American Football Spectacular: On Acculturation
The past two seasons for the 49ers have ended in quixotic wins off of big Joe Nedney's left foot.
Yet the 2006 season-ending upset over the Denver Broncos meant so much more the Niners: it revealed a team that believes in themselves. And believes in their coach's plan for the future.
Before this game was played, San Francisco's prospects in it were the opposite of good. To upset a powerful-yet-flawed Bronco team that would be out of the playoffs with a loss? Unthinkable.
Yet when the two teams hit the field, the 49ers looked like they were the team that had playoffs on the line, playing with conviction and vim all the way to the Nedney's final issuance to win a game that they didn't need to win.
"You better believe it felt good taking them out," an eyeblack-sportin' Alex Smith said afterwards. "If we were going to be home for the playoffs we wanted them to be right with us."
Today Coach Nolan II dropped the gauntlet, saying that he expects playoffs next year. OK, excellent.
Whereas it would've been a silly notion for a blue chip free agent to want to sign with the Niners in last year's offseason, now San Francisco will be seen as a place where players would want to sign.
In the 2006 offseason, the 49ers got (the currently suspended) WR Antonio Bryant because no one wanted to deal with his hothead reputation despite his skills, and CB Walt "I'm Not That Fired Stanford Guy" Harris because he was considered old for a defensive back. Both scrap-heap signings worked out to in-game production, a credit to the 49ers' scouts.
Success breeds success in the NFL. It's difficult to start and easy to lose.
With salary cap room, a big ol' hunk of positive momentum, and Nolan's winning culture, 2007 should be a time of optimism for the 49ers on the field. Now they've got to get the owner to stop slap-fighting with Gavin and hash out a stadium deal. Or sell the damn team to Oracle's Larry Ellison, who knows how to run a company.
Speaking of not knowing how to run things -- as for the Oakland Raiders, mercifully, 2006 is done.
The New York Jets showed the Raiders what a middling AFC playoff team looks like, dicing and cutting the Raiders' qualitative pass defense apart with a pert display of timing passes. QB Chad Pennington continually got the ball away in time behind a multi-rookie offensive line. Sapp got him once, but the prevailing sense was that the Jets were just playing catch out there. The rhythm of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's gameplan coupled with the canny running of tiny RB Leon Washington prevented the Raider pass rush from reaching the oft-injured Chad. The Power Mullet Defense couldn't take either phase of the game from the Jets, and the NYJ made it look rather easy.
Yet after the beating, DT Warren Sapp -- a man whose skills could punch his ticket to any team in the league for his last remaining years -- said that he'd be interested in still playing for Oakland.
"I'm just going to sit down, have a nice little conversation and see what everybody's thinking," Sapp said of a planned meeting with Raiders officials after the season in the Merc. "See if we're all on the same page. If not, then we'll go different ways. If so, then we'll find a way to come back and put this thing on."
Here's why this is significant. Against all reality, the Raiders have generated a microclimate of a winning environment within their maudlin domain of chaos: defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's Power Mullet Defense. While the offense has died a million deaths, the defense has gelled into a brash, aggressive unit worthy of the Raider shield on their helmet.
Half the team is going the right way. The offense, under direct orders from The Al, can't. Disarray and whispers of traitordom haunt Oakland's front office.
In spite of all the attendant Raider drama, Ryan has been able to mould his side of the ball into one of the NFL's top five defenses. It's impressive work considering the confusion of last year's Raider D.
The Raiders shouldn't let Ryan get hired off to another team. He understands the Raider mystique, and has got his guys fighting hard even when all has been lost for months and the rest of the team has long since run wild.
He has created a culture of winning all his own, giving the Raider Nation reason for hope within the coaching staff for the future.
Next up on your American Football Spectacular: Next will be a season's end overview for the Bay Area franchises. But first a few more quick hits:
* Tragically, Denver Bronco cornerback Darrent Williams was killed by a drive-by shooting after the game against the 49ers. No arrests yet.
* The Niners have fired defensive coordinator Billy Davis and defensive line coach Gary Emanuel.