Good game 49ers. That was a tense, exciting game. 49ers could have easily EARNED the win. So, so close. Both defenses were lights out and both offenses struggled for rhythm but made big plays when it mattered. I was on my feet half the game! Good game 9er fans and best of luck next year--we know you guys will bring it and are a great, great team. It is bad enough to play you guys 2x a year, but 3 is crazy. Much respect. Keep your heads' high as you guys were one play from another SB--3 championship games in a row is amazing. You guys have a lot to be proud of. Retool in the off season, get healthy, and use this as motivation for another run at it next year. Seattle better be ready as you guys showed you are an evenly matched opponent.
I was, and am, sad to see Bowman hurt. You never want to see anyone hurt like that. Ever. My best wishes to him for a full recovery and many, many more years of excellence--and if it is true some fan(s) threw food on Bowman: screw you guy(s)! Show some respect you idiot(s)! @ NaVorro Bowman: Great play to prevent Kearse from getting in the endzone. Even better play stripping the ball. And you are obviously THE MAN. I leap and hollar when I get a papercut. You, man, held onto a ball after a horrible injury.
I am also quite happy Lynch fumbled on the very next play (I guess his shoe was coming undone?) That was CLEARLY a fumble and SF ball. I can see why the refs missed it (look at it at full speed and there are bodies all over the place as they are going down). You never want a play a BAD BAD BAD call like that change the game. The next play actually helped SF a lot as they got the ball off the 1 yard line. So while the call was a bad miss it actually helped SF a lot. (Note: At least three times this season Seattle forced fumbles that were not reviewable. One in the Cards game that would have iced the game and last week against the Saints.)
The refs let a lot of stuff go, probably too much. I see a lot of 49ers complaining on ProFootballTalk. And some of the complaints are valid. Richardo Locket caught James' face mask and the blown roughing the kicker call (although when 42 broke past his blocker the block shoved him). But there were a lot of calls the other way as well. Kaepernick kicked the ball preventing an additional fumble recovery (pretty blatant IMO) and on one of Kap's big runs one of the Hawk's DL was literally hugged and had to drag the OLineman with him right in view of the ref. On the Kearse TD long before the ball got there the defender had his right arm around Kearse (blatant PI). Lane, one of our gunners, was held inside the collar and pushed out of bounds. Seeing as niner coaches and players were standing in the white area Lane ran behind them to and got decked. So a lot of bad calls both ways. Not sure what to say. What I can say is Aikman is wrong--just like in the Saint/49er game. You cannot hit the head or neck. He cannot hit the head or neck of a defenseless receiver with your helmet, shoulders, etc. It is no longer "just launching" (leaving feet) or hitting with the crown of the helmet that is illegal; you cannot hit the head or neck of a defenseless receiver, period. Hitner... err Witner clearly was trying to jack Luke Wilson. Seattle has been the victim of a lot of BAD defenseless receiver calls; Kam Chancelor in particular. But that call on Witner was dead on.
Kaepernick. Dude is a stallion. And his post game comments were CLASSY. I am not a big Kap fan but hats off to a gutsy game, playing hard, and staying classy. For a young QB he takes too much heat. But Joe Montana was right: he needs to develop in the pocket as he locks on too much. He brings some things on himself (come'on man, don't wear other team's gear!) and can be pretty dismissive of his opposition but he played a good game. He showed he can weather a hostile crowd better and, outside the 3 and nearly 4 costly 4th quarter turnovers he almost won it. In fact if he had looked at Boldin or Davis on that last play we could be talking about SF going to the SB two years running. Hard to be down on a guy who is 1 play away from the SB. The narrative last year was how Wilson took Seattle down to get the lead with 30 seconds left at Atlanta; and while the narrative will be Kap's turnover he put them in the position to win. Crabtree goes up and gets the ball, or knocks it away, SF wins.
Carroll. Adjustments. Going from man to more zone really worked well. It forced Kap to make tough reads which resulted in 2 INTs. It also kept him more contained which lead to the two strip sacks because he hangs the ball out. Gotta give it to Carroll for keeping his team's head in the game after going down 10-0. On the other side they left points on the table (Lynch fumble instead of FG) and got lucky on the BLOWN FG that lead to the 4and7 TD pass.
