RemaAcker

subota, 21.01.2012.

The Bell Tolls: Stormy skies await 49ers, Giants

At some point around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Jim Harbaugh stepped onto his office balcony overlooking the practice fields and saw a very red sky.

This was some sort of message for the 49ers rookie coach, yet only a coincidence that the team will be outfitted for Sunday's NFC title game in scarlet .
"That means, 'Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning,'" Harbaugh said. "I anticipate that we'll have some precipitation today. Some weather. That'll be a great thing for us."

Sure enough, as the 49ers practiced outdoors on Thursday, it rained.
Harbaugh saw this a good thing, maybe even a good omen.

"Admiral Bull Halsey once said, 'If you're going to fight in the North Atlantic, then you've got to prepare in the North Atlantic,'" Harbaugh added.
Never mind that the NFC title game will be played near the Pacific Ocean. Harbaugh was on a roll. And his point is well-taken.
Forecasters predict that two more weather systems will hit the Bay Area before Monday, which threatens to turn the turf at Candlestick Park into a soggy mess as the 49ers and New York Giants mud-wrestle for the right to advance to Super Bowl XLVI.
It's possible that the latter system could hit during the title game, or it might hold off until later on Sunday night.
Says Harbaugh, "We won't know until Sunday morning, when we can check the sky."
The conditions might benefit the 49ers, but not as much as they would if they were playing last weekend's opponent, the dome-homed New Orleans Saints.
The all-weather Giants know all about inclement weather and places prone to swirling winds, like The Stick. Last weekend, they won at the icebox that was Lambeau Field.
"I like playing football regardless of snow, sleet, sun, whatever," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said from the team's complex in New Jersey.
Giants left tackle David Diehl was a bit more colorful in dismissing any concerns about the weather. Diehl told The (Newark) Star Ledger, "My mudder was a mudder. So I think I'm going to be all right."
Still, the pendulum can swing in many ways, due to the weather.
Last weekend, just before 49ers safety Donte Whitner delivered the tone-setting hit that knocked Pierre Thomas out of the game with a concussion in the first quarter, Darren Sproles slipped on the turf while making a cut after catching a pass in the flat. In the Superdome, it was probably a touchdown cut. Those cuts might be tougher to make Sunday.
Which team can control the trenches and win the running game edge will have a huge advantage. Yet in addition to the cutbacks that the runner can or cannot execute, the footing and leverage of the linemen on both sides are earmarked as crucial.
"Yeah, I think you may have to take a look at your cleats a little bit and maybe shorten your strides just a little bit," says Justin Smith, the 49ers' all-pro D-tackle. "That's more of a reaction or reflex than it is to think about."
Perhaps the conditions will slow down the Giants' ferocious pass rush. Maybe the slickness of the football will lead to more turnovers. And the weather will potentially alter strategy, with some plays in the gameplan scratched or others leaned on due to this X-factor.
Last weekend, 49ers O-coordinator Greg Roman made one of the gutsiest play-calls you'll ever see when on third-and-eight, with the game on the line, he called for quarterback Alex Smith to run a bootleg. There were huge risks. Had the Saints blown up the play, a potential game-tying field goal try by David Akers would have been more difficult.
And worse things might have also happened.
Yet Smith took off around the left end and dashed up the sideline, aided by pulling tackle Joe Staley's lead block, for a 28-yard touchdown.
Wonder if Roman would have called for that play on a muddy field.
"You try to play the game in your head all week and when you have bad weather, you just picture that field all mudded up," Roman said. "You start going through the contingencies in your mind. There's no doubt, you have to."
Roman is a big highlighter guy. Rather than devise a separate play-calling sheet of "bad weather plays," he'll mark the gameplan with the contingencies. He says that generally the offense has the advantage on a wet field.
"By the same token, though, running backs can't hit a hole or can't make a cut that they usually would, so advantage defense," he said. "It works both ways."
Then again, it just might come down to which quarterback can best throw a wet football.
The Giants, with their big-play passing attack, might have more to lose in this regard.
Yet Eli Manning hardly sounds like he's sweating it.
"I think I'm fine throwing it in the rain," Manning said. "It's not something I worry about. I've always felt the offense has an advantage throwing the ball, especially. The receivers have an advantage when the ground is wet, because they know where they're going and what they're doing. They should be able to come out of their breaks a little bit better. We shouldn't be the ones slipping. It's usually the defensive side that slips."
In any event, Mother Nature looms as an intriguing subplot for the NFC title game.
Look for the red morning sky?
"The field conditions, this and that, the tide, it really doesn't matter," Smith insists. "They are going to run the ball, they are going to play-action, that's what they do. They're not going to change who they are and what they do at this time of the season."
Other items to ponder heading into Championship Weekend:
