I don't see any way short of catastrophic injuries that the niners are anything but good to great. As you point out, picking an exact W-L record is tricky, as really good teams can find ways to lose close games, so at the end of the season their record may not scream 'elite'. SF's d-line is exceptional, and that will be what we have to handle if we are going to have any success against them. As to their QB situation, Purdy is at least solid, unless his performance last year was an absolute mirage. And solid will be plenty good enough with that team. If he's better than that, we'll be in trouble.
The good news is we should be able to go toe-to-toe with SF this year, so those will be 2 really fun games to watch.
And it wouldn't surprise me if the Rams and Cardinals aren't more of a problem than we are expecting. I'd love them both to be a shit show, but am not getting my hopes up that high.
I know that the Rams are most likely going to struggle this year, and that my hatred should remain focused on the 49ers, but I want to make sure that we, as a fan base, don't commit too much of our collective negative energy all on one rival. Let's not forget to continue our hatred of the Rams in addition to the Niners. I think we can safely leave the Cardinals alone to hate themselves.
I think the 49ers are a stacked team. Until we knock them off the perch, the division is theirs to lose. Superstars are difference makers and they have them. If the old adage that you lose an extra game a season for each rookie you start is remotely true (it’s not, but bear with me), you probably win one for every Cmac, Bosa, or Williams on your team. Injuries happen far too frequently in this sport, but you can’t count on them having the bug every season.
I think we will be improved. I think we have a solid shot to win the west. But I’m not getting hyped up that they are struggling in preseason or their rookie kicker has the yips.
Football is about match ups, and I see some cracks appearing in the 49ers that could swing a few key match ups in the Seahawk's favor.
One crack not mentioned by Ken that I saw yesterday was slot corner. The 49ers current starting slot corner is Isaiah Oliver. He played yesterday and he was bad. I mean really bad. In the past that would not have mattered much at least where the Seahawks were concerned because it was not a weakness we could readily exploit. But this year if the 49ers have a glaring weakness at slot corner then JSN could have a Rose Bowl kind of day each time the Seahawks play the 49ers.
Another crack is right tackle. McGlinchey was better than people gave him credit for in pass protection and damned good in run blocking. All things being equal most team prefer to run right because it is easier than running left for a right handed QB and RB. The 49 were able to consistently run right against the Seahawks, setting up everything else they wanted to do. This year I do not think San Francisco will run the ball as well to the right as in past years, nor do I think they will be able to consistently protect the right side in pass protection without having the tight end chip. Mafe's improvement combined with the 49ers getting weaker at right tackle could be a key match up that forces the 49ers to throw to beat us.
Which bring us to quarterback. The 49ers have some of the best receivers in the league - particularly after the catch. In fact I believe that if the 49ers get high level game manger play from the QB position they have as good a shot of winning the Super Bowl this year as any team, not withstanding their weaknesses at slot corner and right tackle . Five of the last ten Super Bowl's have been won by teams with great defenses and game manager QBs - Tampa 2021 and New England 2019, [yes Brady was a game manger by that point in his career]; Philly 2018 [Nick Folles], Denver 2016 [Dito for Payton]; and the Seahawks 2013 [Dito for Russ in his second year]. I, however, agree that QB is nevertheless potentially major crack in the 49ers armor that could swings the matchup between the 49ers receivers and Seahawks secondary to the Seahawks favor.
At the end of last year Brock Purdy was a superb game manager. I, however, think there is real reason to question whether he will continue to be the high level game manager this year. To be a high level game manager, a QB has to be able to be able to threaten the whole field with a combination of his arms and legs, and I am not sold on Purdy's ability to threaten the whole field post surgery. The training camp interceptions are in my mind meaningless because I do not know what the 49ers were trying to do or whether the mistake was on the receiver or on a QB getting his timing back. What I am more interested in is Purdy's inability to hit the deep sideline passes. Arm strength was the weakness in Purdy's game that kept him from being a top prospect. Last year, however, he hit on a couple of long sideline throw shortly after becoming the starter, so teams were reluctant to cheat coverage away from the outside and leave there CB on an island. Coming back from surgery, however, the reports from camp are that he is consistently coming up short on the deep sidelines throws, particularly on throws to the left sideline. If that continues into the season then opposing teams teams and particularly the Seahawks will not give there CB's help on the outside and will flood the middle of the field with 3/2 Db and 2/1 LBs providing high low coverage that requires perfect passes to beat. It can be done but the risk of a pick is ever present.
