Here’s what I don’t get: why am I being told to put this week one W over the Rams into perspective? Why does the Philadelphia media think this wasn’t as good as it looked? Why do fans call in to the radio shows saying, “It was the Rams…don’t go crowning the Eagles the champs quite yet.” Since when did the Rams become the joke of the NFL?
Recap and Notes from 49ers Vs. Cardinals
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49ers Vs. Cardinals News, Stats, and Recap
One thing that you can say about the Arizona Cardinals’ 23-14 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday - it was not pretty, there was very little flash but it was efficient - which in the grand scheme of things is all that matters in the NFL. For the Cardinals, it was one time-consuming
More here: Warner Efficient As Cardinals Grind Out 23-14 Win Over 49ers
The 49ers could have lost by a lot more against the Cardinals in their battle on Sunday. But turning the ball over five times doesn’t make things any easier. The offense is almost fully clicking, but it will take a lot more to help make the team into serious contenders to win the division.
More here: 49ers lose turnover and time possession battle in defeat to Cardinals
OK, let’s get the obligatory tear-them-a-new-one part of the story out of the way first. The 49ers stunk it up in their season-opener Sunday at Monster Park. They lost 23-13 to the Arizona Cardinals, a team they beat twice last year. They turned to ball over five times and didn’t force a single turnover. Quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan threw an interception and lost two fumbles. Takeo Spikes muffed a pooch kick in the third quarter, a mistake that wound up costing the 49ers seven points. Wide receiver Isaac Bruce was invisible. Defensive end Ray McDonald committed a killer but somewhat questionable roughing-the-quarterback penalty. The defense couldn’t get off the field in the second half when Arizona ran 43 plays to the 49ers 14. So there you have it, the highlights of the lowlights. I’d rather spend more time on the glass-half-full story line because, frankly, it’s just too early in the season to go all-in on 49ers bashing and too disheartening to think that we’re in for yet another year of unwatchable football in San Francisco. Here’s the hope I’m clinging to after spending another long day watching the 49ers lose then listening to them rehash the gory details: The 49ers’ offense, when it had a chance to get on the field and wasn’t giving the ball away, actually looked, well, OK, like a legitimate NFL attack. Yeah, I know it’s not much. But think back to last season when the 49ers had an offense that was historically bad. Now think about the numbers from the first half of Sunday’s game, when new coordinator Mike Martz’s offense wasn’t stuck on the sidelines. O’Sullivan completed 10 of 14 passes for 141 yards. Frank Gore ran for 80 yards, 41 of those on a touchdown romp. Wide receiver Bryant Johnson caught three passes for 48 yards and tight end Vernon Davis caught two for 49 yards. Yeah the 49ers were sloppy. But in 30 minutes they produced more big plays than in a typical month last season. Let’s put O’Sullivan’s 141 first-half yards into perspective. Last season the 49ers quarterbacks didn’t throw for that many yards for an entire game seven times. “I think J.T. did a great job,” tight end Vernon Davis said. “I like J.T. a lot. He’s a good quarterback. He’s very good.” Of course O’Sullivan wasn’t taking much, if any, solace from his first-half numbers, not when he was guilty of three total turnovers, lost his first NFL start and didn’t throw a touchdown pass. “Not good enough,” he said of his performance. “We lost. It ends with that.” It’s clear that Gore is going to have more room to run this season. Defenses can’t crowd the line of scrimmage with seven or eight defenders and dare the 49ers to pass, the way they did last year. Dare Martz to dial up passes this year, the he’ll gladly oblige. Gore broke loose for a 41-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He shot over right guard, cut to the middle and saw nothing but green grass in front of him instead of red and white Cardinals uniforms. Gore must have felt as if he’d been released from running back prison. He raced into the end zone, giving the 49ers a 7-3 lead. Davis is another 49er who found some open space, using his speed to get downfield. With a flick of his right wrist, O’Sullivan hit Davis with a 37-yard strike over the middle early in the second quarter. Later in the drive, O’Sullivan rolled far to his right and threw all the way across the field to Davis for 12 yards. Johnson worked the deep middle for a 31-yard grab and had a 16-yard catch, too, both in the first half. “We did do some positive things out there, which is promising,” 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley said. “At the same time, we’ve got to protect the football and we’ve got to do a better job protecting the quarterback, giving him time to make decisions downfield.” The big plays in the first half certainly didn’t ease O’Sullivan’s pain. “I think when we had opportunities to make big plays down the field, our guys stepped up and made plays,” O’Sullivan said. “Moving the ball is not enough. Changing field position is not enough. You’ve got to score touchdowns.” O’Sullivan did a good job of making something out of nothing when plays broke down, dumping the ball to his outlets. But there was one pass on one haywire play in the first quarter that he shouldn’t have thrown. While moving to his left, O’Sullivan tried to hit Arnaz Battle over the middle. Strong safety Adrian Wilson knifed in front for an interception. “When I threw it I thought I had him,” O’Sullivan said. He didn’t, of course. But I’m not going to dwell on O’Sullivan’s miscues this week. I’m thinking positive because the alternative is just too ugly.
