After all the offseason chatter and eyebrow-shaving bets, Week 2 is finally here. This budding rivalry promises to be a physical, smashmouth, and expletive-filled brand of football that Bobby Boucher's momma would not approve of. SAN FRANCISCO 49ers vs. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1) 'What's Your Deal?'
Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll's disdain of each other has followed them since the college ranks. Carroll's USC teams were once thought to be untouchable, until Harbaugh's upstart Stanford team gave them a taste of their own medicine by running up the score en route to a victory. Like meeting in-laws that one is not fond of, this NFC West rivalry game has to happen twice a year, whether these two like it or not.
2) 12th Man
Seattle has arguably the best home-field advantage in football, if not all of sports. The Seahawks were undefeated in their defeaning stadium last year, and it will be imperative that the 49ers, particularly the coaching staff and Colin Kaepernick, execute their game plan to perfection. For all the things that Kaepernick does well, game clock management has been his Achilles heel. Seattle fans seem to pride themselves in their loudness, and any false start or delay of game will only make the stadium louder. It's important the 49ers score early to minimize how much the fans can play a factor in the game. 3) Play Physical Seattle is a formidable foe, and this is what it looked like last year when they came out swinging, which resulted in Vernon Davis getting knocked out of the game and Mario Manningham not having touched a football field since last year's game.
49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the Seahawks' Russell Wilson face each other in Week 2 of the 2013 NFL season, and as we heard earlier today, they have made a bet with the loser shaving their eyebrows. Here's what Russell Wilson might look after they face the five-time Super Bowl champions. Russell Wilson confused.
by Justin Cheng There has been a lot of offseason jawing between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. The mutual hate between the two NFC West rivals are expected to play out later in the season, as they figure to be in the mix for a Super Bowl bid. Quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson are two of the young stars in the NFL today, and they put a wager that might change how they look after Week 2 when the 49ers travel to the Pacific Northwest to face Richard Sherman's never-ending, rambling mouth and the obnoxiously loud 12th man.
AJ Jenkins (left) was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday.
49ers management started the Week 3 of the preseason with a huge bang, cutting the cord with last year's first-round pick, AJ Jenkins, trading him to the Kansas City Chiefs for wide receiver Jon Baldwin. This comes a day after Jim Harbaugh said Jenkins would likely expand his role as kick returner. Jenkins, who couldn't catch a common cold, let alone footballs, was expected to give the 49ers a much needed deep threat, coming off a loss in the 2011 NFC championship game. Jenkins was only active in three games in 2012, costing the 49ers $1.2 million, which by Johnny Manziel standards, is two weeks worth of signing his own jersey.
The 49ers defense was suffocating.
With two weeks until the start of the regular season, the 49ers are still one of the clear favorites to win the Super Bowl. The defensive line absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage and terrorized Alex Smith like lions on a piece of meat or walkers on Rick Grimes. While Colin Kaepernick was given one series of playtime, B.J. Daniels, as predicted in our guide to Preseason Week 2, got some valuable minutes and orchestrated a final scoring drive to beat the Chiefs 15-13.
Now that we got the battle of the prodigal quarterback over with, we can refocus for Week 3. With August 27 as the date when teams have to trim their rosters from 90 to 75, this is the time when players really need to start making good impressions on their coaches. Practice reps are a weeklong audition for playing time, which will be sparse compared to the first two games of the preseason.
As much as I hate looking at this picture, red zone offense is a huge question mark for the reigning NFC champions. There is no question that Kaepernick has a rocket arm, but the progression he has made in that aspect of his game is yet to be determined. Harbaugh is bound to unleash the beast -- at least for the first quarter -- for Sunday's game, then we can make judgments if body shots, GQ covers, and oddly coordinated outfitshave deterred any progress from being made.
2) QB Carousel
With the addition of Seneca Wallace into the mix, this makes for one crowded neapolitan quarterback competition. 49ers Insider Matt Maiocco reported that after his performance against the Chiefs, B.J. Daniels would start getting some more looks at quarterback with the second team offense. So far in the preaseason, Scott Tolzien and Colt McCoy's performances have been laughable, throwing a combined whopping zero touchdowns, three interceptions, and 264 yards.
--Recommendation-- Don't put too much stock into Daniels' latest performance against the Chiefs. Daniels entered late in the third quarter, and most of the players that he was facing are more than likely to be out of the league in two weeks.
--Depth Chart Prediction-- Starter: Colin Kaepernick Second String: Seneca Wallace Third String: Colt McCoy Seneca Wallace has been a backup in this league for ten years. Such experience is indispensable, and he looks to be slotted to make the team as Kaepernick's backup. Colt McCoy still hasn't shown much in two outings, and this week will be pretty critical if he wants be the second string back up. He has shown good mobility, rushing for 37 yards against the Chiefs. McCoy has the ability to be a solid backup in this league but will probably be the third string. B.J. Daniels will not be on the quarterback depth chart . Last week's guide noted how Daniels lined up at running back and tight end, so he will make the team because of his versatility. If not, he will probably be stashed away for development on the practice squad. Tolzein is the odd man out. Dating back to last year, he has completed 47 percent of his passes (26 of 55) with a 46.7 passer rating. Sorry buddy, BYE BYE BYE.
