Last year at this time, the Rams were favored to win the NFC West, and they did precisely that.
The 49ers were favored to provide a spirited chase, which might possibly land them a playoff berth. They did precisely not that.
The Seahawks seemed to be a team ready to slide downward in the division. Instead, they were the team that provided a spirited chase and landed a playoff berth.
The Cardinals were picked to finish last and they dutifully complied, despite sweeping the Niners.
This year looks about the same as last year, although fewer people are bullish about the 49ers and fewer people are skeptical about the resiliency of the Seahawks.
It’s hard not to admit that Seattle is doing a far better job of rebuilding on the fly than the Niners have. Seattle hasn’t missed a beat; the 49ers have gone through three coaching staffs and haven’t sniffed .500 in four years of trying.
Still, the 49ers did manage to finally beat the Seahawks last year, ending a double digit loss streak spanning five years. A hopeful glimpse ahead or just a fluke? We shall see.
To tell you the truth, though, this team is kind of boring. There’s no troublemakers, alcoholics, PED offenders, or even anyone who could be accused of having a personality. Joe Staley excepted. That’s all fine if you’re talking about the kind of folks you prefer in your neighborhood, but when guys are supposed to be Persons Of Interest, they kind of have to be interesting.
Maybe someone will emerge this year. Or they could start winning some games and be interesting as a whole, as contenders.
You have to have something between your ears to function as a QB and play in Shanahan’s system.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/watch-49ers-coach-kyle-shanahan-210126267.html
No shortcuts here.
I wouldn’t call what Seattle is doing a rebuild like we had to do(thanks Baalky). It’s more like what happened to us in the mid nineties. Everyone got old and started getting hurt. I have never seen any team do what we did with our new coaching staff. I think it would be more in like with what Tampa Bay did when they fist came out as an expansion team. Will it work this year? I don’t know. But I do know we actually have a shot at being competitive and with some luck staying injury free I don’t think we will be a pushover for any team.
Winder
One of the biggest thorns to the Niners was Baldwin and he’s gone. He killed the Niners so many times. That would be a good thing.
“Redskins LB Reuben Foster carted off just now. Left leg injury. Sobbing as he was driven back to the team facility.”
Welp, thinking of some kind of snarky remark …
“Ezekiel Elliott Handcuffed at EDC Vegas After Knocking Man to the Ground.”
Excellent.
Seahags are replacing players like Clark with Cassius Marsh
and Iupati and Marcus Martin are now in the mix on their Oline.
Maybe they’d like Anthony Davis and give us a 3rd round pick for him. There is now word yet on whether Davis will be reinstated.
OTAs start this week so there will be something to talk about.
Per Schefter and Rappaport Reuben Foster has a torn ACL.
Foster is just snakebit.
Alex Smith and now Foster. Foster had his chances but turned out to be an irredeemable scumbag. Body breaking down already. Only records in his future are more criminal. Karma indeed.
Gerald McCoy released. Suh and McCoy may find homes in the NFC West this season, at reduced dollars.
The man Zeke knocked to the ground was security guard. No charges filed? Then paid for his silence? The Cowboy way.
Las Vegas nightlife scene. Soon to be joined by the new Raiders crew. This has to be tolerated. How else does the state accrue it’s GDP. Gambling and casino spending. Concerts and shows helping to part the overpaid entertainer class from their wallets.
What else does Nevada have. Mining future? Mountain Pass just over the border in Cali has rare earth metals that has to be recapitalized now that China is threatening us on that. Gold is better up in Alaska with Pebble mining ready to start up.
Nevada has no choice but to be a circus.
FYI
https://geology.com/articles/rare-earth-elements/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Mine
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/05/21/will-nfl-take-action-against-ezekiel-elliott/
Zeke will skate. Just the Jerry way in Big D.
Suh in TB. Makes sense. Todd Bowles new 3-4 needs an experienced NT that can pass rush too. See ya in week 1.
Here we go again:
“Nick Bosa was removed from practice due to hamstring injury.”
And:
“Matt Breida has a slightly torn pec. He will miss OTAs.”
More info on week 1 opponent TB:
https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles/mccoy-s-departure-means-big-opportunity-for-vita-vea
Vita Vea LDE, Suh NT, AA RDE. Solomon Thomas too small for RDE like Justin Smith, AA would fit the position he was drafted for. TB has an excess of young CB’s . AA for Carlton ??? Their,2nd Rd CB from 2018. Then move TMoore to FS.
https://www.bucsnation.com/2018/4/27/17294160/with-the-63rd-pick-the-buccaneers-select-auburns-carlton-davis
Much rather find a Trade deal for Jed/Yorks Bakkentom –
Got any ideas? 😀
1 Medicine Man and 2 pairs of Moccasins perhaps?
He/they are killing my 9er mojo.
