2010 Sports Illustrated NFL Preview: 49ers picked to win the NFC West
by David Fucillo on Sep 2, 2010 10:00 AM PDT
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PrintSports Illustrated has officially published their 2010 NFL Preview, and they have the 49ers going 8-8 and winning the NFC West. I'd take a divisional win, although an 8-8 record would be kind of weak. Even worse though is the fact that they have the 49ers losing to the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. Although I suppose that's better than Football Outsider's mean victory number putting us in fourth, right?
The SI preview of the 49ers focuses on Alex Smith as would be expected. The subtitle for the piece is "Mike Singletary's crew will go as far as quarterback Alex Smith can take them." We've discussed this issue a million times, but once again the 49ers will be a solid team, but their playoff hopes likely rest on what Alex Smith can do in 2010. That doesn't mean Alex Smith has to be a superstar and put up monster stats. It'd certainly be a nice little plus, but it's just not necessary for this team. The 2010 49ers have a potentially great defense with a host of offensive weapons surrounding Smith.
More importantly, we have a quarterback who wants to be here and wants to prove the doubters wrong. The preview closes with this quotation:
"It would have been easy to leave, to go get a fresh start. But I don't know if that would have been the right thing to do. I know I can play. It's just about going out and doing it."
Obviously attitude can only get you so far, and Alex Smith still has plenty to prove in this league. But with the oft-mentioned second year in the offense potentially playing a big role, I'd think fans should be at least a little bit excited for the upcoming season. Coach Mike Johnson indicated Alex Smith is working as hard as anybody he's ever coached and said that:
"He's understanding every-thing we're trying to do from a protection standpoint and aroute standpoint, and it's allow-ing him to play faster."
We'll see how that translates once the real games start.
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No no
This is a godsend. 8-8? that’s a slap in the face. Losing to the Cowboys? That’s a kick in the head. We’re taking it all this year.
by mr. instigator on Sep 2, 2010 10:13 AM PDT up reply actions
If 8-8 is what everybody thinks, then we're still under the radar.
We’ll be able to surprise teams and be the “underdog”. You’re right – it’s a godsend.
by DeathValleyCarl on Sep 2, 2010 10:17 AM PDT up reply actions
hmm..
I think 9-7 makes us still under the radar.. When I hear the analysts say the 49ers will go 9-7 and win the division. Ok, did they even look at the schedule we have this year. I could see us going 12-4. The 4 losses would be the Saints, Packers, Chargers, and Falcons and I feel that we can take the Saints at home and take the Chargers away.
I’m just unsure about the Falcons or Packers because of what the Falcons did to us last year.. Hopefully that was just a hiccup and nothing that we can’t handle this year.
Since our roster has improved, 9-7 would have been a projection for an analyst who's paying attention but
when the analysts do a national projection, they don’t study all 32 teams in depth – they take last years record and tweak it depending on if they’ve noticed a roster improvement and strength of schedule. There’s been one here but I guess they’re too much in a hurry to notice it.
by DeathValleyCarl on Sep 2, 2010 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions
The problem with national media
is they pay attention to a few “pop” teams (any team with with Favre on it, for example), and then fudge the rest.
I hope not
I remember John Clayton of ESPN saying before the 2007 season that the Niners were going to the playoffs that year. I want to say maybe he just forgot that Jim Hostler was coming in as the new OC??
27 da. . .Shut up mango :P
I'm on twitter now. Please follow me! www.twitter.com/@yougomango
Agree..
But this year we have Jimmy Raye for 2 years along with an awesome O-line coach in Mike Solari and we have two huge and fast linemen added to our team that have been doing very well against starting defenses.
I hardly ever saw Alex get sacked in the preseason.
lame
I guess its not AS ridiculous as ESPN the mag’s win projections (god some of those were awful).
But has SI not seen the rest of the division? 11 wins is a realistic goal I think, and if Smith gives us enough this could be more than just a “happy to be here” playoff team.
