Har-bowl fun to watch with Ravens finally prevailing 16-6 over 49ers. Close and intense defensive battle throughout as expected. A very game Alex Smith under heavy pressure all night long - o-line definitely not up to its usual solid protection. At 9-2 Niners still have second best record in NFL and hopefully starting another win streak next week.
I'm still very sold on this team. Played tough against probably a top 3 NFL team (I don't care about the regular season record; in my book, the 3 Super Bowl contenders are Green Bay, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, with NE just on the cusp and Houston and SF as dark horses); 2 plays from a win (the Ginn TD and the PI that set up the Ravens only TD).
Very much, for me, a "they are who we thought they were" game: defense was stellar but still missing great play from the secondary and pass rush that could have tipped the game; special teams was great again (a criminally underrated part of NFL football, 49ers fans should be keenly aware of how important it is after going from the Jose Cortez era to today); offense is decent, but probably not good enough to win us the biggest games without major help.
This team is still a year away from being a true contender- maybe if Aldon Smith blossoms that defense can become as suffocating as the Ravens was last night. Hopefully the last pieces fall into place soon; I would absolutely love to see Frank Gore win a Super Bowl with this team.
Also, after the Suh incident, it's great to know we are blessed with not just great talent but good, decent, hard-working men at every position. Singletary's influence on this team may yet be underrated.