Go to this link to play around with weeks 15-16-17 scenarios to determine NFC West division winner.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine

You don't have to click all games but only teams in NFC West games.

Basically 49ers win all tiebreakers possible if any team finishes tied for 1st place, so just because of the difficult schedule of the remaining NFC West teams, we can afford to lose either against SD or against St.L. and still have a mathematical chance (if we win 2 of 3).

In week 15, the only way we are officially out of the playoffs is if we lose, AND Rams win AND Seattle wins.  It will be unlikely that our hopes will end by the end of week 15!  Pretty much this means still lots of chances to make the playoffs...

Have fun with the ESPN playoff site...

Even though preseason success does not usually translate to regular season success (see 49ers 4-0 preseason and 0-5 regular season), the 49ers did beat the Raiders less than 2 months ago.  

I wonder if there are any stats available of team records in the regular season as a rematch from the preseason in the same season, depending if it was a win or loss in the preseason?

Well, even though the 49ers are somewhat different than they were 2 months ago (some of the coaches and players), majority of the teams are the same and here are some game notes that stand out from the first matchup.

nfl.com boxscore link

Negatives:

- Raiders scored after an 8 play, 81 yard drive to open up the game

- B.Gradkowski connected with L.Murphy for a 74 yards touchdown pass

- Raiders went 20 for 30 passing, 295 yards passing (not including sacks), 2 TD, 0 int

- 49ers A.Dixon struggled for only 69 yards on 21 carries (3.3 avg) 

- 49ers went 16 for 32, and 167 yards, 1 TD and 0 int, however, D.Carr struggled way more than A.Smith in those stats.

- Both teams combined for 18 penalties, 10 of which were by the 49ers.

Positives:

- Frank Gore went up the middle for his first carry of the day, going for 49 yards.

- Overall, 49ers passing was not great aside from 2 of the long scoring TD drives, but A.Smith was decent finishing 9 of 15 for 113 yards, 1 TD, 0 int.

- With mostly back-ups in the game, 49ers had a 16 play, 80 yard, drive for TD to take the final lead towards the end of the 4th quarter.

- 49ers return game and coverage had tons of success, while Raiders return game and coverage failed. 49ers P.Adams had a 83 yd punt return for TD, with 2 other good punt returns for 11 and 22 yards. 49ers averaged 26 yards on 3 kick-off returns, including a 48 yarder by K.Jurovich. 

- Raiders returned 6 kickoffs for an average of 18 yards, with the longest being 21 yards.  3 punt returns went for 12 total yards.

- Willis and LaBoy got a sack, while the 49ers allowed 0 sacks.

- 49ers defense held raiders to 55 yards rushing on 19 carries (2.9 avg)

Anyone remember anything from the game that can't be found in the game stats?  

These stats don't mean too much but anyway it was the 49ers vs Raiders not long ago so I think these are more encouraging than discouraging to look at.  We need 1 win and then worry about the rest of the season, let's get it here and hopefully this is another reason to keep us optimistic atleast to come out on top this week.

Fooch's Note: I didn't get a post up for this opener so thanks for getting this set up. If you want to discuss tonight's game, we'll use this one.

I'm watching the game but maybe I missed something about an open thread for the game because I don't see one. Well it's the Season opener so I thought there would be stuff to discuss LIVE if others are checking in right now at NN. Oh man Brees just got sacked. Sorry. I guess first quarter is ending but still several quarters remaining...

So let's hope it's a good game to get the season underway .

I have compiled a list of website links that have various fantasy football and other games that are different from the regular Draft and choose Lineup fantasy leagues. 

Some of these are from sites you are familiar with (for example NFL.com) but some are less known and from blogs. I included a bunch of free ones with prizes (and some that have small registration fee's for those that would like higher chances of getting prizes). Surprizingly there weren't many this year from big companies doing promotional games, like Best Buy or food companies, etc, but please post info if you are aware of others.

There are lots of links, but I'm sure some people here on Niners Nation will end up registering for as many games as they can :)
Hopefully some of us can create Niners Nation leagues from the sites that allow it and please post the info here so others can join it aswell. 
Good luck!

Continue reading this post »

I'm looking at John Henderson's stats and he seems to have had an excellent career with the Jaguars so far. He as much better the first four years than the recent several years, but still he is getting some sacks and LOTS of tackles for his position, consistently.

