shanahan can see some glimmers of hope. Some building blocks.
But he and GM John Lynch clearly have a monumental task ahead of them. Because ... the offensive line is a sieve. Linebacker Reuben Foster picked up yet another ailment, leaving Sunday’s game with a hamstring. Beathard is the definition of a backup quarterback. Who knows what Jimmy Garoppolo will play like after rehabbing an ACL.
Did I mention Robbie Gould is the best guy on the team?
I posted earlier this season/thread how their jobs might not be so safe, even giving them six years - in a league with a salary cap that has brought expansion teams to playoff contenders that same season, to which you really don't need six whole seasons to become a playoff team - as a cushion to fall back on. There is also no guarantee that a key building block they drafted last season will be with the team in year three of that rebuild - Ruben Foster may be trade bait the latter part of the season or offseason - so the whole "six year rebuild" to me is a ruse anyway. It's like saying "well these guys need six years to prove they can build a franchise in a league where a team can turnaround in two seasons because they are n00bs to their respective jobs, thus cut them slack for the double digit loss seasons chock full of bad football", but then you're expectations are of Browns fans instead of SUPER BOWL OR YOU'RE FIRED Jed "8-8 is not acceptable" York's during the latter part of Harbaugh's gig there.I fully understand that in a lost season — like the one the 49ers are currently playing — nothing seems to matter but draft pick position.
One win, two wins, six wins — who cares?
There’s no obvious added value to being mediocre with your backup quarterback at the helm, so a team might as well go all the way in on securing the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft, right?
If that is indeed the prudent decision, the 49ers turned in an outstanding performance Sunday in Arizona. Going up against the 1-6 Cardinals — a top contender to the top-pick throne — the Niners choked away a 12-point fourth quarter lead in a fashion that would be considered spectacular if it were any other team.
But, ultimately, it was the kind of incompetence we’ve come to expect from the 49ers over the last few years.
We saw it under Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly, and it’s continuing under Kyle Shanahan. The Niners are 14-42 since Jim Harbaugh and the team made that “mutual decision” to part ways. Shanahan has seven of those wins, but only one has come without Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm of his offense.
And at a certain point, this continued ineptitude has to mean something, right?
I simply refuse to believe that failure-induced pick pragmatism has become so acceptable that it borders on pigskin nihilism.
Of course, since Garoppolo tore his ACL in Kansas City in Week 3, the 49ers’ season has tacitly been about getting to 2019: Free agency in March, the draft a month later, and then a season that can fairly be called make-or-break for Shanahan, Garoppolo, and the overall direction of the 49ers’ organization.
It’s impossible to predict what next year will bring for the Niners — outside of a high (perhaps the highest) draft pick — but halfway through the 2018 campaign, I’ll ask this: what have we seen from the Niners this season — with or without Garoppolo — that has inspired confidence that this team is on the right track?
What reason is there to be optimistic about this team and its future?
I know that wins and losses are oftentimes a rudimentary rubric — I get that it behooves the Niners to only accrue moral victories, but at some point, they need to show that they can actually beat someone.
Sunday was the perfect opportunity for the Niners to earn that token victory. It was a chance to say “yes, this season has been bad and it’s pretty gloomy right now, but things are looking up — at least we’re not as bad as those guys.”
Those guys, of course, was a team that can’t seem to figure out how to correctly substitute players or get one of the best running backs in the NFL the ball.
The Cardinals are the NFC’s version of the Buffalo Bills — they’re aggressively inept.
And the Niners couldn’t beat those guys.
After three quarters of making rookie quarterback Josh Rosen look like a high schooler Sunday, the Niners’ defense allowed him to look like Aaron Rodgers in the final minutes, as the Cardinals scored two touchdowns on their final three possessions to take an 18-15 lead with 34 seconds remaining in the game.
Meanwhile, the 49ers offense, which had built that aforementioned 12-point lead behind two convincing third-quarter drives, reverted back to incompetence once the game became interesting, culminating in a poetically comical final play with seven seconds remaining and the Niners 10 yards away from game-tying field goal range, when backup center Erik Magnuson airmailed his snap over quarterback C.J. Beathard’s head, leading to a Benny Hill-style scramble and feeble attempt to get rid of the ball as time expired.
Arizona is now 2-6 on the season. Both wins have come against the Niners.
I’m not suggesting that Shanahan should be on the hot seat after Sunday’s loss — he’s in year two of a massive rebuilding project and he has a roster that’s decimated by injuries, led by an eminently replicable quarterback. Even though it’s his roster and his hand-picked quarterback, we should grade him on a curve.
But there needs to be some culpability for the lack of results — just because goals for a season change doesn’t mean that a team can stop showing progress.
And while anyone can see unimpeachable progress on the offensive line (the final play of Sunday’s game notwithstanding), the Niners’ defense seems to have more busts than boom and Beathard is aggressively torpedoing his chances of ever being anything more than a backup in this league.
These Niners also seem to be particularly adroit in finding ways to lose games.
Is that nasty characteristic one that will simply go away between the end of the 2018 and the beginning of the 2019 season?
