Zachary Shapiro's San Francisco 49ers fan blog

It's been an up and down season so far, but I want to take this bye week as an opportunity to take a look forward to next week.

Week 7: @ Houston Texans. This should be an interesting game. The Texans run defense has been suspect all season, and as you may well be aware, Mike Singletary is an "Old-School"-run-the-ball-play-tough-defense kind of coach. The 49ers will hopefully be welcoming back Frank Gore (he has been looking good in practice all week) who will be chomping at the bit to get the ball. Look for the 49ers to pound the ball early to get Gore going, and then use him to stretch the defense with screens and dump-offs, eventually leading to some playaction passes. The Texans have the weapons to put up some points, so it will up to Nate Clements to lock down Andre Johnson, and Patrick Willis to supply decent pressure.

Continue reading "Bye Week Blitz"

Hey Guys!

Even though it took a last second field goal from Joe Nedney, we beat the Washington Redskins.  And between you and me, we deserved it.  We outplayed them all game, survived a bad second quarter, and finished the game strongly.  We finished the season on an up-note by beating a good Washington Redskin team that had their playoff hopes broken last week.  All we did was put the final nail in the coffin.

This season was filled with many ups and downs.  We started the year 2-1 before losing 6 in a row.  Along the way, the team's future, QB Alex Smith, was placed on IR and journeyman J.T. O'Sullivan snagged the starting QB job.  Plagued by excessive turnovers, he was benched in favor of the savior from last year, Shaun Hill.  Our Head Coach Mike Nolan was replaced, our egotistical Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz was silenced, and our highly-vaunted TE Vernon Davis was benched.

Continue reading "The San Francisco 49ers Salvage The 2008 Season"

Hey Guys!

 We did it. We beat the Rams...barely! I won't get into everything that went wrong for the 9ers, i.e. Shaun Hills' poor decision making, the bad play of the offensive line, the poor job of Deshaun Foster, etc.  Instead, i'm going to focus on the positives of the game. 

    The main positive was our 4th Quarter Play- Against the Cardinals, the Dolphins, the Eagles, and the Giants, poor 4th quarter play doomed the 49ers. All of those were winnable games going into the 4th quarter, but the 9ers found a way to lose them.  Against the Bills, the Jets, and now against the Rams, the 49ers have shown the ability to finish a game strong.  Down 16-3 going into the 4th quarter, Shaun Hill stepped up and threw his only TD's of the game.  The defense played strong, and the WR's (namely Josh Morgan- a young guy who i've been excited about ever since we drafted him)made plays.  It was this kind of 4th quarter play that lends itself as a sneak preview of future seasons where our young Defense steps up and we get clutch playing from the Offense.

Continue reading "Week 16 Wrap-Up & Week 17 Preview"

        Rafael Furcal finally decided his future- he is staying with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  This is the wrong decision.  Furcal would have done the best had he signed with Oakland.  In Oakland, he could have taken his pick of which position he would want to play, which spot in the order he would bat, and even which days he would want to take off from playing in the field and just DH. By staying in Los Angeles, he has pigeon-holed himself into the shortstop role and the lead-off batter position.  I mean, don't get me wrong- even with the Atlanta Braves, Furcal was the natural leadoff hitter that they have sorely missed since his departure to Los Angeles.  And although he has had an unlucky streak of injuries recently, he still remains one of the top shortstops in the NL, and even in Major League Baseball.

Continue reading "Rafael Furcal- Playing for the wrong West Coast team"

Hey Guys!

We got a guy in! Patrick Willis, the 49ers 2nd year ILB has been named to his 2nd consecutive Pro Bowl. His stats support this selection: 121 Total Tackles (3rd in the NFL and 2nd in the NFC), 92 Solo Tackles (2nd in the NFL and 2nd in the NFC), 11 Passes Defensed (51st overall in the NFL, 24th in the NFC, 4th among LB's in the NFL, and 3rd among LB's in the NFC), and an 86 yard Interception return for a TD against the Seahawks in Week 2.

His 2 best games were against tough AFC opponents- Against Buffalo he recorded 10 solo tackles and a pass defensed; and against New England he had his best game of the season:  14 solo tackles and a sack.

The other NFC LB's that filled out the roster were DeMarcus Ware out of Dallas (74 Total Tackles and a league-leading 19 sacks), and Lance Briggs out of Chicago (99 Total Tackles, 3 Interceptions, a Forced Fumble, and a Fumble recovered for a Touchdown). The Reserves are Carolina's ILB John Beason (122 Total Tackles, 3 Interceptions, and a Fumble Recovery), and Tampa Bay's Derrick Brooks (63 Total Tackles, 1 Interception, and 1 Forced Fumble).

Continue reading "Patrick Willis to the Pro Bowl--Was There Any Doubt?"

Hey Guys!

As you're all aware of by now, the 49ers lost a winnable game at Miami. After the loss, the commentators and analysts like to describe the Dolphins win as a "smart" win. They keep saying things like: "They play smart football", or "The way they play the game is the smart way". This is characterized by their method of scoring early, comitting few turnovers, playing good defense, and winning the "Field Position Game". 

"Field Position Game"?

Is this why the Dolphins won the game? I don't think so. On all of the drives that the 49ers started inside their own 20 yard line, they failed just twice to turn it into good field position. In fact, 3 times they had drives of 50 yards or more. They played solid, mistake-free football for all 60 minutes. The problem lied with their conservative playcalling in the absence of Frank Gore. Shaun Hill averaged less than 10 yards per pass, and Foster averaged less than 4 yards per rush. The 49ers gained yards, but not at a productive rate.

Continue reading ""Field Position Game"? Either Way, 49ers lose"