It's going to be different next week. The Eagles aren't going to let Brock Purdy throw quick passes between the hashes nor let him have time in the pocket for guys to get open elsewhere. The Eagles being only 1.5 point favs at home is an utter joke. 49ers haven't been able to compete with a team as good as them all year and it isn't starting now. Dallas showed San Francisco's vulnerabilities but they still had Dak to sabotage it. I don't like betting on my team in big games though so I'll leave that alone.
This shows that the league needs to get its head out of its ass when it comes to player safety. We've had countless bogus roughing the passer calls because the league actually instructs officials to throw the flag even if they aren't sure that the tackle was a foul, with player safety as the justification for the game-altering bad calls. But... in the Packers-Lions game in week 18, Jarran Reed basically throws a forearm to the head of DeAndre Swift. No flag, no fine announced the following week. That was the same play where one of the trainers got pushed by Quay Walker. The trainer had actually pushed Walker first to nudge him out of the way so he could get to Swift. Walker reacted by pushing back and got a flag, an ejection, and a $13k fine. But Reed got no fine at all for the dirty hit that helped create the injury to Swift in the first place. The refs completely missing it during the play was surprising enough, but the league choosing to let him get away with it is the real shocker. And in this one, Deebo Samuel had suffered an ankle injury in week 14, missed three games, and was just getting back close to full speed. The play was clearly over. You couldn't hear the whistle over the announcers and the crowd in the TV broadcast, but there was zero doubt he was down and the play was over. Abram went WAY out of his way to pull up on the leg and twist. That should have been a 15-yard penalty on the spot as well as a fine this week. So... fine a guy for swinging his hips in a touchdown celebration, but do nothing when players hurt or try to hurt opponents with cheap shots that violate the rules? Yeah, player safety is clearly priority one.
Chess matches in both games are ramped up what fun it would be to be a fly on the wall as all 4 teams game plan
Home team has to be white. Sicilian hasn't been considered the best opening defence for a while now. I'd welcome San Fran to try to unbalance the game like that instead of keeping it solid.
By the way - Cowboys running back Tony Pollard fractured his left fibula late in the second quarter, Todd Archer of ESPN reports. The injury will require surgery. The normal recovery timeline is 3-4 months, and Pollard is scheduled to hit free agency in March.
There were plenty of rumors that Jones wants Sean Peyton as the Cowboys head coach. With the Cowboys loosing is McCarthy out and Peyton in?
Last night, Jones said this; Asked by reporters after the 19-12 loss whether the outcome changes anything for owner Jerry Jones about McCarthy’s status, Jones said, “No. No. No, not at all.” _________ ____________________ Doesnt mean diddly tho, Jones and a people change their minds and he may have just been having McCarthy's back after the loss.
That last play McCarthy called was odd to say the least, odd formation and then they throw underneath and short of the 1st down marker (play from Cousins and the Vikings), but regardless of the play-call, Dak was off and on most of the game too. He (Dak) really turns the ball over in critical situations.
George Kittle: Going to Philly is going to be cold, violent and a blast After the 49ers beat the Cowboys 19-12 on Sunday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said the team is “not really reflecting” on what they’ve accomplished so far this season because they know where they are in the schedule. They have a date with the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game and Shanahan said that beating Dallas is fun for a bit, but that the message in the locker room is “now let’s move on to the next one.” Shanahan noted that “you thought Philly would be the last team right here” because they’ve been as good as anyone in the conference all year and said the 49ers will be up for the challenge. 49ers tight end George Kittle went even further and said that the team is embracing the chance to go into hostile surroundings with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. “It’s exactly where you want to be, right?” Kittle said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “At the start of the year, back in OTAs, all you’re doing is preparing for the Super Bowl. To be one step away from that, it’s awesome. To go into Philly, which is a fantastic atmosphere . . . it’s going to be wonderful. I know how much the fans love the opposing team, and all the fans, so it’s going to really fun. It’s going to be cold and violent, and it’s going to be a blast.” Linebacker Fred Warner said “everything” is a challenge when it comes to facing the Eagles and we’ll find out how the 49ers meet that challenge at the end of the week. PFT
The old saying goes; Defense wins Championships. Here's what the 49ers and the Eagles did this season... The 49ers boast the top defense in the league. San Francisco led the league in total defense (300.6 yards per game), points allowed (16.3) and were tied with the most interceptions (20) entering the playoffs. Philadelphia had the NFL’s second ranked defense in the regular season. The Eagles defense leads the NFL with 75 sacks this year (including the playoffs), the most since the 1985 Chicago Bears.
In the AFC, The chiefs and Bengals do well defensively also... In team defense, the Bengals were 5th in the NFL and the Chiefs were 16th. In rushing defense the Bengals were 5th and KC 8th in the NFL. In scoring defense, Bengals were 6th and the Chiefs 16th. So, really good defenses vying for the Super Bowl.
Sicilian chosen because it's Shanahan's style with the outside zone stretch runs etc. Glad someone picked up on that. Also chose it because it says "game on" in one move much better than simply posting matching king pawn or queen pawns. If I had posted something like the Berlin Defense or the Benko Gambit in a message about football, it wouldn't fit and no one would have gotten the reference. Not sure I agree with it being outdated though, as there really isn't "the" Sicilian. There are as many variations of it as there are variations of 3-4 defense.