If Purdy falls back to earth, Lance is not the answer. The 49ers are not going to play Lance in the regular season unless both Purdy and Darnold are injured. Lance can make the deep throw down the sidelines but that is about all he can do. Do not read the stat line from yesterdays game. Watch a condensed version. What I saw is guy whose processing and mechanics are not in sync, and who is clearly not ready to play from the pocket in the NFL, much less in KS timing offense. Nor do his legs bring an added dimension to permit him to excel outside the pocket. As a runner he is equally indecisiveness as he is as a passer. His first step, which is everything when scrambling, is like he is running in in molasses in winter time- meaning he gets no separation and just gets dragged down. When he does manage to get away he runs upright but without the power to run over DBs, so when he gets hit defensive players unload on him. That just will not last for more than a handful of games. Bottom line is that as runner he looks nothing like early Russ or Kaepernick, much less Fields or Hurts. I cannot imagine that KS sees a back-up much less a starter at this point.
Which brings us to Sam Darnold. I am concerned about Darnold becauseI believe he could be a high level game manger in KS offense. Dispassionately the 49ers are likely a better team with Darnold at QB then either Purdy or Lance. Darnold, much like Geno can make the complete arsenal of throws required of a pro QB. If a team cheats on the outside, he can make them pay. The knock on Darnold is that he is prone to play hero ball. Darnold is not good enough to play hero ball but aside from Allen, prime Russ and Mahomes few Qbs are. But Darnold trying to play hero ball in the past rather than being a high level game manger may be more of a product of the dysfunction related to where he played as opposed to a personal failing. The NY Jets for the past 20 years and Carolina under Matt Ruhle basically relied on hero ball as a game plan. I don't think it should be lost on anyone that Darnold improved after Ruhle left the building, and was good enough game manger to beat the Seahawks last year. Darnold is absolutely a the kind of QB KS has success with in the past e.g. Cousins, Ryan, and Schaub. My prediction is that Darnold will start as the number 2 QB, and if the 49ers struggle in the first eight games will be the starter for the last seven. The good news though is he is not getting much in the way of starter reps, so he is not going to know the system as well as he might have if Purdy was delayed in his return, and that as much as anything may keep him from taking the 49ers to the Super Bowl .
The last crack, I saw yesterday was slot corner. The 49ers current starting slot corner is Isaiah Oliver. He played yesterday and he was bad. I mean really bad. In the past that would not have mattered much at least where the Seahawks were concerned because it was not a weakness we could readily exploit. But this year if the 49ers have a glaring weakness at slot corner then JSN could have a Rose Bowl kind of day each time the Seahawks play the 49ers.
Football is about match ups and there is chance a couple of key match-ups end up titling the balance in favor the Seahawks despite the fact that top to bottom the 49ers roster is better
From what little I saw of Purdy last season, I didn’t think he was that bad. He might be one to not underestimate now he’s had the exposure to the big league.
Oh, this is good. Trouble in 49ers land is nearly as fun as the Seahawks winning. Not only is Seattle better at QB, first and second string, but Pete was holding serve against Shanny until last year's 0'fer. Get the running game tuned up and Bosa's pass rush is equalized (and he will be signed, but saying it's 100% automatic potentially misses the human element).
If Witherspoon's a player, Kittle becomes less effective.
Maybe they should start being more concerned about the Seahawks!
An NFCW sweep would just be way over the top. I mean, there's fun and then there's real fun. That's real fun.
1) IMHO, FWIW (and, as usual, EIEIO), the "crapshoot" aspect of the draft is "on the margin", not "core". Given that few factors can really be hidden from the opposition, the margins are slim, and the magnitude of that issue is magnified.
Think of each potential draftee as if he is an "unknown", with characteristics that have been partially exposed by competition and (highly stylized) testing.
