With All The Other Drama Going On...I Must Say, Welcome Back...

Welcome Back Alex Smith!!!

Ok Ok, I know he isn't a proven elite QB like Peyton, Drew, Aaron, or Tom, and that he's been a bust as a #1 overall draft pick for most of his career.  But you know what, I'll take him over most of the QBs in the league right now and defintely another overall #1 pick, JaMarcus Russell.  Sure he's not Aaron Rodgers who wanted to be a 49er QB growing up.  But who's to say Aaron would be who he is without the QB training programs they have in Green Bay plus his time learning under a legend.  Who would he have been in Alex's shoes?  Alex had one great year of college football (32 Passing TDs, 10 Rushing TDs, 4 INTs, a 68% Completion Percentage, 3604 total yards), then came to the league and for the his first 3 years he was in out of the starting position, threw more INTs than TDs. His 2nd year was the only year prior to 2011 that he started all 16 games and his TDs & INTs were dead even at 16, not to mention a year off in 2008 (his 4th year) due to injury.  Prior to 2011 he hadn't come close to 3,000 yards passing or 3,000 yards total.  A different offensive coordinator every year, a carosel of couches, but each one gave him a chance.  They could have easily discarded him like Tebow or and of the numorous Browns QBs when a new coach came in. They didn't draft him, he wasn't their guy.  But some how, some way this dude charmed each one of them into believing that he could be that guy.  Until last year he didn't prove that to be true, but last year his coach was a former QB and maybe they had a better understanding than had been there before.  Definetly better than his former coach, you know that Hall of Fame Linebacker from the Bears...

But hey...we're glad thats over and the Alex Smith and Jim Harbaugh have a great working relationship...

I'm not saying that I would take Alex over Peyton, but I do think Alex is a better fit under the current coach than Peyton would be.  Do we have a better chance at a Superbowl with Peyton, absolutely.  But Peyton didn't like the pressure of the "Super Bowl or bust" weight on his shoulders with a team that appeared to be a few precise passes and two fumbled punt returns away from being there last year.  We were obviously late to the Peyton party, I'm sure it was due to some indecisiveness on our part.  Maybe Jim and the Yorks going back and forth about it, but who knows.  Last time I saw a Owner go over the Coach and pick and older QB that experiment went pretty bad (McNabb/Skins), so with that said I'd rather all parties agree on the managers of the team, Owner, GM, Coach, O-Cord, D-Cord, QB, and MLB.  Thanks Peyton for considering the 49ers, but I do think you made the best decision by going to the Broncos.

Unfortunately for Alex this year he will be under a microscope even more so than last year.  He had a pretty decent year last year with a schedule that seemed hard at first but turned out to be a lot easier than it appeared.  This outside of the divisional match ups that will include Matt Flynn, Sam Bradford, and Kevin Kolb (I think he's still a Cardinal *shrugs*), we will be facing the Saints (Drew Brees), Giants (Eli Manning), NFC North (Rodgers, Stafford/Megatron, Cutler/Marshall) and the AFC East (Brady, Fitzpatrick).  With those match ups alone, minus a stellar Defensive performance, Alex will have to put up numbers to win.  To his advantage it looks like the organization has decided to put some WRs around him.  Braylon Edwards was a fail experiment, Crabtree hasn't really lived up to his draft status or his wannabe diva status, Josh Morgan showed some flashes of being a #1 guy then got injured and is now a Redskin, Ted Ginn Jr really wasn't supposed to be a starting WR, more so a returns guy, but he helped out some last year when he wasn't injured, who else is there Kyle Williams and Bret Swain, I'll leave those two alone.  The 49ers went out and resurrected Randy Moss who hopefully is hungry for TDs and signed Super Bowl hero David Tyree Mario Manningham to add to the weapons for Smith. Most likely they will draft a WR in the 1st round or early 2nd round as well.  Previous to this year here's a list of his "top" WRs (RBs & TEs not included); Michael Crabtree 2009-11, Josh Morgan 2009-11, (Old) Isaac Bruce 2009, Darrell Jackson 2007, Arnez Battle 2005-07, Antonio Bryant 2006, and Brandon Lloyd for his very few starts in 2005.  So yes we have had QB problems since Garcia, but I'd have to also so that we have had WR problems since T.O.  Maybe that will change, the best WRs either want to be on a team with good QBs or a team that is actually winning, prior to last year we had neither.  Smith just got a 3 year deal, which means if he doesn't show and prove this year then Colin Kaepernick or a Free Agent QB (hopefully not Tebow) will end up taking his place in 2013.  Good luck 49ers and good luck Alex Smith.  I don't expect a 13 win season, I'd be a fool to do so, I expected 6 to 8 wins last year based on the schedule and the schedule looks worse this year.  I think we can win the division with 9 wins and the fans will be happy and everyone keeps their jobs.  Just don't let the defense get Steelers old without us at least getting to the big show...

So for now...

Because... "That's My Quarterback"

And I'm OUT! Hopefully no more 49er posts until PreSeason.

