NFL Week 12: Bubbler gets his Lisch

Dang it. Ravens kick the winner with a minute left. No tie. But in addition to the actual tie this year, there have been at least three games that went to the last three minutes of OT. The ties are coming.

After the way they bungled that end of regulation, if the Chargers wanted to fire Norv tomorrow, it would be completely justified. And they'd stand a better chance of eking out a playoff spot.

 

So much for that.

 

And just when the Cardinals were handed a glorious opportunity to get back into the playoff race in the NFC --- after Minnesota, Seattle, Dallas, Tampa Bay and New Orleans all lost --- they go back to being what we thought they were for most of the last 25 years. Way to go, guys.

 

No way the Steelers can win another game this season with a QB other than Roethlisberger taking snaps unless you like their chances of reeling off a couple of 9-6 games.

 

That's entirely possible. If they even had just 4 turnovers today, instead of 7 or whatever the final tally was, they probably would have beaten the Browns.

 

barring an injury, alex smith has started his final game for san fran. coaches play 'their guy' at the first chance. i understand harbaugh's preference for 'his guy' in this case, but sheesh, it takes a huge pair to pull the plug on a guy who's, what did they say, 26-1, or something? but smith has had his year and someone will now overpay for him in a trade. methinks alex smith = matt cassel.

 

Though that probably says more about the Browns than anything.

 

20-6-1

 

Smith has been around far longer than Cassel. Everyone has plenty of tape with which to evaluate him, both on winning teams and losing ones.

Smith will be fine. Guess here is if he's healthy he's back before the playoffs. He's still among the top 15-20 QBs in the league.

 

The Wallace INT was a bad pass. It was behind him.
So were the lame duck long balls he tossed.
Batch has a 38-year-old arm and it showed. He didn't look rusty. He looked bad. And it was highlighted by a piss-poor performance by the running backs and O-line.

There's lots of blame to go around for the loss, but it's all on the offense. Fuck me. I can't remember the last time they looked that bad.

 

No way will anybody trade for Smith. Everyone knows he'll be cut. Big roster bonus in the spring that they won't pay IIRC.

It's a huge risk for Smith's next team. I love what Harbaugh did with him and I still think the 49ers could win the Super Bowl with him. But they are tons better with Kaepernick.

The only other time Alex has looked like a good NFL quarterback is 2006 with Norv as his OC. So maybe Norv gets that job somewhere and he brings Alex in. Otherwise I don't know ... Harbaugh got so much more out of him than anyone thought was there.

 

Can't fault Harbaugh, and it's good to see an NFL coach make a bold move.

Where Smith's departure could really hurt, though, is if the Niners don't get a decent backup for 2013. Right now, if Kaepernick gets hurt, no problem. Just put Smith back in. But once he's gone next year, depending on whom they sign to be the No. 2 guy, a Kapernick injury could be devastating. We've seen the last few weeks what happens to teams (Bears, Steelers) when their QB goes down. The Niners were the exception because of Kaepernick, but they won't have that luxury next year.