With regard to competition, when I say "partial", what I mean is that the exposed characteristics do not belong to that athlete alone; they are only an estimate. The estimate is "noisy" (lots of "experimental uncertainty") due to interactions with other players (both friendly and opposing) and with "schemes" (both friendly and opposing).
It is really hard to tell whether those long runs were because the RB had a good eye, or because the OL overpowered everything it its way & the RB simply learned to look for one or two specific patterns. It is really hard to foresee how that will translate to the NFL, with a much higher floor of performance (both friendly and opposing) and (usually) more sophisticated scheming.
With regard to "stylized testing", "partial" means that the test itself isn't perfect, because it lacks the element of reacting to the opponent's decisions in real time. That introduces an entirely different set of "experimental uncertainties". Did Mr. Bobo run slooooow on his pro-day because the adrenaline didn't hit him the same way it does on game day? (I always had much faster hand speed when sparring than when working the bag. Pretty sure the adrenaline rush is real!)
Judging the base skills isn't the crapshoot. Trying to scope the "experimental uncertainty" is the crapshoot.
None of that, of course, deals with injuries. Mr. Penny had a good injury record in school. Not so much in the NFL. Who could have seen that coming?
2) It seems like much hay is being made of the current '49er approach, wherein a "good enough" QB gets surrounded by lots of offensive tools.
Aside: when I use the expression "offensive tools" here, I feel like it is safe to say that I mean it in every possible interpretation because, y'know...we're talking about the '49ers.
That haystack may, or may not, be on purpose. I suspect it is an accommodation, though, because if it were really on purpose there would have been no Trey Lance fiasco in the first place. They were shooting for a fancy QB, but all they appear to have shot was...craps. Acey-deucy, to be specific.
Before we start criticizing the 49ers drafts, lest we forget our own mistakes to that end (Eskridge instead of Creed Humphrey is borderline criminal, LJ Collier instead of anyone in that draft, etc.). Therefore, we should be giving credit where it is due and as much as I hate to say it, the 49ers are the King of the NFC West until proven otherwise.
I doubt that PCJS ever considered drafting a center in the second round, even Creed Humphrey. Arguably, Oluwatimi is only the second pure center they’ve drafted (the other being Joey Hunt in the 6th round of the 2016 draft). PCJS could be dinged for passing on Josh Palmer, who likely was on their board, but to me even that is a stretch because no one can predict injuries.
The 9ers have those 'borderline' criminal picks under Lynch as well. It might not be has it been done, but how one recovers from it. Mistakes happen in the draft, it's not as much science as many would like it to be.
It’s hard for me to be objective about the Niners; here in WFT country, the Shanahan name is almost as toxic as “Dan Snyder.” Fans here—with justification—hold Mike Shanahan responsible for wrecking RG3’s career. Anyway, on offense the Niners are so loaded at the skill positions that, well, Brock Purdy looks good passing and handing off to Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk. Even if there’s a drop off in defense, this team is dangerous.
My feeling is that the 49ers can be had this year. The Seahawks have the antidote for that big pass rush now, and the D is not going to let anyone, let alone the 49ers, run over them. Passing against the Seahawks D is not going to be an easy or fun exercise, and we have some real ball hawks now also (look out for Bryant as a Safety).
Plus... while I don't wish any injuries for anyone, they are a fact of life in the NFL, and CMC has a track record of not making it through the season unscathed. My bet is that when those games vs the 49ers get played at the end of the season, one of the teams will be Running on Empty and it won't be the Seahawks.
The late Mark Fidrych threw 24 complete games as a rookie. Justin Verlander has 26 CGs across an 18-year career. For all the attention given to his eccentricities, the Bird nonetheless fell into the “awfully good” category, and was off to a strong start in 1977 when disaster struck. Publicly, Fidrych never expressed bitterness or regret—he felt lucky to have gotten as far as he did. His 2009 death in a farming accident was genuinely sad; Fidrych left a legacy of as much good will as anyone who has walked this vale of years.
