Pack Your Bags

So back in the springtime, one of my fellow gangstas Jim came up with the idea that my fellow Niners fans and I should trek out to Frisco to catch a Niners game. Larry, Vi, and I jumped at the chance, seeing Saturday December 15 as a home night game against Cincy. Catch the Niners during a playoff campaign! Smith and Gore vs. Ocho Cinco! Dreams coming true, as we got tickets and made flight reservations, and after a 2-0 start, we were ready to celebrate an NFC West title live on the Bay.

It'll still be a fun trip. But this has got to be the worst letdown season I've ever been part of as a fan. Of any team. Astros '00? Bucks '01-02? Avs '02-'03? UConn '04-05? Oh I'm used to playoff meltdowns or chokes or name-brand rebuilding seasons. The Niners haven't played one quality game all year. Not one, not even in the two wins. And after tonight's debacle, one thing is clear: we are the worst team in football.

Coach Nolan was doing all the right things, improving the win total each year. Smith and Gore were healthy. The schedule was ridiculously soft. The rest of the division was down. And yet, now, after ten weeks, it's completely over. We're on the clock (for Round 2 of the Draft, remember). I'll stash further ranting until the end of the season, but that's all we Niners fans have right now. Hope for next year.

Hopefully we'll get good seats next year too.

Strange week in the NFL otherwise, as nine road teams won, many of whom had no business winning. One team that did have business winning: the Cowboys, who locked up a division I thought they'd finish third in. Face it, Giants fans, this game proved (a) your six wins are overrated, (b) Eli ain't Romo, and (c) a handful of Osi sacks can't stop good offenses. But a win in Detroit against a Lions team that gave up 31 in Arizona can ease doubts of making the playoffs. And honestly, the team that loses that game still has a good shot to make the playoffs...

...because the Redskins and Saints played absolutely pitiful defense at home against two sub-.500 teams. Now N'Awlens can still win the division, especially because the Panthers have officially started to mail it in (still no home wins). But the 'Skins might have let the Eagles back into the race. Most likely not, because Philly's remaining schedule is extremely tough. Nevertheless, we know my pick of Washington to win the division is looking comical. Hilariously enough, the Bears could creep back in thanks to Rex. I don't buy it though. Gimme the Saints and Giants as the NFC wildcards as of now.

Two games really defined the AFC this week: first, the Steelers showed why they are (a) a huge threat to beat the Pats, and (b) if successful there, as likely a team as any to make a Super Bowl run. You don't just shut down a solid Browns offense in the second half like that. Very gritty, a lot of heart, and all with a first-year coach. The black-and-gold made the Leap onto the Super Bowl contenders list this week. Game #2: the Colts-Bolts game was the stuff of legends. One team with all of its weapons healthy staked out to a 23-0 lead. Another team with half of its roster on the trainer's table and a makeshift offensive line. So what do we see? Despicable coaching by Norv. Horrendous quarterbacking by Rivers. A hero in Peyton Manning. And a dramatically tragic ending with Vinatieri. It was enough to mollify criticism for Turner and Rivers, which may not be such a good thing for San Diego. Other AFC notes: the Jags are certainly capable of a first-round upset on the road, the Ravens and Chiefs proved you can't win without a QB, and something tells me Mangini and Belichick did not get together for cake and coffee during the Bye week.

Last words...Ben Roethlisberger. It's time to give credit where credit is due. This guy was picked after Eli and Phil Rivers in the 2004 draft. If not for the motorcycle accident, his career stats would be tremendous for a quarterback in his fourth season. As it is, Big Ben is known for one thing: winning. In my opinion, he is the #3 QB in the NFL. The third-most trustworthy quarterback in the entire league, behind you-know-whom. Yes, even over Favre, just because age could catch up to Favre at any instant. Even over Romo, who's had some turnover problems this season. Roethlisberger willed the Steelers to a huge comeback this week. When his 10-2 Steelers travel to Foxboro on December 9, not a single Pats fan will be comfortable watching #7 under center for the visitors.

