NFL Week 10: The wake 'n' bake Santonio Holmes version

That's a fair outlook. Your challenge was to say the 49ers' schedule wasn't "utter shit."

 

Thanks for reminding me. I'll never forget Cam Cameron's rationalization: "Dolphins fans are going to get really excited next season when they see Ted Ginn back there to field a punt."

Yeah, sure, I had a boner for a month.

 

You should go see your doctor about that.

 

What'd you think last week?

 

It's gone now.

 

exactly. this is precisely why i'm so looking forward to this game, my first real chance to see what willis and these niners are all about this season.

i disagree with whoever it was who said ths is the kind of game the giants have no-showed so often under coughlin. almost neber do these performances come vs. the tronger, more hyped teams. they ptch clunkers vs. the seahawks of the world, playing down to opposition -- also see: comeback to eek past dolphins --whereas they represent very well vs. the 'big boys.' even the game they blew to iggles last season was an example of how amped they get for perceived challenges; the fourth-quarter meltdown was another issue entirely.

giants are likely to lose suday at niners, but it won't be because they come out 'flat' or are looking past niners. it'll be just because they'll be learning that the niners are indeed for real.

and the niners' offense is a bad matchup for the giants defense, which is indescribably porous vs. the run. easy to imagine gore rushing for 150 and 2-3 tds.

 

I can't imagine a scenario where the Packers don't make it back to the Super Bowl. Nobody in the NFC is even in the same class.

The Niners haven't played an easy schedule.

At Cincy - The Bengals are good this year and I don't care who the teams are, if you have to travel from California to Ohio, any win is not easy.

At Philly - Philly isn't what people thought it would be, but beating them on the opposite coast was huge.

At Detroit - The Lions are good and will probably make the playoffs. The Niners beat them on the road.

They've only played one game against their awful division.

 

The way the Packers defense has looked, if Aaron Rodgers lays a brick of shit at the wrong time, they could be one and done. He literally hasn't had a bad game this year, so you know one is coming. Hell, think back to Arizona in the 2009 Wild Card. He was pretty good that game, scored 45 points and lost. If their defense keeps giving up 30+ points, Rodgers could play a great game but lose off one mistake. The Packers are undefeated but they have looked very beatable several times.

 

I think the Packers have played down to their opponents a couple times this year. I think that was definitely the case against San Diego. They got up by a lot, took the foot off the pedal and San Diego got back into the game.

It's interesting (not that I disagree) that people were talking about how the defense played like shit on a day where they came damn close to having three pick-sixes.

 

I actually think that if it gets that far, the 49ers would be the one NFC team with a decent chance to handle the Packers. They have a ground game and a philosophy that already mandates chewing the clock, so they wouldn't be going against their own plans by doing that (the way a New Orleans or Detroit would, for instance). And they have been very good at getting four-man pressure and playing coverage, which is how the Giants beat Brady in the SB.

Smith is still the enormous question mark in all of that, but I don't know if the Packers are the team that can shut down Gore/Hunter and make Smith wing it.

 

It's an interesting matchup.

The Packers defense has struggled, but they still have unbelievable playmakers on that team.

The offense is crazy good. One of the best I've ever seen and that's saying a lot for a team without a standout running back.

I think it would take a perfect storm for the Niners to beat them at Lambeau. I think the best chance for a Packers to be upset would be the Saints, who at least can match the Packers for offensive firepower.

 

The Niners don't scare me as a team to take down Green Bay. The Packers defense, for as much as it has struggled, is still pretty stout against the run. Watching the games, I feel whenever teams run at the Packers, they are doing them a favor. They would game plan extensively for Gore, Smith would have to outperform Rodgers in Green Bay, and I just can't see it.

The possible threats I see are the Giants, Lions and Saints. Teams that can air it out and have the playmakers on offense to at least keep it close with Rodgers.