Your typical San Francisco 49er fan felt like Sylvester the
Cat’s offspring, who stood by his daddy with a brown paper sack
over his head and sighed,
”
Oh, the shame of it all
”
when daddy couldn’t catch Tweety Bird.
Your typical San Francisco 49er fan felt like Sylvester the Cat’s offspring, who stood by his daddy with a brown paper sack over his head and sighed, “Oh, the shame of it all” when daddy couldn’t catch Tweety Bird. It wasn’t the 31-6 final score. It was the way it transpired. No guts. No glory, Mooch.
One major difference between the Raiders triumph over the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers destruction of the 49ers was that the Raiders had twice the offensive line the 49ers had and the Buccaneers had twice the defensive front the Jets had.
Jerry Rice may not have made a difference for the Niners on Sunday, but he would have made a difference in five of the Niners’ six other losses – to Denver, New Orleans, San Diego, Green Bay and St. Louis. That would have given the Niners the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Old man Jerry, not wanted in San Francisco two seasons ago, is still playing and laughing every record-breaking catch.
Thought at first that Bill Romanowki’s handing of the football to some well-mannered gents in the Black Hole was premature, with Romo’s boys only up two touchdowns and plenty of time left on the clock. It reminded me of Dusty Baker handing the baseball to Russ Ortiz as he left the mound in Game 6. “Here’s a lovely parting gift, Russ”.
And thought the Niners had learned their lesson in the win over the New York Giants that they aren’t good enough to rush four men and put pressure on the passer. Confucious say “Always wise to blitz immobile quarterback.” (See Kerry Collins, Brad Johnson). Yeah, the Niners blitzed, but after the Cadillac was already stolen from the garage. And veteran tackle Bryant Young makes a stupid penalty anyway after they finally stop the Bucs.
It’s Kevan Barlow’s fault. He said the Buccaneers were a “finesse team on defense.” Then he doesn’t run into the middle and pussyfoots to the outside near the goalline and gets stuffed like a Vietnamese ballot box.
Speaking of which, why did Terrell Owens, the hardest receiver to bring down in the league, run out of bounds once in each of the two 49er playoff games? At Tampa, he stiff arms a defensive back to the ground and hightails it out of bounds. Heard a rumor the Bucs secondary said a collective, “Thank you very much”.
As for the status of the football Romanowski gave away to a handful of Raider fans, the ownership will be decided in court. Meanwhile, three fanatics died fighting for it.
Armchair quarterback me: Onsides kick the opening kickoff, Niners.
Armchair QBing again: Onsides kick after the first field goal, Niners.
Armchair QBing again: Onsides kick after the second field goal, Niners. Do the unexpected for once in your life! You’re the dog, remember? Go down swinging.
You think Raider fans made noise last Sunday…
Is it just me, or is “The Pirates Bowl” destined to happen? To bad the game wasn’t in Vegas instead of San Diego. Treasure Island would be one happening place, but you’d better watch your wallet in more ways than one.
Jeff Garcia deserved to be in the Pro Bowl, but has a tendency to throw too early into coverage when he’s not being pressured. Like when he rolled to his right in the game’s early moments and overthrew Owens in the back part of the endzone. Replays showed that if Garcia, who had no defender within six yards of him, just stopped and looked to his left, he had two receivers wide open in the middle about 10 yards downfield. Another unwanted field goal.
Still, the Niners wouldn’t have been in the playoffs without Garcia and Owens. Weak division also helped, you betcha.
Used to love the Raiders in the ’60’s and ’70’s. Then they moved to L.A. All due respect to this bunch of Raiders, give me Marv Hubbard, Ted Hendricks, Kenny Stabler, Jim Otto, Cliff Branch, Pete Banazcek and the boys anyday. And, yes, make it a double.
The 49er secondary reminded me of Martin Balsam, the fast-talking cure-all potion salesman in “Little Big Man”. It kept losing its body parts one by one.
The Buccaneers put their sword right up the Niners’ souvenir gameday program. Ouch!
Zach Crockett would look real cool if he didn’t do the “Raise the roof” thing after scoring a touchdown. He’s supposed to be a blue collar back playing for a blue collar team in front of blue collar fans, who are forking out white collar dough. Zip the act, Zach, along with the mouth. You have a great offensive line and great blocking fullback. I could have scored on that play.
The bag was over the head when the San Francisco secondary kept arguing with themselves after blowing coverages. Doesn’t look good in preseason, to say nothing of in a playoff game. Tskkk! Tskkk! Not a good example for all the young secondarians out there.
Needed a big brown bag late in the first half. What was worse? Quitting after a nine-yard gain by Garrison Hearst or calling a running play to begin with with 50 seconds left in the half down by 22 points and with two timeouts left in a “no tomorrow” playoff game? Give me paper, not plastic, please.
Hope Gannon the Cannon has a big couple of weeks. He’s the only quarterback I have left in my Fantasy Playoff Pool. Just thought of something, old Raider fans. What if the legendary Billy Cannon was playing for the Raiders. “That was Gannon the Cannon to Cannon for the touchdown!” Someone would be ‘Cannon-ized’.
As for the NFC title game, go Eagles. Can’t have Sapp the Yap, yapping for the media during Super Bowl week. He never met a camera he didn’t like. Plus, there isn’t enough mustard in the world to satisfy Tampa Bay’s equipment manager, who has to take care of all those hot dogs.
If Eddie George can’t play on Sunday due to a concussion, the Titans will soon be forgotten. (Sorry. Late in the column.)
Let’s see. As far as the NFL draft, the Niners need an offensive lineman, a pass rusher, a linebacker and a cornerback. Make that two of each of those and a backup quarterback, now that we’re asking.
The Raiders Charles Woodson played it smart like Green Bay did when it shocked the Niners in San Francisco in the playoffs 23-10 in Jan. of 1998. Get as physical as possible with the receivers as you can. If the refs don’t call it, what the hey?
As for Mooch, if there is someone better, then bring him in. If not, don’t. The rest of the staff, has to go, though.
If the Raiders and Bucs meet in Super Bowl whatever it is, bet there’s more sideline shots on the Bucs Jon Gruden than the Raiders Bill Callahan. But, bet the Raiders win 17-13.
