When will the breaks come for the Niners?

In the last 8 minutes of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles the 49ers looked like the potential division winner before the season began.  Head coach Mike Singletary challenged quarterback Alex Smith to play up to his potential after a costly fumble the possession before that resulted in an Eagles decisive game winning touchdown.  San Francisco’s only identity is on the defensive side where they are able to stop some of the best offensive teams in the league for most of the game, but can’t capitalize on offense and score points.  It’s not a bad thing to be a defensive team, but you will have to outscore your opponent to beat them.  Three of the 49ers five losses were by no more than a field goal.  And three of those opponents are potential playoff teams in Atlanta, New Orleans and Philadelphia.  I don’t know when San Francisco will get the breaks, but I do know that they will win a game very soon.  You can’t have this much talent and not get a win until after your 10th game.

The Giants of old are back

It started in Week 4 with their 10 sack performance against the Chicago Bears quarterbacks.  Yes, they took Jay Cutler out of the game at halftime and continued the onslaught against Todd Collins.  This week they didn’t get 10 sacks, only 3.  However, they were able to stop the league’s best rushing team, the Houston Texans, with only 24 total yards rushing.  Quarterback Matt Schaub had a healthy Andre Johnson to throw to, but for most of the game was under constant pressure and when he had time to throw to Johnson, the pass was often times off line.  Tom Coughlin has apparently reached his players in the last two weeks.  A far cry from their previous two against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans.  Those were probably two of the worst games under the Coughlin regime.  Now the Giants are in position to go 5-2 before their bye week.  With victories over Detroit at home and at Dallas, the Giants would vault themselves into the forefront of contention in the wide open NFC.

Brett Favre has more pressure on and off the field

Let me first say that I’m not surprised, if true, that a guy of Brett Favre’s stature would do the things that he is alleged to have doing to a former Jets employee.  He’s not denying it adamantly like most would, so you have to wonder what’s going on there.  With that weighing him down off the field, on the field he has a legitimate receiving threat in Randy Moss.  It was no surprise that Favre connected with Moss during the Monday night game against the Jets.  What also surprised some, not me, was how Favre collapsed at the end of a winnable game in which the Vikings only needed a field goal to potentially win the game.  Alas Favre did what Favre does best and try to rifle the ball into tight coverage and it resulted in a pick six to win the game for the Jets.  Now there comes word of elbow tendinitis in his throwing arm.  Will Favre be forced to sit out a game this season?  Very unlikely now that he has Moss to throw to.  Good luck getting the Vikings into the playoffs this year.  His chances are still good in the wide open NFC.