When can I start getting excited without being a moron?

     Quinton Patton in the only 2 games he's played: 6 catches, 80 yards, 2 TDs. That TD tonight was ridiculous, how many 49ers WRs have made that play recently, preseason or no?

     I know it's stupid and ridiculous, but I'm already completely on board with this guy. When a dude just shows up and instantly provides offense, it catches my attention. I used to spend a lot of time defending guys who never showed anything because they had potential, which was never realized. This guy shows up and IMMEDIATELY shows what he can do. I love it. I'm in the tank completely. Much much crazier things have happened than 4th rounders being instant success stories.

     It's also nice to see the starting offense just march right down the field as per usual. Oh, and the defense still kicks ass, even the guys who will be cut in 2 days.

53 Man

I remember doing this on the board millions of years ago, and I'm recovering from surgery, board, and a huge nerd, so I figured it would be fun to try again:

Tolzien getting released is a little surprising, but he will be back on the practice squad. I think he was viewed as the least likely QB to be claimed by someone else. Wallace is there for depth, I have a hard time imagining he will make the team unless McCoy is traded. If that happens, maybe they will just go all athletic at QB. Daniels looks like a really interesting backup. He's shown a little too much to just let go. 

At WR it's either Collie or Hall for that 6th spot, I have a feeling they will choose Collie just because of experience, but he played hardly at all last night, so I could be wrong about that. The 7th WR should be Osgood, I forgot to add him in. He will play special teams almost exclusively. 

I think the rest kind of speak for themselves, I would be surprised if any of these guys don't make the team. Maybe Skuta gets replaced by someone else, and the same could happen with Dahl, but overall I think that roster looks good. Even the backups are solid almost across the board. And the guys in bold denote who could also play on special teams. 

Thoughts on the meaningless game

Just now going through tonight's game. Impressions:

LOL VIKINGS

Colin Kaepernick.

Quinton Patton, in his first game, now has 4 more catches and 1 more TD than AJ Jenkins had as a rookie. Patton was a 4th rounder, Jenkins was a 1st. I never want to be an NFL personnel man. For whatever it's worth, the guy looks like a real NFL WR. It would be very interesting if he turns out to be good. We have no way of knowing, since he just now is able to actually catch passes. He gets a 1st down and a TD in his first game action, that's pretty encouraging.

Marlon Moore appears like he belongs in the NFL. My guess is him, Boldin, and Collie are the first 3 on the field on opening day. Maybe Patton will work his way in there, too.

Defense. Justin Smith says "what triceps?"

LOL VIKINGS

Again, Colin Kaepernick. Watching the comparison between him and Ponder just reminds me how limited the 49ers were with Alex Smith. Comparing Ponder to Smith is not fair, because Smith is probably much better, but the Vikings' offense is clearly limited because of Ponder's skill set. He cannot throw deep with any kind of accuracy (sound familiar?), and the short throws are an adventure at times.

The 49ers can do whatever the hell they want. No read-option? No problem, the guy can still pick you apart with throws to any part of the field. Add in the running aspect and gawd dayum, the guy is unstoppable. I'm the biggest Smith defender in the world, but seeing the full potential of this offense realized, it's obvious that Smith was holding it back pretty substantially.

It's really fun to see the 49ers' backups playing against the other team's starters so much. So much talent everywhere.

Lavelle Hawkins is a moron. Great play, but you removed your helmet? Really?

I think the worst thing about Ponder for the Vikings is that his draft pedigree and playoff berth last year virtually guarantee that the Vikings will stick with him for too long before realizing that he will never win a superbowl. I'm so glad the 49ers have a real QB now. So so glad.

I'm not sure if LMJ will be anything like the kind of player he was in college, but I absolutely love the way the guy shifts around and makes 0 or negative yard runs into positive plays. I haven't seen a lot of guys do it as well as he can.

Jon Baldwin already with more catches than the guy he was traded for, with a year less experience.

I like how the Vikings were patting themselves on the back after their starters scored a TD against 3rd stringers who will not be playing in 2 weeks. Lol Vikings.

Vance McDonald strikes me as the kind of guy I would not want to get in the way of.

This just in: this team is really really good. Can't wait for the real games.

Whoa!

WHOA!

no, really, WHOAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     AJ, we hardly knew ye. Holy S. I guess I shouldn't be this shocked, but here we are, I'm dumbfounded. I figured the guy just needed a little more time to figure stuff out, but BOOM goes the Baalke and he is gone. That's incredible.