Gut check

Lots to talk about. A real standout week. Good and bad.

As usual I'll start with my team. In a word, horrible. Now there are no good losses, not for a team that's supposed to be a playoff contender. But this was a wretched defeat today at the hands of a terrible team in Georgia. And normally you can just blame the whole team for a poor effort. But today, it was all about one man. The quarterback.

In 2005, we could've drafted Braylon, Ware, or Merriman had we traded down in the first round. Sure we nabbed Gore in Round 3. And in Mr. Smith's defense, the best QB taken that year was...Derek Anderson? But no matter how you slice it, one thing's for sure: thus far, Alex Smith, out of Utah, #1 overall in 2005, has been a bust. An absolute bust. Yes he improved last season after a putrid '05, but the guy is not ready to be an NFL starting QB. Nobody wanted to admit this for the '07 season, but it's true. Sure he matriculated a gutty fourth-quarter comeback against the Cardinals at home, but today's performance was horrendous. 3 picks, no TDs, no ability at the end of the game, even with all the receiving weapons healthy. All this against the Falcons???!!? Yes Gore was out, but Robinson and Hicks did an admirable job filling in. We have no choice but to stick with ASmith, but I for one don't like the way this has turned out at all.

The turnaround has to come now, and in a big way. As usual, I have hope. Thanks to the Browns showing some heart and the Bucs playing some D, both other non-winless NFC West teams fell on the road today. Man am I ever thankful we play in the worst division in football. In fact, all West teams (AFC included) lost today, a nifty 0-7 against seven teams that didn't make the playoffs last year. Perhaps the Oregon Ducks are the best football team on the west side this season. Yikes. Anyways, next week's Monday Night tilt (you can hear ESPN shouting for joy...) between the Niners and Seahawks is a playoff game. If the Niners win, and they did last year in Seattle when no one thought they could, then the division title can still be captured. If not, we're on the clock. And hey, if our first-round pick is a QB, I wouldn't be shocked...but OH SNAP no first-round pick this year (goes to the Pats). Unbelievable.

There's my Niners rant, but a lot of the happenings this week focused on the performances of the quarterbacks. The two best in the game (and the decade) squared off today, and by all accounts, this game was a letdown. Too many turnovers, no clean drives, questionable penalties...just no continuity with the passing game. It even got to a point where I would've switched to the Browns-Seahawks game if possible. But of course, the Pats will go undefeated now, while the Colts will have that injury excuse in their backpockets up until the rematch in Foxboro in late January. I do give a shoutout to both defenses though. That's what made this game so amazing: not only were the two offenses explosive, but the two defenses came in as the best in the league. It's just too bad the QBs didn't live up to the hype. But a win is all that matters, and Brady got it done.

Other notes: how about the NFC North going 3-0 against the AFC West today? Looks like Eric might be correct with regards to the "second-tier" teams. The Packers, now 7-1, just won games in Denver and Kansas City, after beating the Chargers at home earlier in the season. The Lions, now 6-2 (really!?) proved to the NFL they belong after basically ending the Broncos' season. And the Vikes proved that Philip Rivers can't be trusted to lead the Chargers to a Super Bowl. Shoutout to Antonio Cromartie's 109-yard return though. Also coming up big: the Saints, now back in the race, the team no one wants to play, the team likely to win the division. You can see there will be some fantastic finishes in the NFC this year: the Cowboys, Giants, and Redskins still have four games against one another, the Bucs and Saints will play in N'Awlens in a month, and the Pack and Lions have TWO games left, including a tremendous Thanksgiving matchup. And oh yeah, to repeat, the West is a joke.

