Super Bowl Week: Thoughts one week BEFORE the game...

1) Kaepernick: If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, they will have essentially won it in the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers. Why? That 181 yards rushing has scared the living hell out of the rest og the NFL. DCs and defensive players are now SOOOOOO scared of the QB run...and the Read-Option...that they are now playing unsound defenses. The are concentrating so much time and energy on keeping Kaep in the pocket. They are VOLUNTARILY slowing down their rush in order to coral him and not let him escape.

I love every single little bit of it. It's like "let me get this straight...you are going to run your DE up the field to make sure the QB can't run for huge yards and give one less person to stop the RBs...then you are going to not rush quite as hard to make sure he's surrounded but give him extra time in the pocket....against a guy who had an 8.3 YPA during the season that has IMPROVED in the playoffs? Um...yeah...you got yourself a deal".

There are no quarantees that the Niners win on Sunday, but if they do it'll have ALOT to do with that Packers game and the way players and coaches have responded to it.

As for the Pistol (and it bugs me that people are confusing the Pistol and the Read-Option...one is a formation and the other is a play run out of that formation), what I find funny about it tho is how many people think of it as a "gimmick". Really? This isn't the Wildcat. You can run your entire offense out of the Pistol. Its simply a Shotgun formation that incorporates power running. You can run exteremely effective play action from this formation...and in fact, that's when it's the most dangerous. Will the league "figure it out"? I dunno, has the league "figured out" the Shotgun? Sorry peeps...it's here to stay.

One final note on Colin himself...I ndon't expect to see anything different than what we've seen before. No nerves. No young player mistakes. I really don't think he can be rattled. Go get it Colin. Bring it home.

2) Harbaugh: I read something during his press conference after getting of the plane. It was one of the graphics on NFL Network...

Wins, including playoffs, in their first 2 years:

George Seifert: 32
Barry Switzer: 28
Jim Harbaugh: 27
Steve Mariucci: 27
Jim Caldwell: 26
Mike Martz: 26

Outside of the fact that 3 of those 6 guys coached the 49ers, what really stands out to me? What stands out is the fact that every guy on that list not named Harbaugh inherited a team that had won a ton of games with the coach they succeeded...In fact all had Super Bowl vets on the team and were poised to make another run.

Jim Harbaugh is the only guy on that list that inherited a team with a losing record. Win or lose on Sunday, we need to realize that were are watching something pretty special right now. Moreover, they haven't peaked yet. Next year, Kaep will have starting experience and a full offseason to prep for being a starter. I expect to be writing another post sometime next year discussing the most wins over a coaches first THREE seasons.

3) Randy Moss: Lost in all the hyperbole that is Ray Lewis, there does happen to be another future HOF player who may be suiting up for the very last time...and this one has never won a ring. I must admit, before he signed his contract I was never a fan of Randy Moss. His on season in SF has really turned me around. He has been a HUGE factor this season. No, he isn't the same guy out there on the field, but he is a BIG part of the development of Colin Kaepernick and Michael Crabtree. The way he has accepted his role as a secondary player is just huge. HUGE. In talking with his fans before he signed in SF, he said "Man, I don't need to be THE GUY. I just want to be on a team. I just want to help a team". When he signed I remembered that quote. I thought...ok, lets see. Well, we saw. Nothing but a team player. My hope is that he finally gets his ring. My preiction is that he scores a TD on the play they haven't been able to complete all year...Red Zone pass over the middle up high where only he can get it.

4) Aldon Smith: I have no real proof of anything here...but I just have a hunch that Aldon is going to be a thorn in the side of Joe Flacco. He actually played very well against the Falcons. I dunno if any of you remember it, but there was one play where he absolutely DESTROYED the LT. He knocked him flat on his butt and the only reason it wasn't a sack was Matt Ryan made a great, quick pass. I think we can all agree that Aldon has probably more hurt than the team had been letting on. He looked better against Atlanta, and he now has yet another bye week to heal. Combining that with the fact that Flacco likes to throw deep (IE, he holds th aball longer to let the play develop), I just have a hunch that Aldon makes his presence felt.