Perfect Fit: Summertime Fine...My Latest, My Latest & My Greatest...

Summertime Fine...My Latest, My Latest & My Greatest...

No, this time I'm not talking about my woman, I'm referring to my Spring/Summertime tradition and my new edition.  If you know me then you know that I usually have some sort of hat on, fitted, kangol, soggy pimp hat (prom), cowboy hat, straw hat, Raiden (from Mortal Kombat) hat from Kings Dominion, or whatever I feel fits for the moment.  But the past few years I've been buying a White Sox & a Nationals fitted hat yearly (if you wear them as often as I do they will only last a year) but also adding a new alternative hat from either of the teams.  This years hat, Nationals New Era "59 Fifty MLB Graphite", was the last that they had in stock and it was in my size. I had to get it.  Not to mention its in my favorite color combination being that I grew up a Bulls fan and I went to Suitland High School Red & Black aren't strangers to my closet.  However I do feel inclined to find a certain pair of J's (Jordans) to go with this hat perfectly.  I will be finding a reason to wear this hat as much as possible, but not too much because I usually try to make my "alternates" last me 2 or 3 seasons.

Above are my yearly usuals.  I've been rocking the White Sox hat since Elementary, first it was a Hip-Hop thing, then in 6th Grade my Mom met my Step Father and his cousin is Frank Thomas. So thanks to a few signed baseball cards and other things "The Big Hurt" sent me I have been a White Sox fan ever since.  As for the Nats hat, well its a symbol of my hometown like the Yankees cap is in the five boroughs. I've been rocking this hat from the moment DC got the team and even though the team hasn't fully blossomed yet I'm rooting for them in every game (except against the White Sox).

Below here are my "alternates" from previous years.  Last year I actually bought two, I was looking for the Nationals hat in Dodger colors because of a few shirts that I just bought so the Nats New Era "59Fifty MLB C-Dub" was perfect, but I didn't expect to see this throwback White Sox New Era "59Fifty MLB Cooperstown" hat in the style that I remember as a kid and have baseball cards of players wearing it, I couldn't pass up on it.
The hat from the year before that was a little different from the ones that came to follow, as you can see one year I went with a football hat to rep for my favorite team the 49ers.  I had recently lost my regular 49ers hat and I needed a new one, so I went with this Mitchell & Ness Alternative Logo Throwback just to switch things up, I've only had a few outfits that I've been able to rock this with, but honestly no hat fits better than a New Era...no offense.

...and just as a shout out to two great songs from two different genre's in music, which I used to create the title to this blog.  Teddy Pendergrass "My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration" followed by J.Cole "In the Morning".  You gotta enjoy good music!

My NFL Playoff Predictions as of Week 15

NFL Playoff Predictions

as of week 15

My Predictions are exactly the same after week 15, the only thing that is a flip flop, based on week 17 games. I now have Oakland beating KC in week 17 which allows the Chargers to become the #3 seed in the AFC.   Everything else remains the same.

NFL Playoff Predictions

as of week 14

My friend put me on to this playoff predictive page that ESPN is on, and my quick predictions as of now look like this...

click on the image to enlarge

The 49ers will be the first team to enter the playoffs at below .500 based on this prediction.  This is with them losing on Thursday against the Chargers in San Diego but winning in St. Louis then beating the Cardinals in San Francisco to end the season.  Of course in my weekly picks I'm still picking the 49ers to win the game on the Thursday but for this Playoff Predictions page I went with a little more logic than faith.  But honestly the Chargers have lost to a few teams this year that people didn't think they would lose to, and we have had close games with with NFC 3 NFC teams that are for the most part playoff bound.  Greed lost us the game against the #1 seeded Falcons.


No matter how I picked the games the following teams were in it no matter what, Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Falcons, and Philly.  The teams that need the most from their own teams and loses by other teams were the Packers, Jacksonville, and Kansas City.  There was one way that I picked it where the NFC playoffs included Atlanta, Philly, Chicago, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and SF.


The Giants, Chargers, Colts, and Buccaneers were the teams that seemed like they were really on the bubble depending on several factors.

My Week 15 NFL Picks - Playoff Hopes...

My Week 15 NFL Picks

Although I knew it would be a tough game to win against the #1 rated defense in the league, as a fan I can't pick against my team.  I picked the 49ers to win against the Chargers.  It would've been an amazing win, and would've put out playoff hopes in our own hands, now we need to win our last two games at St. Louis and at home against the Cardinals as well as for the Rams & Seahawks to lose the rest of their games in order to make the playoffs.  Thats a tall order, but not impossible. Both the Rams & Seahawks have tough remaining schedules.  I think our toughest will be the divisional matchup against the Rams in St. Louis next week.

