Fooch's Note: Site decorum is off for this thread. However, please try and be civilized. No personal attacks or offensive comments.
Words can't even begin to describe how embarrassing that performance was tonight. The 49ers came out on national television with a chance to shake things up in the NFC West and make their first real statement of the season. They had won five games but none was against a particularly good team in a situation where the 49ers were heavy underdogs. This as a chance to make a statement.
And then things went so so horribly wrong. The team appeared on the verge of tying the ball game and then the ref's snatched away the touchdown. It was a tough call to overturn Alex Smith's rushing touchdown but I was not surprised it was overturned. Conclusive is too subjective a word and I think there was enough evidence to overturn the play. I think if you run that review with ten different referees, at least half would reverse the call. It sucks but that's life. The team should've punched it in on fourth and goal from the six inch line, but they didn;t.
Then things got so much worse. Justin Smith was ejected after pushing referee Garth DeFelice in a play that I thought DeFelice overreacted to. Smith probably deserved a penalty or at least a warning, but to then eject him? Why not call unsportsmanlike conduct and warn him? Justin Smith shouldn't have shoved the guy. That's clearly a given. We'll have more on this as I think DeFelice has some issues with player interactions.
Speaking of the refs, even though the 49ers did not do themselves any favors, I can't remember such a poorly officiated game when it came to serious penalties. The NFL has had an over-abundance of roughing the passer penalties on rather ticky tack plays. Tonight Alex Smith was picked up and driven into the ground and no flag was thrown. I guarantee you that if that had been Tom Brady or any other big name QB we would have seen a flag from every ref.
I'll likely have an entirely separate post for the abomination that was the announcing crew. Matt Millen and Joe Theismann might very well be the worst color commentators alive. The loss was painful enough but hearing Matt Millen say things like "I think the 49ers front seven misses Justin Smith" over and over again just killed me.
And for those who want to discuss playoffs, I'm not going to ban such discussion, but all I've got to say is this: