Cowboys Vs. 49ers - My Crystal Ball

[jday]

In week 1, my crystal ball told me to expect an ugly showing against the Raiders and for the most part that assessment was fairly accurate. Transversely, in week 2, my crystal ball told me to look for marked improvement among the ranks; once again, my crystal ball was spot on. So here we are at week 3 and quite possibly the most important game of the preseason, being the dress rehearsal where the starters will likely play 3 quarters. What does the crystal ball say?

The big story line out of the 49ers camp is Michael Crabtree, who from the look of things will sit out the 2009 season and reenter the draft to be up for grabs and likely will not see the 1st round again, dependent on the talent pool at WR. In short, he feels he should have been drafted above Darrius Heywar-Bey, and therefore, should be paid more. The 49ers obviously disagree. As far as I'm concerned: Kudos to both sides of this argument for sticking to their guns.

But even if Michael Crabtree was a part of this team, I'd still have a hard time being concerned about them. They have good players, but it has been a long time since they have had all the right pieces at the same time. Like the Titans, they will test our run defense. But also like the Titans, they don't have much of a passing attack to scare the Cowboys into backing off their otherwise vaunted rush defense, which should likely end quite a few 49er offensive drives with 3 and outs.

Defensively, the 49ers lack identity and cohesion, Patrick Willis being a lone bright spot and Manny Lawson being a guy with all the physical tools and the mental capacity of a small rock. Nevertheless, if the lights do ever come on for Manny, he could be a very dangerous linebacker. Outside of those two, the 49ers have a blend of has-beens such as Dre Bly and Takeo Spikes, never-have-beens, Walt Harris, Allen Rossum, Mark Roman and could-be's such as Ricky Jean-Francois, Scott McKillop and Curtis Taylor.

Once again, the Cowboy's should be dominant. But there is one caveat to that. How do the 49ers treat the Cowboy's with out #1 WR Roy Williams, who was injured at practice last night (bad Scandrick, bad)? Personally, I don't think Roy Williams is as crucial to the offense as he has been made out to be. There is still quite a bit of talent to distribute the ball to, and our best receivers, even with Roy Williams on the field, are still in my mind our two top TE's Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett. And then, of course, there is the RB core, which should still be able to keep the 49ers defense honest. The Cowboys win 31 to the 49ers 6.

 

[speedkilz88]

Manny Lawson is still a better football player than Bobby Carpenter.

 

[jday]

Manny Lawson is still a better football player than Bobby Carpenter.

That's debatable. Granted, I'd have rather had Manny Lawson over Carpenter just for his potential. Neither were worthy of being 1st round draft picks, but Manny has received alot more opportunities to shine than Carpenter has. Plus, he hasn't had to move aorund like Carpenter has and he hasn't had to learn new defensive scheme's like Carpenter has.

 

[TwoDeep3]

In week 1, my crystal ball told me to expect an ugly showing against the Raiders and for the most part that assessment was fairly accurate. Transversely, in week 2, my crystal ball told me to look for marked improvement among the ranks; once again, my crystal ball was spot on. So here we are at week 3 and quite possibly the most important game of the preseason, being the dress rehearsal where the starters will likely play 3 quarters. What does the crystal ball say?

The big story line out of the 49ers camp is Michael Crabtree, who from the look of things will sit out the 2009 season and reenter the draft to be up for grabs and likely will not see the 1st round again, dependent on the talent pool at WR. In short, he feels he should have been drafted above Darrius Heywar-Bey, and therefore, should be paid more. The 49ers obviously disagree. As far as I'm concerned: Kudos to both sides of this argument for sticking to their guns.

But even if Michael Crabtree was a part of this team, I'd still have a hard time being concerned about them. They have good players, but it has been a long time since they have had all the right pieces at the same time. Like the Titans, they will test our run defense. But also like the Titans, they don't have much of a passing attack to scare the Cowboys into backing off their otherwise vaunted rush defense, which should likely end quite a few 49er offensive drives with 3 and outs.

Defensively, the 49ers lack identity and cohesion, Patrick Willis being a lone bright spot and Manny Lawson being a guy with all the physical tools and the mental capacity of a small rock. Nevertheless, if the lights do ever come on for Manny, he could be a very dangerous linebacker. Outside of those two, the 49ers have a blend of has-beens such as Dre Bly and Takeo Spikes, never-have-beens, Walt Harris, Allen Rossum, Mark Roman and could-be's such as Ricky Jean-Francois, Scott McKillop and Curtis Taylor.

Once again, the Cowboy's should be dominant. But there is one caveat to that. How do the 49ers treat the Cowboy's with out #1 WR Roy Williams, who was injured at practice last night (bad Scandrick, bad)? Personally, I don't think Roy Williams is as crucial to the offense as he has been made out to be. There is still quite a bit of talent to distribute the ball to, and our best receivers, even with Roy Williams on the field, are still in my mind our two top TE's Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett. And then, of course, there is the RB core, which should still be able to keep the 49ers defense honest. The Cowboys win 31 to the 49ers 6.

I was with you up until the highlighted red sentence. While the team appears to have many answers in the passing game, to diminish the value of Roy seems a stretch to me.

Austin will have a shot at showing he can be the player some think he can. I suspect he will not be as good as the wishful-thinkers that have anointed him thus far.

With Hurd out, this passing game will be pot luck.

And this week we see the value of reaching out for a safety net at WR. Wouldn't it be great to have a guy like Holt to step in if this were much more critical?

 

[LeonDixson]

How much does anybody want to bet we either go 3 and out our 1st series if we get the ball first, or have a penalty on the kick return, or both.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

Manny Lawson is still a better football player than Bobby Carpenter.

That's highly debatable.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

That's debatable. Granted, I'd have rather had Manny Lawson over Carpenter just for his potential. Neither were worthy of being 1st round draft picks, but Manny has received alot more opportunities to shine than Carpenter has. Plus, he hasn't had to move aorund like Carpenter has and he hasn't had to learn new defensive scheme's like Carpenter has.

Manny has no potential bro. He's been in the league 4 years now and hasn't done ****. The guy was a workout warrior just like his teammate Vernon Davis. They suck at football and Manny can't rush the passer if his life depended on it. He's thier version of Stanback.

 

[jday]

I was with you up until the highlighted red sentence. While the team appears to have many answers in the passing game, to diminish the value of Roy seems a stretch to me.

Austin will have a shot at showing he can be the player some think he can. I suspect he will not be as good as the wishful-thinkers that have anointed him thus far.

With Hurd out, this passing game will be pot luck.

And this week we see the value of reaching out for a safety net at WR. Wouldn't it be great to have a guy like Holt to step in if this were much more critical?

Nevertheless, I stand by it. Provided Jason Garrett keeps the play calling diverse and keep the opposing defense off balance, the difference between having Roy Williams and not having him should not be the difference between winning games and losing games. Just my humble opinion.

More on that abortion of a rehearsal later....