Anquan Boldin Dazzles in Debut With 49ers

By: Rich Bergeron

Anquan Boldin's trade to the San Francisco 49ers is working out just fine for the veteran wide receiver coming over from the Baltimore Ravens. Looking back on Boldin's dominance after the final whistle of his week one Niners debut, if Joe Flacco was watching, he must have been weeping in his
Wheaties.

Meanwhile, Colin Kaepernick (27-39 for 412 yds., 3 TDs in week one) rejoiced in his good fortune in obtaining a new high value target. He threw more than half of his total yards through the air on Sunday to Boldin. The new fixture in the 49ers receiving corps caught 13 passes Sunday for 208 yards and a touchdown.

A trade between the Harbaugh brothers sent Boldin from John's Ravens to Jim's Niners after the two butted coaching heads at last year's Superbowl. As John watched his own team get blasted by Peyton Manning's passing attack Thursday, he must have realized the void left by the absence of Boldin.

IMPACT ROOKIES FOR 2013 NFL SEASON-NFC NORTH

The NFC North is an interesting conference to try and handicap this year. 

The Packers have pretty well dominated this conference over the past years, with the Lions showing promise, and the Bears actually playing a bit of spoiler.

Now the Pack is retooling and the Lions and Bears are hoping they have found the pieces to make them a complete team.

Oh, and the Vikings are pretty well rebuilding, but they have some great young talent to go with All Day and the boys.

Aaron Rodgers says the read option will fade away

Aaron Rodgers is not convinced that the NFL’s turn to the read option offense scheme will last for an extended period of time.

The read option gives athletic quarterbacks the opportunity to take advantage of their mental and physical skills. 

You see it primarily in high school and college programs.

The Pistol formation and the Wing-T provide these offenses with an advantage as the defenses that they compete against are not of the same caliber as the players within the NFL.

Slower and  not as mentally instinctive players often get sucked into and defeated by these packages and thus their popularity at the amateur levels.

There is also the fact that not only is the talent in the NFL world-class but so is the defensive coordinators.

Colin Kaepernick sets single-game QB rushing record

Colin Kaepernick’s performance Saturday night was one for the ages.

During the 49ers’ Divisional Round contest against the Packers, Kaepernick set the NFL’s single-game rushing record for quarterbacks in any game.

Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Niners leading 38-24, the dynamic signal-caller had run for 179 yards, eclipsing Michael Vick’s previous mark (173).

Kaepernick also obliterated the postseason rushing yards record, formerly held by Vick (119).

NFL Playoffs Week One Wrap Up: NFC Edition

By: Rich Bergeron

Despite an impressive first quarter of football executed by the Washington Redskins Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks made the right adjustments on defense and took complete control in the 4th quarter on the way to a 24-14 win. Washington QB Robert Griffin III (10-19, 84 yards, 2 TDs, 5 carries, 21 yards rushing) came into the game with a bum knee, sporting a knee brace throughout the game and leaving in the fourth quarter after stumbling to corral an errant snap. The Seahawks spent most of the game struggling to assemble scoring drives and had to overcome a fumble near the goal line just when it seemed like they were on the combeack trail. The 14-13 halftime score would hold up right until the final minutes of the game.

Seahawks Rookie Quarterback Russell Wilson (15-26, 187 yards, TD, 8 carries, 67 yards rushing) outperformed Griffin despite getting picked long after Griffin in last year's draft. Wilson also overcame 5 sacks in the game. Seahawks Running Back Marshawn Lynch (20 carries, 132 yards, TD) catapulted his team into the lead with a 27-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter, and the Seahawks defense never let up. The Seahawks offense squandered a few key red zone opportunities, settling for field goals instead of touchdowns at crucial points in the game, but the team's defense kept Washington scoreless through the final three quarters.

