Niners trade for Brian Robinson and I am thrilled

Brian Robinson is no scrub. I really liked this kid in his rookie year, after getting shot (!) preseason, he came out and put up 800 yards in 12 games. I watched him, he ran hard.

With Christian McCaffery, Robinson and Isaac Guerendo, the Niners now have one of the best  (I might even say the best (!) though I recognize there's some homerism talking there) RB rooms in the league. And they've clearly prioritized pass catchers so no matter who they put on the field, including Juice at FB, the back is a very real threat to run a route.

Also, yes, the Niners now have TWO (!) players who were shot in between being drafted and playing an NFL game. Both came back and eventually balled in their rookie years. Which is very very crazy, very weird and wild stuff, man.

I wonder if Plaxico Burress is interested in coming out of retirement.

Anyway, as Coach would say, I'm super pumped to get this guy in the building, and all the sudden I'm pumped for the RB room this year. I really liked Jordan Mason (still got him on my fantasy keeper league team (!)) and was sad to see him go to the Vikes, though I understand why. But beyond Guerendo things weren't looking super great. Patrick Taylor, Keyshawn Vaughn, Jeff Wilson at this stage - I don't dislike those guys, but those guys are not 1st or 2nd string NFL backs. We have yet to see what the Niners really have in Jordan James and Corey Kiner, so this trade makes so much sense to me - essentially they upgraded Jordan Mason to Brian Robinson. Love it.

Let's go Niners!!

PS: this weekend we'll see the reunion of Jim Harbaugh and the Niners, and of Trey Lance and the Niners. Obviously Harbs' only crossover from his time would be with Jed York and maybe Paraag? (I don't remember) but Trey will get to see Kyle, John Lynch, Brock etc etc. which is cool. I think they all genuinely liked Trey and are rooting for him, as am I.

(I also love Harbs and he's absolutely the one that got away (goddamn you Trent Baalke, you suck so much), but I'm more than happy with current management so I wish Harbs all the best and maybe see you in the Superbowl.)

PPS: speaking of Harbaugh, of rivalries and all that, I love how he and Pete Carrol ended up in the same division again. I love it. I only wish Jim Schwartz could be in the AFC west too, so Harbaugh could shake his hand too hard twice a year.

Free Agency, or, Saying Goodbye to Some Old Friends

This year's start of free agency has hit Niners fans pretty hard. That's because, as the team aims to get younger and also shed some of their larger contracts, we have had to say goodbye to some players who have provided some of the most memorable, team-galvanizing plays of recent times, contributing hugely to wins against big rivals (Seahawks, Eagles) and led us to the NFC championship and Superbowl runs that have been a staple of the last five years. The only two teams more successful in this period have been the Chiefs and the Eagles - we have been riding pretty high!

My favourite player of these last five years has been Deebo Samuel. I love his wrecking ball style of play. His 3 TD game against the Eagles last year was probably his last really great game as a Niner, but there's so many other points in time where he's just dominated a game or turned it around - and so often against a rival like the Rams or Seahawks. This last year was absolutely not his year, and it's sad to see him go - though to be honest it has felt like he's been gone for a little while now. But I'm sure he's still going to have a game or two as his old self with the Commanders.

Dre. Man, did I ever love Dre. I loved Fred and Dre together almost as much as I loved Patrick and NaVarro - which is a lot, folks. Responsible for one of the single greatest plays in 49ers history - no hyperbole, I know that's a huge cauldron of great plays and a significant number of iconic out-of-your-seat jubilance moments that I'm comparing to - was his goal-line stand against Jacob Hollister of the Seahawks to end the 2019 season and start their Superbowl run. Like, Dre didn't just tackle Hollister, he DESTROYED him. Hollister went from moving forward to moving absolutely nowhere in an instant. The ball could not have been closer to the goal line without crossing it. Just so great. That was Dre. Big Play Dre.

Hufanga, I will say that he didn't have the same prolonged success as the other two, but his highs were pretty damn high. Obviously the special teams play in Green Bay to end that horrible snowy stalemate will be remembered as his biggest moment as a Niner, but damn he sure had Matt Stafford's number a few times as well.

And then there's Aaron Banks, who was as solid of a left guard as you could hope for. Juice, of course, who was the original "offensive weapon". Though he was never quite used in that way, he did have several plays, toe tap catches on sidelines and such, that just yanked you out of your seat.

Mooney Ward, who we knew wouldn't be coming back due to his desire to leave the trauma that he's had to endure while with the team behind (no one's fault, just life). But whose departure still hurts. Man his clamping down on DK the past couple years has been amazing and legendary. He was a true shutdown corner. And I loved his locker room interviews. He always came across as thoughtful and respectful, humble for a guy who could stand up to and shut down a hulk like DK Metcalf on the field.

