That was completely pathetic. It made me happy but wow, what a crapatistic performance the Bears put up. The Vikings mouths are watering right now. Gotta love the NFC North. BREAKING NEWS ON NFL.com: The Steelers are going to sign Burress. He'll look smashing in the throw back unis. heh
Aw now now sack, I could go all grade school and say it takes one to know one but, I'd never do that, especially not to you because you're so not like that. You're all high brow with your catered Thanksgiving dinner, and stuff. And to answer your question, pretty fucking good.
Well, the Gabbert-Henne debate is now moot: Gabbert is on IR and thus done for the season. I'm suspicious that he actually had an IR worthy injury.
I was reading Simmons' mailbag and someone emailed the following: If this is true, this is an absolutely amazing stat.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000098964/article/colin-kaepernick-not-alex-smith-reportedly-49ers-qb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100000 ... y-49ers-qb</a> I think Smith is getting absolutely horse-fucked with this one. Backup starts a couple games and looks good, and they bench the guy who led a 13-3 season last year and has them in first place in their division this year. Nice way to tell your QB: "I have no faith in you and will jump at the first opportunity to sit you." I'd laugh my ass off if Kaepernick implodes and Smith decides to seek employment elsewhere.
Yeah, and Smith has put up some silly games too. Didn't he go 19-20 in passes one game? I mean I'm no expert but that's pretty decent right.
Smith has been having a very good year, and he had the 49ers firmly in playoff (and Superbowl) contention. That said, if Kaepernick is genuinely better and gives them a better chance to win, then they HAVE to go with him. Is it shitty to Alex Smith? Without a doubt, and Smith would be a fool not to look for someplace else to play this off season. If he isn't a free agent, he should make it abundantly clear he wants a trade. Still, for the 49ers, it has to be all about the Superbowl, and if Kaepernick gives them the best chance to win a Superbowl, then they have to play him. Regardless, it could absolutely and completely blow up in the 49er's faces, either way. Let me give you a scenario: They get into the playoffs with Alex Smith (or Kaepernick) at QB, then in the 2nd round, after their bye, the starter shits the bed against (lets say) the Giants, and the 49ers lose. There will be hell to play in San Francisco and screams of "why wasn't (insert backup's name) starting!" As of now, if the 49ers do anything but win the Superbowl, the coaching staff will face massive scrutiny for their decision to play EITHER of those guys, because the QB will be blamed for the loss in the playoffs, and they'll say they could have won had the other guy started. The 49ers may well be fucked, and the coaching staff is in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation.
Of course they have to go with the better option. I'm just saying they have two seasons of top notch play out of Smith to judge him by. They have one+ game to judge Kaepernick by. You're right that right now they've put themselves in the position where anything less than a championship is a failure. I don't think that's the case if they keep starting Smith. Only the most ignorant of the masses would shout about benching your known-quantity starter in favor of your backup, if the starter is performing well. Did you see people looking sideways at the Packers for losing in the playoffs, after Flynn had his 400+ yard performance?
There is a WORLD of difference between Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, so if you don't see how that example is bullshit, I don't know what to tell you. There would never be a controversy involving Aaron Rodgers because Rodgers is reaching that elite level. Alex Smith is not elite. In fact, let me say this. Look at potential playoff starting QBs right now: Peyton Manning Aaron Rodgers Jay Cutler Matt Schaub Joe Flacco Matt Ryan Tom Brady Eli Manning Alex Smith Where would you rank Smith on that list? I'd personally put him at (or very near) the bottom. If they can upgrade at QB, they have to do it. In today's NFL, just being "good" isn't good enough.
Here is my issue with CK and his "potential." Game film. We see this all the time, and all the talking heads bring it up in regards to "sophomore slumps." Is CK good? Yes. Was he impressive? Yes. But no one has game film on him. No one knows his tendencies and what he can do and what he can't do. Once the NFL has time to sit down and examine a game or two that, then they'll be able to adjust. The great QBs can play against their tendencies, and can still beat defenses that know "he can't go left" etc. He's not a first round pick rookie, defenses didn't look at this game film. They did for Andrew Luck and RG3, because they knew they were going to be first picks and likely starters. Not for CK. If anything, JH should have used this as a reason NOT to play CK now, as it is a legitimate factor/answer when the press asked him that direct/loaded quested "Is CK now going to be your starting QB?" Then he could have busted him out in Week 16, 17, and storm the playoffs with a guy no one has real game film on.
Kaepernick has one OK game, and one good one. His one good one wasn't even as good as Smith's best game. Smith has been playing at borderline Pro Bowl level all season. If they go with Kaepernick and he suddenly starts throwing picks, it serves them right for making poor decisions based on small sample size. And as for your list of playoff QBs, D26, he goes below Brady, Rodgers, Manning, Ben, and Ryan. Ahead of Cutler, Schaub, Flacco, and Wilson. The only non playoff QB who has played better than him is Brees. So that makes him the sixth best quarterback in the NFL this year. You don't bench a top ten guy for a one game wonder. Edit: and maybe RGIII. Maybe. His stats compare favorably with almost any QB out there: 3rd in QB Rating, second in YPA, first in completion %. The only thing he lacks is volume, because that's how the 49ers gameplan works.
This. I just find it bizarre that Smith has been improving every season, and is now playing borderline elite, and this is when his job is at risk? Some people seem to give Harbaugh 100% of the credit for Smith playing better, but he had already been improving, and it's not like Harbaugh is out there throwing the passes. People need to get over the fact that Smith sucked four years ago. Eli Manning didn't light it up his first few years either. Did I miss something on that replay? It looked like it couldn't be clearer that Houston touched the ball.
I think it was that every camera angle they showed seeme to be blocked out by the player's back. Hence inconclusive.
They finally showed one from the side right before the commercial where it looked clear as day that he touched the ball. Maybe I just saw something that wasn't there.
Is Detroit really getting screwed by this utter incompetence? How is that not a reviewable play? The announcers are saying because there was no whistle, but that doesn't make any sense whatsoever, since by definition no scoring play is going to have a whistle until a player is in the endzone. This is an even worse fuckup than the Green Bay - Seattle debacle. Edit: Ok, so Detriot got screwed because Schwartz threw the challenge flag. I guess that makes sense.
Not sure if this is rhetorical, but I'll elaborate if you're not watching the game: Texans just scored on an 81 yard TD run because the runner was down but no whistle blew - so the runner just kept running and got to the endzone because the detroit defenders, who thought the play was over, couldn't catch him when they realized no whistle blew. Schwartz threw his challenge flag, but because all scoring plays are already automatically reviewed, that made it an illegal challenge by Schwartz. And by rule, if a team challenges a play illegally, they can't benefit from any result of a review, which nullified conducting the automatic scoring review since it couldn't be overturned. So the TD stood without being reviewed, and Detroit got a 15 yard penalty on top of it for the illegal challenge.
Here's the thing to keep in mind about Smith; by all accounts, he still hasn't been cleared by his doctors to even play in this Sundays game. So it makes sense, at least at this point to let Kaepernick get all the reps he can with the first team if Smith ends up not being able to play due to the concussion. Now if he gets cleared to play and still gets benched for Colin, then that's a different issue, which has already been talked about.