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Topic: 49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions (Read 386 times) |
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49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions
« on: Oct 22nd, 2002, 1:47pm » |
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Alright I'm pissed about that New Orleans loss, and so are the 9ers.
49ers Injuries:
Owens - Heel - Probable
He'll be fine. If he could play through two high ankle sprains last year, he can play through this.
Hearst - Hamstring - Probable
His time should be reduced, but not if the game is down to the wire. Last week, Barlow made two key errors that cost the 9ers the game. First, he fumbled inside his own 20 in the 4th quarter, then caught a pass with time expiring, waited til time expired then ran outta bounds.
Stokes - Hamstring? - Demoted
While he's injured, he's the #3 WR.
Cardinals Injuries:
Boston - Knee - Probable
He's gonna be hobbled all year, but looks like he can still produce.
Jones - Foot? - Probable
Sucked it up last week but looked healthy.
Shipp - Knee - Probable
Same as Jones.
Predictions
49ers 31, Cardinals 10
They're just not very good.
Garcia: 220 yards, 2 TD's, 0 INT
Barlow: 110 rushing, 10 receiving, 2 TD's
Hearst: 30 rushing, 50 receiving, 0 TD's
Owens: 60 receiving, 2 TD's
Streets: 70 receiving, 0 TD's
Stokes: 15 receiving, 0 TD's
Plummer: 200 yards, 1 TD, 20 rushing, 1 INT
Boston: 120 receiving, 0 TD
Shipp: 60 rushing, 0 TD
Jones: 20 rushing, 0 TD
F. Jones: 10 receiving, 0 TD
Others: 70 receiving, 1 TD
The 9ers defense so far has been smothering. Their only blemish on the season is getting torched in the 4th quarter by the Saints. The offense seems to focus more and more around Hearst and Barlow which is a shame as they don't seem to have the killer instinct Owens talked about. Instead of throwing it to Owens downfield where he can make a play, the 9ers have been shying away from double coverage and getting him the ball on lots of screens. While it's fun to see Owens stiff arm a corner and get 5 yards on the reception, I still feel he's underutilized. Stokes' injury has been a blessing as fantasy owners have seen Streets emerge.
I expect the 9ers to torch the Arizona defense. Don't be fooled by them keeping the meager Quincy to 1 touchdown. Fact is, if they make that extra point they win the game, or if Quincy doesn't throw two picks in the end zone its an easy victory. The 9ers don't make red zone mistakes, and I don't expect this to be close.
The Cardinals have been surprisingly "good" this year. They have looked pretty pathetic actually, but their record is what's good about them. Plummer still hasn't developed and should finally be considered a bust. I think tihs is his last year in Arizona. Boston has been hobbled and both Joneses can be considered busts (Well, maybe they signed Freddie for his blocking). The surprise has been their defense. It's been what's kept them in all their games and gotten them every win this year. But what defense will we see this week? The one that kept Dallas to 6 points or the one that allowed Quincy Carter to lead drives into their red zone 3 times? Will we see the Cardinals that can contain offenses or the one that made Shane Matthews player of the week in Week 1? My prediction is the latter as the rushing attack of the 9ers will be too much for them to handle.
The 9ers will play mistake free ball and take the victory. For the Cardinals to win, they'll have to win the turnover and special teams battles, because I can't see them winning it on offense or defense.
**Disclaimer: If it wasn't obvious, I'm a 9ers homer. I still think I laid out a pretty unbiased view though.
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Re: 49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions
« Reply #3 on: Oct 22nd, 2002, 7:58pm » |
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Wow I can't believe I forgot him. Considering he hasn't cracked 20 yards since week 2, I'd hit the waiver wire. He also doesn't have a TD this year and in all the 9er games i've watched, I can't remember them going to him once in the red zone. I'll say 20 yards again because that looks like the pattern.
There's just too many options for Garcia right now, and when your WRs are as big as the 9ers are, you don't need to look at the TE in the red zone. Streets is 6-1 200, Stokes is 6-4 220, and Owens is 6'3 220. Eric's listed at 6'3 250. If I'm the 9ers, I'm going with Hearst, Barlow, Garcia Bootleg, or Owens.
Hope it helps.
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Re: 49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions
« Reply #5 on: Oct 22nd, 2002, 11:22pm » |
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on Oct 22nd, 2002, 11:09pm, FourTwoOh wrote:  Detect a homer? Nah.
Outside that "smothered" comment you hid it pretty well. Thanks for the info. Any inside info on Hearst? I need him playing badly |
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I'm a Barlow owner, so maybe that's clouding my judgement. Hearst is still the better back by far and should remain getting 66-70% of the touches this year. However, I expect a heavy dose of Barlow this week as I think the 9ers will blow out the Cardinals. Hearst is probable, but he doesn't get much time when it's a blowout. Combine that with the sore hammy and they'll rest him unless its close.