I wonder if 49ers would have interest in him and I'm not sure why the Jaguars released him. I know they were trying to trade him in the draft but I guess there was no immediate interest

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ArwhYOwuh2WckpXD8Ht_2fY5nYcB?slug=ap-jaguars-hendersonreleased

This guy looks BIG and seems like a really good player, he is 31 years old though. I don't mind seeing what Kentwan Balmer can do and there is ok depth with Demetric Evans, but I would think Henderson would really help our D-line.

I think he was supposed to make 4.5 million and then 5million the following season with the Jags. Probably will be getting less than that with a new team. Jaguars fans say that Henderson production dropped as soon as the Jags lost Stroud on the defensive line. Maybe it will help having someone like Justin Smith on the line, and some good blitzing linebackers. Also Henderson only missed 4 total games during 8 year career in Jacksonville.

Continue reading this post »

Looks like a couple of other posts going around about remaining games, here's one more from Fantasy Football Cafe with an adjusted calculations for the remaining games.

Week 9 update: Looks like Cardinals still have 2nd easiest schedule, while 49ers are at 5th easiest.  Carolina draft pick watch- they have the 5th  toughest schedule. 

Updated Wildcard watch- Looks like Cowboys record is better and remaining schedule is easier than Eagles and Giants (normal strength of schedule says that Eagles and Cowboys remaining schedule is same difficulty). Cowboys win that Division, and let's assume Cardinals win the division.

49ers have a much easier schedule than the Bears and Panthers, so 49ers have the edge over the other 4-5 teams. So there are 2 spots left for 5 teams. Falcons have same difficulty schedule as 49ers, and Falcons win the tie breaker, so let's give that wildcard spot to Falcons.  Giants have a tough schedule remaining.

49ers have an easier schedule than Packers and Eagles, but thoese teams have a 1 game lead so far. Looks like the head to head matchups in those games will be huge.

 _______________________________________________________________________________

I found a site that has calculated an adjusted Strength of Remaining Schedule.

In addition to the basic strength of schedule using records of teams with remaining games, they have a category where they adjusted a teams record based on the strength of schedule of the games they already played. This is described more after the jump. 

We know where we are relative to the Cardinals, but here are the other potential wild-card teams (Vikings and Saints only teams not included)

Rank of Adjusted Strength of Schedule Remaining. (1 = easiest schedule)

9. Dallas Cowboys (6-3)
2. Arizona Cardinals (5-4)
6. Atlanta Falcons (5-4)
12. Green Bay Packers (5-4)
16. Philadelphia Eagles (5-4)
24. NY Giants (5-4)
5. San Francisco 49ers (4-5)
14. Chicago Bears (4-5)
28. Carolina Panthers (4-5)
 

Here is the link, I have also copy pasted their page completely after the jump.

http://www.fantasyfootballcafe.com/schedule_strength.php

Continue reading this post »

Week 9 update against Titans:

Looks like about 75% of all the experts picks are for 49ers to win. Out of the 42 experts and consensus selections, 9 of them are either 7-0 or 6-1 picking in the 49er past seven games. Out of those 9, 6 of them have chosen 49ers to win against Titans. Another pattern is that 49ers are chosen to win 85% of the time but the best experts (best experts are the top 14 out of the 42).  

Post explained:

I have compiled NFL expert picks for the 49ers games, including from 6 different major websites and 30+ sports analysts from those sites, and other projection selections.

These are only for the 49er games, to give us an idea how the experts predict in games that the 49ers play.  For example, Chris Mortensen (ESPN) and Steve Greenberg (Sporting News) were the only two that are 5-0 (after 5 weeks in the season), picking 49ers to win in their 3 games and lose in 2 games.

Additionally, after the 49ers pick record, I listed the number of times the expert has chosen the Niners to win a game.  So Mortensen and Greenberg both chose the 49ers 3 times.  As a 49er fan I would pick the 49ers 5 times through 5 games, but then would have a 3-2 record.