Two AFC teams made leaps this week: Are the Bills for real? Are the Browns seriously poised to grab a playoff spot? For Buffalo, two games against Miami help, but a tough schedule will likely keep them around 7-9. Still, that's about three times as many wins as I thought they'd have. And hey what can I say, it's just Cleveland's year this year, with the Cavs and Tribe unfurling breakout seasons too. It'll prolly turn out the same way for the Dawgpounders: make the playoffs or come close, but choke at the end. Still, it is nice to see the kids Braylon, Kellen, and Derek Anderson revive Cleveland football. Doesn't hurt to have ex-con Jamal score four. The Chiefs missed a chance to catch up on the Chargers, but that battle isn't over; remember, KC went to SD and won there. Either way, they'll be in a nice race with Jax, Cleveland, and Baltimore at year's end for the last spot.

Last words...all in all, a refreshing Sunday of football with some exciting finishes and stellar play. But it's time to put Adrian Peterson's season into perspective. He's a rookie on a team with no quarterback and a shaky coach. He's on pace for over 2,000 yards. He broke the single-game rushing record in his eighth game as a pro. He's going to lead the league in rushing, earn a trip to Honolulu, and likely finish #2 in the MVP voting to Brady. Who can stop him? The Chargers entered the season with one of the toughest run defenses in the league. Today they looked like a high school team from Kansas (the ones on the other side of 72-0). Bottom line: "Purple Jesus" is now the standard for any RB in the NFL. Not just rookie RBs either. Let's just hope the ride continues on through when the Vikings actually get a productive QB.

Halfway there

Eight weeks down, nine to go. Essentially the midpoint of the season. And really what a lackluster week of football this was. Three games featured a pair of winnings teams: in one, the Pats won by 45; in another, the Colts won by 24; and in the third, the commentators were Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots, demonstrating the unpopularity of the matchup (TB-Jax).

For the Niners, it was more of the same from last week. Pitiful. Pathetic. Poor play lining the entire home game against the Saints. A really awful job on defense, and while ASmith put together a couple good drives, the offense isn't trustworthy at all right now. It really can't get much worse than this.

And that's why I have hope.

2-5 is never good, and nothing from October inspires any sense of a turnaround. But now it's November. A big fat nine games remain. And looking at the remaining opponents (Arz, StL, Sea, Atl, TB, Car, Min, Cle, Cin) it's NOT impossible. Honestly, how many of those nine teams are locks to make the postseason? Can't the Niners find a way to win six of those games, regardless of where they're played? If the Niners can sweep the division games, I still think they can win the NFC West with an 8-8 record. That's my hope. I'm not saying they'll go to the Super Bowl or make anyone forget the Montana Niners. But a turnaround is not impossible. Keep the faith. Looks extremely improbable right now. But it ain't over.

Meanwhile, not even a soccer field and London rain can stop the Giants, although a 3-point win against Cleo Lemon's Dolphins won't make anyone believe the Giants are actually better than the Cowboys. Either way, I think it's fair to say the G-men and Cowpokes are the two best teams in the NFC right now. The Redskins and Eagles just aren't there yet, in terms of consistency. Jason Campbell can't be trusted yet in a big game, certainly not to win, but even to play well. The collective lousy play of Carolina (winless at home???), Atlanta, and TB has opened the door for the Saints to steal the South. Incredible win by the Pack tonight, while the Lions showed they can hold their own. Meanwhile, the Bears and Rams are on the clock...only ten minutes this time.

The real power in the NFL still lies in the AFC, as evidenced this week. I'm not concerned about the dregs of the leagues; it's the different layer of class that resides in the AFC. The Colts and Pats POUNDED a pair of NFC playoff hopefuls. The Steelers and Chargers round out an indomitable top 4 in the league, all ahead of Dallas. Essentially, New England, Indy, Pitt and SD can win anywhere against any other opponent. Moving to the next layer, as of now I would trust Tennessee, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Cleveland, and Baltimore over the NFC's "upper middle" class of Green Bay, Detroit, Seattle, New Orleans, and Tampa. There's just a completely different amount of trust here. You feel the NFC teams can collapse at any time. The AFC teams play better defense and have better running games. That's a good formula.