Most years I tend to try and avoid fanaticism and getting my hopes up, but I just can’t do that this year. They are too talented.
It feels great to go into a season with REAL optimism for probably the first time in 10 years. I haven’t been this excited in a long time.
Yeah, alot is on Smith. But for once that doesn’t worry me.
Haha, yeah, I laughed when ESPN the Mag had us being the second worst team in the entire NFC. Kind of ridiculous.
Z!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tweet Tweet.
by ZeroIndulgence on Sep 2, 2010 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions
ESPN Magazine's Predictions
Were generated by Football Outsiders, if there’s a beef that’s probably where it should lie.
Glad when manufacturered news gone
We’ve got a game tonite. Most important game in a couple guy’s careers. This tabloid stuff has titulated (sic) us, but let’s move on.
tabloid stuff? It’s a look at the opinion of the most-read sports publication
And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.
Fooch did Peter King make these predictions?
by Rod Blogojevich on Sep 2, 2010 10:25 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
it looks like he did
I don’t think he did the team write-up, but I think he did the wins projection. He predicted a 7-9 season for the Raiders.
by David Fucillo on Sep 2, 2010 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions
I'm a little surprised
Hasn’t King known to be a bit of a Niner hater?
27 da. . .Shut up mango :P
I'm on twitter now. Please follow me! www.twitter.com/@yougomango
Wait maybe he still is kinda
Yes win the division, but 8-8 is lowballing it. The NFC West is not a great division, but it can’t be THAT bad can it?
27 da. . .Shut up mango :P
I'm on twitter now. Please follow me! www.twitter.com/@yougomango
The Chargers won the West going 8-8 a few years ago I believe.
And won a first round playoff game.
Just looked it up. They went 8-8 in 2008 and beat the Colts in the 1st round.
I survived the David Carr Press Conference Thread 3/06/2010
Credit to iaalexeeff
The New and Improved Bay Area Connections:
Alex Smith to Michael Crabtree
Stephen Curry to David Lee
Madison Bumgarner to Gerald Buster "Jesus" Posey
by Hoopers Judge on Sep 2, 2010 11:28 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Yes
The reason that happened is that they went 3-1 in the preseason. Look it up.
by mr. instigator on Sep 2, 2010 11:46 AM PDT up reply actions
why does that even matter??
who cares how many games a team wins in the preseason.. if you have to go 3-1 in the preseason to go 8-8 in the season than that’s crap..
I want the 49ers to go 16-0 and if Smith becomes first round esk than we will go 16-0.
If we are able to beat the Saints, Falcons, Chargers and Packers than we will beat everyone else on the schedule.
But I’m going to say 11-5 or 12-4 is how we end the season..
Nope:
That’s not what this video would suggest. He says on the contrary that Niner fans have reason to be excited. Michael Lombardi and John Clayton both think Alex Smith will never be a SB caliber quarterback and have thus been down on the Niners’ potential, but not King.
I may hate your timing, but I can't hate your reason for leaving. Vaya con Dios, Glen Coffee.
If Trent Dilfer...
Can win a Super Bowl…Then Alex Smith sure can…Not every super bowl QB is a future hall of famer. As long as Alex plays a little above average, I can see him being part of a SB quality team.
It's better to be projected to go 8-8 and fininsh 11-5...
Than be projected 11-5 and go 8-8. Didn’t this team lose 6 of their games last year by 7 points or less? This team is so far ahead of where they were last year it isn’t funny. Alex is the starter and looking good, Crabs starts from day 1 and “We got a brand new girlfriend” in Iupati and Davis….double dating. These guys are going to be great!, as Tony the Tiger would say. I believe that this team has all the talent in the world and will contend deep in the playoffs and you just never know, maybe a Superbowl apperance.
