Alright, let’s keep things remotely positive by looking into the FUTURE b/c the present is …oops I typed I would keep thigns positive!

49er fans:
A. How long until the 49ers have a successful season (let’s say over .500 and playoffs)
B. What needs to happen for this to occur?
and
C. Do YOU have faith that Alex Smith somewhere fits into the team’s future success?

10. uh…..
9. wait a sec-
8. hmmm.
7. Oh yah, because… -darn I lost it
6. duh…
5. whew, this is tough.
4. you see they… -nevermind
3. ummm
2. I GOT IT!
1. Because the fricking Warriors season hasn’t started and the ONLY channels you get are 3, 10, and 13 because you don’t pay for cable or satelite and you love to feel pain so instead of enjoying a relaxing serene Sunday afternoon you opt to reduce your lifespan by who knows how many years watching the worst team in football team that is a synthetic professional franchise. PERIOD!

This sucks.

yeah, go Warriors…

Alex Smith is back. That’s right, hold your breath no longer, the future of this franchise is padding up and taking snaps today versus the Saints. Seriously folks, how many of you are feeling A LOT better now that he’s back. How much of an impact does he even have on the game? Am I alone here?

Until Smith has a break-out game where we say, “Damn, he is going to really be something special!” I’m going got stick with massive reservations regarding him being the future of the San Francisco 49ers. Forget about an entire game, can anyone reflect on TWO quarters f football when he showed “quarterback-like” leadership on the field? I recognize a couple of late game marches down the field in the beginning of this season. Great. What about the other THREE and a half quarters of sloppy play he produced in the same game?

Should 49er fans be concerned? HELL YES. Should they fold on Alex Smith and the inconsistent offense?

…I am not a gamblin’ man, but I wouldn’t double down on the offenses success in the near future folks.

To the San Francisco 49ers:

PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG. Make me EAT these words like the other successful players do soup in TV commercials (BTW, no 49ers in those, hmmmmm). Provoke people’s nasty comments, “I told you so(s)” and “Koka, you were SO wrong” to RAIN FROM THE SKY with a fury. Please, men in red and gold, play with so much heart that I want to quit posting these out of shear embarrassment.

Sincerely,
Koka

If one were to review the final score of Sunday’s game versus N.Y., they could easily think the Giants man-handled the 49ers. Lets face it, a score of S.F. 15 - N.Y. 33 doesn’t lok or sound pretty.

The game basically came down to who can protect offensive possession of the ball and like the score, the Giants outdid S.F. in that category as well. S.F. gave up the ball FOUR times to N.Y.s one. Neither of these teams were explosive on offense, each totalled around 270 yards. Reflecting on the game though, N.Y. did what it had to do to win the game.

The score is uglier than the 49ers played. The Giants relied on their defense to drive home the win. How many teams in the NFL can have 13 penalties for 82 yards and give up 6 sacks yet STILL have chance to win the game?

Bottom line = N.Y. one more win, S.F. one more loss. At the end of the season, few will remember WHY the 49ers lost this game. Instead, they will see the final score and perhaps think, “Damn, the Giants smoked us in week seven.”

When someone figures out the magic formula for this team’s success, please don’t hesitate to enlighten the rest of the world.

On this Sunday, the 49ers:

-defense gave up  ZERO yards of opposition’s offense.

-…oh yah, and obviously ZERO POINTS as well.

-The offense had ZERO penalties.

-Alex Smith had ZERO interceptions.

-How many injuries you ask?  How about ZERO.

-Dropped balls from receivers, yah, ZERO.

-Number of defensive players to lay a hand on Frank Gore = you guessed it, ZERO.

If the above seems too good to be true…   If you have a wide grin on your face you do not want to disapear…  If you didn’t happen to catch the game on tv. today but are a proud 9ers fan…    STOP READING NOW.  For the rest of you who feel the above is too good to be true, here are some numbers that make the above sensible.

Number of fans in the stands for San Francisco’s game today, number of 49ers who put on jerseys to take the field, number of games 49ers played today, Sunday Oct. 14th…..   yah, ZERO. 

Don’t you love a bye week?

No quarterback, no offensive line, um no problem? Actually there are a lot of problems. Seattle exploited most of them last Sunday. Forget about the scoreboard for a moment and just focus on the quality (or lack of) on offense and yes, even to a degree, defense. Most of those in attendance on Sunday were pretty much ill feeling after the 49ers performance in the first half. The second half wasn’t extremely better and when added together, this is by far the four quarters of football the 49ers would like to forget thus far into their season.

