49ers Fancast #74 – End of Season Review
Here is your last episode for the 2011 season. An overview of the two playoff games and a look ahead to 2012.
49ers Fancast #73 – More Reasons for Victory
The world seems aligned against the 49ers and their attempts to defeat the New Orleans Saints and the GREATEST QUARTERBACK OF ALL TIME. Or is it Rodgers? Or Brady? Eli? Peyton? What week is it again? Oh, I forget. Whatever. I think the 49ers fare much better in this matchup than the world assumes.
49ers Fancast #72 – Somewhere Bill Walsh Must be Smiling
Best intro ever in this one. The playoffs are upon us! Once again, the 49ers are taking part. I talk a little about the season thus far, and break down the matchup vs. the Saints, the 49ers’ likely opponent on the 14th.
49ers Fancast #71 – Time to Finish
This is it, folks. Crunch time. When the good teams separate themselves from the pack, and the #2 seed starts acting like the #2 seed. That should not, however, take away from the fact that this has been a remarkable season, and the 49ers have exceeded all expectations. Can they take the necessary steps to go even further?
49ers Fancast #70 – Three Games Later…
Sorry for the delay, folks! Couldn’t keep life from happening these last couple of weeks. Not super-long, just long enough to talk about all three games and look forward to… the playoffs. PLAYOFFS?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? PLAYOFFS?! Nope. Not kidding.
49ers Fancast #69 – Halfway to the Playoffs
It’s becoming more than evident at this point that the 49ers are going to run away with this division. Now how far will they go? If you’ve followed this show long enough, my pick for the upcoming game should come as no surprise. So I talk about the Redskins game and stuff, too. Is it a problem that the 49ers winning has become old hat so quickly?
49ers Fancast #68 – Six and One and Counting
The title really speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Is Jim Harbaugh “hiding” Alex Smith? Is Frank Gore destined to wear the gold jacket? Am I certifiably insane? All these questions and more are answered herein!
49ers Fancast #67 – Best Road Start Since 92
I’m still a little in shock over this team being 5-1. Doesn’t seem too long ago that they were 1-5. I don’t need to tell you what I’m talking about in this episode. This team is meeting benchmarks that it hasn’t met since some of its best seasons. This time, it’s 3-0 on the road for the first time since 1992! That’s 3-0 in 10:00 AM pacific starts in the Eastern Time Zone! that’s 3-0 in non-divisional road games! Also, tell me what you think this team will do with the rest of this soft schedule.
Immediate Reaction: 49ers 25, Lions 19
First the Niners hadn’t won a 10:00 am (Pacific) road game in the Eastern time zone since Buffalo in 2009. Then they went out and beat Cincinnati in a slugfest. Then they looked like crap for a half until they put together an improbable twenty point comeback with Alex Smith having the half of his life. That was two in a row. That hadn’t happened since 2002. Today they went into Detroit, played inconsistently, dropped passes, threw high, lost a fumble on their first offensive play, committed about sixteen penalties for 150 yards, and still got out with a road victory. On a Fourth Down touchdown pass from Smith to Delanie Walker. The last time the 49ers started 3-0 in early EST road games? It was 1992, and Steve Young took them to the NFC Championship.
Alex Smith is likely no threat to win the passing title or MVP as Young did that season, but this team is not built to rely too much on its Quarterback. It’s a complete team: a perennial 1,000 yard rusher; a big play WR(Edwards), a keen possession receiver (Crabtree) and fast Tight Ends who can catch; a defense that is without a doubt of playoff and possibly Super Bowl-caliber.
This defense, previously no stranger to giving up big plays in the secondary, held Calvin Johnson without a Touchdown. With rookie corner Chris Culliver on him for most of the game. They sacked Matt Stafford five times, hit him countless others, forced him into bad incompletions, and forced a grounding penalty from their own end zone for a safety.
Frank Gore has strung together three straight 100-yard games, this one against perhaps the stoutest defensive line in the league. Despite speculation that he’s lost a step, Gore continues to prove why he is the heart and soul of this team, and one of the best in franchise history. His two big breakaway runs gave the offense much-needed sparks, and gave the defense rest when they needed it.
Alex Smith had his first bad game of the year, on the road in a dome, with countless false starts and miscues, and they still won. That should tell you how good this team is. It was difficult to get any kind of rhythm offensively, with the false starts, some dropped passes (including a touchdown) and some really high throws (one resulting in an interception). Despite all of that it came down to Alex Smith on 4th and goal. After running it a bunch of times in a row to some success, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman trusted Alex Smith to win the game. His best pass of the game went to the man who dropped a wide open touchdown earlier, and both earned redemption. All three road games have been won in the 4th quarter, and Alex Smith has been as critical to that-and as clutch when it counted-as anyone on the team. It’s a huge development in his growth as a player.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Ted Ginn, Jr., whose returns consistently give this offense great field position. Alex Smith doesn’t have to throw for 300 yards because Ted Ginn saves them 15-20 per drive. Also, David Akers continues to hit long field goals when they need one.
Judging by their performance to date and considering the remainder of their schedule, I think this team could legitimately be headed for 12 wins, maybe even a first-round bye with as competitive as the other divisions are. One wonders about the potential of a Rodgers-Smith matchup in the postseason. Because the Packers are the only team doing it better than the 49ers in the NFC right now.
49ers Fancast #66 – Better Today Than Yesterday
Discussing the 4-1 49ers shellacking of Tampa Bay and looking ahead to 5-0 Detroit. This 49ers team is finally on the rise, proving the old adage: “Coaching matters.” Also proving another adage: “never say never.”
You know who you are.
