Week 17: 49ers @ Commanders

[thesack12]

OUT: Armstead, Jennings, Tig Brown, Jaylon Moore, Dwelley, Jalen Graham

Tay Martin was temporarily promoted from the practice squad, instead of activating Danny Gray. That Gray picks continues to look worse and worse.

Erik Harris also promoted from the practice squad.

9ers are going into this game very thin at OT, WR, and safety. Not any viable depth at any of those position groups. Hopefully that won't be a factor in this game.

As I mentioned that last week, this game scares me and has trap game written all over it.

Short rest, east coast trip, early kickoff, against a team with nothing to lose, and both their coaching staff and Front office are on their way out the door.

Brissett was set to be the starter this week, but suffered an injury in practice this week and is now out for today. I was concerned that Brissett might giv the commies a spark, as Howell has been pretty awful for awhile now. However, not entering this week as the starter took a lot of pressure off his shoulders, and he had a chance to decompress. With the Wash current regime gone, Howell knows this might be his last chance at being a starter so actually having him back out there might be worse than having Brissett.

Wash is down a handful of o-lineman, so in theory the 9er DL should have a strong game, especially going against Howell who has taken the most sacks in the NFL by a WIDE margin. However, we've seen several times before when an opposing team is down some OLineman the 9ers defense doesn't really seem to take advantage of that. Also this DL has been a pretty big disappointment overall this season.

Their D is missing its top 2 CB's and a starting safety, and their pass rush is not great. So hopefully that will allow the offense to hum all game long and take firm control early on.

After the loss last week, getting a W today is imperative to stay on track to get the coveted #1 seed.

[thesack12]

Going back to the notion that Washington has nothing to lose along with this coaching staff being on their way out, 9ers have to fully aware and ready for lots of trickery today.

Surprise Onside kicks
Fake punts
Fake FG's
Frequently Going for it on 4th down

9ers need to stay on high alert every time Washington is on 4th down, regardless of the situation.

Everybody knows SF's special teams are a big negative. Also, 9ers sure seem to lose focus, miss assignments, and have bad execution in off script situations. The defense is not good on 4th downs.

"Riverboat Ron" Rivera frequently goes for the risky gambles. Now that he knows he's about to get fired, we could see those tendencies get amplified today. I wouldn't be surprised if the Commies rarely punt today. On a related side note, if they don't punt very much hopefully that's not because the defense can't get off the damn field which we've seen happen far too often this season.

This game scares me.

[arich35]

Brown is also out this week and possibly next week. Down to our 3rd string safety who wasn't even on the team 6 weeks ago, Logan Ryan

[thesack12]

Brown is also out this week and possibly next week. Down to our 3rd string safety who wasn't even on the team 6 weeks ago, Logan Ryan

Yup, razor thin at S.

Supposedly Isaiah Oliver has been taking snaps at safety in practice. Hopefully they won't need to put him back there.

Next week against Kupp and Puka could get ugly with safety being a big concern

[Samurai]

Praying that we don't look past Washington. Purdy needs to prove that Xmas was a bad game and not a bad sign. Get back to dominating the opponent no matter who it is and play like the #1 team again.

[thesack12]

Mason in as kickoff returner, which is a change

[thesack12]

Still don't like CMC as a short yardage back

[thesack12]

CMC ran right into Burford, not sure who's fault that was

[thesack12]

Nice job by Purdy to use his legs and move the sticks.

Don't love to see him dive though

[thesack12]

Yikes, that was ugly and dangerous

Very remininscent of one the INT's last week with pump fake on the screen

[thesack12]

Seemed like Brock saw some ghosts in the pocket there

[RIPskaterdude]

Not a good screen at all

[RIPskaterdude]

That FG was too close

[thesack12]

I'll take 3, but that stupid 2nd down playcall ruined the drive.

That play Was a disaster last week on the INT result, and it went backwards this week.

Hey Kyle, maybe you ought to remove that one from the playbook

[arich35]

Why are we so bad on RB screens

[Samurai]

3 is better than nothing but could have had 7 if Juice could have held on to that deep pass. That 3rd down throwaway by Purdy was potentially another disastrous decision.

[RIPskaterdude]

Cardinals in red zone

[thesack12]

3 is better than nothing but could have had 7 if Juice could have held on to that deep pass. That 3rd down throwaway by Purdy was potentially another disastrous decision.

I don't think it was a terrible decision, as it would have been EXTREMELY unlikely dude could have held on and kept his feet in bounds.

However, in principle I agree. Brock was well outside the pocket just huck it into the stands, no reason to even make it close.

[thesack12]

Come on Dmo, gotta make that pick bro

[thesack12]

3 and outs are good, we'll take them all day long.

Just keep the fake punts in mind