"Do you like supporting writers who are skeptical and critical of the 49ers??? Do you want more content that gives the truth about Shanahan and Lynch and San Francisco’s embarrassing shortcomings?!" Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
The new gold standard for schadenfreude: "fond memories of how the 49ers did in 2017 (6-10), 2018 (4-12), and 2020 (6-10)...a perennial hope that Shanahan is always an injury away from complete failure; objective embarrassment; unpunished mediocrity."
I may have to start tracking my Top 10 favorite Seaside Joeisms. :-)
I must beg your kind forbearance to disagree. The correct line would have been as follows:
"...a perennial hope that Shanahan is always an injury away from EXPOSING HIS complete failure; objective embarrassment; AND PUNISHING HIS mediocrity."
I don’t see the 49ers stretching the field (horizontally or vertically) against the Seahawks like they have in the past. My head is till spinning trying to grasp “stretching the field”. We now have a very talented defensive backfield that should be able to stop them in their tracks. I see some interceptions coming in their short game. May the 12s be with you and Go Seahawks!
The niners have too much talent to be “bad. However recency bias plays a factor when fans and industry “experts” are making predictions. It’s really really hard to sustain success in the NFL and there are surprises (good and bad) every year.
I think back to last year when many of (Seasiders included) were predicting a down year, and PC was mocked for saying that no one knows what will happen and that he expected the Seahawks to be competitive.
I believe the niners will make the playoffs, but I don’t feel like they are trending upward. Primarily because of their QB issues and their recent drafts (lack of draft capital and questionable picks). I know I’m biased but the hawks are a young, talented team who have the potential to improve as the season progresses (it’s not how you start it’s how you finish)!
Think the Niners defense and running game keeps them in every game, as well as their short passing game with McCaffrey Kittle and Samuel. Not that the QB is irrelevant, but this team should be able to keep scores low and win most of those. I'd say 11 wins is a minimum, still think they're the team to beat in the NFC West. Hate to say it, but is how I look at it.
That said, a bad/questionable kicker hurts in low-scoring affairs...a glimmer of hope?
I don't see any way short of catastrophic injuries that the niners are anything but good to great. As you point out, picking an exact W-L record is tricky, as really good teams can find ways to lose close games, so at the end of the season their record may not scream 'elite'. SF's d-line is exceptional, and that will be what we have to handle if we are going to have any success against them. As to their QB situation, Purdy is at least solid, unless his performance last year was an absolute mirage. And solid will be plenty good enough with that team. If he's better than that, we'll be in trouble.
The good news is we should be able to go toe-to-toe with SF this year, so those will be 2 really fun games to watch.
And it wouldn't surprise me if the Rams and Cardinals aren't more of a problem than we are expecting. I'd love them both to be a shit show, but am not getting my hopes up that high.
I know that the Rams are most likely going to struggle this year, and that my hatred should remain focused on the 49ers, but I want to make sure that we, as a fan base, don't commit too much of our collective negative energy all on one rival. Let's not forget to continue our hatred of the Rams in addition to the Niners. I think we can safely leave the Cardinals alone to hate themselves.
I think the 49ers are a stacked team. Until we knock them off the perch, the division is theirs to lose. Superstars are difference makers and they have them. If the old adage that you lose an extra game a season for each rookie you start is remotely true (it’s not, but bear with me), you probably win one for every Cmac, Bosa, or Williams on your team. Injuries happen far too frequently in this sport, but you can’t count on them having the bug every season.
I think we will be improved. I think we have a solid shot to win the west. But I’m not getting hyped up that they are struggling in preseason or their rookie kicker has the yips.
Football is about match ups, and I see some cracks appearing in the 49ers that could swing a few key match ups in the Seahawk's favor.
One crack not mentioned by Ken that I saw yesterday was slot corner. The 49ers current starting slot corner is Isaiah Oliver. He played yesterday and he was bad. I mean really bad. In the past that would not have mattered much at least where the Seahawks were concerned because it was not a weakness we could readily exploit. But this year if the 49ers have a glaring weakness at slot corner then JSN could have a Rose Bowl kind of day each time the Seahawks play the 49ers.
