Hairball losing the locker room? Check out this link!

[monkey]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000390199/article/jim-harbaugh-losing-san-francisco-49ers-locker-room

[RiverDog]

Yea, the Niners are sitting on a potential powder keg considering the offseason they've gone through. If they get off to a slow start like they did last season, the jackals will be out in force.

[c_hawkbob]

Yeah if they start losing he'll start wearing real thin real fast.

[FolkCrusader]

Michigan fans are wondering if they will ever see a team a again that can beat a ranked opponent on the road. Hairball is the answer for that program, its just a matter of coming up with the money that will get him there.

The SF players can see he is not going to last there. Balke and he are at odds all the time. He seemed relieved to have not signed a new deal. The team already tried to trade his butt to Cleveland. The only issue is he keeps winning. Maybe he just keeps winning? Will be interesting to see of the SF O looks against a pathetic Cowboys D today.

[jshawaii22]

I wouldn't want him as my college coach, either.

js

[kalibane]

Cowboy's defense is so bad...

[jshawaii22]

a little off track, but there are more 49er fans in Dallas than Dallas fans in Dallas. Romo looks bad. How much are they paying him?

js

[jshawaii22]

double post.

[kalibane]

That's what Jerry didn't think about when he built a stadium that big. Tough to sell out. Tons of road fans.

In spite of the turnovers, SF defense looks really soft. They lucked up with their early schedule. Now their starting corners are both hurt though. If it's for any length of time they're going to be in real trouble. Culliver has been down a long time.

[FolkCrusader]

When Romo falls apart he just goes all the way.

[curmudgeon]

Tony the turnover machine is the perfect tonic for a fractured locker room. At least for a week...........

[mykc14]

Yeah, it was pretty obvious that this would be a nice way for them to open the season. The question is did it just put lipstick on a pig or is everything rosy in Santa Clara?

[burrrton]

When Romo falls apart he just goes all the way.

Jeezus no kidding- those were three of the most poorly thrown balls I've ever seen.

Just wow.

[Zorn76]

SF needs to win a SB for Harbaugh to have any shot at staying there long term, IMO.

That's the bottom line. SB win or bust.

Otherwise, there's a pretty good chance that he and the team would mutually agree to split. Either that, or maybe they tack on only 2 more seasons to a deal that runs out after 2015.

His demonstrative style gets old under any circumstance, but especially when it's a case of falling short, year after year.

Meanwhile, they get the expected win in Dallas, and host a questionable Bears team next Sunday.

I think we'll get a better idea of what they're really about when they go into AZ before returning home to play the Eagles.

Beyond that - we're still the best team in the NFC no matter what anybody else does.

[HumanCockroach]

I'm not even sure a miracle SB victory would save his position at this point... either the owner likes him or the GM better, and the lower man will be gone this off season IMHO.

[RiverDog]

Jeez, what a horrible game. I recorded the Niners/Cowboys thinking it would be a good one to watch. I turned it off at halftime and went back to work in my yard.

The Niners offense looked better than I expected, but the Cowboy defense has to be one of the worst in the league so this game isn't a fair barometer to gauge them by. And Holy cow, does Romo suck or what? I've never seen a quarterback lock in on certain receivers, ie Whitten and Bryant, like he does. But I do love watching Jerry Jones frown.

[kalibane]

Yeah we really won't be able to judge the 9ers offense fairly until the Cards game. And even then we need to see how the Cards deal with the loss of evertything up the middle. The Cowboys offense gifted them short fields all through the first half. And their coverage was horrendous. Guys were open by 3-5 yards on every single pass. Kaep didn't have to make any even moderately difficult throws.

Even still you can see Kaep is now going through his progressions better and Hyde looked really powerful and explosive. But on the other hand the Cowboys have no pass rushers but they were still getting pressure on Kaep, that offensive line looked really suspect and the 9ers didn't score at all in the 2nd half. I don't know how you don't score on that defense for 30 minutes.

It was also kind of funny that the 9ers got dinged for 3 illegal contact/defensive holding penalties, 1 offensive PI and 2 illegal hands to the face but supposedly the Seahawks were the ones in trouble due to the new emphasis.

I want to see how they look when their WRs have to match up with Peterson, Cromartie and Honey Badger instead of just running through a soft zone all day, which is what Boldin in particular excells at. I can't say for sure they were bad but I wasn't particularly impressed either (exception of Hyde).

[monkey]

I want to see how they look when their WRs have to match up with Peterson, Cromartie and Honey Badger instead of just running through a soft zone all day, which is what Boldin in particular excels at. I can't say for sure they were bad but I wasn't particularly impressed either (exception of Hyde).

