Joe Buck and Aikman on the call for Fox, and if Erin Andrews is even there, I have little doubt she'll be dressed roughly like Kenny from South Park. Close, you can see her whole face and goofy Pippi Longstocking pigtails. What the hell is with those?
FIRST QUARTER
49ers won the toss and deferred, third team to do that this weekend (K.C. took the ball). Aaron Rodgers, already trying to stomp warmth into his feet, tromps out to the 26 of Green Bay's hideous brown turf. It looks like they're playing on a glorified sandlot. I guess afraid to warm up Rodgers at all, the Packers bizarrely run three straight times, and the 3rd-and-3 handoff is to John KUUUUUUUHN, who not only doesn't get it, he almost fumbles to ball away. CRAIG DAHL nearly blocks the punt that sets S.F. up at their 27.
Frank Gore behind Anthony Davis for 7 to start the Niners off. Colin Kaepernick beats a dog blitz with a short pass to Michael Crabtree, who wheels away from Morgan Burnett's woeful coverage and runs for 14. Sam Shields injured on the play. Got his left ankle rolled up from the side. Designed option run for Kaepernick only gets 1. Nice job by Mike Daniels to string it out. Kaepernick tries a quick hitch to Crabtree against another blitz, but Tramon Williams breaks it up. Plenty of time for Kaepernick against a 4-man rush on 3rd-down, though, and he hits Crabtree on the sideline for 13. Crabtree fumbled it but out of bounds. 49ers try to sweep from the GB39, but RYAN PICKETT beats center Jonathan Goodwin badly to blow it up for a 5-yard loss. Kaepernick goes to Crabtree AGAIN, beating Davon House for 13 on a back-shoulder throw. 49ers have to spend a timeout from the bench to save a delay of game as Kaepernick wasn't aware of the play clock. Jeff Fisher would let the Rams get flagged on that every time. As often happens, the play after the timeout is less than brilliant; Kaepernick and Gore cross wires on the handoff and the Packers stuff Kaepernick for a big loss. Jim Harbaugh goes for it on 4th-and-6, the Packers make the questionable choice to blitz, and guess what, IT'S CRABTREE way behind Micah Hyde in coverage all the way down to the 4. A 31-yard play. Are the Packers even aware they're playing against Michael Crabtree today? It sure doesn't look it. The 49ers spend their second timeout of the drive on 1st-and-goal. Rolling right and making little secret he's looking only for Vernon Davis, Kaepernick throws a pass into the end zone Williams should have intercepted. Good coverage forces a throwaway. After getting burned by him for 200 yards week 1, the Packers are making sure to cover Anquan Boldin so far. Of course, they're going to give up 400 to Crabtree, but they are stopping the old, slow guy. House breaks up a fade route to Crabtree to send Phil Dawson in. He chips it through. 49ers 3, Packers 0
OK, it'll take longer to read that paragraph than the drive actually took, I'll try to be more concise. ANOTHER handoff to Eddie Lacy gets Green Bay a big yard. Too bad they don't have a Super Bowl MVP all-Pro QB back there or anything. Who, of course, to make me look especially brilliant, gets sacked on 2nd down as every Packer lineman loses his matchup. Ray McDonald and Justin Smith get the sack after Ahmad Brooks' push started things. A false start gets Packer fans booing their home team halfway into the first quarter. Nothing open at all for Rodgers on 3rd down and he ends up throwing a bad pass at Jarrett Boykin. 6-and-out definitely not the start the Packers were hoping for.
Terrible punt doesn't even cross midfield. I'll just write myself down for my third loss of the weekend now. Continuing to look more dazed than Walking Dead extras, the Packers let Gore run through them for 9, then up the middle for an easy 5. Smoke route to Boldin gets 9.5 on 2nd-10. Gore for 4 from there down to the GB25. Boldin beats Hyde down to the 11 on 2nd-10 again. The Packers do hold there, stuffing Gore on 1st down and House getting away with holding Crabtree at the goal line when Kaepernick attempts an end zone slant to him. Another chippie for Dawson. 6-0
49ers have kept Randall Cobb from doing much on kick returns so far. Green Bay will start from their 23 here. And right now, it doesn't look like the Packers will score on the 49ers if you give them a week. Brooks beats woeful blocking by RT Don Barclay, who throws himself on the ground, and T.J. Lang to hit Rodgers and force a fumble Lang luckily recovers. Justin Smith nearly buries Rodgers to blow up a screen on 2nd down, and they actually run the we-give-up draw to make it 9-and-out as those great Packers fans loudly boo their offense off the field.
