Niners Kaep Sized as the Rams start to show bad form

Article by Robert Newell

'Twas the week before Thanksgiving and all through the league, not a torn shoulder was an issue as Colin Kaepernick looks set to be a former San Francisco 49er.  There was much talk that he was needing a rest, and Blaine Gabbert came in and beat Atlanta.  The narrative then changed to Gabbert being the sacrificial lamb offered up to the Seattle Seahawks, and Kaepernick would be back afterwards.

Well, as expected the Niners lost in Seattle, but Gabbert showed once again that he is operating the Niners offence in a much better fashion than we have seen from Kaepernick all year long, now news emerges that Kaepernick asked to go on injured reserve and has had surgery on his non-throwing shoulder, meaning from the Niners viewpoint this is now Blaine Gabbert’s team till the end of the season.  The way Kaepernick’s contract was structured and being outplayed by Gabbert it now seems an iron clad certainty that Kaepernick has played his last down for San Francisco, if Gabbert can now keep them from the overall number one pick may influence if it remains his team next year.

The Seahawks have their own passing of the torch moment, with news Marshawn Lynch requires surgery the Hawks turned to undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls, who turned it on.  Bear in mind that this same 49ers defence held Davonte Freeman, the then rushing leader to just 12 yards in their last outing, Rawls was not having any of that.  He went for over 200 yards on the ground and almost 50 more receiving with two touchdowns.  Gabbert did not disgrace himself though and he did have his first choice receiver in Anquian Boldin this time out, but the Niners are desperately missing Carlos Hyde from their own backfield, it will be interesting to see what Gabbert can do when he has a legitimate running threat behind him, and he has already rediscovered the Tight End position, albeit the week after Vernon Davis left the team.

Meanwhile division leader Arizona Cardinals kept rolling in a last second win over the Cincinnati Bengals.  It was a win that maintained the Cardinals three game lead but meant a whole lot more for personal reasons to former Bengal, Carson Palmer.  This was a much stronger Bengals side than the one who didn’t turn up last time out against the Texans, but at the key moments, Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald combined to put the Cardinals in place for the winning Field Goal.  They have San Francisco next for all looks good for the Cardinals, whilst the Seahawks entertain Pittsburgh, could Bruce Arians old team do his new one a favour this time around.

The Rams meanwhile seem to self destruct again, Case Keenum despite appearing to be concussed was left in the game and two plays later fumbled the ball back to Baltimore who despite losing Justin Forsett with a broken arm and as it turned out Joe Flacco with a ACL / MCL, but Flacco stayed in to end the game and moved the Ravens down to the winning Field Goal.

After the game two bits of Rams news, Stedman Bailey involved in a shooting incident and had been shot in the head several times reportedly, although thankfully he remains in a stable but critical condition. Thoughts and prayers for continued swift recovery.  Also the Rams announced as playing at Twickenham in 2016 against an NFC East opponent, now we just need to know if that will be the St Louis or Los Angeles Rams coming to London.

Niners get the shock win, Rams slip up in OT

Article by Rob Newell

Did that really happen?  That is what people will look back on this week, rub their eyes and ask themselves one more time, but the answer will always be yes.  Blaine Gabbert, for so long a joke amongst NFL fans, that Blaine Gabbert did not only start a game for the 49ers, a team with some of the best QB lineage of all (Kaepernick and Smith aside), without a starting RB, WR and TE, but he actually led the previously 2-6 Niners to a victory over the 6-2 Atlanta Falcons.

In truth this victory, had a lot more to do with the showing of the Navarro Bowman led Niners defence, who completely shut down the then league leading rusher, Davonte Freeman for just 12 yards.  True, Julio Jones still got his yards, as he always does, but the Falcons had to settle for Field Goals, meanwhile on offence Gabbert was able to keep drives alive with his arm and his feet, and for just about the first time this year, the Niners threw for multiple touchdowns in one game.  If it was April first, you just wouldn`t believe it would you.  Compared to what Kaepernick has produced this year, Gabbert actually looked like a QB. 

After the bye, it will be the Seahawks in Seattle, a much tougher task, so hopefully he will have Hyde and Boldin back, and in the likely defeat that comes in Seattle, if Gabbert can show the same sort of character, the Kaepernick era may just be over.

The Rams meanwhile went up North to Minnesota, in the battle billed as AP against the next best thing in Rams rookie Todd Gurley.  On this day, it was the older man who recorded the better stats, he may not be course for the 2500 yard season he predicted but Peterson is now leading the league in rushing.