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Mining for positives in an ugly 49ers opener
First, with the game that is freshest in my mind: Carolina vs. San Diego: Did that really happen? I was just thinking up a snarky comment about the SD fans holding up oversized cutout numbers saying “95″ (aw, how cute! they think this is their year to get blown out in the Super Bowl !) when Delhomme rifled a pass to some guy with Rosario on the back of his jersey AS TIME EXPIRED. Mind you, San Diego had just executed the calm, professional fourth-quarter comeback that their recently under-performing offense had become known for last season. Rather than stack points on the board, they prefer to aim for late-game theatrics. But facing a Carolina offense missing their only dangerous receiver and grossly mismanaging the little time they had left, they couldn’t get off the field! See my later section on teams we’ll have to wait until next week to pass judgment upon. Then to the big news. TOM BRADY LEAVES GAME IN SECOND QUARTER WITH GRISLY KNEE INJURY! As far as I can tell, it’s the knee on one leg and the foot on the other, right? That’s not good. There are question marks on the Patriots this year. Fumbles by key receivers? An end zone defensive stand was needed just to beat the Chiefs, who would’ve sent it to overtime if Devard Darling can outrun the Pats secondary. But Brady is not New England’s 2008 version of Drew Bledsoe, and Cassel sure as hell ain’t this year’s Brady. San Francisco vs. Arizona: Don’t wanna talk about it. We (49ers) still can’t stop the run in the second half. In fact, they can’t do anything right in the second half. I place blame on the coaches. Jacksonville vs. Tennessee: If Vince Young can learn how to be a productive quarterback, there’s no telling how good Tennessee can be. David Garrard had 5 turnovers all of last year; Haynesworth and Co. took it from him thrice, two Cortland Finnegan INT”s and a forced fumble. And while we’re talking about Garrard, why is he throwing the ball 35 times when he has Mojo and Taylor in the backfield? Fourteen rushing attempts by the two of them for 31yards. Makes you wonder how badly the Jags O-line is banged up. Can VY recover from his injury? He seemed to leave the game every other week last season, only to return next week. Tampa Bay vs. New Orleans: Looks like TB won’t be sneaking by people this year. Looks like another year where nobody in the NFC South can separate from the rest of the back. Sometimes that means all of the teams are contenders, and sometimes they’re dogs. Carolina comes out of Week 1 looking like the best in the pack so far. Baltimore vs. Cincinnati: The Ravens pass the AFC cellar-dweller torch to the Bengals. No offensive touchdowns, Carson Palmer outplayed by Joe Flacco. Cincy was a Ravens illegal block on a kick return for a touchdown and a Bengals fumble return for a touchdown away from this being a 24-3 blowout. Ouch. Now, there were several games where I couldn’t devote the time to watch long enough to figure out: was the winning team that good, or the losing team that bad? The close games like this: Detroit vs. Atlanta: Hands down the surprise of the day. Not that Detroit was supposed to be that good, but from what I could see, Michael Turner just proved the Lions attempt at revamping their defense an utter failure. It’s good to see him get a chance to shine, and he rewarded fantasy owners more than anyone else this week. IF he can stay healthy, pencil him in for 1,400 yards rushing this season. Whether that will get the team anywhere remains to be seen. Matt Ryan completed two passes for over 40 yar4ds. When was the last time a rookie did that in his first start? He’ll be tested next week against Tampa, while Detroit sees if they can avoid 0-2 vs. Green Bay. New York Jets vs. Miami: Did I really see Miami almost pull off the upset in this one? The Jets offensive line is supposed to be much improved, but sitting on a 13-point lead towards the end of the third quarter, they managed 13 rushing yards and no first downs. I knew that Jonathan Vilma leaving would hurt their defense more than Calvin Pace arriving would help it, but Pennington