Anyway, time moves on and the team must as well. But yeah, sad and reflective time in the Niners fandom for sure. Here's hoping we do some trade-ups in the draft and snag some really quality young replacements in April.

The State of the Niners

Listen. The Chiefs game was bad, we could all see that. And it wasn't just the loss of Deebo three plays in, or the loss of Aiyuk (for the season!) half way through, or any of that. Brock played terribly, the INTs were just downright bad. Bad decisions, bad throws. He was trying to force stuff. The defense played terribly. Slow, poor positioning or ended up in poor positions, seemingly easily blocked, not covering. Even Fred looked slow last week. And speaking of, the Mahomes run - clearly Winters thought he was going to go out of bounds.

(And by the way, Mahomes & Chiefs: you can't have it both ways - you can't complain when people hit you and then do that shit. Or the next time you're running, don't complain when someone hits you inbounds. And I do wish Winters had just hit him. I wish it was Dre on that play, he would have laid him the F out. Then there would have been none of the showboating in the end zone when he ran over Mustapha (who I also believe was letting up because Mahomes had already crossed the goal line.) Anyway, I digress.)

The key to the rest of this season now lies squarely in the coaches hands. Specifically Shanahan, but also Sorensen. (Let's not even entertain the thought that anything good can or will happen on special teams.)

The key is to adapt. Adapt to win. Get wins however you can. Salvage the season, and save some F'ing face. People are calling for your head, Kyle. I don't believe you should be fired, but I damn sure hope you show us all that you can coach out of this hole. It's the last thing us true believers need to see out of you. (Well, that and a Lombardi.)

Andy Reid is doing it. John Harbaugh has done it. Mike Tomlin has done it. Those are three great coaches, three Superbowl winning coaches. Show us you belong in that echelon, Kyle!

You don't have CMC. That's not an excuse for red zone problems. You also didn't have CMC in 2019 or anytime before 2022. Ever. You don't have Aiyuk. On defense, you don't have Hargrave or Greenlaw. (I'm not convinced that not having Huf right now is worse than having the Huf that was just coming back a couple games ago.) Doesn't matter that you can't run what you wanted to with all those guys in there. Run something else with the personnel you have. Great coaches find the strengths of their players and their teams and run plays to those strengths. Extremely simplified I know, but that's what this team needs now. Not just The System, but tailoring to the pieces that are left.

The Niners can still win with Brock and Deebo and JJ and Kittle. Run the tandem of Mason in the middle and Guerendo to the outside. Kittle chips at right tackle, then leaks for 8-12 yards. A couple deep shots to Deebo or Cowing. (Please no more Ronnie Bell, for god's sake let's let that ship sail.) DISCIPLINE ON THE LINE!! That goes for both offense and defense. Stop taking penalties. Want the football.

Seriously, we're all tired of excuses and we're tired of losing stupid games that we should have won (that would be the Rams and Cards). We should be 5-2 and leading the west. But we're not. And all the whiny self-appointed pundits are being proved right.

Don't take this shit, Niners. Show everyone what a good team does in the face of adversity.

Niners completely waste Brock and Jauan's almost perfect game

 

It's the sort of loss that makes me feel sick to my stomach. The previous week at Minnesota, where the Niners were competitive but ended up losing by six points, felt like an 'ah there's things to fix but they're plain to see and fixable' game.

This week against the Rams in contrast was a game where Purdy was missing three of his top four options on offense, where he would be forced to show up and show out in order to really truly shut up the naysayers (though of course not really, and definitely not once and for all - we could only hope).

And he did!! He played about as well as any QB this season. (Yes there was a strip sack but that was McKivitz, not Brock.) He was throwing to Jauan all over the yard, and holy god JJ had the game of his life - which is saying something because he should have been Superbowl MVP had the Niners won that one.

But they didn't win the Superbowl, and they didn't win this one either, and JJ - and Brock - will not get the recognition they deserve. What a waste, and what a shame. It's for them that the pit of despair exists in my guts today.

The reason for so many of the heartbreaking losses in the past, what, dozen or so years has been special teams. And special teams once again fucked us yesterday. And no, I don't even blame Moody (yes being drafted in the 3rd round raises expectations pretty damn high for a kicker, but his draft position isn't his fault). No one expects a 55 yarder to be automatic, that's not a reasonable expectation. But LA's successful fake punt and the final LA punt return were just not okay. Those are not winning plays, to say the least. Why can't we find a decent  special teams coordinator?? What is the origin of this curse?

