What about the bogus RPI and defensive delay of game that led to a SF TD?

my thoughts exactly.
we got some winnable games coming up: stl, atl, hou.

Pudge gtfo, seriously

They have to be able to throw a really high percentage screen out in the flat. Granted, Gore being out may have made them more cautious about that sort of play, but based on the three runs the Niners made in that last sequence they probably don't pick up the first against that defense more than one time in ten.

They need to mix in a little play action or some sort of wrinkle to get opponents from stuffing eight guys in the box.

They went safe and predictable and it cost them.

Time to take the governor off Hill. He's currently their best (healthy) offensive talent.

Yeah, it was a great pass/catch, just grumbling. Never should've come to that, but it's a learning curve for every player & coach on the team. I'd have taken a 2-1 start when the schedule was released.

And Vernon Davis!

But let's see how we react to this first stumble and adjust to Gore's injury, tho I'm still optimistic, much more so than when the Gigantes were hot, Timmy or no Timmy.

I have been voicing my hatred for that ad for years, it is by far the most annoying thing I have ever heard.

and FML that game was brutal

Only thing that makes me mad is we should have won. All odds pointed to us losing this game from the get go and losing Gore early on didn't help. We also lost 2 of our starting lineman for part of the game and had to play Sims, yet we only gave up 1 sack. I think we got good pressure on the QB, effectively slowed down AP for most of the game. I wish the play calling with the lead would have been better. You CANNOT run 3 straight times down the gut against a top 5 rushing D like Jimmy Raye did. That was silly. But otherwise I'm pleasantly pleased by our performance on the road against an NFC title contender. We should have won that game, but of course we didn't. But I have hope against other good teams, hope we haven't really had the last couple of seasons where we get close against bad teams and sometimes win and then get destroyed by good teams.

i think this defense is one really good pass rusher away from being elite. i love justin smith and think he is an excellent all around player but he's not going to consistently put up double digit sacks (also fuuuuuuuuuuu you have to sack favre there). i like haralson and he's been great for a fifth round draft pick but i don't think he'll ever be a difference maker unless he's matched up with someone he can just run by like levi brown.

run d looks sick.

also i hope gore only misses one week.

With 2 first rounders we should get an oppurtunity to get someone elite in the draft if we want them. Carolina can easily be 0-3 after tonight and their schedule doesn't get much easier.

Dream Scenarios to me would be:

DE/OLB: Greg Hardy with our 1st pick and Cody with our 2nd 1st?

I doubt that will happen though.

Guys I would love to get next year:

Berry (FS/SS)-Most talented player in the draft, we would probably have to trade up for him--so we probably won't get him.
Cody-Big daddy, although I'm concerned about his weight.
Hardy-Supposedly like D. Ware which would be perfect for us.
McCoy-Seems like a very good WCO QB, if Davis doesn't work out long term.
Brandon Graham (OLB)
Eric Norwood (OLB)

WE MAKE THE PHONES RING WE MAKE THE PHONES *RING* *RING*

...or a receiver. Crabtree figures to be available in the draft next year.

9ers CANNOT re-draft Cashtree. It's against the league CBA.

He will likely be signed or traded. I can't imagine him being allowed to re-enter the draft. It's better to take a 3rd or 4th round pick than lose everything and I can't imagine there isn't a team in the league that wouldn't want him for that much. The funny thing is, I can't imagine a team giving up that and then promissing the money he wants (atleast what DHB got, if not better).

I guess they could go after the WR from Ok St, or another one. We obviously need the next TO or equivalent talent, but they are very hard to get.

I kid, I cruelly kid.

Let's say he re-enters the draft, gets picked 10th or lower, and some team drafts him and offers him the same or less than what the 49ers offered. Will he really sit out a second year? It would be pretty funny if that happened and he would never hear the end of it.

I wonder if this situation will cause agents to make their clients' signin demands known before the draft, like in baseball. I think this will eventually happen unless the NFL does the smart thing and enforces salary slotting.

if the rookie cap comes in then next year is his only shot left

From Niners Nation 7:52PDT

Can't chalk up both those wins just yet.

Lets just hope Coffee produces like he did in the preseason, michael robinson will also have to step up a bit more

i like his chances against the rams, at least

I get a sick happiness thinking about how much money Crabtree is missing out on.

SF - be happy you dodged a bullet and do not cave. He is a guaranteed bust not even worth the league minimum.

so the constant complaint i keep hearing on the radio is that the niners coulda had aaron rodgers instead of alex smith

a couple of things about this (and if i'm wrong please correct me):
1. if aaron rodgers was so highly touted that he was 1a to alex smith how did he fall to 24th? plenty of teams ahead of the packers needed a quarterback
2. if aaron rodgers were forced to play right off the bat and had to go through everything smith went through, wouldn't it have played out the same way smith did?

incidentally, since the eagles just dropped garcia, maybe pick him up?

Eh, probably not. Rodgers most likely would have been better, but whatever. It's a stupid and pointless debate as you have said.

with as fragile as he has been, he would have died behind some of those niner offensive lines imo

Really meh here. He probably would have failed with our team to and it's not like he's been all that amazing so far for the Packers. His numbers were quite good for a 1st year QB last year, but last year his line was pretty solid and his receiving core was arguably the best in the NFL. I'd imagine Alex would have succeeded more under the Packers than the he did the 9ers. Alex on the 9ers also had much change over on OL, WR and coordinators over the years.

One is almost irrelevant b/c QBs are more need based than talent based.

Not sure about the draft, but I guess a lot of teams at the top were set at QB and didn't see the need for a QB. I guess a couple of teams could have used his services but there wasn't another QB selected until the early 3rd round (Frye who was a huge bust, Walter who was a huge bust, Greene who was a huge bust). The only other solid QB selected in that class was in the 4th round in Orton (Derek Anderson was also selected but sucked). Supringly how good the mid 4th round of that draft was. Better than many first round picks. Kerry Rhodes, Jason Brown (Center), Poppinga, Marion Barber, Brandon Jacobs, David Stewart, Vincent Fuller, Sean Considine, and Jerome Mathis were all picked that year.
Don't go there. Right now I'd imagine Hill > Garcia in our system. Obviously if Hill were to go down I prefer Garcia to Smith, but then again I prefer most QBs to Smith.

The draft pool that year was not at all top heavy. The Niners were said to have tried to move out of the top spot but found very little interest or value in doing so. There was talk of a Phillip Rivers trade with San Diego but nothing came of it.

The Niners believed that they had to have a franchise QB and felt that they should follow the prevailing league "wisdom" that in the salary cap era where big money QBs were seen as being a prerequisite for success it made sense to do this via the draft. It was NFL Manning economics 101.

So the big mistake was not really in taking Smith, number 1, despite his very below average career so far. The mistake was in lavishing the record contract on him, when his value was essentially interchangeable with the guy drafted 24th. The Niners paid Smith more that the Giants paid Eli Manning. It seems reasonable to think that they could've somehow come up with a better value equation.

Garcia would be a good fit on many teams right now, the Niners included. That's not a knock on Hill, who is the best healthy offensive option and a deserving starter, but Garcia would prove to be great insurance.

I imagine Garcia would be a great fit in Miami now that Pennington is gone for the year.