•Trending:Road warriors. Home teams are 7-1 in this year's playoffs, and it is only fitting that the Giants are the only team to win a road game. New York has won four consecutive road playoff games. With a victory at San Francisco, Giants coach Tom Coughlin, including his stint with Jacksonville, would match Tom Landry's mark for most career postseason road victories (7). Eli Manning? The Giants quarterback is 4-1 in career road playoff games, which matches Len Dawson, Roger Staubach, Jake Delhomme, Mark Sanchez and another quarterback seeking his record fifth career road playoff win this weekend —Joe Flacco.
•Key matchup:Terrell Suggs vs. Matt Light. One of the most striking occurrences last weekend was that the Ravens didn't get a single sack against Texans rookie T.J. Yates. To have a chance at New England, it is essential that Baltimore put consistent pressure on Tom Brady— in the form of sacks, moving him off his spot and disrupting timing. That's where Suggs, who led the AFC with 14 sacks, is key. He'll line up all across the front, but will surely match up on occasion with Light, the veteran left tackle. Brady has an array of weapons, including tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, but his most valuable target to counter the troubling Baltimore blitzes might be quintessential blitz-beater Wes Welker, who led the NFL with 122 catches, typically stinging defenses with his shallow crossing routes over the middle.
•Who's hot:Hakeem Nicks. In two playoff games, the sure-handed Giants receiver has caught 13 passes for 280 yards and 4 touchdowns — including his leaping grab of a Hail Mary pass between three defenders, just before halftime last weekend at Lambeau. That undoubtedly puts Nicks on the radar for extra attention from the 49ers secondary, but just one issue facing a unit that has been susceptible to big plays. San Francisco has allowed 12 plays of 40 yards or more — including two against the Saints last weekend — and the pattern plays into the hands of New York's big-play passing attack and trio of top-shelf receivers. If Eli Manning isn't gunning for Nicks, he can also look for the clutch target that is Victor Cruz (who set the franchise's record for receiving yards in a season) and Mario Manningham. Still, the hottest pair of hands belong to Nicks.
•Pressure's on:Joe Flacco. When Ravens all-pro safety Ed Reed opined this week that his quarterback appeared rattled against the Texans, it ignited a mini firestorm. Criticize your own quarterback? It was a reflection, too, of Baltimore culture. After an October loss at Jacksonville, Terrell Suggs criticized the coaches for only calling five running plays that night for Ray Rice. Sometimes, that's how they roll. Reed also expressed questions about the strategy O-coordinator Cam Cameron supplied Flacco to work with, wondered if Ricky Williams needed more action and pointed out that the O-line needed to better protect the quarterback. Perhaps Reed caused a distraction by not keeping such sentiments behind closed doors, but you can't knock his honesty. In one sense, it came across as a wake-up message heading into the biggest mission of the season. And hey, with Tom Brady flinging from the other side, the Ravens need a big game from the strong-armed Flacco — who has sometimes sputtered, but also won road playoff games in each of the past three years. If Flacco wants to be considered an elite quarterback, now is the time to show it.
•Key adjustment:Devin McCourty. When the Patriots defense put together its most complete game of the season against Denver last weekend, McCourty primarily played safety, switched from cornerback in yet another tweak by Bill Belichick amid the challenge of building another championship defense. Sterling Moore, a safety, was moved to cornerback. As unusual as it seems for such moves at this stage of the season, it was another example of how resourceful Belichick has been to get to another title game, despite fielding a defense ranked 31st for yards allowed. The stats might be a bit skewed. Sure, New England gives up a lot of passing yards — 10 quarterbacks threw for 300 against the Patriots this season, including two who topped 400 — but the defense has played "situational" football well and produced an AFC-high 34 takeaways. Now, it'll be interesting to see if McCourty's move to center field swings another situation.
• Quick slants: Giants running back Brandon Jacobs has heard all about the big hit that hard-hitting 49ers safety Donte Whitner put on Pierre Thomas last weekend, which may have affected the outcome as Thomas fumbled away the ball and never returned after suffering a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet blow. "To get knocked out, that means they hit you on the head," Jacobs noted. "I wish like hell one of them would try to hit me in my head."…When the Patriots hit the practice field on Wednesday, 18 players were listed on the injury report, including Tom Brady, listed with a left shoulder injury. The Ravens had just one. What to make of it? Not much. Brady, who returned to practice on Thursday, is traditionally listed with one ailment or another and the high tally is seemingly Belichick's way of, well, complying with NFL rules for full disclosure…There were 54 fans ejected from Candlestick Park last weekend for unruly behavior during the NFC divisional playoff game. 49ers CEO Jed York promises that security, including undercover agents, will be heightened for the title game…San Francisco officials downplay the potential for another power outage at The Stick, given the blown transformer that disrupted the 49ers-Steelers Monday night game last month. The city says that it has spent more than $1 million in upgrades since the outage…The Ravens are 7-0 against playoff teams this season.

21.01.2012. u 03:13 • 0 Komentara • Print • #

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RemaAcker

subota, 21.01.2012.

The Bell Tolls: Stormy skies await 49ers, Giants

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