49er’s Two Runback Touchdown’s From Ted Ginn Jr.’s Speed Kills Seahawks In Harbaugh’s Debut. San Francisco 33 – Seattle 17

What’s up sports fans? What a difference a week makes. I can’t believe that game. Did you see that? I’ll tell ya. That was an exhibition if I’ve ever seen one. We Niner fans can’t complain about last week. We got all the entertainment we wanted out of that game and more. You had the rivalry of NFL coaches who use to be college coach rivals facing off against each other yet again. You had the speculation of whether or not Alex Smith would deliver. Would our defense be just as stingy as last year with personal changes and a new offensive coordinator would also be tested. In the end we’d have to admit all our speculative questions got answered. 49er’s starting quarterback Alex Smith went 15-20 for 124 yards passing, rushed the ball 7 times, yes, I did write rushed the ball. He rushed 7 times for 22 yards and scored a rushing touchdown in the end zone.

In my opinion Alex Smith showed something in him I haven’t seen his entire time at San Francisco. He showed real heart. He took the lead like a quarterback should and helped his team. Some people might look at his numbers and say, “His numbers aren’t impressive.” Most of those people don’t understand today’s NFL. It’s not about having the five hundred yards offensive game every game, although each quarterback would like to, but  it’s about playing .500 football or better anyway you can. Alex Smith did his job as a quarterback, he helped his team to win. Seattle played well also. This why San Francisco’s win is huge for the season opener. Harbaugh looks legitmate as the new skipper in 49er land, and not only that the Niners had some surprises for the Seahawks. The Seahawks knew our defense would be good but they didn’t count on the three amigos  Ray Mcdonald,  Justin Smith, and Parys Haralson being a force to reckon with, they put together five sacks on the day. Seattle’s Tavaris Jackson put up some good numbers. He was 21-37 for 197 yards, and he had a 55 yard touchdown thrown to former Stanford Cardinal Doug Baldwin. The 49ers kicking game gets an A+.

David Akers was 4 for 4 on field goals, because of his excellent kicking the 49ers were ahead 16-0 in the first half. What followed in the second half should be some cause for concern to Harbaugh and their offensive coordinator Greg Roman. They allowed Seattle to get back in the game and at one it appeared that San Francisco was going to allow the Seahawks an advantage to come back and take the lead. Until a spark that went off like a hydrogen bomb.  That spark was Ted Ginn Jr. “Honestly, we didn’t think Teddy Ginn was going to play,” Carroll said. “Teddy’s got a real style about him. He didn’t play much in the preseason and he got running around us.”  Which probably makes sense. How do you prepare for someone who your not counting on to be a factor in the game? While I was watching the game I could tell Ted Ginn wanted to make something happen. At one point he had run to about the 25 yard line, saw a seam, wanted to break away, but was quickly tackled. He got up jumping and clinging to the ball in frustration because he knew that if he got there he would have been gone.

The nice thing is that his sense of urgency paid off, big time. In the second half with the Niners leading 19-17,  if you’re a Niner fan you were thinking, “My god. Please don’t let the Seahawks comeback and win this thing.” What was nice is that Ted Ginn wanted to score badly. So badly that he didn’t wait for anyone. He caught the ball in the end zone and took off! The commentator made and observation when he said, “Speed kills and it killed Seattle on that play.” He was so right. Ted Ginn ran past everyone on the field, including his own players. He didn’t stop until he found 49er gold in Seattle’s end zone for a 102 yard touchdown. What was interesting is that at this point Seattle gets the ball, and if your a fan you’re still elated from his first touchdown. Next thing you know the Seahawks are punting and Ted Ginn runs another touchdown for the game winner. By now your looking at Pete Carrol with the look on his face in utter disbelief. He can’t accept what he just saw.

“I didn’t amaze myself but I didn’t think they were going to come right back and kick it to me,” said Ginn, who left the stadium with the game ball and both TD footballs. “I wanted to make them pay.” I honestly don’t think they purposely kicked it to him. I think it was just a mental block.  They just kicked it and tried to cover the return. They’re mental block was our advantage in having Ted Ginn’s speed in returning the football.  “It feels good. A great thrill of winning,” Harbaugh said. “I’m very proud of our players.” And for Alex Smith this is where he wants to be in the first game of the new season that almost wasn’t.  “It’s fun to come over and see your coach just as jacked as you,” Smith said. “We were all pumped up.”   Niners have the Cowboys next week. Think they can get a win? Or is it just a fluke win against Seattle? Let’s hear you side of story. Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

Luck Makes The Blue Devils See Cardinal Red. Stanford 44 – Duke – 14.