Unacceptable
I want a minimum of 11 wins and a playoff win.
by mr. instigator on Sep 2, 2010 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions
Yes it does
I’m clearly correlating wanting with happening. Wanting creates happening. Isn’t that clear enough to you?
by mr. instigator on Sep 2, 2010 4:26 PM PDT up reply actions
prestige worldwide
@IamAnthonyDavis: Me & mike been doin interviews together like guys on Stepbrothers. lol. Reporters think it’s funny but we mean business
by pwarren85 on Sep 2, 2010 11:00 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Thats awesome
in so many ways
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
~Abraham Lincoln
(SUPPORT ALEX SMITH)
by Iupati_like_its_1999 on Sep 2, 2010 5:24 PM PDT up reply actions
8-8? Did they even look at the schedule?
I recall hearing the 49ers have the 5th easiest schedule this year. For one, the 49ers should sweep the division at 6-0 (I’ll leave chance there’s one upset game on the road at one of the bird teams making them 5-1, but that would be disappointing). So SI is saying the 49ers only win 2 or 3 out of 10 outer divisional games? Give me a break. Look at the out of the division schedule:
Vs. Saints, @ Chiefs, @ Falcons, Vs. Eagles, Vs. Raiders, @ Panthers, Vs. Broncos (London), Vs. Bucs, @ Packers, @ Chargers.
Of those games, the “sure losses” to me would be Saints, Packers, Chargers (still with a small chance to upset). The sure wins in my eyes are Chiefs, Raiders, Panthers, and Bucs (yes, I think they will handle the Raiders and Panthers without too much issue). Falcons, Eagles, and Broncos could go either way. Even if you mix in Raiders and Panthers into g"go either way, " you can’t tell me the 49ers get swept through those games (I would imagine it’ll be somewhere around a split in those games).
Basically, if this team doesn’t win 10+ games with this schedule… we should all be disappointed. And I think they will win in double digits. I’m not saying they win 12 and go to the NFC Championship game, but 8 wins is a joke. Do your research, SI.
When I look at that schedule, the only "sure" loss is the Packers IMO.
Every other team has some sort of noticable flaw. Including the Saints and Chargers. Whereas the biggest knock on the Niners is it remains unseen whether Alex is an elite QB, which isn’t that big of a problem.
I survived the David Carr Press Conference Thread 3/06/2010
Credit to iaalexeeff
The New and Improved Bay Area Connections:
Alex Smith to Michael Crabtree
Stephen Curry to David Lee
Madison Bumgarner to Gerald Buster "Jesus" Posey
by Hoopers Judge on Sep 2, 2010 11:32 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I agree… I’m just trying to be as reasonable as possible. I think the 49ers can beat any single team in the NFL if they bring their “A game.” The problem is it has been so long since a 49er team was consistent enough to win any given week. I’m hoping this team finally breaks that trend, because they certainly have the talent and opportunity to make serious noise.
no, the flaws are the QB play and secondary. the saints and packers will kill us
chargers might not
Dashon, Mays, and Bamm Bamm will get the record for most decapitations in one season
by MichaelClutchtree on Sep 2, 2010 11:48 AM PDT up reply actions
mostly agree
But even the packers are not a sure loss unless they learn to protect. Really not scared by their run game making me think we can tee off somewhat, we do have some rush ability.
This
is there a game-by-game prediction in the issue or did they just arbitrarily throw numbers on there?
Hmmm , first it's teenage boy's and their hardness ...
… now it’s girl’s , guess you don’t care which side your on , as long as your in the game huh … : ) !!
I'm your " Huckelberry "...it's juz my game ...!!
woah there edggy
that hardness thing was merely a simile. don’t get it twisted.
by mr. instigator on Sep 2, 2010 1:17 PM PDT up reply actions
Broncos
They can’t lose to them. I don’t think Londoniner will allow it.
"If you don't love it, leave it! USA, number one!" - Ricky Stanzi
A loss would be on him
Anything short of the Broncos running for their lives back to the airplane is unacceptable.
Broncos
I don’t see the 49ers losing this game. I don’t think LondonNiner will allow it.
