Niners vs Seahawks: What's Your Deal Bowl II
- Thread starter Pansas
- Start date
San Francisco 49ers (11-3) at Seattle Seahawks (7-7) I like the 49ers a lot, and think they have a heck of a shot to confound the offense-lovers in January and win one or two playoff games. I like Seattle a little more in this game because I tend to like the desperate team late in the season. And because you 49er fans get SOOOOOO angry when I pick against your team. It's such a cute trait.Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/12/22/week.16/index.html#ixzz1hMpzRxFs
When the NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers come to Seattle’s CenturyLink Field to face the Seahawks on Saturday afternoon, former general manager Scot McCloughan will be watching from afar, taking pride in the formidable team he helped build.
That doesn’t mean McCloughan, a senior personnel executive for the Seahawks since June of 2010, is in any way ambivalent about the outcome.
Related Coverage
Scot McCloughan spent five seasons with the Niners.
(US Presswire)
“They come to our place Christmas Eve,” McCloughan says of the 11-3 Niners, “and we’re going to beat the hell out of ‘em.”
It’s a game with potential playoff implications for both teams – San Francisco is trying to hold off New Orleans for a first-round bye, while Seattle (7-7) has won five of its last six games to remain mathematically alive in the wild-card race – and McCloughan won’t attend.
If he doesn’t want to be a distraction, it’s understandable. Fired abruptly by the 49ers in March of 2010, McCloughan still keeps in touch with many of his former players and derives genuine pleasure from their success.
Even as McCloughan looks ahead to the future – several league sources, one a prominent general manager for another team, say he’s a viable candidate for the Oakland Raiders’ vacant GM job and that he could be in play for potential openings with the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers – he hasn’t let go of his past.
On the first Sunday of December, McCloughan spent the afternoon at Champions sports bar in the downtown Indianapolis Marriott while on a scouting trip. He asked the bartender to tune a small television near his table to the 49ers-Rams game and watched until the second quarter, when San Francisco halfback Frank Gore gained two yards on a seemingly nondescript carry.
The game stopped. Gore, 28, had surpassed Hall of Famer Joe Perry to become the leading rusher in franchise history. McCloughan became so emotional that he left and went back upstairs to his room.
“I got up and walked away,” McCloughan recalls. “Just to know that he did it, it was so cool. And that’s all I wanted to see. The guy deserved it. He blew out both knees and both shoulders, and the son of a gun still goes to work. He represents everything I tried to build.”
On a broader level, the Niners’ best season in at least nine years has reflected positively on more than first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. It’s now abundantly clear that McCloughan, who served as the team’s vice president of football operations from 2005-08 before holding the GM title for his final two years with the organization, stockpiled a great deal of talent during his tenure.
While former San Francisco coaches Mike Nolan (who essentially hired McCloughan) and Mike Singletary (hired after a reasonably successful interim stint following Nolan’s dismissal in ’08) were unable to mold that talent into winning teams, Harbaugh has utilized it to the fullest.
Frank Gore gains a few yards during his record-setting day against the Rams.
(Getty Images)
This is not to diminish the contributions of current Niners GM Trent Baalke, who was McCloughan’s top personnel assistant before ascending to his current job at the end of the 2010 season. However, McCloughan ran the team’s drafts from 2005 to ’09, and it’s hard not to look at the Niners’ current roster and see his fingerprints.
In 2005, McCloughan and Nolan took quarterback Alex Smith with the No. 1 overall selection, a move that has been roundly ridiculed until this season, when the much-maligned quarterback flourished in Harbaugh’s offense. (Yes, the Niners could have taken Aaron Rodgers, though in fairness a whole lot of other teams passed on him, too.)
Gore, a third-round pick in ’05, has been one of the better backs in football during his seven-year career. Starting guard Adam Snyder was also drafted in the third round that year.
Tight ends Vernon Davis, a Pro Bowl participant two seasons ago, and Delanie Walker, who has emerged as a major weapon in Harbaugh’s offense, went in the first and sixth rounds, respectively, of the ’06 draft. Parys Haralson, a starter at outside linebacker, was a fifth-round pick that year.
The ’07 draft was a bonanza, with a crop that included five current starters: star inside linebacker Patrick Willis (first round), left tackle Joe Staley (first), defensive tackle Ray McDonald (third), free safety Dashon Goldson (fourth) and cornerback Tarell Brown (fifth).
McCloughan didn’t do as well the following two seasons. In ’08 he drafted a pair of current backups (guard Chilo Rachal and safety Reggie Smith) and promising wideout Josh Morgan, who’s currently on injured reserve. The prize of the ’09 class was first-rounder Michael Crabtree, and backup nose tackle Ricky Jean Francois went in the seventh round.
Justin Smith recovered a fumble in the Niners' win Monday night.
