Peon's Place

The New York Giants didn’t beat the San Francisco 49ers so much as the 49ers just beat themselves. Two lost kick/punt returns by Kyle Williams (who I can reasonably see as not making the 53-man roster next year now, despite his fill-in receiving statistics this season) combined with having zero third-down conversions after twelve tries. Yes, the 49ers were 0-for-12 on 3rd down.

How do the 49ers normally win football games? The +28 turnover margin got them to the playoffs. They had no fumble recoveries or interceptions tonight. Notch that as a -2 turnover stat.

The Giants beat the Green Bay Packers last week in overtime with a field goal, and they did it to the 49ers this week in a similar fashion. I don’t feel as if the New England Patriots will be as forgiving two weeks from now, in the Super Bowl. Hey, at least Eli can say hi to his brother’s stadium in Indianapolis.

We knew what this season was coming down to. Why the Colts signed Peyton Manning, one of the best quarterbacks of all time, to a 5-year 90-something million dollar contract after 2 recent neck injuries, is beyond me. But with Andrew Luck from Stanford “Luck-ily” falling into their laps, what happens to their veteran?

Nearly four years ago, when the NFL announced that Indianapolis would host the Super Bowl in 2012, you couldn’t blame fans for being excited. Back then, Peyton Manning was 32, and had never missed a game in his dominant NFL career. He was coming off another stellar season, in which the Colts finished 13-3 and took their fifth straight division title. His Colts had won the Super Bowl the prior year, over the Chicago Bears. The dream of Manning marching off the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, hoisting the Lombardi trophy in front of an adoring home crowd, seemed very real.

Now, the dream has been shattered, in a way that no one saw coming. The only Manning who might be winning a Super Bowl in Indy is Eli, Peyton’s little brother, whose Giants will play my San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the NFC Championship game (New England hosts Baltimore in the AFC title game). And just as the city he turned into an NFL powerhouse enjoys the spotlight that comes with a Super Bowl, it’s entirely possible that Peyton may have already played his last game for the Colts.  Read the rest of this entry » Peyton Manning or Not, th...

Vizio looks to start where Logitech dropped off. The Google TV box sets weren’t exactly popular, for a number of reasons, largely including the fact Google had a hard time getting media companies to feed TV shows, movies, etc through.

At last week’s Consumer Electronics Show, the company announced the VIZIO VAP430 Stream Player. The new box doesn’t just stream any old web content. It actually adds the VIZIO Internet Apps Plus (V.I.A. Plus) smart TV platform and Google TV into the mix. That basically means that users can tap into a hoard of movies, songs, photos and more, as well as a Chrome browser. It also allows users to stream photos, music and video from any networked computer, hard drive or smartphone, as well as from cloud services. If you’re needing even more entertainment options, the box can tap into the Android Market.  Read the rest of this entry » Vizio + Google TV, built ...

This is a huge victory to everyone who uses the internet, whether it be surfing, blogging, or running your own business.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid postponed a showdown vote in his chamber on the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA for short, that had been scheduled for January 24th. Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, followed suit, saying his panel would delay action on similar legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, until there is wider agreement on the legislation.  Read the rest of this entry » Anti-Piracy Bills SOPA &#...

Wikipedia goes black tonight to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act). Both are looking to be passed through Congress to give the government control of what we do on the internet, what websites we access, and who can view that access at any time.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, considered the broader of the two bills, will not be introduced in the House, according to a statement from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who has co-authored an alternative proposal to SOPA called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act. “Majority Leader [Eric Cantor (R-Va.)] has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote,” Issa said in a news release.

View the Wikipedia statement regarding it’s blackout in 12 hours:  Read the rest of this entry » Wikipedia blacks out

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was having a record breaking year and was looking poised to go for a deep playoff run. But the San Francisco 49ers have been revived by head coach Jim Harbaugh and are back at the top of the league with a trip to the NFC Championship for the first time since Steve Young was QB.

With the 49ers holding a small lead at the top of the 4th quarter, the game turned into a gunslingers’ duel as Brees and 49ers QB Alex Smith changed leads throughout the end of the 4th quarter. With 9 seconds left Smith threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to tightend Vernon Davis to give the 49ers a 36-32 win. Davis was crying uncontrollably as the 49ers go from laughingstock to league leader in just one season.

