The 2012 NFL thread

[Pies4shaw]

So, I'm watching one of my old recordings of a game played 22 December 2003 at Oakland.

Jerry Rice (will we ever see his like again?) is wearing 80 for the Raiders at age 41 (surely OEP could have passed the 49ers' hat around so that never happened?).

Meanwhile, the QB for the other team is 34, playing his 11th season and John Madden up in the commentary box is seriously speculating about the prospect that QB might retire at the end of the 2003 season. Any guesses?

[Woods Of Ypres]

^Brett Favre?

[Pies4shaw]

[OEP]

[Pies4shaw]

Sorry, OEP - I didn't mean to be inserting the knife - just remembering a couple of great players.

As punishment, I have been watching the NFL's San Francisco 5 Greatest Games set. You may prefer these numbers:

XVI Jan. 24, 1982 Silverdome (Pontiac, Mich.) San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21
XIX Jan. 20, 1985 Stanford (Calif.) Stadium San Francisco 38, Miami 16
XXIII Jan. 22, 1989 Joe Robbie Stadium (Miami) San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16
XXIV Jan. 28, 1990 Superdome San Francisco 55, Denver 10
XXIX Jan. 29, 1995 Joe Robbie Stadium San Francisco 49, San Diego 26

So, if we were going to a Superbowl and had to pick our preferred QB and a wide-receiver to lead our team from players any of us had seen on the grid, I think we all know it would be Joey and Jerry (by the time Steve Young was throwing in '95, I think it's fair to say that the game plan was throw it towards the end zone and let Jerry do the rest). And any defensive line we chose would contain Ronnie Lott. No 4 would only be a back-up QB, probably behind Tery Bradshaw (although - perhaps - Rings aren't everything).

Anyway, I do not think I have seen a big-match performer in any sport with a better record than Joe Montana. Players like Joey and Jerry come to your club once in a lifetime, if you're very lucky. To have had them both at the 49ers, with their careers overlapping, just seems completely unfair to me. Some days I think about what might have been if No 4 had been throwing to Jerry or, say, Lynn Swann. But deep down, I know that Joey was just better. And I hate that!

[OEP]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Joe and Jerry now THEY were the days. If Jerry couldn't catch then it wasn't catchable and if Joe couldn't make the throw then no one could.

Just been through 49ers historical teams and boy there was some talent through the ages in this team.

88 - QB Joe Montana
WR Jerry Rice
RB Roger Craig (my all-time favourite 49er)
LT Steve Wallace
RT Jesse Sapolu (moved to Centre in 89 - a brilliant move)
RG Guy McIntyre (moves to LG in 89 - another brilliant move)
FS Ronnie Lott
NT Michael Carter

Only mentioning new players from this point on.......

89 - TE - Brent Jones

90 - RILB Keith DeLong (moves to LILB in 91)
ROLB Bill Romanowski
KR Dexter Carter

91 - QB Steve Young takes the reins
LCB Merton Hanks (moves to FS in 93)

92 - RB Ricky Watters
FS Dana Hall

93 - LDT Dana Stubblefield (moves to RDT in 94)

94 - LDT Bryant Young

95 - Nothing of note.

96 - WR Terrell Owens

97 - Nothing of note.

98 - Nothing of note.

99 - QB Jeff Garcia
FB Fred Beasley
RG Jeremy Newberry (moves to C in 2000)

2000 - LCB Ahmed Plummer

2001 - LDE Andre Carter
LLB Julian Peterson
RLB Jeff Ulbrich

2002 - LG Eric Heitmann

2003 - Nothing of note.

2004 - RCB Shawntae Spencer
P Andy Lee

2005 - Nothing of note.

2006 - RB Frank Gore
TE Vernon Davis
RT Joe Staley

2007 - RILB Patrick Willis

2008 - Nothing of note.

2009 - WR Michael Crabtree (potential not yet reached)
FS Dashon Goldson

2010 - LG Mike Iupati (this guy is going to be something special)
RT Anthony Davis (see Iupati)

2011 - LB Navarro Bowman (is a good as Patrick Willis)

2012 - WR A J Jenkins
RB LaMichael James
OG Joe Looney (depending on his injury recovery)

[Pies4shaw]

And since I'm trying to remain magnanimous until I have to think seriously about the Pack taking on the 49ers in the opening round, here's a link to an interesting article about Mike Harbaugh (the 49ers' coach, for those who may not know, and the man some say is the second best sporting coach in the world - just behind Nathan Buckley): http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/67679/character-assassination-in-diabolical-world

[Pies4shaw]

This isn't strictly "NFL" news just yet - but it looks awfully like the Great One is gearing up for his coaching career - no doubt, he'll be Aaron Rodgers' offensive co-ordinator soon enough (please don't throw things at me, Yarra Falls End):

It's official. Former Southern Miss and NFL quarterback Brett Favre is now a member of the Oak Grove (Miss.) football coaching staff. The Lamar County School Board approved Favre's hiring at its regular meeting Monday night. Lamar County Schools superintendent Ben Burnett told the Hattiesburg American Favre's hiring is strictly on a volunteer basis, and he won't be paid an annual salary. Burnett also said Favre will not have a contract with the district. If Favre chooses to return to the staff next year, he must be re-approved next year. Favre completed paraprofessional training by the Mississippi High School Activities Association last year.