Andrew Luck and The Stanford Cardinal

 

 

What’s up sports fans? Another week into the season and Stanford wasn’t about to let anything change from last week. After blowing by the San Jose State Spartans it was time to take on an ACC foe. It was the Duke Blue Devils. What was significant is that this is a school that has made Stanford look pitiful on the basketball court and has pushed Stanford face in it for decades. The Cardinal decided when it comes to boys basketball we’re still working on it. But when it comes to football, Duke, now you get humbled. Humbled with a capital H. Because last Saturday the Stanford Cardinal left Duke wondering what they could try next to stop the 44-14 smack down they received at Raleigh Durham, North Carolina.

“I’ve only been around a couple quarterbacks that see everything,” Shaw said. “He was able to tell us exactly where the safeties were. … I thought he managed the game very well. Early on, we had a couple of protection issues where he had to slide and throw the ball off his back foot.” If you saw the game it just looks like Andrew Luck is just getting better and better with each contest. When he rolls out of the pocket the look in his eye is like a hungry man seeking his dinner. To the new teams in the new PAC-12 this is what you have to look forward to. I can’t tell you the last time I saw a Stanford quarterback that focused since maybe John Elway. Dukes defense wasn’t on time when it came to making plays as well.

“We have to make plays and we weren’t able to do that,” safety Matt Daniels said. “We kind of just broke down. It really didn’t have anything to do with fatigue. We had a lot of missed tackles, a lot of missed assignments.” I would have to say that Stanford had their finger on this game from the beginning and wasn’t going to take it off until the Blue Devils put away their plans of winning. They did that in the beginning of the fourth when Andrew Luck hit Zach Ertz for another score after that Duke really had no answer for the Cardinal. The Cardinal put up 299 yards in the air, and 209 yards on the ground. It was a solid attack for a total of 504 yards. Luck did have one mistake, a pick six from Lee Butler that cost 76 yards for a score for Duke, but other than that it was all Stanford Cardinal football. Luck was 20-28 for 290 yards with 4 touchdown passes.

Chris Owusu had 7 catches for 106 yards. Jeremy Stewart kept things hot for the Cardinal with a 30 yard scamper to the end zone for a score. Duke head coach David Cutcliffe had to try something so the Blue Devils went with a fake punt on a 4 and 7 that worked only to watch it fail because Duke’s field goal kicker missed his second field goal of the day, which allowed he Cardinal to keep Duke in depression type state until the game was all but won. Another triumph for head coach David Shaw, and for Andrew Luck who’s confidence is even felt amongst his teammates.  “I guess you could say Andrew makes a lot of hard throws look easy,” Fleener said. Duke’s starting quarterback Sean Renfree was 19-27 for 179 yards in the loss, it’s something head coach Cutcliffe and his staff are going to have to look at and re-think or re-tool their game plan.

It’s funny the ACC Network when they show the highlights of the game they only show a couple of scores and they aptly show Dukes touchdown, and then they just show you the final score. Trust me if the situation would’ve been reversed they would’ve showed highlights from the entire game. Gotta love the east coast The Cardinal are 2-0 and have Arizona next week. Think they can beat them? Or do you think Arizona can stymie David Shaw’s offense? Tell me what you think. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!

AllBayAreaSports.Com Launches “ThrowBack Legends (Segment). With First Interview From Redwood City Woodside High Alumnai Rich Kelley.

 

 

What’s up sports fans? This is our first take at a really special part of Allbayareasports.com. This is our “Throwback Legends (Segment), and we are very honored and pleased that we started with Bay Area native Rich Kelley. Rich started playing at Woodside High in Redwood City California he eventually went played at Stanford which is a enormous accomplishment in its own right, and he played so well there he eventually was called up to play on the professional level. We are ecstatic that he allowed us to do this interview. So sit back and take a look. Remember folks it’s ALLBAYAREASPORTS.COM. Bay Area Sports Magnified!