By Daisy Barringer
Four and one. Four and one. It’s so fun to be four and one. (And yes, I am actually skipping around my apartment with a huge grin on my face while I sing that little diddy. Welcome to my life.) So the Niners. 4-1! And the Giants. Pulling out three in a row to win the NLDS? Does life get any better? Hopefully with a 49ers win against the New York Football Giants it will. Because in case you haven’t heard me whine about it before, this stuff is seriously all I have to live for.
Clearly after two blowout games against the NY Jets and the Buffalo Bills, the Niners are probably feeling a little comfy. Alas, that is the one thing that will keep us from pulling out a victory on Sunday against the Giants. Because even though the 3-2 Giants are nothing to be super scared about, they did win the Super Bowl last year and all that crap. I mean, they can play football, which is at the very least more than one can say about our previous two opponents.
So what does that mean?
The Good
I don’t know what’s going on with the Giants’ defensive line, but all I can say is that Justin Tuck is currently benched on my fantasy league. Combined the line has eight sacks and 14 overall quarterback hits in five games. This bodes well or Alex Smith who finally started airing out the ball last week.
Giants secondary is full of injuries. As always, I hate to get excited about hurt players, but it would be remiss of me not to point out that this works to our advantage.
The addition of Colin Kaepernick has not only totally worked (minus that fumble), but it’s been super fun to watch (minus that fumble).
Sure, it’s only five games into the season but guess which quarterback has the highest passer rating in the league. Just guess. OH RIGHT: ALEX SMITH! He must feel so good about himself right now and that’s what I want: a confident QB. Bring it.
Oh guess what else the 49ers lead in? Rushing! (195.8 yards a game.) So, wait. That means we can pass AND we can throw? And our defense kicks ass? Well tie me up and shake a pom pom in my face; I’ll take it.
Like I said last week: The 49ers just look good. We look good on offense, good on defense, good on special teams, and the coaching staff is doing a phenomenal job. It’s really hard to find something to criticize about these guys right now and that’s fine with me.
The Bad
The whole Brandon Jacobs saga this week left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. Clearly he’s frustrated by his playing time which he was more than willing to tell anyone who would listen. And I’m sure a huge part of him really wanted to face off against his former team. The upside? Sounds like Jacobs had a chat with Harbaugh and he’s now singing another tune, saying he’s not quite ready to play yet and that what’s important for the team is the long run. I’m glad he’s come around, but I don’t appreciate the distraction.
Alex Smith’s sprained finger. It is a concern. It isn’t a concern. We’ve heard both this week. Let’s just hope it’s the latter.
But my biggest concern? Well, Harbaugh said it best before practice on Wednesday: “Nothing's wrong, except nothing's wrong.”
The Rest of It
Giants’ running back Ahmad Bradshaw had a slow start to the season with 78 rushing yards against Dallas, 16 against Tampa Bay and 39 against Philadelphia. But then he rushed for 200 last week against the Browns. Luckily, our run defense is pretty amazing and if we can stop him, it takes away a lot from the Giants’ playbook.
Giants’ wide receiver Hakeem Nicks may or may not play on Sunday. Either way, this doesn’t scare me too much. If he does play, he’s coming off of an injury which means he’s far from 100%; if he doesn’t play, awesome: one less threat down field. (I am clearly such a giver because he’s totally on my fantasy league, but I don’t even care. Priorities people.)
What’s up with the 700 articles about Carlos Rogers imitating Victor Cruz’ salsa dance celebration this week? I mean, is it just me or does Cruz sound really pathetic when talking about how the dance is sacred to him and he does it to honor his grandmother and it’s really disrespectful when Rogers imitates it? THIS IS FOOTBALL, dude. If you don’t want people to make fun of you, don’t do a salsa dance when you catch a touchdown. Problem solved! That being said, Rogers said he won’t mimic Cruz anymore and yes, this was actually a thing, but hopefully the Niner can just keep Cruz out of the end zone and no one will have to worry about it. I mean, again: FOOTBALL, people. FOOTBALL.
There’s also been a lot of talk this week about Kyle Williams “redeeming” himself for those two horrible punt “returns” in the NFC Championship Game. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m a big Kyle Williams fan. I am so glad he’s still on the team. But one cannot “redeem” himself for mistakes made in a game that would have taken us to the Super Bowl in Week 6. It is simply impossible. That being said, I hope he goes out and has a great game. I’ll be rooting for him like I always do.
There’s so much to talk about with this game. Obviously, the 49ers want revenge against the New York Football Giants for taking what we wanted so badly last year. And obviously it’s going to be a tough game. But I truly believe that if we just stay focused and determined, we can pull this one out with a win of at least seven points. Personally, I am looking forward to a fun game with lots of heart palpitations.
Watch the 49ers vs. the NY Giants on Sunday at 1:25 p.m. on FOX.