These are not Mike Nolan's 49ers

We as fans are in good hands. The offense definitely could have played a lot better, but I couldn't ask for a better recovery game from the defense. That was utter domination on every level.

Tim who?

Wow do I love that. All the talk is about Tim Tebow and our guys are like "hmm well, we've got this QB who can run a little bit". Then he bombs it 60 yards just to freak everyone out.

This coaching staff is why this team will never be "those" 49ers again. 13 wins? Maybe, maybe not. But not 6.
*1ST HALF*

• I don't watch every game every week, but I watch a fair amount. I've never seen an announcing crew more biased than the Albert/Moose group is when they do niner games. Moose at times openly roots for players on opposing teams on air. 
• Case in point: the Tebow "jump pass" that ended in a TURNOVER. They were desperate to spin Tebow's first pass as a Jet in a positive light, even though the 49ers came away with the ball.   Moose casually mentioned the nice hit at the end of the replay. 
• I just don't know what to make of Alex Smith. He shows occasional flashes of great play, you expect him to jump up a level, and then he reverts to one read, sprint out of the pocket, take sack. He just cost them a sure field goal with 2 terrible sacks. 
• And there he misses a WIDE. OPEN. Crabtree for an easy TD. Gulp. 
• The defensive line is wreaking havoc today. Holy hell. Complete 180 from how they looked last week. 
• Good god. This is now 2 straight weeks where they are playing with Raider-like penalty numbers. It would be really nice if they stopped playing like idiots. 
• At least the other team's QB is Mark Sanchez. Even PONDER knew to protect the ball in those situations. That was some horrible QB play. Wow. 

*HALFTIME*

The Jets suck. Sanchez inspires no fear, and the 49ers' defensive line have completely dominated this game. When the Jets have threatened to score, they've either turned it over or moved backwards. The 49ers' defense looks like normal service has been resumed. 

The 49ers' offense is not very good, or maybe the Jets' defense is still pretty good. I'm not sure. The offense looks better when Kaepernick is playing. Maybe this is the beginning of the end for Alex. Who knows. 

*2ND HALF*

• File another entry under "these announcers are hopelessly biased". 49ers make a great play to break up a screen, and they spend the entire replay talking about how it was a bad play by the Jets, not a great play by the defense. 
• What is wrong with Akers?! First he was blocked last week and now 2 misses in one game. Blah. 
• Remember that game when Alex was mercilessly booed at home? Fun to see that happening to the other team today. Man, Sanchez is baaaad. 
• OK Alex, I'm just about done. If you can't hit WIDE OPEN receivers streaking down the field, I don't know what to tell you. This game should be about 31-0 at this point. 
• This game reminds me of the Redskins game from last year. Not a dominating lead on the scoreboard, but it's clear the 49ers are the better team, and it's not that close. Really nice to see them play like this after last week. Would be nice if the offense was a little better though. 
• Things I never thought I would see in a million years: the 49ers playing a road game in NYC, and there being an audible "LET'S GO NI-NERS" chant in the crowd. 
• Scanning around the league, looks like either the Vikings are way better than we thought, or the Lions are not very good at all. So we can either feel better about where the 49ers are or worse. That clarifies things. 
• I take for granted how good Hunter is. He is a legitimate every-down guy in the NFL
• It's getting to the point where I wouldn't be disappointed if Kaepernick was the starter. This is the 2nd straight ug-ly game by the offense. 
• Hey Nate: here is your blowout! WOW what a meltdown. This is awesome. 

At least the 49ers didn't lose like that.

Holy s**t.

Cross Seattle off The List

Not contenders. Their coach is inept. They had EIGHT SACKS in one half. EIGHT! Yet led by only 7. Now it's halfway through the 4th quarter, and Seattle has no 1st downs in the entire second half. That's coaching. When you get owned for the entire second half, it means the other guys made changes and you didn't. Pete Carroll is not an NFL coach, and the Seahawks ain't contenders.

The 49ers dominated this team on the road, and the Seahawks are totally overmatched against them at home.

Effing kill me now.

Good god.

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

Things get weird in the Metrodome. My typical Niner fan cynicism/skepticism is tingling, my mind replaying that Favre pass over and over again (speaking of which, Michael Erler had an excellent game preview this week).

Yet there is plenty of evidence it's obvious Jim Harbaugh is a coaching genius, and in the real dimension (not my mind's) there is nothing to really get worked up about. Except, I guess, dropped passes (according to several dozen posts on Niners Nation).

Perhaps I should worry more about annoying nepotism beneficiary Grant Cohn picking the Niners to win big (his predictions are generally as reliable as legendarily inaccurate nepotism beneficiary Bill Kristol). Eh, even that isn't very scary (Grant, not Bill. Bill is very scary). I know the Niners will outcoach get outcoached and outhit get outhit by the Vikings, and spawn of the "Cohn Zohn" is probably underestimating tragically overestimating the final score.

I guess Jared Allen's questionable jump scares me the most, since that guy can really fuck up a game plan. Questionable because he gets away with (figurative) murder in that dome.

Update: Niners got punched in the mouth by a better prepared team and a hot QB. Niners fans richly deserve this one for anointing this team after two games. When the Fox pregame guy called the Niners an "Elite" team, well, let's just say if I were Greggg Easterbrook I would have written 'game over' in my notebook.