Another crack is right tackle. McGlinchey was better than people gave him credit for in pass protection and damned good in run blocking. All things being equal most team prefer to run right because it is easier than running left for a right handed QB and RB. The 49 were able to consistently run right against the Seahawks, setting up everything else they wanted to do. This year I do not think San Francisco will run the ball as well to the right as in past years, nor do I think they will be able to consistently protect the right side in pass protection without having the tight end chip. Mafe's improvement combined with the 49ers getting weaker at right tackle could be a key match up that forces the 49ers to throw to beat us.
Which bring us to quarterback. The 49ers have some of the best receivers in the league - particularly after the catch. In fact I believe that if the 49ers get high level game manger play from the QB position they have as good a shot of winning the Super Bowl this year as any team, not withstanding their weaknesses at slot corner and right tackle . Five of the last ten Super Bowl's have been won by teams with great defenses and game manager QBs - Tampa 2021 and New England 2019, [yes Brady was a game manger by that point in his career]; Philly 2018 [Nick Folles], Denver 2016 [Dito for Payton]; and the Seahawks 2013 [Dito for Russ in his second year]. I, however, agree that QB is nevertheless potentially major crack in the 49ers armor that could swings the matchup between the 49ers receivers and Seahawks secondary to the Seahawks favor.
At the end of last year Brock Purdy was a superb game manager. I, however, think there is real reason to question whether he will continue to be the high level game manager this year. To be a high level game manager, a QB has to be able to be able to threaten the whole field with a combination of his arms and legs, and I am not sold on Purdy's ability to threaten the whole field post surgery. The training camp interceptions are in my mind meaningless because I do not know what the 49ers were trying to do or whether the mistake was on the receiver or on a QB getting his timing back. What I am more interested in is Purdy's inability to hit the deep sideline passes. Arm strength was the weakness in Purdy's game that kept him from being a top prospect. Last year, however, he hit on a couple of long sideline throw shortly after becoming the starter, so teams were reluctant to cheat coverage away from the outside and leave there CB on an island. Coming back from surgery, however, the reports from camp are that he is consistently coming up short on the deep sidelines throws, particularly on throws to the left sideline. If that continues into the season then opposing teams teams and particularly the Seahawks will not give there CB's help on the outside and will flood the middle of the field with 3/2 Db and 2/1 LBs providing high low coverage that requires perfect passes to beat. It can be done but the risk of a pick is ever present.
If Purdy falls back to earth, Lance is not the answer. The 49ers are not going to play Lance in the regular season unless both Purdy and Darnold are injured. Lance can make the deep throw down the sidelines but that is about all he can do. Do not read the stat line from yesterdays game. Watch a condensed version. What I saw is guy whose processing and mechanics are not in sync, and who is clearly not ready to play from the pocket in the NFL, much less in KS timing offense. Nor do his legs bring an added dimension to permit him to excel outside the pocket. As a runner he is equally indecisiveness as he is as a passer. His first step, which is everything when scrambling, is like he is running in in molasses in winter time- meaning he gets no separation and just gets dragged down. When he does manage to get away he runs upright but without the power to run over DBs, so when he gets hit defensive players unload on him. That just will not last for more than a handful of games. Bottom line is that as runner he looks nothing like early Russ or Kaepernick, much less Fields or Hurts. I cannot imagine that KS sees a back-up much less a starter at this point.
Which brings us to Sam Darnold. I am concerned about Darnold becauseI believe he could be a high level game manger in KS offense. Dispassionately the 49ers are likely a better team with Darnold at QB then either Purdy or Lance. Darnold, much like Geno can make the complete arsenal of throws required of a pro QB. If a team cheats on the outside, he can make them pay. The knock on Darnold is that he is prone to play hero ball. Darnold is not good enough to play hero ball but aside from Allen, prime Russ and Mahomes few Qbs are. But Darnold trying to play hero ball in the past rather than being a high level game manger may be more of a product of the dysfunction related to where he played as opposed to a personal failing. The NY Jets for the past 20 years and Carolina under Matt Ruhle basically relied on hero ball as a game plan. I don't think it should be lost on anyone that Darnold improved after Ruhle left the building, and was good enough game manger to beat the Seahawks last year. Darnold is absolutely a the kind of QB KS has success with in the past e.g. Cousins, Ryan, and Schaub. My prediction is that Darnold will start as the number 2 QB, and if the 49ers struggle in the first eight games will be the starter for the last seven. The good news though is he is not getting much in the way of starter reps, so he is not going to know the system as well as he might have if Purdy was delayed in his return, and that as much as anything may keep him from taking the 49ers to the Super Bowl .