Douchebags…..
So what about that new ‘Training Staff’ getting a full waiting room?
Jed on the cutting edge of things again….Hekawi’s everywhere are embarrassed.
’49ers hit by injuries during offseason program, 18 players missing time’
https://tinyurl.com/y5pp3357
https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/5/11/18616159/how-to-build-a-top-10-offensive-line-part-1
https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/5/12/18616366/how-to-build-a-top-10-offensive-line-part-2
Ten team examples, minus any mention of our OL. Rankings from PFF and Football Outsiders. Can our scheme and playcalling overcome mediocre OL this year.
https://www.revengeofthebirds.com/2019/5/22/18635193/analyzing-kliff-kingsburys-offense-and-four-plays-that-can-work-in-the-nfl-for-the-arizona-cardinals
Strategery from the desert.
Jimmy G is taking it slow and staying with the plan to ease him back into the flow.
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/jimmy-garoppolo-braces-full-practice-start-49ers-training-camp
Kingsbury’s offense is full of gimmicks.
If Kyler Murray runs he will get some new tattoos and will find out that NFL has faster and stronger players than the Big 12.
There is a reason why you can’t have a QB run consistently in the NFL as life expectancy of the QB goes down with each run.
Cards might have initial success but after the 3rd game when teams have film than opposing D coordinators are going to clamp down.
Yep. Fortunately we’re not one of the first two teams. We see them in weeks 8 and 10 so no excuses if we let them beat us.
Guess what?
Both Q, Williams and Josh Allen are hurt with minor injuries and are being held out of OTAs
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/nfl/jaguars-rookie-josh-allen-dealing-with-knee-injury-not-practicing/ar-AABOd0o
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/05/23/quinnen-williams-nursing-calf-injury-at-jets-otas/
This comes with the territory and Bosa should not be singled out as “fragile”.
Pretty predictable. Can’t fathom why Lynch & Shanahan brought him back.
“Jimmie Ward suffered a shoulder injury while diving for a ball in OTAs today and the fear is he broke his collarbone.”
“The 49ers say Jimmie Ward should miss eight to 12 weeks.”
Great. He should be back in time to injure something else in TC or the Exhibition season.
New Training Staff Skeebs…
Cutting edge.
C’mon down Jimmie.
Medicine men have a table for you.
Humpdty Dumpty will be back on the wall in no time.
George Kittle and CJB’S Alma mater seeing serious weather tonight. Cells popping off in eastern IA and monsoon rain just came through Iowa City on Interstate 80.
Tornado watch night. Leaving the Bakken for a few days and transiting through Iowa. Iowa 80 truck stop in Walcott is the nation’s largest. 15 showers and get one free with a 60 gallon purchase of diesel.
In passing one of the roads coming off the University of Iowa there was an Old Dominion semi hauling double trailers off to the side totalled on the hillside like an accordion from an earlier wind event. Driver told me a corvette also damaged on an Iowa highway he used coming to the truck stop.
People who are denial about climate change are morons with their heads up their poop chutes
How many 500 year floods can there be in 5 years? This week over 100 tornadoes.
Extreme weather is the norm with superstorms both through the four seasons.
Tornadoes go up and down every year. There is no discernible long term trend. Attributing one tiny slice of measured weather activity to long term climate change is not science, it’s dumb. If you did it last year, you’d say the exact opposite.
https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/2018-05-23-year-to-date-tornadoes-united-states-near-13-year-low
And all a “500-year flood” means, is that someone has looked at what data they have, and calculated a 0.2 percent chance of such a flood AT ONE PARTICULAR PLACE, in any given year.
It DOES NOT mean the floods only happen every five hundred years. You can draw three straight flushes in poker; it does not mean something was wrong with the odds. This is a form of the gambler’s fallacy.
As a scientist myself, I can tell you (1) the climate is always changing, (2) it has been much hotter at times in the geologic past, and (3) anyone who tells you the “Science is Settled” is full of shit. Science is a Process, not a Holy Writ. Real scientists understand this.
Maybe CO2 is part of the puzzle and maybe not – the rather poor correlation between CO2 and paleotemperature in the geologic (isotopic) record is such that it’s perilous to make any ringing conclusions. Also, there’s something going on with the sun right now that may throw a wrench in things. We appear to be entering a sunspot grand minimum. If you want to know what those can be like, Google ‘Maunder Minimum’. Don’t get rid of your parka just yet.