See: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jul/25/in-the-news-nascar-suspends-aj-allmendinger/

There's been a lot happening in the off-season - but since it's mostly been about who has been charged with what offences by the police, I haven't really felt much like posting about it.

Only about 6 or 7 weeks to go, now, though. I've been trying to work out what coverage Channel 10/One HD is going to show free-to-air this coming season. As soon as that becomes clearer, I'll post something. Or, if the Travis Cloke saga continues, I might just move permanently to Wisconsin....

[Yarra Falls End]

Something to take our minds off Collingwood for a while, GB@SD in the first of the pre-season games tomorrow am.

[Pies4shaw]

I am delighted to report that Green Bay has just (finally) won a pre-season game. They are presently leading the Bengals (who had won their 2 previous pre-season games) 27 to 13. Aaron Rodgers ran in 2 TDs in the first quarter and threw for 154 yards (without a TD pass) before being put in mothballs. Green Bay have also scored an intercept TD return.

In the other games so far this round, the Ravens are about 50 seconds away from finishing off their flogging of the Panthers 48:17 and the Titans just held out against the Cardinals 32:27.

Meanwhile, I'be been gearing up for the season watching old Pittsburgh Steelers' games. Mostly watching Mean Joe and Jack Lambert in Superbowls 9 and 10 - great matches but the surviving video off the full matches is just really deteriorated now. Had never seen the whole of SB 10 - it was just a fantastic match. Dallas had a fantastic offense and a great QB, so they really stretched the Steelers in 10. Last night I got part the way through re-watching SB 40 (Steelers v Seahawks). In a memorable piece of commentary, John Madden watches a Seahawk take Ward over the boundary on a great run - the Seahawk goes off injured, the replay is shown in slo-mo, Big John says something to the following effect: "There - he hit his head, it may be a concussion but, see there, he lands awkwardly on his leg. So, I'm guessing it's either his head or his ankle , or just maybe some place in-between". Classic

[Pies4shaw]

In further pre-season round 3 games, Seattle thumped Kansas, San Diego just pipped Minnesota, the Bears came back to over-run the Giants 20:17, Tampa Bay beat the Patriots by 2, the Falcons beat the Dolphins and Philly accounted for Cleveland easily. Washington also disposed of the Colts fairly easily. 4 games underway at the moment and 2 to go tomorrow (including the 49ers v Denver).

[Pies4shaw]

In the 4 late games, Pittsburgh pulverised the Bills (38:7, after trailing 0:7), New Orleans beat Houston, St Louis were just beaten by Dallas and Oakland beat Detroit.

[Pies4shaw]

In the last two matches of the weekend's pre-season games (earlier results posted above), the 49ers knocked off Denver 29:24 and Carolina is just heading the Jets at the half (10:9).

For the 49ers, David Akers did most of the damage (5 field goals and two extra points on the touchdowns). Alex Smith threw for one 44-yard TD and Anthony Dixon ran one in from 26 yards. The Broncos must be getting quite excited at the prospect of having a QB who can throw - Peyton Manning threw for 2 TDs in the first quarter (both caught by Eric Decker), before being rested (in less than a quarter, his passing stats were 10 of 12 for 122 yards).

[Pies4shaw]

Just an update on the last game to finish this weekend: Carolina 17 beat the Jets 12.

Remarkably, the Jets, despite Sanchez and Tebow being in heavy competition for the position as starting QB, still haven't scored a pre-season TD after 3 games. I know it's only the pre-season but it still looks like it may be a long season for Jets fans.

Also, for those that care about such things, Terrell Owens has just been cut from the Seahawks' roster.

[Pies4shaw]

Here's the schedule for the last round of pre-season games, starting tomorrow (our time):

WED, AUG 29
New England at NY Giants
Tampa Bay at Washington
Miami at Dallas

THU, AUG 30
Atlanta at Jacksonville
NY Jets at Philadelphia
Carolina at Pittsburgh
Minnesota at Houston
Baltimore at St. Louis
Buffalo at Detroit
Kansas City at Green Bay
New Orleans at Tennessee
Cincinnati at Indianapolis
Chicago at Cleveland
San Diego at San Francisco
Oakland at Seattle
Denver at Arizona

Some excellent match-ups, especially with the likelihood that the top-liners will get more game-time. So, there's a repeat of February's Superbowl to open the round. Other good games should include the Chargers v 49ers match-up (the Chargers have been very good in the pre-season) and the Jets at Philadelphia (Sanchez and Tebow will be looking for a first Jets TD for the season in that game).

After that, the real thing starts with:

WED, SEP 5
Dallas at NY Giants

This is potentially great start to the season with last year's Superbowl winners hosting the Cowboys. The pair had a couple of fantastic outings last year and it will be interesting to see whether Dallas can take the next step. Personally, I doubt it - Romo is a good QB but he's not yet stepped out of the huge shadow cast by Staubach and Aikman. Eli, of course, is a great "clutch" player - he's so laid back and appears to feel so little pressure, sometimes you wonder whether he's even watching the game.

What do others think about their various teams' prospects for 2012?

In the interests of keeping this thread nice, I've decided I won't post about Green Bay or the 49ers until they play each other (9 September - 10 September our time) but I think the Baltimore Ravens may have what it takes to go all the way this year - at the very least, the AFC North battle for Division Championship between the Ravens and the Steelers should be fascinating to watch.