6341

Mark Davis said late yesterday that if given the chance he’d do the Palmer trade again, which shows why he’s not running the football side of things…

6342

Another thing kind of lost in the Jackson firing and McKenzie official presser yesterday was that it was the first time Mark Davis has really said much. And one of the things he said was that the stadium situation in Oakland is an issue and that he’s already been approached by LA interests, though he also made it sound like he’d prefer to get something done in the Bay area. So relocation to LA may be where that is headed, which is something that has always seemed somewhat logical to me.

Also, good news/bad news for Jags fans. Mularkey will not call the plays in Jacksonville, leaving that to an offensive coordinator. But he is committed to Gabbert, who of the rookie QBs who played much this year looked the worst. And I’d forgotten that Mularkey is a second time head coach - he ran the Bills in 2004 (9-7, their last winning season) and 2005 (5-11) before resigning when the team changed general managers and brought in Marv Levy to run the organization.

6343

He was head coach of the Bills before going to Atlanta. He was awful.

There’s also been talk that Todd Haley will join the Jets as assistant head coach. That’s a whole lot of crazy in one coaching staff.

Brian has already stated he will not join his father in any coaching capacity, per Adam Schefter.

6344

I generally like Michael Silver’s NFL writing, but this piece comes across as unnecessarily speculative and mean spirited. And I gather that Silver has never been on all that good of terms with the Raiders, so maybe that is a motivation. But still. He basically argues that Mark Davis is making decisions mostly based on getting rid of the people in the Raiders organization who know that Al didn’t trust him with much before his death.

He also criticized Davis for admitting that he hired McKenzie based on one six hour interview and talked to no other candidates. I would think Silver would be aware that while there are very engaged owners in the NFL (some more engaged then they should be), there are also owners who don’t care that much. I would be surprised, for example, if Paul Allen spent much if any time with the various top personnel side people with the Seahawks before hiring them, including Holmgren years ago. Those type of owners know they don’t know and rely on others, as Davis apparently did in getting advice from John Madden and Ron Wolf since his fathers death.

6345

I don’t see how Davis can go that wrong hiring someone from a team that won the SB and went 15-1 this year. It’d be different if he were hiring Matt Milen or someone like that.

6346

Please, PLEASE hire Matt Millen. Anyone. Please. Just to get him off my TV set on weekends.

6347

So what’s up with the Favre family? I just clicked on his name in Google News and I see that his brother was pardoned by Gov. Barbour, and another article was about how his sister got busted for making meth last year. They need to do a season of Justified about his family. The Bennetts are gone now. Raylan needs some new redneck bad guys to fight.

6348

Isn’t Favre from Missouri somewhere though? I’m not that great on US geography but I don’t think Favre would leave Harlan alive. So to speak.

In other news, I’m hella excited about Niners vs Saints. One of those Immovable Object vs Unstoppable Force match-ups that feels like it could go either way. Reading all the write-ups I can find but if someone knows where there’s more, don’t hesitate to post linkies.

6349

The QB pool for the next draft seems to be shrinking or at least getting more murky day by day. Ryan Tannehill will be in the draft, but he broke a bone in his foot and may need surgery. Either way that means no Senior Bowl or combine evaluations for teams to try and get a better handle on his pro potential.

And Jeff Fisher still hasn’t decided where to go. One theory is that he’s just that torn over the Dolphins or the Rams (for some reason). But another theory is that he’s waiting to see what happens in Indianapolis, where the Colts just hired a new GM and Caldwell’s future will presumably be made clear shortly.

6350

Favre was born in Mississippi. Both his parents were teachers so it’s not like he’s some hillbilly. I don’t know what’s going on with his siblings.

We really have two games that are defense against offense. Really, both GB and NO are teams with great offense and little defense and SF is great defense and so-so offense and the NYG are what I’d consider to be good defense and adequate offense. It would not surprise me to see the Giants give Green Bay a tough game. Anytime you can get pressure on the QB without having to blitz like the Giants can with their very good front four, you’re capable of limiting a great offensive team.

6351

Wait a minute, other games? I thought this week was Super Bowl week with all ESPN droning on and on about Tebow and the Patriots. I didn’t realize there were still games to be played.