China, India, et cetera need to be accountable as contributors to CO2 and plastics pollution. Until they are treated as big dogs, do not want to hear any barking noises from academia and partisans.
Jimmy Ward hurts but he loses big time on the injury washout comparison.
https://www.revengeofthebirds.com/2019/5/25/18639053/kevin-white-comeback-player-of-the-year
Bears did pretty good this year. But still, Debbie Downer has a valid fan club.
Geez, Grump. A tequila swilling scientist. That is just too cool for words.
I am not a scientist but I do know that our ice caps are melting really fast nowadays for whatever reasons. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Grumpy
You and I have been around this earth for over 5 or 6 decades.
For me seeing is believing and this is based on personal observation as I am not a scientist.
I don’t remember a week like this one where there have been 200 tornadoes or seasons where there have been category 4 and 5 hurricanes and typhoons. Wildfires wiping out whole cities not just in the US but all around the world and there is one going strong right now in Canada.
https://www.voanews.com/a/out-of-control-wildfire-forces-evacuations-in-canada/4926979.html
All the tributaries to the Mississippi River are flooded or on the brink.
My niece lives in OKC and she has never experienced tornado warning that go on daily for weeks.
I gather info and it seems that when there is no more snow on Kilimanjaro and glaciers disappear it is time to start paying attention and asking why this is happening.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/big-thaw/
How many more catastrophic events before the insurance industry and
FEMA say enough.
Being a geologist, I know that 50 years is insignificant compared to the age of the planet. Hell, to me, a million years is a *short time*. We just are trained to think differently. And personal observation is by its nature anecdotal and biased. It’s no substitute for actual data.
This graph shows the total number of Atlantic tropical cyclones per year. As you can see, there is huge variation form year to year. But it’s difficult to see any clear long term trend. There *is* some sort of apparent periodicity, with downturns in the first 30 years of the 1900s, and again from 1960ish through 1990. Spikes from 1930 to 1960 and again from 1990 or so onwards. The most recent spike might be ending; hard to say yet. So yes, we are seeing climate variation; whether it is long term irreversible change or short to medium term periodicity is not clear.
Simply put climate is a Hellishly complex system with multiple feedback channels (how does increasing temperature affect cloud cover, and does that produce a cooling effect? We really don’t know enough to say for certain). Also it is not commonly understood that the sun is a variable star: the energy reaching the earth varies slightly, but enough to have an effect. In the last few years the measured solar ‘constant’ (which obviously is not so constant after all) has fallen just a bit.
We’re many decades away from having enough understanding of climate science to make any grand pronouncements. I’m all for trying to slow carbon dioxide output, Just In Case, so long as it does not negatively impact the global economy and cause even bigger problems (a general nuclear exchange will ruin your day quite a bit more effectively than any amount of global warming). My own favored solution is simply to build more modern nuclear plants, as the French, Japanese, and Chinese are doing. Nuclear is actually SAFER in terms of deaths per unit energy generated than anything else, including ‘Green’ energy (despite what the media and Hollywood might make you think). And it does not produce CO2.
https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-tropical-cyclone-activity
Forgive my reluctance to believe anything this current Administration puts up from the EPA Grump. I’ve lost whatever respect I had with all the ‘Best People’ put in charge of this Country. Especially the EPA.
Pruitt notwithstanding.
Memorial Day 2019 a day to remember and honor those who gave their lives for our freedoms.
Hands down this could be the most meaningful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWzwoczr5GE
Whoring out the failed media, how bad will it get? LOL
More than a year after putting it on the block, Meredith (NYSE:MDP) has offloaded Sports Illustrated to Authentic Brands for $110M, but that doesn’t mean the crown jewel of the publishing world is leaving the family. Meredith will continue to publish the print magazine, manage its website, and will still be responsible for advertising, video and social media. Authentic Brands, meanwhile, will seek licensing deals that could slap the Sports Illustrated name on everything from consumer goods, like apparel, to the emerging sports gambling marketplace.
https://www.ninersnation.com/2019/5/1/18525656/ok-but-what-about-the-o-line-a-study
Good comments in first article
https://www.ninersnation.com/2019/5/27/18641760/deeper-dive-on-o-line-pass-protection-performance
Roster improving, IOL needs to get better next offseason.
“The NFL today reinstated OT Anthony Davis off the reserve-retired list and the 49ers immediately waived him.”
They also brought Dontae Johnson back for another go around of bad CB play.
New post is up.