Green Bay's blocking is bad, their offensive game plan is bad and looking for nothing downfield, and yep, I fell for it from the Packers again. In my defense, I thought the 49ers could do this, but I thought Rodgers' return would pump a lot of life into them. Not happening. At all.
SECOND QUARTER
Have to correct a refereeing comment I made earlier - Ed Hochuli is refereeing this game. I thought I recognized Jerome Boger's number but I was way off.
Kaepernick ended the 1st quarter with a scramble up the middle for 7. Gore plunges across midfield for a first down, then Kaepernick gets all night and Boldin beats House at the sideline for another 17. Gore dives for 4 down to the GB28. Then, whoops, Kaepernick floats one too much for Vernon Davis and Williams beats him out for the ball and the INT. He winds crossfield and out to the 30 with the return, making sure to jack Kaepernick helmet-to-helmet at the end. Green Bay certainly needed the spark.
Lacy up the middle for 3, then a toss for a couple more. Rodgers MUST make something happen here. He hard-counts the 49ers into showing where their blitzes are coming from three times and hits KUUUUUHN over the middle for 8. Comeback to James Jones for 8 more across midfield as the Packers go no-huddle. Lacy grinds out another 1st down. 7-yard comeback to Jordy Nelson off play-action. Lacy takes a stretch handoff for another first down at the SF32. Rodgers steps away from Aldon Smith and hits TE Andrew Quarless over the middle for 8 more. Rodgers hangs tough and hits Nelson again at the 13. Toss right to Lacy for another 1st down at the 9. End zone pass for Jones broken up by Perrish Cox. Lacy plows down to the 5. Third and goal, and it's Rodgers just being Rodgers, rolling right and throwing a bullet to Nelson, beating Tramaine Brock this time for the TD. Packers 7, 49ers 6
The Packers actually double-teamed Brooks a lot of that drive because of the early trouble he'd given them and it worked. David Bakhtiari has held his own against Aldon Smith. I also think the Packers were at least trying to push their routes further downfield, but no one at Fox is interested in giving us a clue about that.
5:44 till halftime. LaMichael James brings the kick across the 30. Gore off LT for 3. Davis wide open for 10 on a comeback vs. soft zone coverage. Kaepernick has to scramble from his 45 and breaks off a 42 yard run. He caught Green Bay in deep man coverage and got a perfectly-timed block downfield from Gore at midfield. Pitch right to Kendall Hunter to the 10, but Gore comes back in and punches it in from there. Green Bay lined up with a big gap across from LG, which is exactly where Gore ran, dragging M.D. Jennings the last three yards. LB Andy Mulumba also played it terribly, way overpursuing from the start of the play to leave the edge wide open. 49ers 13, Packers 7
Packers at their 24 with 2:42 till the half. Draw to Lacy looked like a big play until Donte Whitner closed on it lightning quick and held it to 3. With the pocket collapsing on him, Rodgers escapes and scrambles to the 37 at the 2:00 warning. Rodgers gets a terrible pass picked off but it was a free play because Brooks jumped offside. He fires to Nelson at the SF39, over the middle, for 20. On 2nd-8, Rodgers looks deep, dances back and forth, then sprints out and hits James Starks on the far sideline for 15. Packers have to take a timeout to save a delay of game. 6 to Nelson with the clock still running. At 0:33, a catch by Nelson that would have gone down to the 5 is lost by hands to the face on Bakhtiari. OUCH. Sends them back to the 29. Comeback to Jones for 8, and a throw at Starks' feet is a good thing, stopping the clock at :04. Harbaugh calls a timeout to freeze Mason Crosby, which is physically possible tonight, but he still hits from 35 at the gun. 13-10
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| New York Daily News |
My eternal thanks to Google's useless piece-of-shit Blogger platform for locking me up trying to download a simple picture and forcing me to rewrite the halftime recap.
First note: next year, bet the under wild card weekend, the over the rest of the way.
When Packers have ball in 2nd half: 49ers need to answer Packers changing their protections to put more attention on Brooks. Aldon Smith has to start making them pay for double-teaming on the other side. Also shocking how little we've heard NaVarro Bowman's or Patrick Willis' names. Rodgers got a lot more comfortable in the pocket in the 2nd, and S.F. isn't likely to adjust back with any blitzing, so their big names need to step up.
When 49ers have the ball: they're gashing the Packer D but aren't making them pay with TDs. G.B. did adjust coverage to quit allowing Crabtree to run wild, so Kaepernick has to rely on the guys he's relied on all season, Boldin and Davis, and take care of the ball. Packer pass rush is hurting bad without Clay Matthews, and with all the trouble Kaepernick has had with blitzing this year, I'd bring it harder at him in the 2nd half, and it seems upside down that Dom Capers would have to be told by anybody to blitz more.
