The San Francisco 49ers host the Cleveland Browns this Sunday at Candlestick Park looking to improve to 6-1 and further solidify their NFC West lead. Thus far I have expressed a little bit of concern about the possibility of overconfidence, overlooking the Browns, just about anything that can derail the 49ers train at this point. Thankfully John Harbaugh provided a little brotherly assistance to help keep the 49ers on track.
Last night we saw (well, those who didn't change the channel) the Baltimore Ravens lay a big fat egg in Jacksonville. The previously one win Jaguars welcomed the Ravens with open arms and proceeded to out-physical and out-ugly them. The Jaguars defense turned Joe Flacco into a flustered mess, they contained Ray Rice, and they generally stopped the Ravens offense from doing anything. Blaine Gabbert wasn't spectacular in the game, but the strong defensive effort combined with Maurice Jones-Drew's big game and wildly clutch kicking from Josh Scobee was enough to get the W.
More important than looking ahead to the 49ers Thanksgiving contest with the Ravens, we can thank John Harbaugh for providing a prime example of why teams can never look ahead in the NFL. The whole "every given Sunday" thing has been a bit of an overused cliche at times, but it was proven true once again last night.
Jim Harbaugh doesn't need any gimmicks or tricks to motivate his players, but I would be surprised if he did not reference Monday Night Football at least once during today's practice. It is a fitting lesson about overconfidence, and one that the 49ers will hopefully take to heart this week not only in Sunday's game but in the practices leading up to it.
On a side note, would you agree that game capped what was one of the uglier weekends of football in recent memory? I suppose the Saints performance and Tebow's performance made for some entertaining theater, but for the most part, just an awful weekend of football. At the same time, a Sunday watching Red Zone will not be traded for much.