BBQ vs. Sourdough: Super Bowl LVIII thread

I'll wait for a couple of weeks. Have fun obsessing, folks.

 

Right, that's what I was trying to say.

 

I think you're probably right, but you need to either compare Jimmy G. pre-SB, or wait to see what we think of Purdy in 2 weeks.

 

I have gotten some enjoyment out of watching the short-run Super Bowl Classics channel on the Pluto TV app over the past few days.

Super Bowl XIX, albeit a bit of a blowout, remains a fun game to watch just because it was the first game (in my opinion) that featured what would become the modern more pass-friendly offense that we see today. Obviously two of the best QBs to ever play, but a high underrated performance from Roger Craig. An overall dominant game from a 49ers that went 18-1 and still some good stuff from Marino even though the Niners defense took Mark Duper and forced him to check it down to Tony Nathan and Joe Rose a lot.

 

Purdy still sails too many passes over the middle of the field. How he keeps getting away with that shit is beyond me. I thought when he got picked yesterday it was going to be the start of something, but to his credit, he didn't get discouraged, used his legs when he had to and did a hell of a job in the second half.

 

His legs and a defender's facemask did more to win the game than anything his arm did.

 

I seem to remember him taking a picture of an Arizona Cardinals fan in LA as a harbinger of the Cards beating the Rams in a wild card game. The cards got squashed.

 

Kansas City's defense is better this time around.

 

"The narrative" of the season seems to have played into the setting of the initial line. All year long we heard "What is wrong with the Chiefs offense?" and "The Niners look unstoppable." Yet - you look at these playoff games, and throw in that the AFC was far more competitive this year - I think its the Chiefs. Niners went 1-3 against the AFC North - only win was Pittsburgh.

 

One of the most insightful articles I've read about what's going on with motion, "kill/we're good" signal, etc. by an active QB:

How does the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree dice up defenses? Here's the process

Hope I'm okay providing an excerpt:

An example: Let’s say the San Francisco 49ers are playing the New England Patriots. On third down and 4 to 6 yards, let’s say the Patriots top three coverages are Cover 1, Cover 2 Tampa and Cover 3 Firezone. The 49ers call two plays in the huddle on their first third-and-4 to 6. The first play will be designed to beat man, the second play will be good versus zone coverage, specifically Cover 2 Tampa and Cover 3 Firezone. Pre-snap the 49ers will most likely place a running back or tight end out wide to see if a linebacker or safety walks to cover them. If he does, then they run the man-beating play with the first read being Deebo Samuel. If the corner is over the TE or RB, then they “alert” or “can” or “kill” the play to the zone beater with the first read being Christian McCaffrey. Voila, you run a play that has a higher probability for success.​

 

Not to make excuses for the Niners, but they also blew out Jacksonville on the road when the Jaguars were playing decent. That Cincy game was by far the Bengals' best game of the year, with Burrow finally healthy. The Browns game was weird and came down to a rookie kicker missing at the end. Baltimore did kick their ass six ways to Sunday in Santa Clara, so there's that.

 

The Ravens loss was understandable given how well Baltimore was playing.

Browns saw Deebo get hurt in the rain and the kicker missed a game-winning attempt.
Bengals there was no Deebo and no Trent Williams. And Burrow had his game of the year.

Niners came out of the bye healthy and looked like world beaters—upending the Jags and a 10-1 Eagles. The Eagles’ dive began after that Niners game.

I like the Niners’ run game against the Chiefs. I like the linebackers against their weapons short. I worry about the ability of them to get home with the front four. There’s talk among fans of wanting to see Chase Young benched. I’m also curious if the KC receivers continue the trend of not dropping passes how the Niners secondary holds up. And Mahomes can run against a team that is suddenly struggling to stop the run.

We’ll see. My feeling about how this will play out was much different before the Ravens game than it is after the Packers and Lions. And God knows what things both teams see in tape they can exploit and how they call the game when that falls apart.

Heart says Niners close. Head says Chiefs by two scores.