5) Greg Roman: This is it G-Ro. Anything you have been saving this season to break out on someone? This is the time to use it. Roman always seems to have a wrinkle here or there and you see it once and never again. Staley catching passes. Sopoaga Catching passes. Unbalanced lines where you run to the WEAK side of the formation. I would pretty much COUNT on seeing something we've never seen before. We've seen some really good stuff...and some not so good. It should at the very least be entertaining.

6) O-Line: I think these guys have a very bitter taste in their mouths after giving up 9 sacks last Thanksgiving. These guys respond when challenged. Remember when Staley got roughed up vs Clay Matthews in the season opener? How did that rematch turn out? Thse guys are going to come out with an attitude...and thats a good thing. Yes, the Ravens are getting older, but they are still pretty damn good.

7) Ray Lewis: I just had to bring this up...is anyone else as sick of hearing about this as much as I am? Ray Lewis has 44 tackles this offseason. WOW. OK....lets look at that for a sec.....Thats THREE games where they went into DOUBLE overtime in one game and played another game against the Patriots who run more plays than ony other team in the NFL. That D is AVERAGING over 80 defensive snaps when a typical game is about 60. Of COURSE you are going to have a huge number of tackles....you are on the field all the freakin' time!! NFL Network showed something on Playbook where they created a metric looked the the number of tackles made, the average gain before tackle, etc. Lewis finished 33rd in the NFL in this regard. Willis finished 5th and Bowman 2nd. Now that doesn't mean we should disregard or underestimate him. I'm just a little tired of the hype. Has that D played well in the postseason? Absolutely. Lets just keep it in perspective. I'm personally much more concerned with Ngata.

8) Frank the Tank: Oh man...I can't wait to see him get his shot in this game. IMO, winning this game means more to him than anyone else. This is the same guy who would sit at his locker with tears in his eyes when they would lose while other guys were dancing like it didn't matter...cough...Brandon Lloyd...cough. You could just see by his reaction to winning in Atlanta. This team just has to get him a ring. I don't know how many years he has left or how many more chances they are going to get at this....but I really want to see Frank get his ring. I think the writing is kinda on the wall that LaMichael James and Kendall Hunter are the future of this team at RB. I just want Frank to be rewarded for being the beacon of light in the darkness that was the last decade.

9) Akers: I don't know why...but I have a feeling this will be a non-issue. I think he'll come through when called upon and I don't think the gamne will depend on a field goal. Harbaugh has been right about just about every decision he has made...and I'm gonna ride with him on this one.

10) Who's got it better?: I have to admit that I've always thought that saying was pretty corny. I'll yell ou "nobody!!" at games, but I've never been a huge fan of it. In reality tho...who DOES have it better right now? Win or lose, the 49ers are RELEVANT again. They are at the point now where players will sign with them for less money because they think they can get a ring. The have a great coach, great talant, and in a little over a year they will have a brand spankin' new state of the art facility. The future is BRIGHT right now...and it fantastic!?!

I've said this before in another one of these posts and I see another post up right now that has a similar theme...but doesn't the struggle make this even sweeter?

Originally posted by Marvin49:

1) Kaepernick: If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, they will have essentially won it in the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Green Bay Packers. Why? That 181 yards rushing has scared the living hell out of the rest og the NFL. DCs and defensive players are now SOOOOOO scared of the QB run...and the Read-Option...that they are now playing unsound defenses. The are concentrating so much time and energy on keeping Kaep in the pocket. They are VOLUNTARILY slowing down their rush in order to coral him and not let him escape.

I love every single little bit of it. It's like "let me get this straight...you are going to run your DE up the field to make sure the QB can't run for huge yards and give one less person to stop the RBs...then you are going to not rush quite as hard to make sure he's surrounded but give him extra time in the pocket....against a guy who had an 8.3 YPA during the season that has IMPROVED in the playoffs? Um...yeah...you got yourself a deal".

