Tag Archives: San Francisco 49ers

Red’s 2026 NFL Picks – NFC West

Leave a reply

Red’s 2026 NFL Picks – NFC West

Red was just in San Francisco this summer.  It’s an amazing place in many respects and may have influenced his decision making. 

San Francisco –  Despite some troubles in the owner’s box, Red thinks that Niners (who play in Santa Clara) get off to a fast tart.  Red is not letting the Niners owner off the hooker anything like that for his bad boy behavior. And Red’s female readers should know that Red would never make let such stupidity influence his call girls.  This team has done a lot to vamp up the offense.  They have brought in a harlot of new players who just might not be bawd.  If Red thinks the Niners have a shot to win the whore thing, I’m not madam I?   Red is not one to make these picks and blow his strumpet for no good reason.  If you moll it over, you just might agree.   Niners cocotte a bunch of wins and finish 12-5.

Seattle – Your NFL Champions had a great 2025 and joined the multiple SB winners club.   But those champions typically fall off a bit in their subsequent seasons.  The Seahawks are no different in 2026.  There is still a lot to like about the Falconos Marinos.  The Champions have one of the youngest rosters in the league, but suffered some notable losses at running back and in the secondary.  Darn Old Sam still has reliable targets in Rashid Shaheed and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.  The defense will not be as good as the unit that had 47 sacks and caused 25 turnovers, but still should be a top-5 unit.  The Seahawks are in at 11-6.

Los Angeles –   Red has never liked the Rams and never will. Red loves LA as a city, but not its sports teams.  Let’s leave it at that. Oh yeah, and they play in Inglewood – wherever the hell that is. Adding Myles Garrett on defense is a big plus. There is nothing special about the Rams rushing attack.  Stafford seems ageless with his 46 TDs and 4707 passing yards last season, but he is entering his 18th season. Opening in Melbourne is weird and it doesn’t get much easier after that as the Rams play the Broncos Eagles and Bills in Weeks 3-5.  They get a break mid-season, but have a tough haul after their bye week with the Packers, Chiefs, Niners, Cowboys and then with two out of the last three with the Seahawks – which games will likely determine the Rams fate.   Rams miss out at 9-8.

Arizona –  Dry times in the desert are not about to change – there is no rain in sight.  As noted, every year one team rises from the ashes of the dumpster fire that was the previous season and makes the playoffs.  This is not that year for the Cardinals.  The team needed a new direction and maybe new HC Mike LaFleur can steer a new course.  No offense, but a quarterbacking corps of Jacoby Brissett, Carson Beck and Gardner Minshew probably means “no offense” – at least through the air.  This team will depend heavily on its decent set of RBs perhaps led by rookie Jeremiyah Love finding holes punched by a sub-par offensive line.  And don’t get Red started on the Cards defense.  Cardinals show some slight improvement under less incompetent leadership at 5-12. 

Red’s 2024 NFL Weekly Rankings – Week 7

Leave a reply

Red wrote this much earlier in the week. He posts it just in time for it to not be completely meaningless.

Trivia Question:  Which team has more playoff wins since the Texans joined the NFL in 2002, the Cowboys or the Texans?

  1.  Kansas City Chiefs –  Red has one hard and fast rule, a team cannot lose the No.1 spot when it doesn’t play.
  2. Minnesota Vikings – Corollary to Rule No. 1. A team cannot lose the No.2 spot when it doesn’t play and the team in the No. 1 spots stays put.
  3. Detroit Lions – The Lions delivered the Cowboys an ass whupping for the ages on Jerry’s 82nd birthday.  Clicking on all cylinders and using trick plays to embarrass the opponent.
  4. Baltimore Ravens –  Four straight wins equals 4th place.
  5. Houston Texans – Beating the Patriots is like kissing your aunt – make that your great aunt.  There actually are some fine looking aunts out there.
  6. Buffalo Bills – Smarter than the average team.
  7. Washington Commanders – Still don’t like the name. Hard to argue with the results so far this year.
  8. Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams went to London riding on pony. Stuck a big loss on the Jags and called it Macaroni.
  9. Atlanta Falcons – Made medium work of the once again hapless Panthers.
  10. Green Bay Packers – The astute reader will note that the NFC North has placed 4 teams in Red’s top ten this week.   Do you see that astute reader? Astute reader? Astute Reader? Bueller? Anyone?
  11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Bucs led 17-0, then trailed 27-17, then ripped of 34 straight to gobsmack the reeling Saints in New Orleans.
  12. Pittsburgh Stealers  – Next up for a good old fashioned thrashing by the Stealers – both New York teams have western PA on their itenerary.  
  13. Los Angeles Chargers – The best 3 win team is about all Red can say right now.
  14. Indianapolis Colts – The second best 3 win team is about all Red can say right now.
  15. Philadelphia Eagles– The third best win team is about all Red can say right now.  Are you sensing a pattern?
  16. San Francisco 49ers –  3 win team, blah, blah, blah. . .
  17. Seattle Seahawks – Could not beat the crippled 49ers. Losing to the Giants makes more sense now.
  18. Denver Broncos –  Red is really tired of trying to rank 3 win teams at this juncture of the season.
  19. Dallas Cowboys –  Without a doubt the worst 3 win team in the NFL.  The Cowboys are only a couple of plays away from being 1-5.  It’s hard to see more than another 3-4 wins for the Cowboys right now.
  20. Cincinnati Bengals – Well, someone had to be the best 2-win team.  A likely season saver in an ugly win over the Giants on Sunday.
  21. New York Giants – Speaking of the Giants. . .
  22. New York Jets –  Teams that play together (at least in the same stadium) should be ranked together.
  23. Miami Dolphins – Talk about a team that needed a week off.
  24. Arizona Cardinals – Beat the 49ers one week, get stomped by the Packers the next.  Welcome to the NFL.
  25. New Orleans Saints –  Red thinks he heard the death rattler on Sunday.  It takes real bad play to give up 34 points in a row.
  26. Las Vegas Raiders – Red has it on good authority that there were more people in the sports book at the Wynn than in the stands on Sunday.
  27. Tennessee Titans – Oh where to begin in ranking the dregs of the league.  Why in Nashville you say.
  28. Cleveland Browns – Would that every team could play the Browns each week. 
  29. New England Patriots – Texans finally win in Foxborough. Get used to it.
  30. Los Angeles Rams – Red reserves the right to rerank shitty teams even when they don’t play.
  31. Carolina Panthers – Sad!
  32. Jacksonville Jaguars – Never has a team expected so much and delivered so little. Well almost never.

