Niners inspire, Raiders already tired, Sousa wallows in the mire...

Got to say, the Niners made me proud vs. the Cardinals. The Defense was stout, and even with Gore running into walls all day the offense managed to get it done. Granted, Kurt Warner looked more like Time Warner, but he was still tossing to Fitz and Boldin. That final defensive play by Justin Smith is a nice endcap for a game that was won by the Niner D.

Both Bay Area teams played strong games last Sunday, but unlike the Raiders, the Niners are searching for no silver linings. Yes, Oakland played a good game on both sides of the ball at times and consistently on defense, but besides the smashmouth, you didn't have much "O" (the 57-Yard bomb on 4th and 15? Nice.), except for another bad game for Mr.#1 Overall.

All to the Right, Picks:

New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys

Eli will own. Hopefully, he'll drop a bomb or two to Marques Colston... Dallas should get... Something... But I don't know what. Giants over 'Boys 31-17.


New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles

This would be more interesting if Vick were eligible to play - but Drew Brees is tossing the ball 40 times on a bad day - makes for interesting football. Also interesting: Let's see if Reggie Bush can begin to live up to his draft status.

Seattle Seahawks @ San Francisco Forty-Niners

The Seahawks rolled the Rams, no big deal - they also rolled out thier version of the latest gimmick - the Wildcat. So what? Until further review, the Seahawks still suck. Niners win at home, 21-10.


Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs

I see that the Raiders are favorites over K.C. this week - I disagree. K.C. will mop the Raiders like the sticky floor of a S.F. strip club and then send them back to Oakland wondering where their money went. K.C. over Oakland 17-13.


P to the S;

Sousa has apparently gone all "Branch Rickey" and "Jerry Jones" in the case of Yahoo Fantasy League Football, apparently becoming inebriated and shouting down the following trade:

Marques Colston & Frank Gore for Randy Moss & Brian Westbrook


In his liquor (or liqueur) - filled tirade he blasted the trade as unfair (the person getting Gore -me - ripping off the person getting Moss). Come now - that's a fair trade, even in China, in fact my love of all things Frank Gore may result in myself coming up short in this deal when all is said and done.

As it was, his argument was ignored on Yahoo, and met underwhelmed non-support on FaceBook.

Sllaacs Ballers!!!

Sousa - get off that dum dum juice or you will reap the whirlwind... reap it... and then you'll sit there and wonder bout the size of that chicken...

Sllaacs

Thanksgiving Hangover Picks

So, Lance gets a new job. Jerry breaks down the Tennessee rumors. That seems to me like a much higher profile position than I expected him to get. I was thinking more like a lower-tier Pac-10 job. Anyway, good luck with that, buddy. If you thought working with Al was weird, at least he doesn't have a Body Farm in Alameda. At least that we know of. By the way, Mary Roach wrote an excellent book called Stiff that gives the Body Farm its own chapter.

You know what? I'm feeling optimistic this week. I don't know if this has less to do with the Raiders thumping Denver last week or the fact the Chefs are really, really bad. But I think we win one this week, and match last year's win total a week earlier in the season. Raiders 34, Chiefs 17.

As my father in-law informed this evening at dinner, the Buffalo Bills have the biggest offensive line in the National Football League. "You know John, I got into an argument with that goddamned nephew of Adeline's, old Ron, when he tried to tell me Dallas had the biggest line in the league. I said, 'Bullshit, Ron. Buffalo's line averages 332." You know what, I looked that shit up, and he's right. 332.2, to be exact. Anyway, the 9ers pass rush is not that great. So Buffalo wins, 28-13.

The Packers got their asses whupped in New Orleans last Monday night. This week, at home against Carolina, I think they win. 24-19.

So, for the last game, I'm picking Denver to continue their suckage against the Jets this weekend. 48-14.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Good Thing We Made a Coaching Change

Seriously. It's much less stressful to just flat-out suck, a-la the Rams or the Lions, than it is to play really well for 3 1/2 quarters and then suck for 12 minutes and lose by a field goal or a touchdown. It's much easier, as a fan, to uncompetitive, to just get flat out smashed, 34-3. It's much easier for me to watch us get outgained 422-226 in total offense. To lose the turnover battle 2-0. I hated the heart-attack nature of the last two games.

Can we learn anything about the Tom Cable regime, other than he spent three hours shouting "Shut the fuck up, Donny!" into his headset? Al's team still sucks, if possible even worse than before. No pass rush, missed tackles. I guess the penalties were better, but the receivers can't get open, and when they do they either drop the ball or JaMarcus overthrows them.

I got a text from Sllaacs saying, "JaAlex SmiRussell," implying that we've got a bust on our hands as big as the one with all that Natural Talent sitting on the 49ers sideline. And a text from Dan advising me that Kristy has taken to screaming "YOU SUCK" at JaMarcus every time he drops back to pass.

At this point, I'm so discouraged, I'll believe anything.

Week Six - Sllaacs Picks

Oakland @ New Orleans:

So the Raiders not only have a new coach but apparently they have a new offensive play-caller. We'll see if Knapp unleashed is better than Kiffin's calls against a good but not great N.O. team. The Saints however ARE great at two things the Raiders haven't shown a propensity for stopping this season: Offense and the return game. The Raiders should get some points, but I don't see them causing turnovers on D or making the Saints punt enough to avoid another loss. This one is in New Orleans and Drew Brees looks as accurate as ever, Saints will win 35-27 over the Raiders.

Philadelphia @ San Francisco:

Easy pick here, the Niners of course. The Eagles will come in and properly expect to handle S.F. with ease - but I say J.T. O will go for 300 and 3 TD's in a surprise win for the Niners as the secondary, (and Walt Harris in particular) finally put together a good game, thereby staying the execution of Nolan. Forty-Niners over the Eagles 34-24.

Greenbay @ Seattle:

The Pack will roll in this one, as Seattle is a bad team. What more is there say? Greenbay over Seattle 38-17.

New England @ San Diego:

Surprising loss by the Chargers last week, and a surprisingly easy win for the Patriots. I still will pick S.D. at home against the backup Cassel. He will face a much better, (read: quality NFL players) defense this week, so his mediocre passing stats (other than his completion percentage, which is very good) will bear the loss they deserve.
Chargers over the Patsy's 27-13.


Sllaacs