There are no quarantees that the Niners win on Sunday, but if they do it'll have ALOT to do with that Packers game and the way players and coaches have responded to it.

As for the Pistol (and it bugs me that people are confusing the Pistol and the Read-Option...one is a formation and the other is a play run out of that formation), what I find funny about it tho is how many people think of it as a "gimmick". Really? This isn't the Wildcat. You can run your entire offense out of the Pistol. Its simply a Shotgun formation that incorporates power running. You can run exteremely effective play action from this formation...and in fact, that's when it's the most dangerous. Will the league "figure it out"? I dunno, has the league "figured out" the Shotgun? Sorry peeps...it's here to stay.

One final note on Colin himself...I ndon't expect to see anything different than what we've seen before. No nerves. No young player mistakes. I really don't think he can be rattled. Go get it Colin. Bring it home.

2) Harbaugh: I read something during his press conference after getting of the plane. It was one of the graphics on NFL Network...

Wins, including playoffs, in their first 2 years:

George Seifert: 32
Barry Switzer: 28
Jim Harbaugh: 27
Steve Mariucci: 27
Jim Caldwell: 26
Mike Martz: 26

Outside of the fact that 3 of those 6 guys coached the 49ers, what really stands out to me? What stands out is the fact that every guy on that list not named Harbaugh inherited a team that had won a ton of games with the coach they succeeded...In fact all had Super Bowl vets on the team and were poised to make another run.

Jim Harbaugh is the only guy on that list that inherited a team with a losing record. Win or lose on Sunday, we need to realize that were are watching something pretty special right now. Moreover, they haven't peaked yet. Next year, Kaep will have starting experience and a full offseason to prep for being a starter. I expect to be writing another post sometime next year discussing the most wins over a coaches first THREE seasons.

3) Randy Moss: Lost in all the hyperbole that is Ray Lewis, there does happen to be another future HOF player who may be suiting up for the very last time...and this one has never won a ring. I must admit, before he signed his contract I was never a fan of Randy Moss. His on season in SF has really turned me around. He has been a HUGE factor this season. No, he isn't the same guy out there on the field, but he is a BIG part of the development of Colin Kaepernick and Michael Crabtree. The way he has accepted his role as a secondary player is just huge. HUGE. In talking with his fans before he signed in SF, he said "Man, I don't need to be THE GUY. I just want to be on a team. I just want to help a team". When he signed I remembered that quote. I thought...ok, lets see. Well, we saw. Nothing but a team player. My hope is that he finally gets his ring. My preiction is that he scores a TD on the play they haven't been able to complete all year...Red Zone pass over the middle up high where only he can get it.

4) Aldon Smith: I have no real proof of anything here...but I just have a hunch that Aldon is going to be a thorn in the side of Joe Flacco. He actually played very well against the Falcons. I dunno if any of you remember it, but there was one play where he absolutely DESTROYED the LT. He knocked him flat on his butt and the only reason it wasn't a sack was Matt Ryan made a great, quick pass. I think we can all agree that Aldon has probably more hurt than the team had been letting on. He looked better against Atlanta, and he now has yet another bye week to heal. Combining that with the fact that Flacco likes to throw deep (IE, he holds th aball longer to let the play develop), I just have a hunch that Aldon makes his presence felt.

5) Greg Roman: This is in G-Ro. Anything you have been saving this season to break out on someone? This is the time to use it. Roman always seems to have a wrinkle here or there and you see it once and never again. Staley catching passes. Sopoaga Catching passes. Unbalanced lines where you run to the WEAK side of the formation. I would pretty much COUNT on seeing something we've never seen before. We've seen some really good stuff...and some not so good. It should at the very least be entertaining.

6) O-Line: I think these guys have a very bitter taste in their mouths after giving up 9 sacks last Thanksgiving. These guys respond when challenged. Remember when Staley got roughed up vs Clay Matthews in the season opener? How did that rematch turn out? Thse guys are going to come out with an attitude...and thats a good thing. Yes, the Ravens are getting older, but they are still pretty damn good.