It better.
Because hoping that the Jimmy G Magic will cover up a team’s shortcomings is not a credible plan for success and the Niners need success in 2019.
Shanahan and general manager John Lynch might have six-year contracts, but they don’t have track records that afford them three years to build the foundation of a team.
Of course, The Niners have two more tremendous opportunities to get off the schneid to start November, as they’ll play the other two teams with one win to their names in their next two games.
San Francisco is somehow favorited to beat the Raiders at Levi’s Stadium on Thursday night — talk about a tremendous opportunity for a token victory. (The BANG sports staff will watch the game so you don’t have to.)
The Nov. 12 Monday Night Football game against the Giants is a solid chance to land a win as well.
In a few weeks, all this handwringing and questioning should prove to be empty — the Niners should get to another win (or two) and then they can coast to the finish line with their high draft pick and respectability secured.
But then again, that was what I was thinking when the Niners took that 15-3 lead Sunday.
Kittle rulesWell the sack totals help when you play against AZ and The Oakland Tankjob, both which don’t have the best offensive lines or passing offenses. They only recorded one sack against one of the best offensive lines and offenses in the league against the Rams for comparison sake.Cmon, coach, let Mullens start against the hapless Giants next week. Its not like they have a pass rush to worry about, the Giants are 2nd to last in the NFL (and dead last in the NFC) with just 10 sacks on the season (only the Raiders have fewer with 7). Surprisingly, the 49ers are tied with ARZ, KC, PIT, and DEN for 2nd most sacks in the league with 24. The only team with more sacks is Baltimore with 27. WHAT?! True story.
Kyle Shanahan taking his time deciding which QB starts next game
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/02/kyle-shanahan-taking-his-time-deciding-which-qb-starts-next-game/
Kyle Shanahan isn’t in a rush to decide who starts the 49ers’ Week 10 game against the Giants. San Francisco doesn’t play for 10 days — until a Monday night game against the Giants — and the players have four days off.
“I don’t need to decide, yet, so I’m taking my time,” Shanahan said Friday, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “And I also wouldn’t want to do that with all of the guys out of the building.”
Shanahan said the quarterback “who we think gives us the best chance to win versus the Giants” will start.
Nick Mullens, though, likely earned a second start even though his debut came against the Raiders defense. His 151.9 passer rating was the best in league history for a debut among quarterbacks with at least 16 pass attempts
Mullens completed 16 of 22 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
C.J. Beathard, who missed Thursday’s game with right wrist and thumb injuries, is only 1-9 in 10 starts. His lone victory came last season against the Giants
I'm here, but I keep getting banned. Twice in the last month or so. You can't even kid around with people any more without the FBGs police coming down on you. ?Am I the only 49er fan left here? Lol...no posts by anyone but me since Oct 22nd?? I get that we still suck, but damn.
Feel the same way, like they want to kill this forum, it's a football forum, not an educational school forum littered with 8 year old children.I'm here, but I keep getting banned. Twice in the last month or so. You can't even kid around with people any more without the FBGs police coming down on you. ?
Anyway, actually looking forward to the Monday night game. Giants suck as a team, but Barkley and Beckham are fun to watch, and the Niners should be able to score in the high 20s plus against that defense.
Glad that Mullens is getting the start. Hope to see a bigger dose of Richie James, and Pettis as well. Really like James in the slot with a guy that can get the ball out quick.
I'm with you on Mullens, let's see what the kid can do. I understand it was the Raiders, but he looked great, poised, and a cannon for an arm... What if he is the real deal? Maybe we can build a team around a low cost QB, trade Jimmy G, and free up tons of money to spend elsewhere.Cmon, coach, let Mullens start against the hapless Giants next week. Its not like they have a pass rush to worry about, the Giants are 2nd to last in the NFL (and dead last in the NFC) with just 10 sacks on the season (only the Raiders have fewer with 7). Surprisingly, the 49ers are tied with ARZ, KC, PIT, and DEN for 2nd most sacks in the league with 24. The only team with more sacks is Baltimore with 27. WHAT?! True story.
Kyle Shanahan taking his time deciding which QB starts next game
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/02/kyle-shanahan-taking-his-time-deciding-which-qb-starts-next-game/
Kyle Shanahan isn’t in a rush to decide who starts the 49ers’ Week 10 game against the Giants. San Francisco doesn’t play for 10 days — until a Monday night game against the Giants — and the players have four days off.
“I don’t need to decide, yet, so I’m taking my time,” Shanahan said Friday, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “And I also wouldn’t want to do that with all of the guys out of the building.”
Shanahan said the quarterback “who we think gives us the best chance to win versus the Giants” will start.
Nick Mullens, though, likely earned a second start even though his debut came against the Raiders defense. His 151.9 passer rating was the best in league history for a debut among quarterbacks with at least 16 pass attempts
Mullens completed 16 of 22 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
C.J. Beathard, who missed Thursday’s game with right wrist and thumb injuries, is only 1-9 in 10 starts. His lone victory came last season against the Giants