The last crack, I saw yesterday was slot corner. The 49ers current starting slot corner is Isaiah Oliver. He played yesterday and he was bad. I mean really bad. In the past that would not have mattered much at least where the Seahawks were concerned because it was not a weakness we could readily exploit. But this year if the 49ers have a glaring weakness at slot corner then JSN could have a Rose Bowl kind of day each time the Seahawks play the 49ers.
Football is about match ups and there is chance a couple of key match-ups end up titling the balance in favor the Seahawks despite the fact that top to bottom the 49ers roster is better
This is really thorough!
And that goes double for slot corner!
(I tried hard to pass it up. I was weak! Forgive me!)
From what little I saw of Purdy last season, I didn’t think he was that bad. He might be one to not underestimate now he’s had the exposure to the big league.
Oh, this is good. Trouble in 49ers land is nearly as fun as the Seahawks winning. Not only is Seattle better at QB, first and second string, but Pete was holding serve against Shanny until last year's 0'fer. Get the running game tuned up and Bosa's pass rush is equalized (and he will be signed, but saying it's 100% automatic potentially misses the human element).
If Witherspoon's a player, Kittle becomes less effective.
Maybe they should start being more concerned about the Seahawks!
An NFCW sweep would just be way over the top. I mean, there's fun and then there's real fun. That's real fun.
Two things:
1) IMHO, FWIW (and, as usual, EIEIO), the "crapshoot" aspect of the draft is "on the margin", not "core". Given that few factors can really be hidden from the opposition, the margins are slim, and the magnitude of that issue is magnified.
Think of each potential draftee as if he is an "unknown", with characteristics that have been partially exposed by competition and (highly stylized) testing.
With regard to competition, when I say "partial", what I mean is that the exposed characteristics do not belong to that athlete alone; they are only an estimate. The estimate is "noisy" (lots of "experimental uncertainty") due to interactions with other players (both friendly and opposing) and with "schemes" (both friendly and opposing).
It is really hard to tell whether those long runs were because the RB had a good eye, or because the OL overpowered everything it its way & the RB simply learned to look for one or two specific patterns. It is really hard to foresee how that will translate to the NFL, with a much higher floor of performance (both friendly and opposing) and (usually) more sophisticated scheming.
With regard to "stylized testing", "partial" means that the test itself isn't perfect, because it lacks the element of reacting to the opponent's decisions in real time. That introduces an entirely different set of "experimental uncertainties". Did Mr. Bobo run slooooow on his pro-day because the adrenaline didn't hit him the same way it does on game day? (I always had much faster hand speed when sparring than when working the bag. Pretty sure the adrenaline rush is real!)
Judging the base skills isn't the crapshoot. Trying to scope the "experimental uncertainty" is the crapshoot.
None of that, of course, deals with injuries. Mr. Penny had a good injury record in school. Not so much in the NFL. Who could have seen that coming?
2) It seems like much hay is being made of the current '49er approach, wherein a "good enough" QB gets surrounded by lots of offensive tools.
Aside: when I use the expression "offensive tools" here, I feel like it is safe to say that I mean it in every possible interpretation because, y'know...we're talking about the '49ers.
That haystack may, or may not, be on purpose. I suspect it is an accommodation, though, because if it were really on purpose there would have been no Trey Lance fiasco in the first place. They were shooting for a fancy QB, but all they appear to have shot was...craps. Acey-deucy, to be specific.
Before we start criticizing the 49ers drafts, lest we forget our own mistakes to that end (Eskridge instead of Creed Humphrey is borderline criminal, LJ Collier instead of anyone in that draft, etc.). Therefore, we should be giving credit where it is due and as much as I hate to say it, the 49ers are the King of the NFC West until proven otherwise.
