Peon's Place

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.

The San Francisco 49ers are sitting atop the NFC West with a 4-1 record and are heading to Detroit to take on the 5-0 Lions. It’s a wholly exciting game on paper, much more so than most of us would have figured just a few short months ago. I was hoping the Bears would win, despite how much I hated the idea of Chicago taking a victory, but any way to keep the Green Bay Packers at the #1 spot I’m okay with.

The 49ers find themselves in a pretty good situation. Despite a win by the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, they remain in a great place atop the NFC West division, two games above the next competition, sporting a 4-1 record; the lone blemish being an overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys on a blown play. They’re coming off a dominating win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and a good win that just might have sucked the rest of the life out of Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles, overcoming a 20+ point differential to win in impressive fashion.

The Buccaneers had been 3-1 coming into the game at Candlestick Park, and the 49ers executed on all levels. They stopped LeGarrete Blount, they made Josh Freeman look terrible, and they dealt with the Tampa Bay defense like no team has this season. That’s an awfully good Buccaneers team, and a great win, especially by such a margin. Now, they’re hitting the road before a bye week, to take on the Detroit Lions.  Read the rest of this entry » Can the 49ers tear into t...

Alex Smith was the No. 1 overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 NFL draft. With that selection came huge expectations that Smith has been unable to meet. Simply put, Smith has never measured up to his high draft status and has been a big disappointment.

Following the 2010 season, the odds for Smith returning to the 49ers were astronomical. The 49ers’ management didn’t want him back, Smith had no desire to continue playing in San Francisco and the fans despised him. Somehow, when team owner Jed York and GM Trent Baalke brought Jim Harbaugh aboard as the new head coach, the thick block of ice between the team and Smith melted.

Although Smith is not officially a 49er due to the lockout, it is a virtual certainty that when the labor impasse ends, he will be signed and start the year as Jim Harbaugh’s quarterback. Harbaugh has frequently praised Smith and even given him a copy of the playbook, even though he was unsigned.

Read the rest of this entry » Will Alex Smith have anot...

Vernon Davis was caught by TMZ one night, stating he does not miss his old head coach Mike Singletary, and that he’s fired up about the prospect of playing with injury-riddled Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton, who is rumored to be on the outs in Denver with Tim Tebow starting to take the reigns. When asked if an Orton-to-SF deal was in the works, Davis told us, “Kyle Orton, if you’re coming, come on buddy. I love you.”

I liked Kyle Orton several years ago when he was with the bears, the Orton to Greg Olsen (TE) was a huge combination, so I can only imagine that Orton-VDavis will be huge as well.

Here’s a little video of one of my first Madden 11 franchise games for the 2010 season, 49ers versus the Bucs. Huge pass from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis, endzone to endzone. It wasn’t the pass, but the yards after the catch that were crucial.

Kinda neat how I can save highlights, upload them to EA, and then embed them elsewhere. ;)

In a recent writeup, Anthony Davis was named the #2 Rookie in an Ideal Situation, with the San Francisco 49ers.

Don’t mess with Mike Singletary. Just ask Vernon Davis, the former sure-bet draft prospect that had bust written all over him before getting verbally undressed by his new coach. Davis bought into Singletary’s program and rebounded in a huge way, bettering his previous career high in receptions by 26 (up to 78), yards by 456 (up to 965), and touchdowns by nine (up to 13). Given an ultimatum – the Singletary Way or the highway – Davis chose the path to NFL stardom.

Mike Singletary is a culture unto himself, and he’s molded his 49ers team in his image. This is one of the brightest young teams in the league, and they play hard, they play physically, and they’re going to win a lot of games in the very near future.

Singletary’s presence, and the culture he’s quickly established in San Francisco, was really driven home when the team made Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati and Taylor Mays its first three draft picks this past April. Iupati is a road-grading guard that will start immediately and will have an instant impact on the team’s rushing attack. Mays is the most uniquely gifted and physical defensive back to emerge in quite some time, and at a bare minimum adds explosive hitting to a defense that could use more physicality.

But that culture means the most when talking about Davis, the No. 11 overall pick out of Rutgers. No one questions Davis’ talents, as many scouts believed that Davis was the most gifted offensive lineman available this past year. Despite serious questions about his maturity (he’s only 21 years old) and work ethic, he was still the third lineman off the board. He’s in a fantastic situation. Singletary is the perfect coach to get the most out of Davis between Sundays. The rookie enters an offense that made serious strides during the 2009 season behind quarterback Alex Smith.

There is a lot of talent offensively in San Fran, but better line play – and more consistency from Smith – are required. Davis will get a chance to start right away. Under Singletary, he’ll have an opportunity to develop alongside some of the league’s best young skill players (Davis and Michael Crabtree come to mind). Things are looking up in San Francisco, and this young tackle could really solidify a promising young team’s offensive fortunes.