Lights Out

The last time The San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens played a game it was Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. During the second half the power mysteriously went out for over 20 minutes as the 49ers were getting blown out. Even with an amazing comeback by the 49ers the Ravens won with an amazing goal line stand and controversial pass on fourth down to Crabtree which many believed to be pass interference. Those days seem ages ago, neither team resembles their lineup of thee years ago. Many joke the NFL stands for “Not for Long,” in reality it’s the truth about the vicious nature of the sport. The average career is 3 years and players are tossed out like garbage after every NFL draft as younger players enter the league. The 49ers have only 6 starters remaining from their Super Bowl team and the Ravens have less.

This is the epitome of the NFL; parity allows teams to fall at a blink of an eye and rise even quicker after a good offseason with the draft and free agency. As the 49ers and Ravens duel it out on Sunday both teams enter the game with 1-4 records. Both teams suffered heart breaking losses this past week, the Ravens lost to the Browns as they kicked a field goal to win the game with seconds left and the 49ers gave up a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining and left New York with a frown. Even though the 49ers are 1-4 the moral of the team is still high. As the vets continue to fail there slowly being weeded out and replaced with hungry youngsters who are looking to make a name for themselves. The 49ers offensive line has greatly struggled this year, especially on the right side with veterans such as Pears and Devey. Devey is already facing the reality of being replaced, last week half his snaps went to Tiller who was promoted from the practice squad. Devey was a starting guard for the Patriots and was replaced after struggling and was not active in the Patriots win in the Super Bowl. Pears is facing pressure from Trenton Brown a 7th round pick of this year’s draft. At 6’8 and 360 pounds he is a massive human being, during the preseason he was ranked as one of the best pass blockers by Pro Football focus. As the right side continues to struggle questions about changes will continue for Tomsula until the play is upgraded. There are a lot of questions for both teams this week; even Jim Harbaugh the former head coach might make an appearance on the Ravens sideline in support of his younger brother John and that should be real interesting now that the lights have been turned out on both squads.