Golden Nuggets: 49ers, Giants Both Tougher, But Confidence At All-Time High

by James Brady on Jan 18, 2012 2:00 AM PST in 49ers Links

Good morning, ladies and gents. Got some quick links for you today as I, totally admittedly, am spending some time on some other projects that are taking up some more of my time at the moment. I'm launching a new music site, but no worries ... aside from this bit at the start that is taking time from me being able to do the Nuggets, it's not going to happen a lot. It just happens to be nearing two in the morning so I need to pass out sooner rather than later. Oh yeah - the 49ers are awesome. Really awesome. And they're going to win on Sunday when they take on the Giants in the rematch. They're better than they were in the first meeting, but so are the 49ers. That's my analysis. Boom. Onto the links for the day.

Roger Craig: 'I foresee us winning some Super Bowls' (SFGate.com)

Receivers 49ers' weak link? (PressDemocrat.com)

No rest for SF pass defense (PressDemocrat.com)

Alex Smith, Greg Roman Have Improved Since First Meeting (SB Nation Bay Area)

Confident Giant Antrel Rolle keeps on talking (SFGate.com)

49ers secondary a highlight reel of hard hits (Scout.com)

49ers TE Vernon Davis credits Mike Singletary for guiding him to this point (Examiner.com)

Alex Smith. Really? Really (Sports Illustrated)

49ers review: Defensive player-by-player (CSNBayArea.com)

49ers review: Offensive player-by-player (CSNBayArea.com)

5 reasons why the 49ers' coverage team's use of "Tony Montana" rules (BayAreaSportsGuy.com)

49ers Q&A: Delanie Walker's return and how to stop the Giants pass rush (Examiner.com)

Tweet assignment: Hochuli to ref 49ers-Giants game (SacBee.com)

Defense Packs Playoff Punch (49ers.com)

Being a Sheep

Be sure to follow @NinersNation on Twitter as well as on Facebook. You can follow SB Nation Bay Area on Twitter @sbnbayarea and also on Facebook. My personal Twitter is @ninnyjams.

If you're new here, you can register for a free account to participate in the discussion and create your own fanposts here at Niners Nation and across our entire network of 300+ sports blogs.

Tweet Comment 26 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

NJ are you sure you aren't violating sopa?

And when we win, we want to dominate. We want to take guys out. We want to hurt guys. We want to win. We just want to dominate, hit them in the mouth. - Rathman
Follow @manraj76

by manraj7 on Jan 18, 2012 2:04 AM PST via mobile reply actions

It can’t just be me that had an image of Ninjames violating Sopoaga when I read that comment.

by LondonNiner on Jan 18, 2012 5:26 AM PST up reply actions

No it's a stupid law that may go in affect.

Allowing the us government to shutdown websites. Wiki it.

And when we win, we want to dominate. We want to take guys out. We want to hurt guys. We want to win. We just want to dominate, hit them in the mouth. - Rathman
Follow @manraj76

by manraj7 on Jan 18, 2012 7:49 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

This includes NN and other SBnation sites

Because we reproduce some copyrighted material. For example our avatars. Then other times pictures of games.

And when we win, we want to dominate. We want to take guys out. We want to hurt guys. We want to win. We just want to dominate, hit them in the mouth. - Rathman
Follow @manraj76

by manraj7 on Jan 18, 2012 8:01 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

I know what SOPA is. We get the interwebhighway here too. I was making what we call in the olde world, a joke :)

by LondonNiner on Jan 18, 2012 8:39 AM PST up reply actions

Lies

you guys don’t get the internet

And when we win, we want to dominate. We want to take guys out. We want to hurt guys. We want to win. We just want to dominate, hit them in the mouth. - Rathman
Follow @manraj76

by manraj7 on Jan 18, 2012 10:06 AM PST up reply actions

Hah.

And then God created Saturn ... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it. ... Always a ninja
SaberCats Examiner | SB Nation Bay Area | Niners Nation | Twitter

by James Brady on Jan 18, 2012 9:27 AM PST up reply actions

Receivers 49ers’ weak link? (PressDemocrat.com)

Incredibly weak. And there’s no way I’d say they’re average without Vernon, they’re one of the worst handful of receiving corps in the league without Vernon, and still well below average with him. And I totally agree on Crabtree’s mental toughness. He is bigger, stronger, and faster than Hakeem Nicks and Hakeem Nicks is a monster out there. Crabtree is an inconsistent mess, made big strides this year from being a complete bust, but still much too inconsistent.

I’m more sure than ever that after resigning their key guys, getting 2 more receiving targets is a huge priority in the off-season.

Draft: 1. Kendall Wright 2. Trumaine Johnson
FA: Smith, Morgan, Brooks, Rogers, Snyder

by whistlingmountain on Jan 18, 2012 4:00 AM PST reply actions

One of our receiving threats for next year is on IR

I definitely think we should add somebody, but we need to resign Morgan. He seems to have good chemistry with Alex. Shame he got hurt and is missing all of this.

