Fantasy Drafts are happening. OTA's ended, training camp is opening and free agents are wondering if they are going to get signed or not. This thread will be just like the career of an NFL player. It starts, it has a peak, which might not get very high or else it will go far, and it ends. All fans are optimistic about their teams and think they can make the Super Bowl, in reality only 2 teams will and only 1 will hoist the Lombardi trophy at the end of the night.
So AG who are your favorite teams, your favorite teams to make the playoffs and win the SB and who do you think will win the end of season awards, including the Most Voluble Player, handed out to one Lucky, Hard Working member of one of the 32 teams... Discussion starts now!
I had a lengthy argument with someone on ESPN about this.
While I do agree that the fine is excessive, perhaps even for an NFL star, I just can't muster any kind of sympathy for him. The dude is a dirty player, he's been proving he's a dirty player for years, and when he continues to make boneheaded decisions like that, people's perception of him is only gonna drop, and the fines are just gonna climb.
And then there are the people who try and compare him to Clay Matthews based on his late hit on Kaepernick. I won't even go into detail about that, unless of course someone disagrees with me when I say it's a ridiculous and incorrect comparison.
And then there are the people who try and compare him to Clay Matthews based on his late hit on Kaepernick
Watching the play, Matthews started diving while Kaepernick was still in bounds. Kaepernick could have easily decided to run through the three guys right there, so Matthews was just playing it safe in making sure somebody got him early. His timing was a bit off though.
49ers died last night. That explosive offense was nothing but a mess... YEAHH!!!
But really, that was the sloppiest game I've seen in quite a while Kaepernick played horrible... Erratic passing, he was very stressed under pressure, frustration because the defense wouldn't let him run with the ball very much. You could very easily see his inexperience.
A good experienced pocket passer like Brady or Rodgers could have pick the Seahawks apart in the second half, but Kaepernick didn't change his gameplan. It worked last year, but I'm a little iffy about this year. You can't run the same plan the whole game, every game. He needs to switch it up a little.
Well my Rams lost. They went all Redskins and decided they didn't want to show up in the first quarter. I'm liking how Sam Bradford is looking though. Tevon Austin is still having trouble catching the ball though.
Surprised the Seahawks had such a run of the 49ers. But not necessarily displeased.
And how about all these rugby scores in the first two weeks? I feel like every game is going to the tune of 13-6 or something.
The Seahawks are contenders but the 49ers came in as clear Super Bowl favorites.
Seahawks have the best home field advantage. Loudest open air stadium, most false starts happen in Quest Field. It is a big advantage. Plus, Seattle smoked the 49ers there last year. Not much has changed. The real battle will be Week 14.
Okay guys, time for some outside input from you on some thoughts I had.
Did the 49ers trade Alex Smith too soon?
I watched the Seahawks-niners' game last Sunday, and it was brutal. Kaepernick was stifled, that "explosive offense" was nothing but a big blubbering mass of mistakes, penalties, and a gameplan that was a total failure, which they failed to address during half-time.
I read up on Kaepernick a little bit, back to his college-highschool days, and his habit whenever he was pressured was to run out of the pocket. This gameplay, along with the read option, worked to perfection last year, as he took the niners' to their first Super Bowl in around 20 years.
After last Sunday, I noticed that the Seahawks had completely shut down all aspects of the running game. This forced Kaepernick to throw, and his erratic passing game became ever present. He was forced to stay in the pocket and pass, and that changed his gameplan. He was forced to be a pocket QB. His runs achieved very little, and were immediately quelled.
Could trading Smith have been the biggest mistake of the offseason? Is the lacking of the pass first, run second QB starting to show in San Francisco? I know it's only the second week of the season, but if defensive coordinators take a good look at that Seahawks game, it reveals Kaepernicks biggest weakness. He collapses under pressure and tries to run, if he can't run, he is forced to pass, and the possibility for mistake is at its highest.
I believe it will either be this, or the fact that Kaepernick is at an extremely high risk of season ending injury by leaving the pocket, and Colt McCoy is not a suitable replacement.
I think it was a good move to trade him. It was a rough game for Kap but those happen; they're unavoidable. Just as a team can gameplan on defense to stop him, the niners can gameplan on offense to work around it. A team can't beat the niners consistently by keying on Kap because the niners have enough talent to work around it; especially since they have a tough, premier back in Frank Gore. So I think all it will take is a little more balancing of the offense by the niners, and just wait until the opposing defense spreads itself out again so Kap can continue making plays. Honestly, this was probably a good thing for the niners, a learning experience if you will.
Not to mention the fact that while the Chiefs may be 3-0, Alex Smith isn't necessarily lighting the world on fire. He reminds me a bit of Tommy Rees; he's solid, and a good QB, but when it's crunch time you can always count on him to make a crucial mistake.
