There was a lot of exciting football played over the weekend, none of which involved Bay Area teams. Yeah, both games went down to the wire, but just because "Navy NCIS" has a season finale with a cliffhanger doesn't necessarily mean it's any worth watching. The teams combined for a total of sixteen whopping points. That's one TD and three field goals. If you threw every member of the Rai-duhs and the Niners into whatever fantasy football league scoring system, we'd bet Tiki Barber was responsible for more points than both teams combined. To be fair, though, both teams D showed that they still have some game (the Rai-duhs almost heroically so). The offenses, however, couldn't find game unless they googled it.
In Jacksonville, the Niners held the Jags to only 10 points and put themselves in plenty of positions to possibly win the game, only to lose by a score of 10-9. Something that couldn't be said about most of the games they've played recently. Granted, the Jags are playing with a 2nd string QB and are known for usually winning ugly, but holding anyone to 10 points is something to proud of. Especially considering they were 16 point underdogs and the Jags are considered shoo-ins for a spot in the AFC playoffs.
As all things go with the Niners, everything becomes a question on how did the kid QB do and the kid QB did alright. Not necessarily because he played well, but because he didn't play as bad as he did before. The key stat: no fumbles. So much for worrying about the size of his hands. He also had some nice scrambles here and there, including a nineteen-yard scamper, and showed the kind of mobility they hoped he would show. Unfortunately, he was only 8 for 24 for 123 yards and is still has yet to pop his TD cherry. He also threw an interception in the 4th quarter that Ira Miller called "a not-so-bad interception" but the gang at ESPN.com hailed as "The Worst Play of the Week." Any explanation for how the Niners lost could be seen in these stats: no TDs after two visits to the Red Zone, 0-9 in the 4th quarter, and an inability to get even a first down in the last four possessions.
For Niners fans, however, it's a mixed up, screwed up world where everything down is up and everything up is down. Because with every loss, the Niners come that much closer to Reggie Bush and with the Texans winning this weekend, the Reggie Bush bowl is looming as that much bigger of a game. So, what we're saying is that for Niners fans, losses are victories, victories are losses and Niners fans should be pretty happy today.
As for the Rai-duhs and their 9-7 loss, we could have written how the game would go on Saturday and wouldn't have to have deleted anything. There were dumb-ass penalties, questionably called penalties, questionably run offensive game plans, and an amazing inability to do the right thing at the right time (a missed and a blocked FG). Says the blogger at Raiders Take in describing the game: "blah, blah, blah." There was even a questionable ref decision late in the game just to put that knife in that much deeper into the hearts of the Black Hole denizens. We're sure that even now, Al Davis is envisioning some dark conspiracy theory involving Paul Tagliube, magic loogies, and Oprah Winfrey to explain the loss.
The big questions surround the offense. Like why go with Kerry over Tui when Kerry is only capable of scoring one measly TD? Or who is this Randy Moss guy and where did he go to? Then there's also this: Lamont Jordan went over 1000 yards rushing on Sunday (1,025 to be exact) but he's still rushed for less yards than the Raiders have accumulated in penalties (133 penalties, 1,033 yards). Can we get odds on which number will be bigger come the end of the season?
Good ole' Silver & Black
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