I was particularly UNimpressed, for all the reasons you gave, and even more because, when Romo wasn't busy throwing picks or horribly off target, the Niners defense didn't look even REMOTELY good.
Nothing about the Niners team looked like a Superbowl contender yesterday from what I saw...even with the Seahawks playing quite sloppy, (too many missed tackles, errant throws, nearly picked, the goofy fumble on the punt return etc... Sloppy game IMO), they still looked FAR more dominant against a much better team.

From what I've seen so far, the NFC West may not be anywhere NEAR as tough as many of us thought it would be before the season started. Rams Niners and Cards all have HUGE injury problems and or off the field/legal troubles that are going to limit what they are capable of this year.
Seattle, unlike what I previously thought, may be able to easily run through and away with the division.

[rottweiler]

Cowboy's defense is so bad...

The worst.

I don't think they'll win more than four games this season.

[mykc14]

[



I don't think they'll win more than four games this season.

Last year they were historically bad, this year they are worse. This might end up being the worst D in NFL history, especially when you throw in the fact that their O can't help but put them in bad positions. It is going to be a looooooong year in the big D and Jerruh has nobody to blame but himself.

[mykc14]

a little off track, but there are more 49er fans in Dallas than Dallas fans in Dallas. Romo looks bad. How much are they paying him?

js

If they would have done an official head count then I think there would have been more niner fans. It was definitely louder when the cowboys had the ball. Jerruh has ruined the football aspect of that franchise while filling his pockets with $$$. He wants to have it all and thinks he is smart enough to do it on his own but the reality is he can't. With the amount of money he put into that stadium he could have created a real home-field advantage but instead created the worst in the NFL. Also, his GM moves prove this point further. Signing Sam to the practice squad and wanting to draft Manziel were all about the cash money. It is a sad time to be a Cowboys fan (well actually its been sad for almost 20 years).

[mykc14]

Yeah we really won't be able to judge the 9ers offense fairly until the Cards game. And even then we need to see how the Cards deal with the loss of evertything up the middle. The Cowboys offense gifted them short fields all through the first half. And their coverage was horrendous. Guys were open by 3-5 yards on every single pass. Kaep didn't have to make any even moderately difficult throws.

Even still you can see Kaep is now going through his progressions better and Hyde looked really powerful and explosive. But on the other hand the Cowboys have no pass rushers but they were still getting pressure on Kaep, that offensive line looked really suspect and the 9ers didn't score at all in the 2nd half. I don't know how you don't score on that defense for 30 minutes.

It was also kind of funny that the 9ers got dinged for 3 illegal contact/defensive holding penalties, 1 offensive PI and 2 illegal hands to the face but supposedly the Seahawks were the ones in trouble due to the new emphasis.

I want to see how they look when their WRs have to match up with Peterson, Cromartie and Honey Badger instead of just running through a soft zone all day, which is what Boldin in particular excells at. I can't say for sure they were bad but I wasn't particularly impressed either (exception of Hyde).

I agree with this, but its hard to not give them at least some props for destroying another NFL team, even if it was one as bad as the cowboys. I mean at 1 point they had only ran like 5 offensive plays and were up 21-0, pretty dominant. At the same time I agree about their D looking a little soft, giving up a lot of rushing yards, and their O line looking suspect in pass protection. the other part of the equation is they should be getting better as Boone will certainly help their pass blocking and getting Bowman and Smith will help to shore up that D some. Their secondary is still a major weakness and there isn't much extra help there, except the increased pass rush with Smith. Kaep looked the same to me. Super athlete can thrown a pass into a tight area, but still doesn't seem to read the whole field, although admittedly he didn't have to yesterday so he may have improved in that area but I have yet to really see it. I also agree about Hyde, he looked good in the pre-season and didn't disappoint yesterday. I would be surprised if he isn't getting more carries than Gore by the middle of the season.

[burrrton]

I agree with this, but its hard to not give them at least some props for destroying another NFL team, even if it was one as bad as the cowboys.

I was going to say something similar to this.

How good they are remains to be seen, but throttling a bad team then coasting to the end of the game is what good teams often do, so them having taken what Romo served up for them then losing focus doesn't surprise me.

Coming games will tell more.

[kalibane]

I would give them more credit if Tony Romo wasn't out there doing his best Matt Schaub impression. Being up 21-0 after running only 5 offensive plays is exactly why you can't evaluate anything properly.

The strip and fumble return for a TD was good football. The INTs that Romo threw had nothing to do with the 49ers coverage ability and everything to do with Romo forcing wildly innaccurate throws. We all like to bag on Romo and IMO I do agree that they'll never win with him at QB. But usually he's good at least through the first 3 quarters. This was by far the worst game I've ever seen him play. If he'd played even at the level of Ryan Tannehill or even the way Brian Hoyer played against the Steelers this would have been a completely different game.