The Passing of a Legend – Y.A. Tittle

1 Reply

NFL Hall of Famer and former 49er’s and Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle passed away on Sunday.  Tittle was born and raised in Marshall. Tittle idolized his neighbor Sammy Baugh and practiced relentlessly to become a quarterback.  He starred for Marshall High leading them to an undefeated season his senior year.   He chose LSU over Texas for his college where he set career records that were not broken until the 1970’s.  As a junior in 1946, Tittle led his team to the Cotton Bowl.  The notorious game against Arkansas was played in freezing conditions on an icy field and became known as the Ice Bowl after ending in a 0-0 tie.

Tittle began his pro career for the Baltimore Colts in the All-American Football Conference in 1948.  When that club folded, he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers where he was named All-Pro and played in four Pro Bowl games.

In 1961, the 34-year old Tittle was traded to the New York Giants whom he led to three consecutive NFL Championship games.  The Giants lost all three, but by then Tittle was a folk hero to Giants fans.

In 17 seasons, YAT completed 2,427 out of 4,395 passes for 33,070 yards and 242 touchdowns and another 39 rushing TDs.  The only blemish on his statistical record are his 248 career interceptions.

Photo of Y.A. Tittle the first professional football player to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  November 22, 1954

Red’s NFL Predictions – NFC West

Leave a reply

Many are calling this the “easiest division in the NFL” which was certainly a fair characterization  last season. Red sees some teams up, one team down and a tougher level of competition that in recent seasons.

Cardinals. After a disappointing 2016 campaign, the Cards are looking to rebound with a quick start to 2017. The Cards started last season 1-3 and unlike the Stealers never found Recovery Road.  Red is leading with his heart rather than his head on this one.  He went all in for David Johnson in a couple of fantasy leagues and also got stuck with tired old Carson Palmer at QB.  The Cards defense remains solid.  The question is whether the team can win a bunch of ugly 17-13 or the like games.  They can and they do. Arizona sashays to 11-5 record and a sweet playoff berth.

Seahawks.  A popular pick to win the west, many think the Seahawks will dominate the NFL’s “easiest division.”  But other than playing the weaklings (see below) in their division, the Hawks have fairly tough sledding ahead with road games against the Packers, Titans and Cowboys and home games against the Texans, Colts, Eagles and Falcons.  The Hawks could lose all of those games despite the double and triple time zone hex.  Pete the Cheat has had his share of good fortune up to now; maybe this season the worm turns. Seattle struggles to 9-7 and takes a seat for the playoffs.

Rams. Playing in the oldest stadium in the NFL but with the youngest head coach in NFL history in Sean McVay, the Rams will maintain the Jeff Fischer tradition of abject mediocrity.  Actually that’s somewhat of an insult to mediocrity as Fischer was unable to ever post a winning record in his 5 years with the Rams.  Second year QB Jared Goff was the major disappointment of 2016 going 0-7 in his starts and making journeyman Case Keenum look scintillating by comparison.  But in fairness to Goff he was playing behind a makeshift offensive line and with little help from any wideout other than Kenny Britt.  2017 looks better all around.  Tavon Austin looks like the third down back every team wishes it had and Todd Gurley is at least competent and will likely average more than the pathetic 3.2 yards per rush he managed last year. Expect more than 23 total touchdowns this season and for the Rams to not be the worst offense in the league.  Maybe only the third-worst. Los Angeles (for now) improves slightly to 6-10.

49ers.  The Chip Kelly as a professional football coach experiment seems to have come to an end.  The excitement CK was able to bring to Oregon never translated to the pros and Chip if you’re reading – it looks like UNLV might be in the market for some new leadership after losing to lowly Howard in “the biggest upset in college football history.”  A tip of the helmet to the Niners for giving Kyle Shanahan his first opportunity as a head coach. Unfortunately, KS could not bring Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman with him.  Instead he will have to make do with tired old Brian Hoyer and Pierre Garcon.  That’s like going from a Corvette to a Ford Escort, but Shanahan and the Niners will surprise a few folks.  This storied franchise has seen more hard times than good and with the exception of the Harbaugh era has been unable to find a steady hand for 15 years.  Remember Jim Tomsula or Mike Nolan?  Anyone, anyone? Hell, Red thought Mike Singletary was the answer.  Don’t expect miracles in season one, but the Niners are coming back – they’re just coming from way back. Santa Clara goes 6-10.