3) Seattle Stomp Job
The Seattle Seahawks' 40-10 beatdown of the Denver Broncos, another favorite to win the Super Bowl this year, should have bandwagon 49ers fans quaking in their new #7 jerseys. The Seahawks absolutely dismantled the Broncos, a beat down that had not been seen since Dwayne Johnson was The Rock and not chasing Dominic Toretto in his rice rocket. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Bayless Babbles is a sports blog is co-authored by UC Merced/ USC alumnus Justin Cheng and UC San Diego alumnus Brent Lee.
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Last year the Baltimore Ravens rode a 10-6 record, bolstered by Terrell Suggs' miracle Achilles tendon and Ray Lewis' deer antler sprayed triceps to beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII. With a new year and with heavyweights reloading on talent and teams making the moves to be considered Super Bowl favorites, there is promise for more compelling drama.
5) New England Patriots
Key Additions: Danny Amendola, Adrian Wilson, Tommy Kelly, LeGarrette Blount, Leon Washington
Despite All-Pro Rob Gronkowski's mounting injuries, the Patriots appear to be ready to make a final push in the Belichick-Brady era. In the five games that Gronk did not play last year, the ever-unpredictable Patriots averaged 34.2 points per game. How's that for a statistic? The loss of Welker certainly hurts, but Danny Amendola is a younger, if not better, version of him. The offensive line held steady last season allowing only 27 sacks, tied for fifth best.
The pressure lies solely on the secondary, who gave up 271.4 yards per game, ranked 29th best in the NFL. It is still unknown how effective replacing Patrick Chung with an aging Adrian Wilson will be. 2011 second-round pick, Ras-I Dowling, has been on the trainer's table the last two years with a torn hip tendon and torn quadriceps. That's two years, nine games and one pass defended. Production from this group certainly needs to step up especially with pass-heavy teams like Atlanta, Cincy, New Orleans, Carolina, Denver, Houston, and Miami on their schedule. Prediction: 12-4 (New England's schedule plays to their favor, having the Jets and Buffalo in their division. The defensive line, anchored by Vince Wilfork, was seventh in yards allowed before the addition of Tommy Kelly) Sorry, 12-4 because of a weak schedule only gets you #5.
What didn't the Broncos do right last year? The Broncos had one of the best seasons, outscoring opposing defenses by 192 points, which was second only to the New England Patriots. Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, and Wes Welker look to give opposing secondaries plenty of headaches with Peyton Manning at the helm. Acquiring Montee Ball via the draft and with incumbents McGahee and Moreno looking to return from injuries, the run game should keep defenses on their toes.
So why aren't the Broncos rated higher? My main concern is how small Peyton Manning comes up in the most crucial of situations. Sure it wasn't his fault for blown coverage with 0:42 left in the Divisional Round, but he certainly put them in a position where the score was still in reach. Keep in mind that 14 of their points resulted from two Trindon Holliday specials. A fumble in the third quarter when up 7 and the interception thrown across his body in overtime ultimately cost them a potential Superbowl bid. For everything that Peyton Manning gives you, I certainly would not want the ball in his hands and this has been a trend since Indianapolis.
Prediction: 11-5 (Manning will have a spectacular regular season but will ultimately lose in the AFC championship game to the Texans)
3) Atlanta Falcons
Key Additions: Steven Jackson, Osi Umenyiora, Desmond Trufant, Robert Alford
Think the Falcons wanted to improve their secondary? Well, the Atlanta Falcons selected two DBs with their first two picks in April's Draft. Washington's Desmond Trufant is one-third of the Trufant NFL bloodline, and Robert Alford (see below), product of FBS Southeastern Lousiana University, has a Youtube highlight reel that drops jaws.
Throughout the playoffs, Matty Ice, showed his ability to be considered an elite NFL quarterback, despite being completely shut down by the 49ers in the second half of the NFC Championship game. Receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White are the best WR tandem in the league, while Tony Gonzalez is still going strong going into his 17th year. However, the most concerning thing for this team is the ability to close out a game after blowing a 20 point lead to Seattle and 17 to the 49ers. If the Falcons are able to stay consistent throughout the entire game and in pressure-cooker situations, they can certainly make the leap that this #3 ranking places them. Also, playing in division that features the Panthers and a young Buccanneers team works to their advantage. Prediction: 11-5 (Falcons will easily win the NFC South, but how will they play come playoff time?)