Murray was completely gashing them in the run game (something I can't go too far negative on because the Cowboys theorhetically have a very good O-Line and when Murray is healthy he's good). There were all kinds of play action opportunities. Romo was killing drives even when he wasn't throwing interceptions because he was either not on the same page as his intended recevier, obvious lack of preparation considering how often it happened. Or he was just so far off target that his receivers didn't even have a chance to catch the ball.

I give props where I see it's worthy. That's Hyde, the forced fumble/return for TD, and Colin Kaepernick's work going through progressions. Also Justin Smith provided more pressure than expected. The rest said more about the haplessness of the Cowboys than it did about any dominance of the 49ers. The Cowboys still outgained the Niners on offense despite all that going on and Dez Bryant in and out of the game all through the 2nd half. They controlled the LoS on both offense in defense for the most part.

I'm not going to write their epitaph but this game didn't really show me anything to give them credit for as a team... only individual observations.

[burrrton]

The INTs that Romo threw had nothing to do with the 49ers coverage ability and everything to do with Romo forcing wildly innaccurate throws.

Agreed, and not even just inaccurate- he threw into triple- and quadruple (iirc) coverage for gawd's sake. Simply calling a couple of those "ill advised" doesn't begin to address what bad decisions they were.

[mykc14]

[quote="burrrton

Agreed, and not even just inaccurate- he threw into triple- and quadruple (iirc) coverage for gawd's sake. Simply calling a couple of those "ill advised" doesn't begin to address what bad decisions they were.[/quote]

Yeah, Romo is usually bad but this is the worst I have seen him play. The INT he threw in the endzone was something that most HS QB's wouldn't do, just lob it into a spot where there are a ton of guys on first down, terrible.

[monkey]

I would give them more credit if Tony Romo wasn't out there doing his best Matt Schaub impression.

And I would give them more credit if it weren't for the fact that, when Romo wasn't busy putting his team in a huge hole throwing errant passes and picks, they moved the ball on the Niners defense FAR too easily. Yes the Niners forced turnovers (actually they were mostly unforced...but whatever), but they didn't stop the run very well at all, and they also didn't stop Romo so much as Romo stopping himself.
Color me unimpressed!

[kalibane]

I'm more willing to take a wait and see approach on the Cowboys moving the ball because the Cowboys on paper should have one of the more potent offenses in the league as long as Murray stays healthy (which he was for this week)... but yeah it is definitely something I noted and would be watching closely if I were a 9er fan.

[jshawaii22]

and for what it's worth, Eli Manning looked worse than Romo. That's two almost guaranteed wins coming up.

js

[RiverDog]

and for what it's worth, Eli Manning looked worse than Romo. That's two almost guaranteed wins coming up.

js

Especially when both are in our house.

[monkey]

and for what it's worth, Eli Manning looked worse than Romo. That's two almost guaranteed wins coming up.

js

Three; you are forgetting the atrocious performance by RG3.
Other than the Eagles, there's not one above .500 team in that division, (and the Eagles have yet to prove anything themselves defensively).
Cowboys, Giants and Redskins are all just TERRIBLE teams with HUGE flaws all over the place.
Seattle's schedule looking easier and easier to me.

[kalibane]

Well Nick Foles didn't look great either. Jacksonville was getting after him until they got tired. He made some very poor throws and holds the ball way too long. Most of the sacks he takes are his fault.

I am thinking that unless Philly can overwhelm you with the pace of their offense they aren't going to be as tough as we think. They also just lost their best lineman (Evan Mathis) for the season.

[PasadenaHawk]

Neither the Chargers nor the Cardinals looked too impressive last night either.

[HumanCockroach]

Honestly across the board in the NFC there wasn't a whole lot of impressive play. I guess I would give the second most impressive showing to the Lions ( which is saying something IMHO) though again, how good are the Giants? Something tells me if they don't end up in the top five draft wise, it will be because the Cowboys are just as bad ( actually probably worse) and the Skins can't seem to get out of their own way. Maybe Atlanta or NO gets froggy, but neither scares me much as they kind of play right into our hands ( strength vs strength, weakness vs strength etc). Teams that many felt would be there at the end, I just don't see right now ( granted it is after only a week) but could see the Lions and a couple other teams jumping over the usual suspects. Right now, it really does look like it might be Seattle and Santa Clara ( which IMHO says how underwhelmed I was by the rest of the NFC's opening weekend, not some huge amount of appreciation for a team beating down perhaps the worst team in the NFL right now).