found open Dolphins running through the Jets secondary all day. The Jets head to New England with a chance to put take advantage of a stunned Patriots team, while Miami heads to Arizona hoping to build some legitimate momentum for this season. Seattle vs. Buffalo: I picked Buffalo in my office pool and fretted over it quite a bit, especially when I heard that Angelo Crowell would miss the game. I thought they would win, but by this much? Marcus Stroud to the Bills might be an early pick for biggest defensive free agent acquisition this offseason, but like I said, it’s early. Is there something about the way Matt Hasselbeck throws the ball that makes it so hard to catch? His receivers can’t seem to hold on to anything. The Jaguars are on tap to check the rise of the Bills, while the 49ers will perform a similar function checking the descent of the Seahags. Dallas vs. Cleveland: Is Dallas this good? Is Cleveland this bad? Logic tells you one of the two would be true, but I think we’ll see neither is. Dallas replaced one Jones with another and didn’t miss a step, and their defense, when healthy, now has that third corner they needed the last couple of years in the playoffs. But last year it wasn’t their record in September (4-0) that defined them as a team, but their record in December and January (2-3). Call me when it starts snowing. The Browns managed only 10 points and went 4-and-out on 4 of 7 of their possessions. But every indication is that Cleveland will have a healthy receiving corps soon, which will help restore them to last year’s levels. Why am I confident? Because in the midst of a blowout, the offensive line didn’t give up a single sack. That bodes well, and they’ll need everything to click if they want to beat Pittsburgh next week. As for Dallas, Philly looks nasty right now - definitely not a team I’d want to play. Pittsburgh vs. Houston: IF Pittsburgh can repeat this performance against Cleveland, then I’m a believer. Houston travels to Baltimore, where they need a win to restore faith to a team that could’ve sworn this was going to be their year. Philadelphia vs. St.Louis: Yes, Philly is this good. Yes, St. Louis is that bad. that’s all you need to know.
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Day game analysis … Carolina? Jesus!
First!!!! That’s what place the Cardinals find themselves in after week one of the 2008 NFL Season. What a difference a year makes. After being swept by the San Francisco 49ers last season, including the opener at San Francisco, the Cardinals put together a good game, fueled by a very strong second
Continue here: Cardinals Leave Their Heart In San Francisco, Win 23-13
Frank Gore became an elite runningback and a household name after his 1,600+ yards in 2006. He took a huge step backwards, however, in 2007 when he managed just over 1,100 yards. With offensive guru Mike Martz taking over as coordinator in 2008, however, Gore appears to be reaping some early rewards. The San Francisco 49ers currently hold a 7-3 lead over the Arizona Cardinals in the second quarter, with Gore contributing 78 yards on 10 carries. He also scored San Francisco’s only touchdown when he broke a 41 yard run. Catch all the action remaining in this NFC West matchup on InGameNow.com!
Continue here: Frank Gore Thriving Under Mike Martz
0-0 again. Err… 1-0 now. Bills 17 Seahawks 16 Saints 23 Bucs 16 Jets 27 Dolphins 14 Steelers 28 Texans 24 Jaguars 24 Titans 14 Lions 31 Falcons 7 Patriots 41 Chiefs 10 Ravens 13 Bengals 10 - could be the worst game ever. Eagles 20 Rams 7 Cardinals 17 49ers 6 Chargers 31 Panthers 20 Browns 20 Cowboys 17 - Upset of the week Colts 35 Bears 6 Packers 21 Vikings 20- Upset Alternate. Broncos 28 Raiders 17 Player of the Week Maurice Jones Drew- lack of time, but he should have a decent day.ra
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Panthersfans NFL Week 1 Picks
49ers head coach Mike Nolan is on a short leash. As the season begins, his job is already on the line. What will it take for him to keep his job?
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Mike Nolan is on a short leasha?? a real short one
San Francisco 49ers Football Tickets And News