But wait. Is forgetting this really the best thing for San Francisco to do? So much talk has surrounded Alex Smith. The “will he ever-s” and the “maybe someday-s” have now come to a halt and instead, the BACK-UP quarterback has come in to question. When I say Trent Dilfer, what do you think of? What do you mean not a saves-the-day type of player? When the 49ers next couple of weeks rest on the abilities of Dilfer, the 49ers may be in A LOT of trouble.

I want you to think of the four most talented teams in the NFL right now, today. Now, think about who they have taking the snaps as quarterback. Ok, last thought: Do you see Alex Smith (ever) reaching that level of play? If not, are we to expect the defense to carry this team into the playoffs. Once there, then what? One thing is clear. This is NOT the team to make and win the Super Bowl but perhaps just making or almost making the playoffs is all San Francisco fans need at this point.

For all of those who believe the future is now for the 49ers organization, um, don’t hold your breath too long. You will probably be exhaling out of frustration before anything gets better.

How big, you ask? The NFC West Champion could be anyone’s claim to fame - or in this case playoffs - could end up for grabs. Last year, the win against the Seahawks, which surprised many, kept the 49ers in the playoff hunt late into the season. Had they beaten Arizona….

If the 49ers can win against the Seahawks this Sunday, they would be in a good (I wouldn’t say comfortable, though) position to possibly win the NFC West.

Problem: Without Manny Lawson and Vernon Davis sidelined with injuries, the 49ers have large voids to fill, if that is even possible. Secondly, if the Niners offense produces like they did the first couple of weeks, EVERY game is going to be “scrappy.”

Photo courtesy USA TODAY

Coach Nolan said the best performance he has seen from Alex Smith and the offense (Frank Gore being the exception - hey, give the guy some bereavement) was against Pittsburgh. This offense may never be premier but if the defense continues to step it up, they may not need a high powered offense to put a lot of points on the board. Speaking of defense, they will need to play tip-top Sunday in order for the 49ers to contend. When discussing Seattle’s offense, coach Nolan stated, “On offense the quarterback, the running back, the line is playing better than I thought they did in the latter part of last year.”

So with every problem, comes possible solutions and miscellaneous thoughts.

1. If you’re coach, what plan do you implement to stop the Seahawks offense, spark your own offense by exploiting Seattle’s defense, and provoke a victory?

2. Win OR lose to Seattle, do the 49ers have a legitimate shot at competing for the NFC West crown?

 Well, we you can’t win em all. The hometown niners definitely gave one hell of an effort this afternoon. But in the end a lack of an efficient running offense and run stuffing defense ended up being too much for the 49ers to overcome against the Pittsburgh Steelers in game #3. The 37-16 loss will leave a bitter taste in the 49ers mouth, but will also prove to be a great learning tool for the future. If the niners want to be talked about in the same light as some of the upper echelon teams in the NFL, they have to be able to play mistake free football and capitalize on other teams errors. Unfortunately, great teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers do not make many errors for an opposing team to take advantage of. That’s when the kicking game comes into play. Special Teams wins are always big against tough opponents. The niners lapse in kickoff coverage early in the game, provided the Steelers first points. When Allen Rossum took the Steelers first kickoff return opportunity back 98 yards for a touchdown. Even though the play was early in the game. It gave the 49ers an early indication that they were not playing against Arizona or St.Louis. All day It felt like one of those games where every time the niners had the ball it was “Do or Die”. If we didn’t score we risked getting taken to the “wood shed”. Even within the loss you could pull out many positives. The defense still played good for the most part. 14 of Pittsburgh’s points were due to special teams and an Alex Smith interception for a touchdown. 23 points to the Steelers at home isn’t a defensive catastrophy by any means. Pittsburgh was just too good of a team to face, too early in the season . Let’s see if our niners can pull it together and bounce back at home against division rival Seattle. It’s going to be another battle until the end, but Im sure our niners will find a way to finish victorious. Go Niners!