Basically, the AFC will feature a fun playoff race, whereas the NFC will generate more of a "whoever wants it can have it" feel. But hey, only one half has gone by. A lot can change.

Last words...I mean, here we are. The best regular season game in history? Certainly the most-hyped. This probably deserves its own post, but given all the drama with the Pats running up the score and Brady going after Manning's record and conf. champ. game homefield at stake...this is going to be amazing. Honestly, Week 8 in the NFL basically didn't exist. You just got the sense that the entire league was looking ahead to this matchup. For good reason. And of course, the teams held serve by combining for a 69-point margin of victory. They come in with guns blazing. Indeed, here we are.

NFC vs AFC

After reading Neeraj's post, I had to respond to two incredibly poor comments amongst an otherwise solid post. First of all, the Niners are done. I'm a big fan of Frank Gore, but you need a passing game in this year's league, and they don't have it. As bad as Arizona and Seattle are, both are better than the Niners. Its ok Neeraj, my Eagles are saving a spot for your Niners in the first half of the draft. The other big thing is this whole concept that the AFC is sooo much better than the NFC. I just don't get this. While New England and Indy are obviously far and away the best two teams in the league, there is a huge falloff after that. The Steelers are good, but obviously not great with losses to Denver and Arizona. Who else is good in the AFC? Jacksonvillle? Again, you need a passing game to win this year. Baltimore? Got dismantled by a rookie-led Bills team. San Diego? Maybe, but they managed to find a worse playoff coach than Marty, so no thanks. Meanwhile the NFC might not have a superstar team like the Pats or Colts, but good luck figuring out who the 6 playoff teams are going to be. Any of the non-Eagles teams from the NFC East could make it, you've got Detroit and GB brining respectability back to the North, and the South is always a dogfight. If you look at interconference games, the AFC has won 14 and the NFC has won 12, so while they clearly have an advantage, don't sell me this "The NFC is terrible" nonsense anymore.

It's not over

Horrible game on Sunday. No way we were gonna lose to the Giants. That's what I thought when they announced the schedule months ago, and after the outstanding draft and quality FA signings, in addition to the Tiki and Coughlin scenarios, I was feeling extremely confident. Add to this the first two games of the season, and I'd say you were a fool if you thought the Giants would win this one by 18.

However, it is what it is. The Giants can continue to ride this easy schedule to a 6-2 mark and a few wins away from clinching a playoff spot in a very weak NFC. For the Niners, it ain't over. It can't be. It isn't. Things will change. They have to. ASmith will definitely be back for New Orleans. Gore will be fine. The defense will get hot again. Still got ten games to go, and none of them are impossible. This is rock bottom. Losing to the Giants? It doesn't get any worse.

Just one game back of the Seahawks, and man is that NFC terrible. Really no standout games this week; we knew the Cowboys were good, we knew the Rams were terrible. Everything else in between was quite ho-hum. No huge wins or killer losses, although I credit the Eagles and Cardinals for bowing out of the playoff race so early. Helps to clarify some things, at least. Lions? 'Skins? Bears? Vikes? Teams that be beaten anywhere anytime. But hey now, don't count the Saints out of the South. On the other hand, home games against the Falcons should not be close. It's still the Cowboys' conference.

So the Pats and Colts travel down to Florida into places that developed into mild houses of horrors for those two franchises, and they blew the doors off of each one. Not good for the rest of the AFC. Titans have been very sloppy the past few weeks. I definitely want to see KC make the playoffs over the Ravens. This is such a good conference; despite a big loss by Jacksonville, the Jags, Steelers, and even the Texans are playing far better than most AFC teams. Still not impressed by the Broncos or Bengals despite two big wins at home by both.