7) Ray Lewis: I just had to bring this up...is anyone else as sick of hearing about this as much as I am? Ray Lewis has 44 tackles this offseason. WOW. OK....lets look at that for a sec.....Thats THREE games where they went into DOUBLE overtime in one game and played another game against the Patriots who run more plays than ony other team in the NFL. That D is AVERAGING over 80 defensive snaps when a typical game is about 60. Of COURSE you are going to have a huge number of tackles....you are on the field all the freakin' time!! NFL Network showed something on Playbook where they created a metric looked the the number of tackles made, the average gain before tackle, etc. Lewis finished 33rd in the NFL in this regard. Willis finished 5th and Bowman 2nd. Now that doesn't mean we should disregard or underestimate him. I'm just a little tired of the hype. Has that D played well in the postseason? Absolutely. Lets just keep it in perspective. I'm personally much more concerned with Ngata.

8) Frank the Tank: Oh man...I can't wait to see him get his shot in this game. IMO, winning this game means more to him than anyone else. This is the same guy who would sit at his locker with tears in his eyes when they would lose while other guys were dancing like it didn't matter...cough...Brandon Lloyd...cough. You could just see by his reaction to winning in Atlanta. This team just has to get him a ring. I don't know how many years he has left or how many more chances they are going to get at this....but I really want to see Frank get his ring. I think the writing is kinda on the wall that LaMichael James and Kendall Hunter are the future of this team at RB. I just want Frank to be rewarded for being the beacon of light in the darkness that was the last decade.

9) Akers: I don't know why...but I have a feeling this will be a non-issue. I think he'll come through when called upon and I don't think the gamne will depend on a field goal. Harbaugh has been right about just about every decision he has made...and I'm gonna ride with him on this one.

10) Who's got it better?: I have to admit that I've always thought that saying was pretty corny. I'll yell ou "nobody!!" at games, but I've never been a huge fan of it. In reality tho...who DOES have it better right now? Win or lose, the 49ers are RELEVANT again. They are at the point now where players will sign with them for less money because they think they can get a ring. The have a great coach, great talant, and in a little over a year they will have a brand spankin' new state of the art facility. The future is BRIGHT right now...and it fantastic!?!

I've said this before in another one of these posts and I see another post up right now that has a similar theme...but doesn't the struggle make this even sweeter?

Great post and 100% spot on. Go Niners!!

Great post Marv, I want to add to the Moss bit I think the deep sideline route which has been over/underthrown since the beginning of Kaep taking the reigns will finally make a connection in this game, I also think we may see some unlikely players make receptions due to the Ravens overcompensating and focusing too much on our run game, we have had good success using pass plays out of typical run formations and I think that will continue into this game.

I have a feeling our run game will wear them down. I was analyzing our run game over the past week and i think our run game consist of mixing it up from the power I formation, pistol read option, and inside zone read and outside zone chip kelly oregon uses. Its alot to defend if the opposing team hasn't seen it much.

Excellent read, but that is par for the course.

1.) Glad to have Kaepernick as our QB, and glad to have a QB who frightens the rest of the league.
2.) Very happy to have Jim Harbaugh and his staff on our team. We either have really bad staffs or really great staffs over at least the past 35 years, so happy the arrow is pointing up these days.
3.) Moss has conducted himself very well this year, I'm glad the 49ers brought him in and he is very deserving of a ring just for this season alone.
4.) Hope Aldon and friends have one more great performance left in them.
5.) I'm sure Roman has some tricks up his sleeve for this one. There were a couple of games that were hard to watch this year, still glad he's here now, and should be for at least one more year (more if we are lucky.)
6.) I hope (and believe) you are right about the O-line, this is their time for payback.
7.) So very tired of the Lewis media coverage. Great player, questionable past, if he truly has grown up, great, but I don't care to see him ride into the sunset with two rings.
8.) even if Gire. He is the man, and so deserving of (at least) this ring, but the same could be said for many of these 49ers.
9.) I hope it doesn't even come down to Akers in this game and I'd like to see him finally get a ring after his seventh NFCCG appearance.
10.) "Who's got it better than us?" I love the saying, never thought it was corny, just genuine. To answer the question though, "NOBODY!"