Coach Pete Carroll's squad often doesn't receive the respect they deserve, and this is not the first time the team notched a surprise win. Fans may remember the play widely considered to be responsible for the end of the NFL officials lockout earlier in the season when Russell Wilson threw a hail mary "caught" by Golden Tate in the end zone to propel the team to a controversial win over the Green Bay Packers. The team might need that kind of miracle to come out of Atlanta next weekend with a victory. The Falcons started the season carrying an undefeated record into week 10 and only lost three regular season games, though all those losses were against teams that didn't make the playoffs. Still, the Falcons only lost one of those three games at home, and that defeat came in a season finale that was not really a must-win scenario. Look for the Seahawks to bow out of the playoffs next week in a blowout win for Atlanta.

Greg Jennings Doesn’t Think He’ll Be With Packers In 2013

The writing has been on the wall for a few weeks now.  Earlier this season we documented Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings inability to stay healthy and how he felt he wasn’t sure the numbers would be in his favor when it came time to get a new deal.

With Clay Matthews, Aaron Rodgers and B.J. Raji all in line to get new deals, Jennings stated that he wouldn’t be shocked if the Packers didn’t resign him. 

Today Jennings was on NFL AM’s “Double Coverage” with Steve Wyche and Mark Kriegel, when he hinted at the fact that he doesn’t think he’ll be with the Packers in 2013.

“An educated guess? … I’m gonna lean to the ‘no’ side of it,” Jennings said. “That’s my educated guess, my personal educated guess.”

Jermichael Finley Wants Rodgers To Trust Him, And He Wants The Ball

Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley is not to fond of being quiet.

Finley has been running his mouth so much lately, that some think he’s trying to talk his way out of Green Bay.

Last month Finley shot his mouth off about he and Aaron Rodgers having chemistry problems.

Fair enough, if it’s a concern you can address it.

Finley is back at it again, and according to the Journal-Sentinel, he wants the ball, and he wants Aaron Rodgers to trust him.

Green Bay Packers snatch victory from Detroit Lions

The Green Bay Packers snatched a victory from the Detroit Lions Sunday afternoon.

Aaron Rodgers’ touchdown pass to Randall Cobb with just less than two minutes to go in the game was the game winner and improved the Packers to 7-3 and increased their winning streak to five games.

Green Bay’s defense was the star of the game, as they made key plays and created four turnovers, turning one of those into a touchdown.  M.D. Jennings interception returned for a touchdown, which happened in the earlier parts of the third quarter, really gave the Packers the boost they needed.  It gave them a 14-10 lead at the time.

The Lions stormed back and took a 20-14 lead late into the fourth quarter, but Rodgers hit Randall Cobb, who was double covered, for the go-ahead touchdown.  The Packers made a key defensive stop, kicked a field goal for good measure and sealed the victory by stopping the Lions final play.

It was going to be a tough task to stop the Lions top-rated passing attack but the Packers did a great job of slowing them down.  Matthew Stafford threw for only 266 yards and two touchdowns.  He also completed fewer than fifty percent of his passes and even though the Packers were without Clay Matthews, they sacked Stafford five times.

The defense kept the Packers in the game and really helped out the offense, which struggled most of the game.

St. Louis Rams Continue to Improve in 30-20 Loss

A lot of football heads apply the term “garbage time” to a team that finds any offensive success while attempting to come back from a deficit of two touchdowns or more late in the fourth quarter. The St. Louis Rams found success in garbage time, as Sam Bradford found an open Austin Pettis in the back of the end zone with 19 seconds left in the game.

However, it was garbage time. The touchdown simply made the final score a little prettier, but the 30-20 victory for the Green Bay Packers wasn't as pleasing to the eye of Rams fans.

After struggling for much of the first few weeks, Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to form last week against a staunch Houston Texans defense. Rodgers continued to look normal — by his own extremely-high standard — against the Rams’ defense, completing 30 of his 37 pass attempts for 342 yards and three touchdowns.

The NFL OKed Reggie White’s “Smash for Cash” Program in 1996

Two major difference between now and 1996.

Roger Goodell wasn’t the overlord of the league and social media hadn’t change the way the NFL is covered. With that being said this information provided by Pro Football Zone is interesting.