I wouldn't look for more than 80 total yards for him. I'm looking back at my predictions and I didn't realize I had him at 50 receiving. I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be 30. Maybe that explains how I left out E. Johnson
Hope for a close game  Also, the joke is that they're alternating weeks getting touchdowns. If that's the case, this is Barlow's TD week 
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Re: 49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions
« Reply #7 on: Oct 25th, 2002, 2:37am » |
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on Oct 25th, 2002, 12:58am, Brian Griese,s Dog wrote:Razzak, Curious why you say Hearst is a better back than Barlow. While I admire Hearst to no end for his come back after injury from what little I get to see of S.F. games Barlow looked like he ran much harder.  |
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Barlow:
Bigger
Less likely to wear down
Hearst:
Faster? (not sure but he looks faster)
Blocks Better
Receives Better
Game Awareness
It seems like every week Hearst makes a highlight reel lighting up a blitzing linebacker. Lotsa people were talking about the highlight reel hit he put on a GB linebacker in the playoffs last year. He does that stuff on a weekly basis. Further, he's got better hands and runs better routes than Barlow. That's critical in the WCO. Finally, if you watched last week vs NO it pretty much shows why Hearst is the better back.
...
It's the end of the game and the 9ers have a nice double digit lead. They get the ball on their own 15 and the first play is a handoff to Barlow, as Hearst is out with a hammy injury. Fumble, Saints ball.
...forward a little bit more...
9ers have blown the lead and trail by 8 making a last drive. 12 seconds left on the clock and Garcia getting sacked throws a ball at Barlow. Option 1) He should have dropped it as it was a 2 yard pass and they needed lots of yards, taking it would only kill the clock. But he catches it. Now, what do you do with it? Okay, he makes 3 moves on 2 different defenders taking an obscene amount of time. After the clock strikes 0, he astutely runs out of bounds. Game over.
...
That, and the conservative shitty-ass playcalling of Mooch, is what lost the 9ers game last week. Oh yeah, and the defense packing it in after the 3rd quarter.
If you watch the games, Hearst just makes the offense so much more potent when he's on the field. Barlow's a very good runner and is getting better at blocking and receiving (he's a much better blocker this year than last), but his routes and blocking are still inferior to Hearst.
People say "Look Barlow has a higher YPC" which is a stupid argument. Of course he does, he gets a lot less carries. When he's in the game, defenses aren't as worried because he's less likely to get the ball. Think of the Steelers a few years ago when they had Huntley/Bettis. Sure, Huntley had some obscene 7ypc average, but he certainly wasn't better than Bettis. Change of pace backs always have a high YPC (unless they suck).
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Philosopher King
of Fantasy Football
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I love ''the Gridiron''!
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Re: 49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions
« Reply #8 on: Oct 25th, 2002, 5:00am » |
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on Oct 25th, 2002, 2:37am, Razzak wrote:| Change of pace backs always have a high YPC (unless they suck). |
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AMEN, brother! Now that's some (fantasy) football knowledge at work! 
A couple caveats, I would change "always" to "usually" and/or I would add to your conditional statement "... or aren't being used properly." My cases in point are going to be none other than... Ron Dayne and Lamont Jordan (ironically).  Ron Dayne is definitely not a (multi-faceted) change-of-pace back. He is a give-me-the-ball-25+-times-a-game-and-ram-it-down-their-fuckin'-throat-e specially-in-the-fourth-quarter back. And, does Lamont Jordan suck or has it just been the Jets that have brought him down (this year)? Likely the latter!
At any rate, sound general FF advice, nevertheless! 
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Re: 49ers/Cardinals Week 8 Predictions
« Reply #10 on: Oct 27th, 2002, 7:33pm » |
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Predictions
49ers 31, Cardinals 10
They're just not very good.
49ers 38, Cardinals 28
The Cardinals were more in it than I thought. Good show.
Garcia: 220 yards, 2 TD's, 0 INT - 252yards, 4td's - Close on the yards, threw a TD to Barlow I thought would be run and threw another TD (38 instead of 31).
Barlow: 110 rushing, 10 receiving, 2 TD's - 51 rush, 35 rec, 2 TD - Horrible YPC. He just didn't do that well.
Hearst: 30 rushing, 50 receiving, 0 TD's - 35 rush, 15 rec, 0 TD - Close, especially considering I stated later I should have reduced the receiving yards to 30. Even then, he wasn't the featured back and did those 35 rushing yards on 5 carries. Very good YPC average as he was the change of pace back..
Owens: 60 receiving, 2 TD's - 132 yards, 2 TD's - Way off on the yardage as the 9ers had to switch to the pass with Barlow struggling.
Streets: 70 receiving, 0 TD's - 62 yards, 1 TD - Pretty Close
Stokes: 15 receiving, 0 TD's - Nada, pretty close.
Plummer: 200 yards, 1 TD, 20 rushing, 1 INT[i] - 286 pass, 1 TD, 48 rush, 3 INT - In my league, the extra INT's made up for the extra yards. Not exactly right but not too wrong either.
Boston: 120 receiving, 0 TD - 83 yards - Way off, I thought he'd do better this week.
Shipp: 60 rushing, 0 TD - 27 rush, 15 rec, 2 TD - I guess this is where those extra couple TD's went. He had a good ypc as the change of pace back and got the touchdowns from 5+ yards out.
Jones: 20 rushing, 0 TD - 52 rush, 24 rec, 0 TD - No idea why they keep sticking with Jones when Shipp is the better back, but it appears they're splitting carries so don't start either of these guys.
F. Jones: 10 receiving, 0 TD - 42 yards - Better than I thought.
Others: 70 receiving, 1 TD[/i]
Bleh, not terrible but not as well as I hoped. Plummer finally started spreading the ball around, but 3 INT's won't win over many fantasy owners. Let me know if you guys would like me to continue posting 9ers matchups or not.
P.S. Hope you all benched Johnson, injured players who haven't produced in 6 weeks aren't good starts.
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