 Okay, So it may not have been the best example of a well oiled machine. But hey, we will definitely take it. If there was ever any indication that anyone can lose on any given Sunday, this weekend proved that. The Houston Texans beat the Carolina Panthers, the Arizona Cardinals beat the Seattle Seahawks, the Tampa Bay Buccanears beat the New Orleans Saints, and the Cleveland Browns scored 51 points to beat the Cincinnati Bengals. It looks as if the NFL has even more parity within the league this year than in recent years. So every win counts! Today’s game against the St.Louis Rams could have easily been a game that ended up in the lost column. But once again the hometown 49ers found away to be more resilient than their opponent. Producing big plays at critical times is starting to become a part of the 49ers reputation early in this ‘07 season.  The offense sputtered once again only accounting for 186 yards in total offense. 81 of which came on the heels of some tough runs from Frank Gore.

“The crystal ball of the year award” should go to the 49ers coaching staff and front office, for their upgrades this off season on the defense. The defense was tested yet again by another explosive offense today against the St. Louis Rams. Even despite Rams quarterback Marc Bulger’s 368 yards passing, the Niners “D” was able to step up when it was needed most. Their “bend but don’t break defense” put mark Bulger on his back for 6 sacks, and knocked down the Rams star quarterback another 11 times besides that. Niners cornerback “Big $ Money” Nate Clements, came up with the defensive play of the game when he stripped Rams reciever Torry Holt of the ball, right before he scored a touchdown. Which would have gave the Rams a 20-7 lead late in the third quarter. But because of “Big Money Nate’s” fabulous play, the niners were still only down by one score at 13-7, not to mention the shift in momentumn in the 49ers direction after that great play. It was as if the 49ers went from just trying to win the game, to believing they deserved to win the game. After a Frank Gore score, which put the niners up 14 to 13. The Rams battled back to kick a 53 yard field goal, and go up on the niners once again, 16 to 14 late in the fourth quarter. That’s when the 49ers got their big break! The Rams usually surehanded return man Dante Hall muffed an Andy Lee kick which Marcus Hudson recovered. Setting up the game winning field goal from Joe Nedney with 3:28 left on the clock. The niner’s defense was able to hold off the Rams last efforts and pull out the 1 point victory in St.Louis. Wow! Another great game that ends up once again in the win column. The Niners last two games might not be as stress free as we would like, but all every season ever boils down to is wins and loses. And I will take a tough win any day, over a tough loss! Keep trucking Niners, the NFC West is ours!

Player of The Game: Frank Gore

Without a doubt the player of the game is Frank Gore. Gore rushed for 81 yards on 20 carries, and 2 touchdowns. Despite having to play with a heavy heart because of the loss of his mother Liz Gore earlier in the week. Our prayers are with you Frank. And we thank you for your contribution to the team in the midst of your adversity.

Tough Defense and the fortitude to finish strong was the difference tonight in the 49ers 20-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals. On the night where the 49ers gave tribute to their legendary former coach Bill Walsh, it seemed as if his presence was on the field in the final moments of the game, to help provide the necessary breaks for the win. It was if coach Walsh whispered in quarterback Alex Smith’s ear, “slide to the left” which helped him escape what looked like a definite sack on 4th and 1, late in the fourth quarter. Smith was able to elude the claws of the Cardinals defense and scamper for 25 yards down the left sideline. Setting up a beautiful pass play down the middle of the field to Arnaz Battle, down to the 3 yard line. But before Battle could cross the goaline for the game winning touchdown with 26 seconds left on the clock, he was hit by a Cardinal defender and fumbled the ball into the endzone.

Whether you were a Niners fan in the stadium or at home in your lazy chair, all hearts simultaneously skipped a beat, while the ball and the game rested in the back of the 49ers endzone. It looked as if the 49ers were going to suffer yet another heartbreaking loss. When once again they were blessed with the right bounce on Bill Walsh field. As the Arizona Cardinals cornerback Eric Green dove for the ball to seal up the victory for the Cardinals. He misjudged his dive and flew right over the ball, giving the 49ers reciever Darrell Jackson the opportunity to get on top of the ball. Due to league rule, the ball was placed on the 1 yard line and Arnaz Battle ran in for the game winning touchdown, on a reciever sweep with 26 seconds left to play. Wow! What a great game. Tonight proved anything will be possible this year with our great defense and will to finish strong. Go Niners!

$$$ Money Well Spent $$$: with all of the money the niners spent in the off-season improving their defense, it looked as if it all paid off Monday Night. The Cardinals high powered offense only gained 260 all purpose yards and forced Cardinals star quarterback Matt Leinhart into throwing 2 interceptions in the game. Cha-Ching! Great investment Niners. Let’s see if we can keep up the good work fellas!

                                                                                                                      T.Wood,