I'm expecting a tight one down to the wire.
THIRD QUARTER
After James' kick return is only to the 18, Kaepernick unbelievably has to waste a timeout before the half even starts! Especially with a mobile guy like him, why not keep it, run around and see what you get? As always, the play after the timeout is poor, Kaepernick missing Crabtree wildly at the sideline while under pressure. Boldin is blanketed by House on a deep route and Kaepernick overthrows him by 5 yards. Kaepernick tries to scramble on 3rd down but Daniels drags him down from behind for a sack. Just a 4-man rush there. 49ers fans had to be hoping for a much more composed start to the half than this. What did the coaching staff do at halftime, play craps?
Packers start from their 44, swing pass to Lacy for 3. Hey, there's Bowman, blowing up a run for Lacy that Justin Smith finishes off for a loss. Amoeba defense by the Niners, Rodgers steps up the rush and fires deep to Jones inside the 5, where he comes back for the ball against a double-team and then completely misplays it. Missed big-play opportunity for Green Bay becomes a 3-and-out instead.
49ers at their 18 again. Kaepernick takes a designed draw out to the 34. Defying all physical and medical logic, Aldon Smith is questionable the rest of the game due to cramps. Shouldn't that happen when it's about 80 degrees warmer? Play-action on 2nd-6 and Kaepernick hits Crabtree open in front of House for 22. Bad coverage and tackling there. Anthony Dixon's wide open in the flat for a 10-yard catch. Josh Boyd stuffs Quinton Patton for a loss on an attempted end-around. 3rd-and-5 at the GB34, Kaepernick uses another timeout. You know you don't have six of those, right? As usual, the play after the timeout is a major failure. The Packers bring at least a couple extra rushers and Nick Perry sacks Kaepernick for a big loss.
Fair catch puts the Packers at their 16. Starks bounces outside for 6. Aldon Smith has overcome his cramps in Green Bay's oppressive heat and is back in the game. But Sparks belts out another 8. The 49ers answer by sacking Rodgers for a big loss. Single-blocked Brooks closed down the pocket and Aldon cramped Rodgers' style after he pulled the ball down. Looked like he had a couple of open receivers, too. The 49ers bring Willis on a rare blitz and sack Rodgers again. Brooks gets the sack; he is just abusing Barclay 1-on-1 and the Packers are idiotically leaving him out there with no help again. Rodgers launches very deep for Nelson on 3rd-and-a-mile but Tarell Brown breaks it up.
49ers start near midfield. Kaepernick one-hops a quick out for Crabtree. Datone Jones is in for G.B. after a knee injury to Mulumba and sets the edge perfectly on an attempted Hunter sweep; he gets stuffed for no gain. Jarrett Bush holds Crabtree to 5 on a crossing route for the 3-and-out.
Punt just barely sneaks into the end zone. Lacy up the middle for 8 off center Evan Dietrich-Smith's block, with Bowman preventing a really big run. Lacy keeps his roll going by blasting through Whitner for 6. Another 7 for Lacy on a pitch left. No surprise Lacy gets it again; he bounces off Tony Jerod-Eddie for another first down. Quick screen to Nelson for 6 across midfield off a run-fake. Nice. Starks fires up the middle for 10 off a strong block by Josh Sitton at the line and Dietrich-Smith getting downfield to pick off a LB. Packers have certainly fooled me with their dedication to establishing the run this half.
FOURTH QUARTER
Jones badly misplays another deep ball down the sideline that should have been a 35-yard back-shoulder catch inside the 5. He actually swatted at the ball like he was afraid it was going to hit him in the face. Tight coverage by Brock, but Jones has been far from clutch tonight. Starks cuts back for 6. THEY HAND OFF TO STARKS ON THIRD AND FOUR? That's stopped handily by McDonald. The Packers go for it on 4th-and-2 instead of trying a 48-yard FG. Rodgers and blind Ed Hochuli turn a near-disaster into gold. Rodgers is about to get buried by McDonald for a sack, but Dietrich-Smith, beaten badly on the play, gets away with a massive hold to keep McDonald from finishing Rodgers off. Aaron barely escapes and hits Cobb for 26 down inside the 5. Rodgers also slapped McDonald's hand away to help avoid the sack. Still impossible without the hold. Lacy cuts back and drives inside the 1. TD KUUUUUUHN on the up handoff to put the Packers on top. Packers 17, 49ers 13 Never saw this coming after that first quarter.