Go Hawks
I doubt that PCJS ever considered drafting a center in the second round, even Creed Humphrey. Arguably, Oluwatimi is only the second pure center they’ve drafted (the other being Joey Hunt in the 6th round of the 2016 draft). PCJS could be dinged for passing on Josh Palmer, who likely was on their board, but to me even that is a stretch because no one can predict injuries.
The 9ers have those 'borderline' criminal picks under Lynch as well. It might not be has it been done, but how one recovers from it. Mistakes happen in the draft, it's not as much science as many would like it to be.
It’s hard for me to be objective about the Niners; here in WFT country, the Shanahan name is almost as toxic as “Dan Snyder.” Fans here—with justification—hold Mike Shanahan responsible for wrecking RG3’s career. Anyway, on offense the Niners are so loaded at the skill positions that, well, Brock Purdy looks good passing and handing off to Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk. Even if there’s a drop off in defense, this team is dangerous.
My feeling is that the 49ers can be had this year. The Seahawks have the antidote for that big pass rush now, and the D is not going to let anyone, let alone the 49ers, run over them. Passing against the Seahawks D is not going to be an easy or fun exercise, and we have some real ball hawks now also (look out for Bryant as a Safety).
Plus... while I don't wish any injuries for anyone, they are a fact of life in the NFL, and CMC has a track record of not making it through the season unscathed. My bet is that when those games vs the 49ers get played at the end of the season, one of the teams will be Running on Empty and it won't be the Seahawks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKnnh8VDULs
CMC's backup has injury issues himself... has Elijah Mitchell ever gone more than a couple games w/o getting hurt?
The late Mark Fidrych threw 24 complete games as a rookie. Justin Verlander has 26 CGs across an 18-year career. For all the attention given to his eccentricities, the Bird nonetheless fell into the “awfully good” category, and was off to a strong start in 1977 when disaster struck. Publicly, Fidrych never expressed bitterness or regret—he felt lucky to have gotten as far as he did. His 2009 death in a farming accident was genuinely sad; Fidrych left a legacy of as much good will as anyone who has walked this vale of years.
"Do you like supporting writers who are skeptical and critical of the 49ers??? Do you want more content that gives the truth about Shanahan and Lynch and San Francisco’s embarrassing shortcomings?!" Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
The new gold standard for schadenfreude: "fond memories of how the 49ers did in 2017 (6-10), 2018 (4-12), and 2020 (6-10)...a perennial hope that Shanahan is always an injury away from complete failure; objective embarrassment; unpunished mediocrity."
I may have to start tracking my Top 10 favorite Seaside Joeisms. :-)
I must beg your kind forbearance to disagree. The correct line would have been as follows:
"...a perennial hope that Shanahan is always an injury away from EXPOSING HIS complete failure; objective embarrassment; AND PUNISHING HIS mediocrity."
I don’t see the 49ers stretching the field (horizontally or vertically) against the Seahawks like they have in the past. My head is till spinning trying to grasp “stretching the field”. We now have a very talented defensive backfield that should be able to stop them in their tracks. I see some interceptions coming in their short game. May the 12s be with you and Go Seahawks!
“Like their next playoff appearance, the Rams and Cardinals will have to wait.”
That reads well with my first cup of coffee.
The niners have too much talent to be “bad. However recency bias plays a factor when fans and industry “experts” are making predictions. It’s really really hard to sustain success in the NFL and there are surprises (good and bad) every year.
I think back to last year when many of (Seasiders included) were predicting a down year, and PC was mocked for saying that no one knows what will happen and that he expected the Seahawks to be competitive.
I believe the niners will make the playoffs, but I don’t feel like they are trending upward. Primarily because of their QB issues and their recent drafts (lack of draft capital and questionable picks). I know I’m biased but the hawks are a young, talented team who have the potential to improve as the season progresses (it’s not how you start it’s how you finish)!
Think the Niners defense and running game keeps them in every game, as well as their short passing game with McCaffrey Kittle and Samuel. Not that the QB is irrelevant, but this team should be able to keep scores low and win most of those. I'd say 11 wins is a minimum, still think they're the team to beat in the NFC West. Hate to say it, but is how I look at it.
That said, a bad/questionable kicker hurts in low-scoring affairs...a glimmer of hope?