Last words...does it get any better than November 4? Final score of That Game: 52-49? It's really amazing to think of how Brady and Manning have transformed these two franchises. I remember the days of the old AFC East when Jim Kelly and Dan Marino were making the playoffs while Hugh Millen's Pats and Jeff George's Colts were stuck at the bottom. Complete 180 now. Memorable playoff clashes, broken records, Super Bowl rings, smart coaching, clutch play...this just might be the best regular season game we've ever seen. And it's still thirteen days away. Don't anyone miss it.

Like lambs to the slaughter...

Fresh off the beatdown of the hapless Falcons, the Giants prepare to bury the Niners deeper than Jimmy Hoffa in the Giants Stadium end zone. Yes, the Giants have beaten lowly teams such as the Jets and Falcons, but they also beat Washington and have played 2 NFC "elite" teams in Dallas and GB (the former of which was a 3 point game until the very end.) The Niners have walloped such creampuffs as St. Louis (by 1 point) and Arizona (3 points) while going down to "powerhouses" like Baltimore and Seattle. There is no comparison of the schedules. In addition, the Giants have a confident Eli Manning and a 3-headed RB monster, a (soon to be) Pro Bowl wide receiver with 8 TDs, and an angry defense that is coming into its own and boasts the most sacks in the league. San Fran has two QBs who are completing under half of their passes and have thrown exactly 2 TDs to this point (and 4 picks; not a good ratio.) Frank Gore is averaging a whopping 3.6 yards per carry, and the SF defense scares no one. The Niners will be lucky to escape with a score within 14 points of NY.

Thanks Bye

Much-needed bye week for the Niners. Looks like ASmith will be healthy despite experiencing some pain. Just hope that pain doesn't spread to the audience on Sunday. Either way, three straight losses to tough teams is not fatal, but also not the mark of a winning team. This upcoming game will be a statement game for both squads.

The other team I'm referring to is of course, the Giants. Now say what you want about this team making the playoffs and winning the division but let's get real now. The Giants' last two wins came against the Jets and Atlanta? Come on. Yes they'll destroy the Dolphins in London too. But I don't wanna hear anything about how this team is a force in the NFL. The schedule will toughen up and I frankly don't expect the Giants to do the same. They have to prove me wrong on Sunday.

Kind of a dry week in the NFL, with the exception of Pats-'Boys. The result is about as self-explanatory as you can get. Yes the Cowboys are still the team to beat in the NFC, but once the Pats get past the Colts on November 4, I mean, the undefeated talk can begin. Dallas fought hard, and I think they'll win the NFC easy, but no one's gonna forget how the Pats dominated on Sunday. Still leaves a stamp of doubt on the Cowboys' title chances.

What's evident now is just how terrible the NFC is. No winning teams in the NFC West. Vinny Testaverde is a starting QB for a "quality" team. The Redskins played a horrible game in Green Bay and lost by just three. The Bears' D gives up 34 points to a Vikings team at home? Honestly, nine or ten of the twelve best teams in football play in the AFC. And yet, the NFC will get five of those postseason bids. Yikes.

You gotta like what the Jags are doing this year, playing smart football and taking chances on offense. What a Monday night game against Indy next week. Good job by the Ravens and Chargers, righting the ship with consecutive wins. VY should be fine; the Titans (not the New York Titans) are still a playoff team. Chiefs and Browns are intriguing. Bengals and Dolphins, not so much. Speaking of the 'Fins, just how horrible of a coach is Cam Cameron?

Last words...if the Pats get by the Colts on November 4, obviously much of the talk will center on the Pats running the 16-0 table. Will Belichick rest his starters, how they overcame the videotaping, the rejuvenation of Randy Moss, etc. But how's this for a thought: this Pats' season may be the greatest season for any NFL team that we'll ever see. This is an absolutely unstoppable offense, and no QB is better at his craft than Brady. The defense continues to grow stronger now that Rodney Harrison is back and Adalius Thomas is making plays. Simply put, there are zero weaknesses. I'd be shocked if they lose, even in Indy. When your only chance to win is to hope for injuries or suspensions, you know you're facing a team for the ages.