49FF - Weak 3 Recap/Thoughts for Next Week

Entering Sunday morning, I wasn't sure if I was going to catch much (if any) of the Niners' road matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. The past few days, I've been out of town at my girlfriend's cousin's wedding. I was happy that we would be leaving at a time where I'd be able to catch at least the second half - one in which surely they'd be possessing a sizable lead and play the similar type of game they played in the first two weeks - balanced offense, suffocating defense.

As I was driving from Princeton,IL to my friend Tim's in Monee (about 100 mile drive), I was doing what all those commercials and cell phone ad campaigns tell you not to do - hitting refresh on my phone as me and Jen made our ride to watch the rest of the games and the late games. From the onset, I started to suspect that this game may not go as planned.

One of the first plays I see as I hit refresh on the ScoreTap app on my Android was an opening drive touchdown, with the Vikings scoring on a 1-yard TD pass to Kyle Rudolph. Ok, no need to worry at this point, although not the start I wanted.

Then, after the Niners booted in a field goal to start the second quarter, the Vikings increased their lead to 14-3 with a Christian Ponder touchdown run. How the hell did that happen? I figured it had to be a broken play (not a designed run), although I know Ponder has the ability to be a very athletic quarterback.

The scoring situation didn't seem to get any better - a missed field goal (which I later found out was blocked) led to the Vikings kicking one of their own to up their lead to 14 at the half.

At this point is when I got to my friend's place and started watching the game, which obviously started more promising than the first half. I was happy with the field goal to start the half, but I really thought we needed to get 6 there. We got it the very next drive, but that ended up being the last of our offense for the day.

Random Week 3 Reactions (from what I saw)

I know the team fell behind early...but I don't understand the disparity in the pass/rush attempt ratio. 38 passing plays (35 attempts + 3 times sacked) to 20 rushing plays was not the type of ball that helped us win the first two games (64 pass plays to 59 rushes). This seems to be a team that functions best when there is a balance.

No reason to panic. I know fellow 49FF blogger Nick thought this would be an easy win. I had my doubts - thinking it may be a trap game, with the Vikings treating the game as their Super Bowl. I still had the Niners winning by 10 and I still bet the Niners to cover the -6.5 spread (quite foolishly - knowing what I know about 'trap lines'). Every team (even the best) are going to lose at least 2-3 games this year. Given the Niners schedule this year, I expect a few more for sure (hopefully no more than 4-5 more). It's natural to want to panic as a fan when your team looks mortal for the first time in the short season thus far, but just look at everything that has happened so far this year. Per usual, this league is a parody-driven league. I consider this a hiccup along the way to another successful regular season.

I wish I would have watched the Arizona Cardinals game. That was one of the only late games we didn't have on in my friend's three TV setup downstairs. I was curious to see how Arizona would take on a Philly squad that has been good at moving the ball but bad at protecting it. With this in mind, I picked up the Arizona D in many of my fantasy leagues - paid off nicely I'd say. Why I wish I could have seen them:

1. I've heard their defense talked up as an elite unit. Same with their special teams.
2. I wanted to see if their squad had similar lineage to the 49ers 2011 season - where an average/slightly above average offense would be carried to the playoffs (perhaps a surprising division crown) by such a defense.
3. I wanted to see if I needed to worry about them overtaking us this year for the NFC West crown.

Even though I didn't get a chance to see them, based solely on result, I feel like it is time to worry about them. A 3-0 start with a solid defense, one that can keep them in most games, one that manhandled Tom Brady and Mike Vick in back-to-back weeks...hard not to take such a team seriously. I hope I'm wrong and they pull a 2011 Bills and they tail off into the sunset after a hot start - but I'm doubting it.

Looking ahead: Week 4 (at NYJ)

The Niners catch a major break as Darrelle Revis is assumed to be lost for the season due to an ACL injury suffered in the Jets' 23-20 OT win against the Dolphins. Revis automatically shuts down half of the field and makes the elite of the elite wide receivers look like practice squad material. I'm hoping Alex Smith can bounce back and take advantage of this injury and also hoping Harbaugh dedicates more offensive plays to Gore/Hunter.

I see it being an ugly game - some kind of ugly score like 19-17 winning it. I'll say the Niners take it. I don't care how they do it - they all count the same in the standings.

:Let's get 'em next week. No one's got it better than us!