The defense also should not be relinquishing that type of lead. Why does it keep happening to the Niners? Does this happen to other teams too? It boggles my mind, given the talent and the recent success that they've established as one of the standards in the NFL. New coordinator yes, and also yes I remember Demeco and Saleh both requiring time to get up to speed. But no, you should not be giving up a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter to end up losing by a last second field goal. Not to an admittedly pretty great QB, but with one with only ONE receiver.

I also have to say, Kyle, please stop with the Ronnie Bell. How many times does this guy have to break your heart? Put him on the practice squad if you want to keep him, but stop playing him in games. It's not working man, a receiver who can't catch does not work in the NFL.

Anyway, Brock and JJ, y'all balled absolutely tf out yesterday and I wish the rest of the team could have held on and won so your accomplishments could be properly recognized.

Things that happened this weekend

The Culmination of the Year of Anna Sawai

I've watched a lot of Japan-based tv this year - Shogun, Tokyo Vice, Monarch (part-time-Japan), Pachinko (Japan-adjacent). Three of those four shows include Anna Sawaii in the cast. Last night, she - along with the rest of the Shogun cast, crew and creators - won a whole bunch of hardware at the Emmys. I'm not a real subscriber to award shows, but man alive I think this is just so well deserved. Shogun is a fantastic show, and Anna Sawai (and Hiroyuki Sanada) getting a whole bunch of accolades means the universe is working correctly.

I watched more Japanese-language tv than Chinese this year. Or, let's say tv series that contain Japanese or Chinese. Warrior's last season and the Brothers Sun were solid entertaining shows, but neither touched the depth of characters that maybe any of the four aforementioned shows do.

Oh I guess I also watched American Born Chinese, which did have a couple huge swing episodes to its credit. (The whole party in heaven episode was wild, I loved it.) And, should we count 3 Body Problem as Chinese adjacent? Considering its source material, if anything it had a lot of Chinese taken out of it.

Anyway. Congratulations, Anna Sawai. I thoroughly enjoyed the year of you.

Niners vs Vikings

The Niners lost to the Vikings this weekend, which normally would make me very sad but has actually only made me slightly sad. For one, this team needs to toughen up, for real. And Brian Flores' defense hopefully did some of that.

Defensively, Fred Warner is playing pretty much on god mode. I mean, he saved the game multiple times for the team, at least giving them the opportunity to win it. Which they did not, but still. I'm biased and I've watched way more Niners football than any other team, but Fred is my DPOY candidate after week 2.

On offense, Trent Williams made a couple mistakes that we are just not accustomed to seeing. BA is almost nowhere to be seen. And obviously CMC hasn't even played a down. So, there's some catch-up work to be done. These guys need to build up to game shape still.

As sort of meh as the team performed, I think the game was lost over a series of three plays. The 4th and goal where Kyle inexplicably called that screen and almost got Van Ginkle'd, especially after seeing the Giants and Daniel Jones suffer that exact fate the week before - I mean, what the hell was that. Then the Vikings take over on downs and two plays later, our safeties are showing us that we need way way better cover safeties out there. They are both torched by JJ, not to mention one of the refs apparently. I didn't see specifically but I'm assuming it was Brown and Odum. My god I hope Sorensen makes some adjustments and/or Huff returns asap. Also, you don't know what you got till it's gone but Gipson, our best cover safety, is most definitely gone.

The Brock fumble, not good. The blocked punt, not good. The muffed punt, very bad. The special teams pox continues in its, what, 12th year? 20th? I don't even know anymore.

But there are glaring things that can and hopefully will be cleaned up. Otherwise, as noted Fred Warner has the defense in relatively good shape and the offense put up good yards, they just couldn't finish. End result: only slightly sad.

Niners draft ... Ricky Pearsall ... ?

I'm not really too into criticizing Shanny and Lynch's draft picks, or really most of the NFL GMs. This is because I have a fraction of a fraction of a percentage of the time and resources they have in scouting and researching these kids in college.

Sometimes though, I am admittedly confused by a pick (Solomon Thomas). Sometimes it's obvious and no questions need to be asked (Nick Bosa), and sometimes it turns out to be a fantastic if somewhat surprising pick (Brandon Aiyuk, in one of their best trade ups ever).

We all know they like to take swings on WR (Pettis, Hurd, Danny Grey) and they sure like to take special teamers early. But for the most part, they know more than I do so I watch and I speculate and sometimes I cheer and sometimes I scratch my head.

So the selection of Ricky Pearsall was surprising because a. no one projected him as a first round pick - if the mock was a WR at 31, it tended to be Ladd McConkley - and b. with all the BA and to a lesser extent Deebo trade talk, this obviously only heated all that BS up. (Please don't trade them, guys.)