Nice directional kick by Mason Crosby but James fires up the sideline all the way out to the 37 anyway. Crosby has to make the tackle. House breaks up a 2nd-and-4 bomb for Davis, but Kaepernick scrambles for 23 on 3rd down, with Daniels getting way out of his gap. I'm starting to get the bad feeling I'm not going to get all of this game on the DVR. Only set it for 3 and a half hours. House gets called for holding Crabtree and is injured on the play. First down 49ers at the GB28. After the timeout, Kaepernick fires a pretty TD pass to Davis, a back-shoulder pass down the seam between Burnett and A.J. Hawk in coverage. Not a clutch drive for the Packer defense there. 49ers 20, Packers 17
Bowman and Justin Smith stuff Lacy for no gain. Left tackle Bakhtiari took a shot to the head down on the goal line before the Packers' last TD and is being checked for a concussion. That may be a major injury because he had done a pretty good job on Aldon Smith. Marshall Newhouse is his replacement. Nelson fakes out Bowman after a 6-yard curl and gets 11 out to the 45. DROP by Lacy in the flat with what should have been 10 more, he was wide open. Draw to him for 5. 3rd-5, Rodgers escapes a collapsing pocket and shovel-flips to KUUUUUHN for 8. Lacy cuts back and runs through Justin Smith and Willis for 8, neither of which happens often. Rodgers ducks Cox on a blitz, gets about 5 more seconds in the pocket, and Cobb works with him beautifully, breaking a deep route out to the sideline and gaining 25 inside the 10. Packers use their first timeout with 6:12 left. As usual, poor play after the timeout; Bowman blows up a draw to Cobb for a loss. Nice protection on 2nd down but Rodgers has to roll and throw it away. Aldon Smith not only got held by Barclay on the play, Lang then absolutely clobbered him from behind. 49er coverage comes up clutch again on 3rd-and-goal, forcing Rodgers to scramble, only down to the 5. Holding on Sitton is declined, and Crosby chips us to a tie game with 5:06 left. 20-20
Kaepernick starts off from his 20. Crabtree gets 10 off a crossing route after making Perry miss. Play-action bomb for Davis is overthrown by at least 5 yards. Mmm-kay. Blanket coverage by Williams anyway. Hyde blows an INT on a quick out intended for Boldin. 3rd-10, Kaepernick steps up from the 4-man rush and hits Crabtree for 17. Crabtree lost Bush most likely because Kaepernick was on the run. Gore stuffed for 1 at the SF48. Play-action pass to Gore for 11 and another first down. Packer pass rush appears to have left the game early. Still 2:00 left, guys. 49ers at the GB40.
Trying to bleed off some clock, Harbaugh goes to a very heavy alignment and calls a handoff to Gore for a couple. Davis drops a tough pass at the 33 with 1:13 to go. Oh, for crying out loud, Gore picks up an idiot blitz on 3rd-and-8 and Kaepernick scrambles around left end and down the sideline for 10. 6 more for Gore puts Phil Dawson in chip shot range at the GB22. Packers start burning timeouts at 1:02. Gore bounces outside for 2. Green Bay spends their last timeout at 0:56. Out of that weird 3-back backfield, Gore weaves for 3 yards and an apparent first down. He got it, and it'll be down to Dawson.
Just beautiful, here comes my second freaking 0-for-3 game of the weekend. Yep, Dawson sticks it from 33 at the gun to send the 49ers to Carolina.
Final: 49ers 23, Packers 20
Kaepernick gets the weekend's last POTG for his scrambling; the 49ers don't win the game without it. He had big scrambles, 42 and 23 yards, on each of their TD drives.
That'll be a war in Carolina next weekend. The Panthers made Kaepernick look awful with their blitzing when they met in the regular season, sacking him 6 times and holding him to 16 yards rushing. The 49ers will play better than that game, though. They didn't have Crabtree then and it was Aldon Smith's first game back from rehab. They sacked Cam Newton 4 times in that game and the Panthers got away with a couple of fumbles. And who do you want on your sideline, a Harbaugh brother on a road playoff run or the erstwhile Riverboat Ron? Ha, little did I expect the 49ers to be actually favored, by 1.5. Didn't think I'd be going chalk there. NFC West rules.
We'll just stop talking about RamView's fictional gambling record at this point. Suffice it to say you'd be smart to bet against these predictions: Seattle covers 8 over the Saints; Patriots beat the Colts but give Indy the 7; 49ers outright over Carolina; Broncos win but give San Diego the 10; over in all 4 games.
The Packers have some business to do this offseason. Bakhtiari looks like a keeper at LT but Barclay looked like a joke at RT. Rodgers got almost no receiving help from his TEs. Pass rush suffered badly without Clay Matthews. All things to work on in the offseason, probably pass rush first.
More long-winded recaps and terrible predictions next weekend!
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