I absolutely look forward to next weeks post, this game won't be easy or without nervous angst for us, but I do expect the 49ers to come out of it with #6.

I swear Marvin, if 1% of posters on other boards were as good as you are, I may be able to read them for more than comic relief.

Nice job Marvin. These 2 weeks are long and the national media just writes the same stories over and over.

1. I think we might finally disagree on something. I think Moss might come back for another year. He easily could retire win or lose but I think Harbaugh wants him back and I always wonder if players want to see what a season is like after winning the Superbowl. Do players want to have a year where they feel like the top dogs. Who knows?

2. Roman: People try and predict what theNiners are going to do on offense in the playoffs and it seems totally unpredictable. Against Green Bay they let Kaep loose. Then against Atlanta Kaep only runs twice and i don't think they were designed runs. In both games we still had a strong run game from our rbs. I think Roman still relies on the RB's but I am going with a wild guess that we might see some deep passes. Maybe Jenkins since he is pretty much a secret and no one is watching any film on him.

I agree with everything else and pretty much everything you always post. The Ravens are a good team and maybe the best we will play all year. Not record wise but they have talent everywhere and they are playing at an extremely high level right now. The Ravens in the playoffs are much different than the Ravens of the regular season. With that said, I think the 2 weeks off cools them down a bit and we are simply a better team. New Orleans is a dome and the turf should give way to speed and I'm hoping their D looks old and slow on Super Sunday.

Ravens havent played at the Superdome since 2006. The 49ers played here this year and won. The Ravens will also have to practice at the Tulane baseball field, and the 49ers get the Superdome and Saints facilities.

The one thought that sticks out in my mind leading up to the Super Bowl is that we are the epitome of the word "team" and I am so proud of that. Putting aside what we do on the field I can't recall very many teams in any sport that seemed so close, so family like, so dead set on winning and only caring about what is best for the team. I think every player (and coach) on this team will deflect praise to their teammates before accepting it themselves. Not one player thinks it's about themselves. These guys are playing for the man next to them. This type of stuff gets thrown out a lot but really in our case I think it's true. Win or lose I am proud of this team: this group of guys, these coaches and this front office for winning with class. It's one thing to win but winning with class while being great people off the field is another.

Edit: And one thing I want to add is how much the players especially deserve this (not saying Ravens don't). A lot of our players had rough lives growing up and the will to better themselves and their families has gotten them to where they are now. I think it's part of what made them the men they are today. Putting their off the field lives aside some of the players also deserve it because of what they have been through since they got here.

Originally posted by Niners99:
Ravens havent played at the Superdome since 2006. The 49ers played here this year and won. The Ravens will also have to practice at the Tulane baseball field, and the 49ers get the Superdome and Saints facilities.

how u noe dat doe?

Spot on!

I am so sick of Ray Lewis and the show he puts on for the media. I hope we make him cry for real.

i just want us 2 stay UNDEFEATED IN THE BIG GAME.............THE ONLY team with Multiple tittles n ONLY team ALONE at the top

MARVIN

Originally posted by TlSSER:

Originally posted by Niners99:

Ravens havent played at the Superdome since 2006. The 49ers played here this year and won. The Ravens will also have to practice at the Tulane baseball field, and the 49ers get the Superdome and Saints facilities.

how u noe dat doe?

profootballreference.com and a 49ers media article.

"Home" team gets the host site facilities. Ravens are at Tulane, but their football field is out of commission right now.

Great write up Marvin.

Piggy backing on your Aldon assessment, I think the whole D is gonna turn it up this game. Justin only has 4 quarters of football left this season, Aldon is gonna be a little more healthy. I foresee some concaved pockets this coming Sunday.