I’m happy that my #1 favorite 49ers beat my #3 favorite Saints, even though I didn’t believe there was a solid chance for it to happen. Best of all, Sunday brought around the fall of my #2 favorite Green Bay Packers, which means the 49ers have a much better chance to get to the Super Bowl. They learned along with the rest of us that instead of getting the team’s road gear ready for the frozen tundra of Lambeau, they can stay settled here at home and face the New York Giants.

Bay Area, are you ready FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?

Tickets for this weekend go on sale Wednesday through Ticketmaster.

You know that a 6-11 team has turned it around to 13-3, when you put out the highest number of players to the Associated Press NFL All Pro team.

Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback for the first time, easily beating New Orleans’ Drew Brees, 47½ to 2½. Rodgers led Green Bay to a league-best 15-1 record, maintaining the brilliance he showed in taking the Packers to the Super Bowl title last February.

Calvin Johnson and Jared Allen each received 49 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. It’s the fourth All-Pro team for Allen, who led the league with 22 sacks, one-half short of the record. Johnson makes it for the first time after hauling in 96 catches for a 17.5-yard average and scoring 16 touchdowns.

But the real success, in my opinion, is that of the San Francisco 49ers. Making the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. An entirely new coaching staff in a year where there was no off-season practice. The team is chosen by the Associated Press and represents the best players at each position from the NFL season. It is essentially a starting team on both offense and defense as well as a kicker and punter. In total, 28 players were named to the All-Pro team.

San Francisco placed three defensive players on the All-Pro team. Justin Smith made the team at defensive tackle and also received votes as a defensive end. Smith had a great season and should be considered for defensive player of the year honors as well. He ended the regular season with 58 tackles, seven and a half sacks, and three forced fumbles for the 49er defense.

Linebackers NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis also on the All-Pro team after having tremendous seasons. San Francisco placing two of the four linebackers on the team is a testament to how well the unit played this season. Bowman finished seventh in the NFL with 143 tackles and had two sacks on the season. His emergence as a playmaker on defense alongside Willis was a big breakthrough for San Francisco this season. Willis had 97 tackles, two sacks, four forced fumbles, and an interception on the season. He accomplished all this while missing four games with a hamstring injury.

San Francisco also placed both kicker David Akers and punter Andy Lee on the All-Pro team. Akers made 44 out of 52 field goals on the season and scored 166 total points for San Francisco. The team will need these two to continue their excellent play in the playoffs if they hope to continue on.

San Francisco placed more players on the All-Pro team than any other team in the NFL this season. Who came in second? Well John Harbaugh and his Baltimore Ravens of course, with three.

Are the Nike jerseys for next year the real thing, or are they glorious redesigns by an artist who worked on the Nike uniforms for College football? Either way, we have your NFC and AFC champions, ready to battle it up over who has the best looking design!

The voting ends one month from now – the night of Super Bowl XLVI – the 46th year of the greatest single-day championship in the world.

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View the full-size images!  Read the rest of this entry » Which team has the best N...

While there was only one mystery to be had on playoff positioning (New York Giants making it, the Dallas Cowboys going home) there were plenty of surprises with the performances of each top player this week. I was able to win my second money league’s super bowl, thanks to my opponent’s Aaron Rodgers resting up for next weekend.

Now that we’re done with the regular season of 2011, enjoy the playoffs, as all 3 of my favorite teams are in it this year.  Read the rest of this entry » Top NFL Players week 17

All year long football fans have witnessed his explosiveness. He won the Super Bowl last season, and sent a message to the other 31 teams in the NFL, “Just you try to stop me”. I wonder how Brett Favre is feeling right now?

I won the Fantasy Football Super Bowl in my $50 entry league (winning $200), and am 15 points up coming into the final game of my $20 entry league’s Super Bowl, with an ESPN projection that may plant me another 30 points over my opponent. Two championship wins out of two leagues, there we go! How have your teams fared?

With one week left to go…  Read the rest of this entry » Top NFL Players week 16