January 20, 2012
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The Daily News
1 Niners by 10.
2 Just sayin'.
3 I'm thinking like a New Yorker.
4 Although the original New York Daily News keeps divvying out confidence builders for their team, facts is facts.
5 New York stopped Frank Gore in the last game, shut him down completely. But Gore had a bum ankle, and Kendall Hunter stepped up and gained 6.7 yards per carry in the second half.
6 The Giants have been inconsistent all year. They are 11-7 on the season. Gore is healthy, and so is Hunter. It looks like rain in the fourth quarter. Don't underestimate what that will do for a team whose defense consistently takes footballs away from opponents the same way that bullies take candy from red-headed schoolboys. Don't underestimate the rain. Yes, the Giants have been much better against the run, but with both Gore and Hunter healthy, they could be in trouble in wet weather. And don't underestimate Candlestick Park, nor the intimidation of some very hungry and determined Niner fans.
7 Most of the Giants' wins have been the result of inconsistent play, and a reliance on quarterback Eli Manning to deliver in the clutch. That's nice, but it isn't consistent, and it isn't going to get any team to the Super Bowl. There's a reason they have lost seven games, and there is a reason we have lost only three. Any sort of comeback in rainy weather is pretty iffy.
8 Candlestick Park is going to be rocking, and when Candlestick Park rocks, other teams roll. They roll outta here with tails between their legs. Expect fumbles, mistakes, and turnovers to happen to the Giants.
9 Their strength is supposedly stopping the run. Ain't gonna happen. We will hit guys on the flat, and Alex Smith will play everything conservatively because of the rain. There will be at least two game-breaking passes to the determined Vernon Davis, and there will be at least two picks off Eli Manning. Our secondary is too much for their receivers.
10 The Harbaugh Factor: Where the storied head coach Bill Walsh was considered a "genius", present coach Jim Harbaugh is a madman. He's crazy. He's a lunatic. To Harbaugh, football isn't a game; it's a war. And that will be the number one difference in the game. He is intolerent of anything less than perfect. He will lie, cheat, and trick. He scares referees. He is a ticking bomb, and his players know it. The 49ers make the least mistakes of any team in the NFL. And they force a lot of mistakes by the other teams.
11 Our special teams will perform at least one mini-miracle. They are arguably our best special teams in the history of the franchise.
12 The Number Six: When the Niners won their fifth Super Bowl against no defeats, they had bragging rights. They no longer do, and haven't for a long time. The Pittsburgh Steelers still own six. Harbaugh and Company want to right that one.
13 It's gonna happen. Sometimes football unfolds in odd ways. This year, look to the Harbaugh/Harbaugh Super Bowl to be the most talked about in history. What makes the Ravens the Ravens?
14 Defense. No turnovers. Period.
15 The two teams are where they are because of these remarkably similar coaches.
16 I don't want to look past the New York Giants mainly because of how they mangled the storied Packers. They can send anybody packing. They beat Green Bay at Lambeau, which traditionally is something nearly impossible to do. But anyone with half a brain could see that they prepared for the game better than did the Packers. Green Bay beat themselves with a lack of adequate preparation. That ain't gonna happen to the Niners.
17 The road to the Super Bowl goes through Candlestick. It might for many more years, beginning Sunday.
18 It will be a swirl of red, candy for the home team, and absolute Hell for the visiting Giants. I was at the game the last time the Giants met us at a playoff game. Candlestick was remarkably quiet in our comeback win.
19 It is going to be an entirely different Candlestick this Sunday. A storied franchise that has been mismanaged for ten years is hungry. The fans are ravenous. They will be loud. The coach is out of his mind. The stage is set.
20 My sister Gayle and her son Michael, both ravenous fans, will be out there, sitting in my Mom and Dad's seats. Dad will be home, calm and funny as usual. Mom will be looking over the stadium from above, and will bring it, the same way she brought it for the San Francisco Giants' World Series.
21 The Niners by ten. Let's say 24-14, but only because of the late game rain.
22 Bold prediction. But the most underrated factor in all of this is how amazing Alex Smith has become since I told him and Singletary to take their dog-and-pony show somewhere else. I was absolutely convinced that Smith was a lame duck this year.
23 I had every reason to. After six years in the NFL, if you are showing absolutely no sense of instincts, reflexes and wisdom, you need to get another job. There was a time that I thought if Alex lost his job and got hired at McDonald's, he would have flipped burgers into car windows.
24 Enter Jim Harbaugh. In last week's game, Harbaugh finally gave Alex the keys to the car. He put everything into Alex culminating in Alex's walk-off throw to Vernon Davis, which was one of the greatest throws in NFL history. Davis' grab is what people remember, but Alex's throw was a screaming bullet. He knew what he had to do. Vernon knew what he had to do. They practiced that play a billion times. That's how you win. That's how they will win. By ten.
25 Alex's story is now franchise history. Vernon's story is now franchise history. It won't end on Sunday no matter what happens.
26 Niners by ten.
27 Late.
~H~
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