Maybe later in the season these standings would give a better idea of which "experts" are best at analyzing the games that the 49ers are playing in.  I've included their overall records aswell predicting all of the NFL games.  I'm sure many of yours and my picking winning percentage in our pick-em leagues are higher than some of these experts, but also I'm sure our picks are biased in the 49ers games, and many of us would be 3-2 (after 5 weeks of football). This way we can see what the best-of-the-experts are predicting in good matchups that offcourse we all would optimistically say the 49ers would win. I think these standings will make more sense later in the season.

Let me know if there are any good sources that I forgot or if anyone has an idea to upgrade this for future posts?...

Format of post is in this order for all of the tables below-

Source and link, (for example ESPN)

Sports writer and winning percentage of all NFL games, (Chris Mortensen 81-35)

Selection of 49ers or opponent Week 1 through current, (49ers, next row 49ers, next row Vikings, etc)

record of picking in 49ers games, (for example, if expert picks 49ers three times in the first three games of the season, the record would be 2-1)

number of times selected 49ers to win.

ESPN http://espn.go.com/nfl/picks

Sporting News.com http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/picks

Yahoo http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/pickem

CBS Sports http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/features/writers/prisco/picks

Nfl.com playbook http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/10/14/which-winless-team-will-prevail-our-experts-weigh-in/

MSN Fantasy http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/7169674

MSN NFL http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/10224322/Week-6-expert-picks:-Two-for-one-winners

Barry Wilner

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?Submit=S&term=Barry+Wilner&st=s

Fooch's Note: As small a comment as this was in the Chronicle article, it's obviously worth moving to the front page for discussion.  To save space I moved most of the FanPost after the jump.  For those wondering, Coffee returned 2 kicks for 25 total yards at Alabama in 2005, but does not appear to have any other kick return experience.  Hmmmm......

Not sure if this is posted anywhere else but it says that Glen Coffee will be the kickoff return man. I don't remember reading it in any of the coaches transcripts, but this doesn't make too much sense to me, other than giving a chance to everyone in order and see who would be best at it (but maybe thats what preseason was for.)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/22/SP371A9GD8.DTL

Continue reading this post »

Isaac Bruce,

Josh Morgan,

Michael Crabtree,

Arnaz Battle,

Brandon Jones,

Jason Hill,

Micheal Spurlock,

Dominique Zeigler. (practice squad)

Receiving Stats for reference

That's 8 WR's (not counting TE's and RB's), and based on our optimism and preseason discussions, it looks for sure that 6 of these WR's can be the #3 or #4 WR or higher.

I actually like all of these players for this season and future seasons, but still, it's eight WR's. Considering the Trade deadline discussion coming up and potential immediate improvement at offensive line. I would think we would rather give up a WR since it looks like somehow thats where we have the most depth [except Linebacker position where all the players are huge contributors and should stick around] rather than giving up a draft pick this year to trade for OL.

Furthermore, through 4 games, only 4 of the 8 WR's (Bruce, Morgan, Battle, Spurlock) have contributed to a catch, run, or return. So not counting any blocking contribution for all WR's, they have combined for 30 touches (around 2 per player, per game). So with Crabtree coming up to speed in the next several weeks, and Jones and J.Hill being available when they weren't the first four games, now there's even less opportunities for any one player to get the ball more.

We can argue that S.Hill and Raye are opening up the passing game a bit more so the pass opportunities will increase, especially if O-line in pass protection improves. But then we can also argue that for 2 of those 4 games, we didn't have Gore which should result in boosted WR stats (but they aren't) since we would think we probably ran slightly less with Coffee than we did with Gore, despite the run-heavy emphasis. Also we have V.Davis, D.Walker, and F.Gore, that are all receiving threats in addition to the current WR's getting looks. 

Any ideas if anyone might be traded?

Also, who would we like to most have in 2010?

I think B.Jones is the only one I haven't attached to, probably because he hasn't played much, and we got him before we drafted Crabtree.

Anyone know who this is?  I haven't heard anything about him besides that he was with VIkings in preseason.

Here's the transaction and then couple links about him someone posted at 49ers forums

http://csnbayarea.com/pages/landing?49ers-sign-Martail-Burnett-to-practice-s=1&blockID=79631&feedID=2539

Looks like he's been getting some sacks in college, and could be very versatily and fast. Good comments about him in the interview so could have high potential of succeeding but I guess he didn't with the Vikings.

http://forums.49ers.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=81489

Whats the difference between a FanPost and a FanShot?