Going from sixteen games a week with playoff implications to back-to-back, high powered, Wild Card and Divisional Rounds to meaningful Conference Championships to...thirteen and a half days of analysis, interviews, subplots, side stories, allegations, favorite road foods of third string players is painfully anti-climactic.
This season Smith picked up where he left off, leading the league in QBR and leading San Francisco to a 6-2 start before getting knocked out of a game with a concussion in Week 9. Then came "The Decision: Football Edition" sans LeBron but with plenty of drama when Coach Harbaugh stuck with his second-year, back-up quarterback Colin Kaepernick even after Smith had fully recovered.
For some reason Harbaugh's decision, although risky and courageous, bothered me. I lost interest in the Niners, I rooted for Kaepernick to fail, I wanted to see what coach would do when his little QB project no longer had "the hot hand." At one point I even told Marco, "I'm just going to root for whichever team picks up Smith," secretly hoping it would be the Arizona Cardinals and that Smith would prove to the world that he is more than just a pedestrian, system QB, winning multiple division titles over a Niner team that slides back into NFL obscurity. Yes, my hypotheticals get very involved sometimes.
Yesterday, I realized I was being more childish than Jim Harbaugh during a...well, during everything. If I'm really an Alex Smith fan, I should be thrilled for him that he earned 3.5 million dollars the second half of the season for holding a clipboard and being out of harms way. If I start basing my fanaticism on coaching moves, I'll probably lose the Lakers and the San Francisco Giants (actually Bochy never makes mistakes) by 2014. That being said, here's how Marco and I see things going down.
The Baltimore Ravens will come out firing on all cylinders. Much like Atlanta they will likely jump out to a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter. Kaepernick will struggle, but more because his nervous receivers won't be able to handles his lightening passes. The running game will be stalled by superb Ravens defense, while Ray Rice will catch short passes and run the ball effectively, setting up the longer connections between Flacco, Smith, Jones, and Boldin.
By the second quarter, Kaepernick will try to take the game over with his legs. Unfortunately, deer antler not only has healing powers but allows Ray Lewis to keep up with gazelle-like creatures such and Kaepy and Ray-Ray will demolish him has he tries to get "an extra few yards" - which is the new definition of Griffining by the way. Much like Griffin, Kaepernick will hobble away and come out of the game a few plays later.
Enter Alex Smith. First huddle, he leans in and says, "Alright guys, let's make like Pink and get this party started." The Niners score 14 unanswered points as Smith uses his effective short passing game to compliment the emergence of the run game. In the third quarter, the Niners take their first lead, but the Ravens take it right back. The fourth quarter is a defensive battle for the ages, and the Niners manage to tie the game with less than five minutes left.
Baltimore returns the kick-off to the forty yard line, but can't manage to get a first down, giving the Niners the ball back on their fifteen with just under three minutes to play. Alex Smith's precision passing and Houdini acts in the pocket allow him to drive the Niners down to the Ravens twenty yard line with fifteen seconds and one time out. The Ravens are out of time outs, so the obvious play becomes a run up the gut, a time out, and a game winning field goal. Instead, Alex Smith calls an audible. Harbaugh looks horrified on the sideline. Smith rolls out of the pocket. The defense closes in on him. He ducks one defender, spins around another, he finds his target and throws the ball as hard as he can...
right into Jim Harbaugh's face.
Half smiling at the blood spurting from Jim's nose, Smith turns to the ref, calls a time out, and jogs off the field to join his teammates as they watch David Akers kick a 37 yard, game-winning field goal.
Straight Up Pick: San Francisco Forty Niners 27-24
ATS Pick: Baltimore Ravens
Thanks again to all of the readers who made TSZ such a positive experience. We hope we can count on all of you to come and visit our website when we relocate during the off-season.
May the Spread Be With You All,
Vinny and Marco