My best guess is they keep BA and Deebo, and Shanny, ever the innovator, wants to run 4 WR sets this season - with Jauan as the 4th, and with Kittle at right side TE. He can line Deebo up in the backfield too, or he can replace Deebo with CMC. I think this would truly strike fear into opposing defenses, depending on how deep and how talented in coverage their safeties and linebackers are.

Now, they could have already done this formation with CMC in the backfield, BA and Jauan out wide and Deebo in the slot (or JJ in the slot and Deebo out wide). Technically. Which means they see something in Pearsall's slot skills that already surpasses what we have on the team already. A lot of analysts list route running as Ricky's biggest asset, along with sure hands.

Well let's hope so, Niners fans. Cause I sure as heck wanted a tackle in the first round. (I know the best prospects were already taken, but a guy like Kingsley Suamataia for example, I've read about, and I don't think he's gonna fall to 63.)

One thing Lynch has is nine remaining picks, and we probably don't need all of those, so I'm still hoping for a Day 2 trade up. Maybe we can still snatch a solid OT prospect (Suamataia, or there is a bit of Roger Rosengarten buzz), or a CB like Cooper DeJean or Rakestraw. Actually at this point a trade up for a solid CB prospect would be great, then maybe we can snag a project like Rosengarten in round 3. But I mean, we can't actually rely on Shanny and Lynch's late round magic every year. Can we??

Kyle Shanahan, Tortured Genius

I've nothing more to add beyond the title and a link to this article by Katie Baker on The Ringer.

Okay I'll add a bit more. I am biased, I am a lifelong Niners fan. I want the Niners to win so badly, for Kyle and for Trent Williams and Deebo and Kittle and Fred Warner and Armstead, for all the players, for Brock Purdy (knowing full well that idiots will continue to slam him even if they put up 40 points) just so he can complete the Rudy.

There's no one on the Chiefs that I can say that about. 'Cause they've already got rings! I like Andy Reid, I have since Philly; heck, I don't even dislike Patrick Mahomes, or Kelce or Chris Jones. But they have rings.

I want Kyle to get that ring, man. I feel like he needs it more than any other human on Earth right now. I want him to even the score with KC, let the universe settle back to a balanced axis. Then we can talk about legacies, and then we can talk about next year.

So go get that ring, Kyle! GET IT!

--

In actuality, while obviously Shanahan and all the coaches will be instrumental in the outcome of the game, what it will boil down to, I believe, is Deebo or Kittle or CMC willing a touchdown to happen, and Fred or Bosa or that crazy ass rollercoaster Big Play Dre - or maybe poetically Mooney Ward, who won the last SB matchup between these two teams (as a Chief), making a game sealing sack or pick. It will be a player, or a couple players on either side, willing this win into existence. I'm nervous as hell. It's hard to beat Patrick Mahomes. But I feel that the team wants this so, so badly, for themselves and for each other and for Kyle.

Quarterback Conversations with Steve Young and Brock Purdy | 49ers

Steve Young continues to be the absolute best.

Nothing more to say than that, just a pleasure watching him interview Brock. That smooth ass lawyer speak comes through like a warm breeze.

Great work no. 8!

Edit: even though blogger and youtube are both owned by google, one is blocking the other here. Why? I don't know. But here is the link for a click, or a cut and paste:

https://youtu.be/iPIgj_I_1Zo?si=E6bdB1UjvsbHRVTC

gearing up for nfl 2009

Kissing Suzy Kolber is, for the most part, genius. Want a list of reasons? Okay.

a. The name itself is just awesome. My old roommate Dan and I were watching that interview, and we could not believe what we were seeing. Excessive drinking on live TV rules.

b. It's a bunch of wiseass second (or third) career writers slagging shit about the NFL and sports in general. ie. my dream job.

c. Well, I guess that's it. Other than the content.

Anyway. I'm a 49ers fan, have been since Superbowl XXIII when Joe Montana beat the Bengals with a stunning 2-minute drill. (Okay okay, 3-minute drill. Whatever. Why don't you F-off and go practice your 3-minute drill?) Now I'm fan enough to know that compared to the Montana and Young eras, we suck. We're not the Tampa Bay of the '80s, but we sure were/are close and time will only tell if we can save the good name of Eddie Debartolo Jr.

Anyway. I digress. This KSK post about the NFC west is hilarious, and possibly pretty accurate. I dunno, the division is a crap shoot - operative word crap, ha ha - same as last year. Still. Damn I love the NFL.

PS: I gotta try that popcorn bucket thing sometime. Inspired!