Wilson & Receivers. I like Baldwin-Tate-Kearse. But they are clearly 2-3-4 grade receivers. Tate was almost invisible, again. They do have problems separating. The OL is so porous on passing downs Zach Miller is constantly stuck blocking. Seattle NEEDS Harvin healthy and next year they need a tall outside receiver. Baldwin played balls to the wall and should be brought back. But Wilson will struggle until they get the line and receiving core fixed. The box is frequently overloaded and the receivers cannot get open on shorter routes. Wilson is good from the pocket when he has times but that is rare. That said Wilson looked off again. The stupid opening play/fumble. Went to hand off on the wrong side on a Read Option (or was that Lynch's fault?) The high handoff to Lynch that caused the fumble. The near interception early in the game over the defenders finger tips to Baldwin. A ton of running BACKWARDS. He seems afraid to run for yardage--the lack of the running threat is hampering him as well IMO. And yet he made the big plays when it counted. The bomb to Baldwin was big. The savy to go long on the free play when Smith went offsides (Smith gave up on the play!) Driving them down on that pass to Kearse that Kearse fumbled. Outside the 1st play fumble he kept the ball safe--which is the difference between him and Kaepernick right now. I would love to see Wilson with a compliment of players like Boldin, Crabtree, and Davis and the SF line. But he weathered the storm against a lot of great defenses and made it, so kudos. And I love it that Cris Carter was bad mouthing Baldwin this morning, even after a 100 yard game + big return in the playoffs. Fueling the fire!
Sherman. I don't like all the talking. That said the 49er receivers, especially Crabtree and Boldin, are huge smack talkers. Boldin doesn't know how to catch a ball without yapping. Crabtree has been pretty dismissive of Sherman and Sherman one this time. He was jacked--his play get Seattle into the superbowl. For those who don't know Sherman, he isn't always obnoxious. But I think his MO is simple: He first of all plays better jacked up and as the underdog. See: trash talk. It is to another degree against Harbaugh as his former coach did NOT draft him and he feels he was underutilized at Stanford, so it is personal with the 49ers. He also uses mind games against his opponents by getting under their skin. Then there is the dollars: he was a 5th or 6th round pick. He wants BIG money. He did this by playing well and then by TALKING. What did it do? Everyone started paying attention so they could slam him for trash talk. Instead Sherman has played lights out for 2 years. Has he given up big plays? Yes. But the guy is a beast. 13% of passes this year thrown his way were INTs. He was the least targetted CB in the league bet lead in INTs. He had the lowest passer rating of all players when teams through against him. He plays run support. He plays really tough at the line. He grabs at times and everyone from Harbaugh to the WSJ talk about it but ignore the rampant OFF PI in the league. Sherman is a lightening rod. I am not going to call him classless or a punk. Just look at the blotter this year in the NFL: DUIs galore, hit and runs and public intoxication, multiple murders, trying to force women to have abortions, rapes and public ahem, rampant gun issues, on an on.
Personally, I think his rant yesterday was three fold. One was he was amped and made the SB-making play. Two is doesn't like Crabtree, Harbaugh, or the 9ers. At all. He enjoyed showing them up, especially after the loss down in the stick. Seattle took that personal and Crabtree's smack talk added fuel. Third is Sherman is smart. He knows Manning is the national sweethart. Being the chippy young dogs was not going to court favor. So how do you fuel the fire? Be the villians. Be the bully. Have everyone insult and slam you. Fuel the fire to raise your game. I think that is his game. The media is obliging. Meh. I don't care. I wish he would shut up. I really like how Willis and Vernon Davis are classy guys, a lot like Wilson. But DBs/WRs are divas and trash talkers. Yesterday Sherman was the better player on the big stage so he could be the bigger trash talker. Ho hum.
Denver vs. Seattle. #1 seed vs #1 seed. One of the best all time passing teams vs on of the best all time pass defenses. Two classy QBs representing two different generations of QBs. If anyone can shut down the Denver pass attack it is Seattle. They can push the pocket and play tough at the line against Denver's big receivers. I see Manning getting some big plays, though. It comes down to Wilson and the Seattle offense. Seattle has played a lot of top 10 Defenses. Seattle's offense may rebound against Denver. Let's hope the Zebras get new glasses and we get a good game! Go Hawks!
Ps- It will be interesting to see what Seattle does with their cap. Clemons ($7M) and Rice ($7M) and to a degree Red Bryant ($7M) underperformed this year. Zach Miller is like $5 or $6M against the cap and seeing as he spends most of his time blocking may not last. They may free up $20M with 3 cuts. But they need to figure out Sherman, Thomas, Wilson, Bennet and look at Tate, Baldwin, and their OL. A lot of hard decisions. And they need post-BeatMode plans as in 2 years he will look like Gore.