Definitely say we draft a stud if one is there. I’d love to get Sanu from Rutgers. I get to watch him play a bit out here, and he is pretty darn beastly at times.

"Bears are crazy, Willie. They'll bite your head off if you're wearing steak on it."

by Blank x2 on Jan 18, 2012 6:18 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

Really? I'm not personally a big fan of Sanu or Jones, at least not at 30-32

Aside from Blackmon obviously, I like Jeffery and Wright in the first round, but they’ll probably both be gone unfortunately. Jeffery really seems like the kind of guy they’d want. Big guy that can block, huge hands, can go up and get the ball at an elite level. Wright is probably not the kind of guy they want, especially seeing how hard of a time Williams is having at getting targets.

I hope they find a way to sign someone big, but I know they won’t be willing to break the bank to do so. Bowe will probably get franchised, Colston I’m not sure what will happen, or what he’ll cost.

Draft: 1. Kendall Wright 2. Trumaine Johnson
FA: Smith, Morgan, Brooks, Rogers, Snyder

by whistlingmountain on Jan 18, 2012 6:56 AM PST up reply actions

hakeem nicks and michael crabtree

are the exact same size, give or take 4 pounds or so.

Michael Crabtree – : 4.54 in the 40-yard dash … 1.61 10-yard dash … 2.62 20-yard dash … 4.06 20-yard shuttle … 6.87 three-cone drill … 34-inch vertical jump.

Hakeem Nicks – 4.51 in the 40-yard dash … 1.52 10-yard dash … 2.6 20-yard dash … 4.02 20-yard shuttle … 6.93 three-cone drill … 36-inch vertical jump.

Michael Crabtree maxed out at 270 for bench press. He didnt do the 225 reps because he was hurt or something along those lines. Hakeem Nicks did 225 21 times.

So actually, they are the exact same size and Hakeem is faster and more agile in every test there is. Id bet 225 21 times is a more impressive bench press stat than 270 once.

just sayin….

by The Blood of Eli on Jan 18, 2012 7:05 AM PST up reply actions

Not even sure where those Crabtree numbers are coming from

he never ran the drills at the combine or pro day, he had surgery on his foot before the combine.

Any times you might find on the internet would likely be from before his red-shirt freshman season or before his redshirt season.

Draft: 1. Kendall Wright 2. Trumaine Johnson
FA: Smith, Morgan, Brooks, Rogers, Snyder

by whistlingmountain on Jan 18, 2012 7:17 AM PST up reply actions

( they would have been informal tests done with the Texas Tech team in the off-season )

Draft: 1. Kendall Wright 2. Trumaine Johnson
FA: Smith, Morgan, Brooks, Rogers, Snyder

by whistlingmountain on Jan 18, 2012 7:18 AM PST up reply actions

they are from both players' official draft profile on cbs

by The Blood of Eli on Jan 18, 2012 7:21 AM PST up reply actions

i also found the exact same numbers on nfldraftscout.com

by The Blood of Eli on Jan 18, 2012 7:23 AM PST up reply actions

Just because a lot of people say a lie doesnt make it true.

And when we win, we want to dominate. We want to take guys out. We want to hurt guys. We want to win. We just want to dominate, hit them in the mouth. - Rathman
Follow @manraj76

by manraj7 on Jan 18, 2012 7:51 AM PST via mobile up reply actions

cbssports bought nfldraftscout a few years ago

so, they’re the same source, they’re marked with “Campus” I don’t know what that means, but I assure you, Crabtree hasn’t officially done any of those since his starting his red shirt freshman season.

Crabtree is about 3/4 taller than Nicks.

That being said, I’m certainly not bashing Nicks in any way. He’s a monster. Crabtree has every bit the amount of physical talent he has. While he can’t fulfill it to Nicks’ level with Nicks in a heavy passing offense, he still is coming up well short in the 49er offense ( even though he has improved greatly over some terrible play the previous season ).

Draft: 1. Kendall Wright 2. Trumaine Johnson
FA: Smith, Morgan, Brooks, Rogers, Snyder

by whistlingmountain on Jan 18, 2012 8:51 AM PST up reply actions

Weak??

Crabtree is getting better and better Vernon is a beast. Williams needs more time to develop. Walker is beast. What you taking about, whistling?

Who has it better than us?

by B1GB3N on Jan 19, 2012 7:44 AM PST up reply actions

Receivers are an area that needs to be addressed

Morgan was looking promising until his injury
Vernon is just getting the hang of the receiving part of our offense bit not too fussed about the rest
Crabs should be so much more-Kyle is really too new to the offense to tell yet -ginn has trouble holding on to anything but returns which is weird cause returns are no easy catch
The draft looks to be quite strong at wr so it may be worth addressing there rather than free agency-have plenty of faith in baalke and co to make the right choices to fix this area though

by Dubniner on Jan 18, 2012 7:29 AM PST via mobile reply actions