(Getty Images)
The Niners weren’t overly active in free agency during McCloughan’s tenure. As a disciple of former Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf, McCloughan believes strongly in building through the draft. However, it should be noted that defensive end Justin Smith – the veteran Harbaugh described as “our most valuable player” following Monday night’s 20-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers – was lured away from the Cincinnati Bengals following the ’07 season with a six-year, $45-million deal.
Until this season Smith was regarded as a solid player who was probably a bit overpaid. McCloughan, however, never saw it that way, reasoning that Smith was the type of hard-working, no-nonsense leader he sought as an organizational tone-setter on the field and in the locker room.
McCloughan declined to discuss the specifics of his time with the 49ers, nor did he have any desire to comment on his messy departure or the rumors regarding his personal life that accompanied it.
He had no comment on the prospect of working with the Raiders, a team for whom his father, Kent, has been a scout for more than three decades. McCloughan’s brother, Dave, also works in Oakland’s personnel department, and league sources say Wolf is assisting the franchise in its GM search.
“I’m very happy right now,” said McCloughan, who is still based out of Northern California. “If an opportunity ever presents itself, I feel very good about what I can do. I know I can build a team that wins games.”
On Saturday, he’ll be watching a winning team he helped assemble with great affection – while rooting for the Niners to lose, naturally.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_scot_mccloughan_niners_raiders_gm_seahawks112311
That doesn’t mean McCloughan, a senior personnel executive for the Seahawks since June of 2010, is in any way ambivalent about the outcome.
Related Coverage
Scot McCloughan spent five seasons with the Niners.
(US Presswire)
“They come to our place Christmas Eve,” McCloughan says of the 11-3 Niners, “and we’re going to beat the hell out of ‘em.”
It’s a game with potential playoff implications for both teams – San Francisco is trying to hold off New Orleans for a first-round bye, while Seattle (7-7) has won five of its last six games to remain mathematically alive in the wild-card race – and McCloughan won’t attend.
If he doesn’t want to be a distraction, it’s understandable. Fired abruptly by the 49ers in March of 2010, McCloughan still keeps in touch with many of his former players and derives genuine pleasure from their success.
Even as McCloughan looks ahead to the future – several league sources, one a prominent general manager for another team, say he’s a viable candidate for the Oakland Raiders’ vacant GM job and that he could be in play for potential openings with the St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers – he hasn’t let go of his past.
On the first Sunday of December, McCloughan spent the afternoon at Champions sports bar in the downtown Indianapolis Marriott while on a scouting trip. He asked the bartender to tune a small television near his table to the 49ers-Rams game and watched until the second quarter, when San Francisco halfback Frank Gore gained two yards on a seemingly nondescript carry.
The game stopped. Gore, 28, had surpassed Hall of Famer Joe Perry to become the leading rusher in franchise history. McCloughan became so emotional that he left and went back upstairs to his room.
“I got up and walked away,” McCloughan recalls. “Just to know that he did it, it was so cool. And that’s all I wanted to see. The guy deserved it. He blew out both knees and both shoulders, and the son of a gun still goes to work. He represents everything I tried to build.”
On a broader level, the Niners’ best season in at least nine years has reflected positively on more than first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. It’s now abundantly clear that McCloughan, who served as the team’s vice president of football operations from 2005-08 before holding the GM title for his final two years with the organization, stockpiled a great deal of talent during his tenure.
While former San Francisco coaches Mike Nolan (who essentially hired McCloughan) and Mike Singletary (hired after a reasonably successful interim stint following Nolan’s dismissal in ’08) were unable to mold that talent into winning teams, Harbaugh has utilized it to the fullest.
Frank Gore gains a few yards during his record-setting day against the Rams.
(Getty Images)
This is not to diminish the contributions of current Niners GM Trent Baalke, who was McCloughan’s top personnel assistant before ascending to his current job at the end of the 2010 season. However, McCloughan ran the team’s drafts from 2005 to ’09, and it’s hard not to look at the Niners’ current roster and see his fingerprints.
In 2005, McCloughan and Nolan took quarterback Alex Smith with the No. 1 overall selection, a move that has been roundly ridiculed until this season, when the much-maligned quarterback flourished in Harbaugh’s offense. (Yes, the Niners could have taken Aaron Rodgers, though in fairness a whole lot of other teams passed on him, too.)
Gore, a third-round pick in ’05, has been one of the better backs in football during his seven-year career. Starting guard Adam Snyder was also drafted in the third round that year.
Tight ends Vernon Davis, a Pro Bowl participant two seasons ago, and Delanie Walker, who has emerged as a major weapon in Harbaugh’s offense, went in the first and sixth rounds, respectively, of the ’06 draft. Parys Haralson, a starter at outside linebacker, was a fifth-round pick that year.
