At this point, I haven't been able to see much of the first two 49ers games due to me moving across the country. 3,200 miles and 13 days later, it's funny to look at the 49ers and see that they are 2-0 and leading the NFC West. Now, we knew they wouldn't outright suck, but going on the road to beat Arizona and then beating Seattle at home was pretty fucking great, even if Quan Boldin wasn't his normal self for the Cardinals and the Seahawks were without Lofa Tatupu, which was a main reason why Frank Gore, as seen above, took a dump all over the Seahawks defense with 200+ yards and two touchdowns of 79 and 80 yards. In basically a half.
Outside of Frank's dominance, it's easy to see why a game like that isn't a fantastic indicator of how good the 49ers are. Football Outsiders has the 49ers as the 27th ranked team in DAVE, the combination of their current play with their preseason predictions, and are 18th overall in VOA, the last team above the average mark at 1%. This mostly has to do with their offense being weak outside of the two big Gore plays, a middling defense, and their above average special teams play.
Having them as a 6 or 7 win team before the season started, the 49ers still have some standout play coming from some of the expected spots, but overall, the problems that were there before remain. Spotty offensive line play. Inconsistent pass rush outside of Justin Smith. Hardly any passing game whatsoever.
This game is going to be ugly. Neither team is going to play the pass, no matter what Wrangler Boy is going to throw, which will probably include an interception or two. With both teams having such a strong running game, expect eight men in the box facing off against big formations A LOT. Remember in last year's game, AP got absolutely shut down. Pat Willis made him his bitch. Now, that didn't stop Chester Taylor from running all over the field, and that ridiculous touchdown return, but, hey, that's what you get for gameplanning for one part of the game instead of the entire game.
Meanwhile, the 49ers are doing the right thing about the new Mariah Carey of the NFL. Maybe Crabtree can go record himself an album about the 49ers being his jilted lover that didn't give him a ridiculous amount of money that he doesn't really deserve at this point, no matter what Al Davis' dumb, decrepit ass did with Heyward-Bey. One can only hope that if he does record an album, that Eminem can rap a diss song about him. Although I guess the disser in this case would be Jed York, which would fucking slay me.
The 49ers are still a while from being competitive within the entirety of the league, but in an NFC West that's so bad me and 21 other guys could field a team and be competitive, they might have just enough to squeak by.
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