January 21, 2010 by
Paul Preibisius |
49ers,
atlanta,
Bears,
Broncos,
carolina,
chicago,
Denver,
Dolphins,
falcons,
Football,
Giants,
houston,
Jacksonville,
Jaguars,
Miami,
New York,
NFL,
Panthers,
pittsburgh,
Playoffs,
san francisco,
Steelers,
tennessee,
Texans,
Titans
With several teams falling just short of the playoffs this year, it begs the question, what of these teams can find a way to secure the two or three extra wins necessary to take themselves into the playoffs. This mid-range covers all 7-9 and 8-8 teams, as well as the 9-7’s that fell short of a wildcard berth.
Chicago Bears
The Bear narrowly avoided entrance to the first list by way of back to back wins to close out the year. A preseason darling for a deep postseason run, Chicago lands itself as one of the biggest disappointments of the year.
Why They Can: Defensive emotional leader Brian Urlacher was gone for the year. With him back the team will have more fire and swagger. Jay Cutler may be turnover prone, but he can air the [...]
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While all teams have their fair share of ups and downs, no team can turn on a dime quite as masterfully as the Arizona Cardinals.
One week after making one of the most complete teams in the league look like a JV squad, beating the then 10-1 Vikings convincingly in prime time, they returned to the field wearing flip flops and sun hats, sipping piña coladas through curly straws. Well okay not really, but they may as well have because they certainly didn't show up to play football against the 49ers.
After the Vikings game, ESPN's Mike Sando [...]
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With a win Monday Night, the Cardinals can wrap up their second straight NFC West crown. The 49ers would like nothing more than to play spoiler to a team they really don't care for.
As Darnell Dockett points out, ""We're talking about the only team in the division to beat us the last two years," defensive lineman Darnell Dockett said. "This is probably the most exciting game of the year for me. It's going to be a physical, grinding game with a ton of trash talk on both sides." [...]
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Wow! Last week was a nail biting, hair pulling, gut checking and heart stressing win. I started the game nervous, by half time I was feeling good, by the end of three I was nervous again and with two minutes left I was a screaming mess of nerves and high blood pressure. Thank you Texans defense.
Our Houston Texans ran up a 21 - 0 lead at half time while limiting the 49er offense to a whole 50 yards of total offense and then almost let it get away. A few years ago, heck even last year, I would not have given them a chance even with this score but this year is different. I thought they had this in the bag and was ready for a final score of say, umm I don't know, 35 - 3 or so. Instead we got 24 - 21.
The good news, our run defense showed up again, we had a pass rush ( for [...]
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A couple months ago around the draft I posted an article titled "Protecting The 49ers Signal Caller." In said article I talked about what the team needed as far as offensive line help. I talked about the Niners needs at the right tackle position and both guard positions. The top prospects were Eugene Monroe, Jason Smith, Andre Smith and Michael Oher. I talked about the team and their tenth pick and who would be suitable.
The 49ers did not take an offensive lineman in the entire draft, while it was considered to be one of the team's biggest needs.
Fast forward a little while and the 49ers are looking like they knew what they were doing, they signed a kid by the name of Alex Boone who could be the right tackle of the future and they signed a veteran in Marvel Smith. Throughout [...]
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Paying Close Attention To Numbers
2-0 sure does feel good to start the season. Even better, the team is 2-0 in the NFC West after wins over division rivals Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks in weeks one and two. How about some even better numbers for you? Quarterback Shaun Hill is now 9-3 as a starter and remains undefeated at Candlestick Park. How about some more numbers?
QB Shaun Hill has an 87.8 QB rating thus far and has thrown zero interceptions, one of only five QBs yet to throw one so far this season. HB Frank Gore is just the second running back of all time to have two touchdown runs of over 75 yards in a single game. The other? Legendary running back Barry Sanders. Gore also accounts for all four of the team's offensive touchdowns so far this season. [...]
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An interesting idea came to me today. The San Fransisco 49ers unsigned first round pick, WR Michael Crabtree, does not want to sign with the 49ers and, if they do sign him, it would cost a lot them a lot of cap room.
The Seahawks decided to pass on Crabtree for Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry. However, on draft day, as the Seahawks were making their pick, you could see that Crabtree [...]
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$140 million, what can it get you? Well it can get you a house, financial security, a nice car, and three top linebackers for the Seattle Seahawks.
The Seattle Seahawks line backing corps combines to total $140 million just for three players.
[...]
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By James Brady
The 2009 draft has come to a close and I'll admit: there was a ton of things going on that I didn't see coming. What with Cleveland trading the upwards of three times, Rey Maualuga falling to the second round, the Raiders'... interesting picks and the biggest thing for myself (and you, hopefully) the falling of WR Michael Crabtree to the tenth pick. Nobody saw it coming, not even the 49ers. In case you missed it, the Raiders (aka Al Davis) selected WR Darrius Heyward-Bey with the seventh pick, that's right--Crabtree wasn't even the first receiver off the board! This blows my mind, I could picture all the fans' collective jaws dropping and hanging for a good oh... entire season.
Day one includes the first and second rounds, in which the 49ers selected [...]
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