This game did feature two of the better defences in the league and the fact that it came down to a Field Goal by Vikings Kicker Blair Walsh not surprising.  Teddy Bridgwater left this game with a concussion, from what Mike Zimmer believes was a cheap shot, something that Gregg Williams defences have had previous dalliances with.  The Rams D was without Chris Long and Robert Quinn for this one both of whom may be back next week, so good luck Jay Cutler.

The Seahawks and Cardinals were both on the bye, meaning they both have had a week to prepare for their week 10 matchup.  If the Cardinals can win that one in Seattle then the Seahawks NFC Championship days could be over.

 

Kaepernick benched is the lowest point so far in 49ers season

Article by Rob Newell

Blaine Gabbert!

 

Two words that say it all, you want to know just how well the NFC West divisional game between St Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers went this weekend, all you really need to know is that following this game the QB that San Francisco just last year signed to multi-million dollar contract (although wisely not guaranteed) Colin Kaepernick has been benched in favour of Blaine Gabbert.

Gabbert at one point muted as a number one overall pick in the same draft that saw Cam Newton take that position in Carolina, whose shortcomings in Jacksonville have led to the phrase Gabbertzone being used in NFL Network podcasts to discuss QB shortcomings, that Blaine Gabbert is now taking over as QB 1 for a team that’s QB history reads as a who’s who of modern NFL greats.  Just to rub the 49ers faces in it a little more on the same day that this was happening former Niners QB Alex Smith was having an inspired day running and passing all over Wembley Stadium, looking every inch the QB the Niners thought they had in Kaepernick, and certainly a QB a growing number of Niners fans wish they still had in San Francisco.

However, lets not forget about their opponents in St Louis, since his arrival in the starting line up Todd Gurley has been the most prolific rusher in the league, and together with Tavon Austin forms just about the entire Rams offensive production.  It’s a simple plan that Jeff Fisher has been looking to introduce to the Rams to mirror the days of Eddie George under Fisher in their Houston Oilers / Tennessee Titans days.  The plan may appear simple, feed Gurley and look for Austin with some gadget and splash plays, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

On this day the Niners defence were unable to stop them as Gurley once again went over 100 yards on the ground, 133 in total including a 71 yard TD.  Austin was also over a 100 yards from scrimmage and 2 touchdowns.  For the first time since I believe 2004 the Rams have come out of their first 7 games with a winning record and have some other games that look winnable on their immediate schedule, maybe the playoffs are not out of reach for the Rams.

Elsewhere in the division, defending champion Seattle Seahawks travelled to Dallas Cowboys in what should have been a glamour game, but the Seahawks have not adapted to life with their new OL yet and are struggling, and Dallas were still without Tony Romo but at least did have Dez Bryant back in uniform, but without a decent QB throwing him the ball Dez was not overly happy with his lot. 

In the end a 13-12 victory was probably about right.  Seattle will wish they could play the Niners every week as this was not as straightforward as their Thursday night matchup last week.  The Seahawks defence is looking good again but will have much sterner tests that what Matt Cassel could put up, but the Seahawks offensive problems will concern them.  The big trade in the offseason to bring in Jimmy Graham has not produced the sort of results yet that were expected, and unless there is a significant swing around in the rest of the year, even if Seattle can get into the playoffs it already seems almost certain that the Seahawks will not be enjoying home field advantage this time round, and that levels a certain sizeable advantage.

This year as in the early part of last year the division is being led by the Arizona Cardinals, who eventually rolled through the Cleveland Browns 34-20, in another game that showed just why Bruce Arians is such a great coach to watch and listen to.  Chris Johnson continues to stake a claim for comeback player of the year with another 100 yard game but did give up two fumbles.  With many coaches two fumbles would result in your being dropped and no action for the foreseeable future.  Arians has his own methods though and CJ2K was rolled out there 30 times, the chances of the flashy big plays now seem less likely from Johnson who does still have remarkable pace, but there is now a much more evident willingness to grind out the hard yards between the tackles too.

An Arians offence would not be an Arians offence though if they didn’t take their shots and Carson Palmer racked up 4 more touchdowns as Michael Floyd went for just over 100 yards and Larry Fitzgerald just under.  Breakout Receiver John Brown was dressed for this one but didn’t see any action.  Arians was asked about this and what fantasy owners might think about Browns absence from the game to which Arians replied Tough Shit.  That brutal honesty right there, that’s how you get to be two time coach of the year, and possibly the most loved coach in the game, and with every season that goes by the Steelers must regret how they handled the whole `retirement` thing.

So at just about half way the Cardinals are on top, the Rams and Seahawks are still alive and the Niners are thinking if they want to stay in state next draft and look at Cal QB Jared Goff.