Seriously, both NFC games look good. The Giants gave GB a run for their money in the regular season, can they do it again? And with everybody picking against the Niners, rightfully so, but still annoys me. I will mockingly laugh in the faces of everybody who didn’t believe, or at least think the Niners stand no chance and will get smashed to a pulp. And if it does happen I’ll just pretend I never made this comment.

6352

You can edit this all out and pretend you never said it. As long as nobody quotes you.

Oh crap… sorry!

6353

I dunno but I don’t see “everyone” picking against the Niners. Everyone is picking against Denver and Houston, most are picking against the Giants, while Saints has a slight edge in the predictions I’ve seen.
Turnovers are what will decide this game IMO. If the Saints don’t turn the ball over, I feel fairly confident they’ll win. If I was a Niner fan I’d be fairly confident I’ll be able to get at least one pick on Brees. Then it’s up to Smith’s offense to sustain their drives.

6354

Detroit had about three picks go through the hands of their players against Brees. If they had made those the game would have been quite a bit closer.

6355

I think what you see in terms of predictions of the Saints/49ers game depends on your prejudices. I’ve seen a lot of picks against the Saints that, to me, seem almost irrational. Bill Barnwall at Grantland has the Niners winning 28-21 exclusively on the basis of the Saints being a “dome-team”. Most Niners picks seem to be banking on New Orleans performing significantly worse outside and, really, that’s what the Niners themselves will need to bank on. If the “dome-Saints” finally show up to an outdoors game they’re pretty much screwed.

The game is easily one of the hardest to analyze of the divisional round; it’s an unstoppable force vs. immovable object kind of thing. On one hand it’s the Niners that really have their work cut out for them, since I can’t imagine game planning against the Saints offense is an easy task. For the Saints it’s really business as usual on both sides of the ball, not to say that it will be easy, just that it’s more a matter of execution for them. On the other hand New Orleans really has had trouble executing on the road. So, who knows. Hard not to give it to the home team in cases like these.

6356

NFL history is full of unstoppable scoring machines getting shut off in the playoffs. I think the 9ers defense will be just fine, the real worry is the o-line. If they can keep Alex Smith on his feet and he can place his deep balls better the Saints are in some trouble.

6357

ESPN is reporting that Jeff Fisher has officially accepted an offer to become coach of the Rams.

6358

I’m not sure the O-line has much to worry about, given how ineffective the Saints pass rush has been this year.

6359

Don’t quote me on this but I think Alex Smith is one of the most sacked/pressured QB’s in the league this year. Or I’m misremembering. Bah! I’ll check it out. Done.

Smith has been sacked 44 times out of 445 pass attempts, that’s one in ten. Last year he was sacked 25 times. Now, the Saints pass rush has not been good this year but … hell, I don’t know. Niners need to sustain drives and keep Brees off the field. Saints need to not turn the ball over and not get run over.

6360

That’s probably true. But then again it’s ESPN that I’m mostly talking about and some Saints fans who think this game will be a blowout. I personally think it could go either way. It’s too close to call. I feel about it the same way I felt about the Ravens game, close game but I’ll give the edge to the home team. Hopefully the extra week will have done the team some good. Delanie Walker is out for the game, and Kyle Williams and Ray McDonald are still limited in practice but sound like they will be good to go at game time.

The Niners O-line should be fine. When the O-line is bad, they’re just downright terrible ala in the Ravens and Cardinals games and early in the season. If the core group is together, Staley, Lupati, Goodwin, Synder, Davis, they play well. It seem if one of them goes down the whole line collapses.

Another thing I want to mention is the offense, at times the offense can struggle. Which is one of the points pro-Saints people keep making is how bad the Niners offense is. To be honest, it isn’t great, but it isn’t as terrible as it’s made out to be. They’re 26th in the league in yards gained but 11th in scoring. So it’s clear they can put up the points. Will they be able to do it against the Saints, who knows but it’s boom or bust time for Alex Smith. I like the guy, I want him on the team for three more years so he makes the all-decade/10-year team and annoys other Niners fans with that honor.