The game on Thursday could've turned out a lot less of a blow out if it wasn't for one series of plays.  We made a field goal, but a Chargers player got called for leaping, so we get the ball back with a 1st and goal. Alex Smith makes a run for it and dives... TOUCHDOWN!!! Wait Norv Turner challenges it, the ruling is overturned. Now its 4th down and inches.  We run the ball, get stopped, turn over on downs. On defense a shoving match breaks out, the ref tries to break it up and Justin Smith accidentally pushes him, then he gets ejected out of the game. So with in a matter of 5 minutes, we get 3 points, lose 3 points, get a TD, lose the TD, get on defense, lose our #1 defensive linemen.

After that point Phillip Rivers, who is a top 3 QB this year and definitely the best out of his rookie class of Big Ben and Eli Manning, seemed to have an abundance of time in the pocket.  You don't give a great QB that much time.  Prior to losing Justin Smith we were able to get to Rivers, and stopped them on a couple possessions.  Afterwards there was no stopping them.

Here's the accidental push that got Justin thrown out of the game and below it is that same ref tackling a running back in a play that he could've gotten a good amount of yards.  I wonder if the ref threw himself out of the game after that...





Read more about this situation here http://www.ninersnation.com/2010/12/16/1881380/justin-smith-ejection-video-referee-garth-defelice-overreacting-again

But here we go with the quick run down on my week 15 picks.

Cleveland over Cincy - The Bengals are playing for a QB next year via the draft obviously and the Browns have looked decent enough to win this game.

Dallas over Washington - I hate to make that pick but the Cowboys offense has come alive and the Skins offense has been in turmoil as of lately.  Not to mention the benching of McNabb, that really doesn't seem to help this situation, in my opinion.  I'm picking Dallas, but I would LOVE to be wrong on this pick.

Houston over Tennessee - the Titans seem lost.  The Texans have an explosive offense, so even with their suspect passing defense they should be able to beat the Titans and beat them early.

Jacksonville over Indy - eh... I want the Colts to miss the playoffs thanks to the Jags winning the division.  My future Parents-In-Law live in Jacksonville, so I'm going for the Jacksonville in this game.

Kansas City over St. Louis - KC got Matty back to run their offense after a week off.  The Chiefs have been a pretty good time this year, plus they need to win to win the division thanks to the Chargers win on Thursday. Chiefs all the way.  I think it will be close most of the game though, the Rams have proven to be good at home this year.

Buffalo over Miami - I picked the Bills FTW last week and I'm doing again this week.  Miami is also a confused team, I think the Bills can win this game based on the tougher games that they have played with better teams.

Philly over the NYG - Tough one to pick but I like Mike Vick and the Eagles better in this match up.  Thats all...

Tampa Bay over Detroit - Tampa is just a better team to me, and I think they still have playoff chances.

Arizona over Carolina - The Panthers stink.

New Orleans over Baltimore - Baltimore's defense has been horrible against the pass and against elite QBs as well as a few slightly above average QBs like Ryan Fitzpatrick.  Drew Brees is hot right now, I expect for him to give the Ravens secondary a run for their money.

Atlanta over Seattle - Atlanta wants to clinch that playoff victory as well as home field advantage w/the bye week.  They will do that this week in Seattle.  Bird GAME!  The Seahawks don't stand a chance in my opinion.

Oakland over Denver - The Raiders are just a better team than the Broncos, I don't think they will demolish them like last time, but they will win by at least 2 scores.

Pittsburgh over NYJ - This game is in Pitt and Pitt wants to clinch the victory and win their division, they need to do it here.  The Jets have been on a slump and I don't think they can get out of that slump this week against the Steelers.

New England over Green Bay - even if Rodgers was healthy my pick would be the same, but I would just call it as a close game.  The Patriots are the best team in football right now and they will put up 30+ points again this week.  The Packers might get 14.

In this weeks MNF outdoor game in below freezing temperatures I'm going with Chicago over Minnesota.  The Vikings are using their 3rd string QB and the Bears can win the division with a win here.  I think it will mainly be a running game but it might be sloppy, neither team is used to the cold weather.

My NFL Playoff Predictions as of Week 14

NFL Playoff Predictions

as of week 14

My friend put me on to this playoff predictive page that ESPN is on, and my quick predictions as of now look like this...

click on the image to enlarge

The 49ers will be the first team to enter the playoffs at below .500 based on this prediction.  This is with them losing on Thursday against the Chargers in San Diego but winning in St. Louis then beating the Cardinals in San Francisco to end the season.  Of course in my weekly picks I'm still picking the 49ers to win the game on the Thursday but for this Playoff Predictions page I went with a little more logic than faith.  But honestly the Chargers have lost to a few teams this year that people didn't think they would lose to, and we have had close games with with NFC 3 NFC teams that are for the most part playoff bound.  Greed lost us the game against the #1 seeded Falcons.


No matter how I picked the games the following teams were in it no matter what, Patriots, Steelers, Ravens, Jets, Falcons, and Philly.  The teams that need the most from their own teams and loses by other teams were the Packers, Jacksonville, and Kansas City.  There was one way that I picked it where the NFC playoffs included Atlanta, Philly, Chicago, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and SF.


The Giants, Chargers, Colts, and Buccaneers were the teams that seemed like they were really on the bubble depending on several factors.