"If you don't love it, leave it! USA, number one!" - Ricky Stanzi
re: "the oft-mentioned second year in the offense"
it seems to me that you can take this 1 of 3 ways:
1) Smith will be much improved because he isn’t learning the offense during the regular season
2) Smith will be about the same because Jimmy Raye is still calling the plays. And he sucks.
OR
3 )This is actually a reference back to the days when Norv Turner was calling the plays—in Smith’s second year, when he looked much better than in his first.
Turner was and is a great play-caller, and what I liked most about the way that he used Smith was that he took advantage of his mobility and of his ability to throw on the run by running play actions, bootlegs, rollouts, screens etc. That is the “second year” that I hope influences this “second year.”
Of course, Jimmy Raye may still suck.
I may hate your timing, but I can't hate your reason for leaving. Vaya con Dios, Glen Coffee.
Everyone predicts us to win the NFC West. Honestly, I don’t really care about those predictions anymore. Nor do I care about record predictions.
Dashon, Mays, and Bamm Bamm will get the record for most decapitations in one season
by MichaelClutchtree on Sep 2, 2010 11:49 AM PDT reply actions
When I saw the schedule for the first time.......
I went through every game and ended with 12-4. Until I have reason to believe otherwise (i.e. A. Smith) that’s where all our heads should be at this point. Honestly if we can show some serious “movie type” team unity(lol)/play continuity within the first couple games, I don’t see why @StevenC’s prediction of 16-0 is a long shot. We SHOULD sweep the division (although I am accounting for 1 away loss in my 12-4 prediction) and the “understandable losses” most are considering (SAINTS, PACKERS, CHARGERS) go either way for me. SI, is out of their minds but bias exists everywhere. Like the 2nd comment @mr. instigator, I also see the 8-8 stamp as a godsend. Underestimation is a valuable asset on the field. See you in the playoffs!
It's the typical east coast drivel.....
That we have all grown to hate. S.I. ESPN and even the NFL channel spend more time discussing a rumor that Bret Favre has hemorroides than talking about the Niners.
Alex Smith hot seat??
I think he faces some pressure, but I think he needs 3 years in a system to se his value.
One year of experience isn’t really enough.
On this subject ...
… Phil Barber just tweeted that Matthew Berry of ESPN has Niners losing to Baltimore in the Super Bowl. Here’s Barber’s tweet, although can’t immediately find the Berry article/video?
LondonNiner - member of the legendary David Carr thread, 6 March 2010.
Just tweeted Phil Barber ...
… and he tweeted back the link.
LondonNiner - member of the legendary David Carr thread, 6 March 2010.
Barber currently exchanging tweets ...
… with me and Tre9er. NinersNation community totally owns the 49ers media scene.
LondonNiner - member of the legendary David Carr thread, 6 March 2010.
Everyone on ESPN picked the 49ers to Win the West.
Should we ask Jed if Nolan’s banner is still in storage at 49ers headquarters?
ravens/niners
Its weird, but I look at the Ravens as almost mirror images of the 49ers, but admittedly, probably a bit better in some positions. Maybe it’s the fact that SIngletary coached Ray Lewis and that awesome D…not sure. Either way, it would be an epic super bowl if it happened but we would defnitely be the underdogs.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
~Abraham Lincoln
(SUPPORT ALEX SMITH)
by Iupati_like_its_1999 on Sep 2, 2010 5:30 PM PDT up reply actions
Matthew Berry?
Had to look him up, The Talented Mr. Roto.
I’m stunned, first he’s the only one odd enough to pick a team outside the box but he’s also the Borat equivalent of national sports writers.
That would be unacceptable...
the Niners dare not tarnish their perfect Superbowl record AND lose to Baltimore…i live just north of Baltimore and I know waaaaay too many Ravens fans to put up with that garbage lol
by sanfranfanmdk on Sep 2, 2010 3:34 PM PDT up reply actions
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