The ’07 draft was a bonanza, with a crop that included five current starters: star inside linebacker Patrick Willis (first round), left tackle Joe Staley (first), defensive tackle Ray McDonald (third), free safety Dashon Goldson (fourth) and cornerback Tarell Brown (fifth).
McCloughan didn’t do as well the following two seasons. In ’08 he drafted a pair of current backups (guard Chilo Rachal and safety Reggie Smith) and promising wideout Josh Morgan, who’s currently on injured reserve. The prize of the ’09 class was first-rounder Michael Crabtree, and backup nose tackle Ricky Jean Francois went in the seventh round.
Justin Smith recovered a fumble in the Niners' win Monday night.
(Getty Images)
The Niners weren’t overly active in free agency during McCloughan’s tenure. As a disciple of former Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf, McCloughan believes strongly in building through the draft. However, it should be noted that defensive end Justin Smith – the veteran Harbaugh described as “our most valuable player” following Monday night’s 20-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers – was lured away from the Cincinnati Bengals following the ’07 season with a six-year, $45-million deal.
Until this season Smith was regarded as a solid player who was probably a bit overpaid. McCloughan, however, never saw it that way, reasoning that Smith was the type of hard-working, no-nonsense leader he sought as an organizational tone-setter on the field and in the locker room.
McCloughan declined to discuss the specifics of his time with the 49ers, nor did he have any desire to comment on his messy departure or the rumors regarding his personal life that accompanied it.
He had no comment on the prospect of working with the Raiders, a team for whom his father, Kent, has been a scout for more than three decades. McCloughan’s brother, Dave, also works in Oakland’s personnel department, and league sources say Wolf is assisting the franchise in its GM search.
“I’m very happy right now,” said McCloughan, who is still based out of Northern California. “If an opportunity ever presents itself, I feel very good about what I can do. I know I can build a team that wins games.”
On Saturday, he’ll be watching a winning team he helped assemble with great affection – while rooting for the Niners to lose, naturally.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_scot_mccloughan_niners_raiders_gm_seahawks112311
If We play like we played in AZ then I think the Seahawks may walk away with an easy win... I think The Seahawks have a couple rising stars on a young defense and Lynch is not the best RB in the NFL but when he does some stupid, hyphy, east Oakland street ball beast mode shit he can fuck a team up!!!!!!!
Now, Based on the fact that I think Jim will have our boys tuned up and not wanting to see another AZ accident happen, the Niners will probably send a more focused version of our team to Seattle. I think its gonna be a 31-17 Niners victory and Lynch will get shut down to under 70 yds but he will score the first rushing TD against the Niners this year.
just my 2 pennies... We will see tomorrow at 4pm PST wont we...
Now, Based on the fact that I think Jim will have our boys tuned up and not wanting to see another AZ accident happen, the Niners will probably send a more focused version of our team to Seattle. I think its gonna be a 31-17 Niners victory and Lynch will get shut down to under 70 yds but he will score the first rushing TD against the Niners this year.
just my 2 pennies... We will see tomorrow at 4pm PST wont we...
Marshawn Lynch. No back in the league has more rushing yards (748) than the Seahawks’ Skittle-back over the past seven games, and no player in franchise history has scored touchdowns in more consecutive games (10).
But no one needs to remind Justin Smith of all the things Lynch has been able to accomplish this season. The 49ers Pro Bowl defensive lineman already is sold on Lynch.
“The way Marshawn is running after he gets the first and second contacts, this guy is not going down,” Smith said this week. “That’s how he’s run for his whole career, but it really looks like the last five or six games this guy is turning it up a notch.
“I think he’s one of the top backs in the league. With the way he runs and the plays he makes, I’d put him definitely at No. 1, 2 or 3, for sure. He’s a top back in the NFL. The way he runs and the way he can make one, two, three or four guys miss is amazing. Then the power that he has with his size and he’s got speed, everything. He’s the total package.
“So that’s who we’ve got to focus on and that’s who we’ve got to stop. It’s not going to be easy.”
http://blog.seahawks.com/2011/12/23/friday-in-hawkville-52/
But no one needs to remind Justin Smith of all the things Lynch has been able to accomplish this season. The 49ers Pro Bowl defensive lineman already is sold on Lynch.
“The way Marshawn is running after he gets the first and second contacts, this guy is not going down,” Smith said this week. “That’s how he’s run for his whole career, but it really looks like the last five or six games this guy is turning it up a notch.
“I think he’s one of the top backs in the league. With the way he runs and the plays he makes, I’d put him definitely at No. 1, 2 or 3, for sure. He’s a top back in the NFL. The way he runs and the way he can make one, two, three or four guys miss is amazing. Then the power that he has with his size and he’s got speed, everything. He’s the total package.
“So that’s who we’ve got to focus on and that’s who we’ve got to stop. It’s not going to be easy.”
http://blog.seahawks.com/2011/12/23/friday-in-hawkville-52/