     This team hasn't had much success drafting in that area of the first round, first Balmer and now this guy. Both of them were traded within in a year and a half of being selected. That's not really a good sign for a first round pick. If the front office is willing to just completely ship the guy out of town, what does that say about his prospects? I say that for both Jenkins and Baldwin. I have no idea what to think about the trade, other than "GO JON BALDWIN!"

     My only opinion on Baldwin is that I friggen loved that guy in Madden. I always traded for him immediately because of his size and speed. If those things are real in real life, he could be real interesting. He's definitely big and strong. He struggles to catch the ball, though, which isn't a great quality in a WR. I'll say this though- he is the anti AJ Jenkins. That's what makes this trade interesting. He's 6'4, 230 lbs. AJ Jenkins is 6', 190. If Baldwin can cure the dropsies, then the 49ers will truly have 2 WRs on the outside who can stick it to Seattle and their holding, roid-infested DBs.

     Once again, WHOA. This is kind of crazy. I kind of love the deal at first blush, but we'll see. The Chiefs and 49ers must be members of the mutual admiration society with the way they swap players and picks.

Every one of these articles is fabulous

but this one gave me particular joy. Drew is a Vikings fan, so he put an especially large amount of verve and gusto into this article. My favorite line:

Any time he [Rodgers] suddenly morphs into an inaccurate gimp in the playoffs, he makes the exact same face: He kind of stares around, as if to say THE BATTERIES IN THIS OFFENSE AREN’T WORKING! Then he stares at the ground. I’m looking forward to seeing that the next time they play the 49ers.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. We're that team again, everyone. Yesssssssss.

Colin Kaepernick is going to throw for 2 hundred billion yards

"Colin has come a long way. Last year, when he first got the starting job, we'd be back at practice and he'd just keep overthrowing me," said Davis said, who caught a team-high seven passes during 11-on-11 work. "I'd be running as fast as I possibly could, and Colin just kept overthrowing me.
"Now, we get out there and it's like night and day. He's putting balls right there. Man, he's come a long way. I'm very impressed with Colin right now."

     That's Vernon Davis talking. Last year, when he was taking the league by storm, he was underperforming in practice. Well, maybe not "underperforming", but was not as accurate perhaps as one would like one's starting quarterback to be. I can't look at how he played last year, combine that with the positively GLOWING reports we've read about him all off-season, and come away with any impression other than that he is going to absolutely friggen explode this year.

     This is hyperbole, I admit, but he is what people always wanted Mike Vick to be. Not as transcendent of an athlete, maybe, but he is so athletic that you have to fear that on every single play. The catch is that he can throw the ball on par with the Rodgerses and Breeses and Bradeys of the world. 40 yard strikes that are right on target, and, if practice reports are to be believed, he's now able to throw touch passes with incredible accuracy. I'm trying to be restrained here, because my unbridled optimism has led to many disappointments in the past. That said, I can't honestly look at the facts as they have been presented and come away with any impression other than this: Colin Kaepernick is a BAMF and is going to set the league on fire...again.

Pretty glad I have him in my keeper league... We'll be seeing a lot more of this:

AJ Jenkins....*shakes head*

     From that same article: 

The only receivers who did not catch passes were Lavelle Hawkins and A.J. Jenkins. Hawkins had a reception for the scout-team offense in a 7-on-7 drill. Jenkins, who appeared to take fewer reps than he did during the first two weeks of practices, did not catch a pass on the day. He caught only one pass in Sunday's practice.

     Ugh.

Oh Hey, Football!

     Wow, that was ugly. The starters looked great, let's just hope nobody on the offensive line goes down and that Kaepernick continues to slide and stay healthy all season because dear god Colt McCoy please no.

     The WR situation is a total mess. If Collie is healthy, it'll be him, Boldin, and ? Hopefully AJ Jenkins decided to remember he's getting paid to play football and shows up at some point. Otherwise, the pickings are really really slim behind Boldin and Davis.

   

     If I were a betting man, I'd go lay some cash on KC to beat Denver for the division. I bet you'd get pretty good odds, and I think it's going to happen. Alex looked positively Utah-ian in his one drive, led them right down the field doing what he does best and they punched it in easily. I know it's preseason, I know it's the Saints defense, yes yes yes.

     I'm not crazy, though. The Chiefs had 6 Pro Bowl players last year (Only one was an injury replacement). For comparison, the 49ers had 9. The Chiefs have a lot of talent, and now they have a quarterback who matches Andy Reid's style perfectly. Everyone loves to bash Andy Reid, but the guy knows his way around an offense. Pick the Chiefs this year and win. We saw this same EXACT THING happen in SF when Harbaugh took over.