And now the 49ers get to hang out in Youngstown Ohio. I kind of feel bad for the team, but not too much, after all they believed their own hype all week. I hope they remember Christian Ponder's smirk and get really pissed.

Update 2: I mean I feel bad for the team for having to spend a week in Youngstown, not for losing. They oh so deserved that one.

The Next Step

The 49ers have taken it, the Lions haven't. Even with the referees handing them free drives, they have scored no touchdowns. These pretend tough guys are terrified to throw deep, and completely unable to run the ball. These guys don't scare me at. all. They are being completely dominated by a play that worked against them LAST YEAR. Good God these coaches.

The 49ers look exactly how a contender looks. Dominating defense, playmaking offense. The only mistake was a guy trying a little too hard, can't fault him much for that. Holy S this is a good team.

• I remember watching the 49ers' one or two primetime games in years past and wishing the crowd would sound like Pittsburgh's or Baltimore's always did at night. They do now. The stick is ROCKING tonight. It's awesome to see. 
• We deserve this coaching. After so many years of unfathomable ineptness, we now have, what, a top 3 staff? Maybe the best in the league if you count all aspects of how they prepare their team. It's an absolute privilege to watch this team operate, especially considering what we've put up with in years past. 
• The Lions are thoroughly outmatched in this game so far (halfway through 3rd quarter). 
• I sometimes take for granted how good this run defense is. Every single run is an almost automatic 2 yard gain. 
• Matthew Stafford- totally overrated, or the MOST overrated? Holy crap this guy cannot handle a real defense. 
• I understand that given what we've been through, we don't like talking like this- and yes, anything can happen in the NFL- but this is a team that could win 14 games. Look at the schedule! Given how they've played these last 2 weeks, do we really fear any of those games? The Patriots just lost to the friggen CARDINALS! There's no aspect of the 49ers that you look at and say "that's their weakness"

Holy hell that last drive. This is the best team in the league beyond any shadow of doubt or question. Wow. 

Aaron Rodgers' Small Hands

I enjoyed watching Rodgers pull an Alex Smith earlier in this game. I wonder if anyone will question his hand size?

I also want to point out that LOL the Bears. Super Bowl contenders my arse.

Wait, who's the better QB again?

• These referees are awful. 
• These referees are awful. Obvious bad call on PI leads to GB's first TD. 
• These referees are awful. I will never complain about the regular guys again. 
• Interesting that every compliment this "top" announcing crew (especially Aikman) gives the 49ers sounds like it came through firmly clenched teeth. 
• 63-yard kick from David Akers..are you kidding me?
• These referees are awful.
• 3rd downs- 2/6, with 2 others converted on penalties..blah. It was good to see them converting a lot on earlier downs.
• Aaron Rodgers looked like he had no idea what to do against a real defense. He's good, but maybe people need to look at their schedule last year again before they go crazy. 

• Judging by the Rams' utter collapse, and the hilarious slapfight that was Cards/Seahawks, in the early going I'm not at all worried about the rest of the NFC West. 
• These referees are awful. Clear block in the back leads to 2nd GB touchdown. 
• Aaron Rodgers takes a huge crap on the field, leading to the TD that is the ultimate difference in the game. Perfect demonstration of the theory that relying completely on offense is a bad idea. 
• My neighbors hate me after that Gore TD. What a great play to stay in bounds.  

Whew, that 4th quarter was intense. Once again, this team demonstrates what makes them different from when the Mikes were running the show- if, by some miracle, a Mike-coached 49ers team had been in contention, that punt return would have KILLED them. There's no chance they recover from that. This team is different. They be realllll, son.

The 49ers thoroughly dominated this game, it was not as close as the final score. In so doing they sure seemed to prove that last year was not, in fact, a fluke. If they played this well on the road against a team this good, they can beat any one, any week. Expecting another 13 win season might be a bit much, but at the same time it's not ridiculous. This team is insanely good.

Replacement Officials and the Packers Curse

I'm experiencing anxiety over these replacement refs. If there is one thing that is absolute since 1995: the 49ers have been tremendously fucked by officials in games with Green Bay, more so in Wisconsin. Couple that with some well-intentioned insurance salesmen/little league umpires, and we may see more pass interference calls on the Niners than passes completed by Alex Smith.

The remaining hope would be there are as many bad calls against the Pac..haha, hold on, hahahaha...wait, let me rephrase that: maybe the Niners can catch a break or two and win this game. 

Unfortunately, I think we'll see something like a Kendall Hunter kickoff return for a TD called back by a complete b.s. penalty.  

At any rate, I'm excited to see what Jim Harbaugh works into this game. Let's hope he has the guys ready to play, and there aren't any stupid things like botched punt snaps for safeties, or muffed punt returns (hehe). 

I'm not excited to see the sturdy women of Green Bay wearing deer antlers and camouflage Aaron Rodgers jerseys. 

7th round picks

not that long ago, this team was relying on 7th round draft picks to play meaningful snaps at meaningful positions. Now their roster is so loaded that they have to cut loose players that other teams actually want. This is more fun.