Rookie wideout Percy Harvin is listed as questionable due to an illness that knocked him out of practice on Thursday and Friday.

I think we have a real good shot at beating them sunday. i know everyone will give it to the viks to win but i like that. i like being over looked and shutting mouths at the end of the 4th. I'm hoping that continues after the 4th in this game.

Still no Crabturd. What a shame. I hope Brandon Jones just tears it up and the team decides to lower the offer to Crabturd significantly to make sure he doesn't sign. F--- him. What a primadonna. I'd rather have a nice draft pick for him at this point. The guy has "bust" written all over him.

I concure with 9er1!!!

BUST

Who's going to the next home game? Assuming, and hoping, that Crabtree isn't signed, I'll be going around during the tailgate getting STHs to sign a petition asking the 49ers to withdraw the offer. Who's with me?

Hey Matt, what's the argument against lowering the escalators in the contract so they're easier to reach? Doesn't everyone win that way? Guaranteed money stays the same, but Crabtree (likely) gets more cash.

Petitions may work in government but I don't see what it will do for us in this case. 9er management needs to determine how to best gain value. That could be done through a trade (either before after he's signed, and yes, I know that does not happen in 09), sign him and play him, or if he remains unreasonable, let him walk. 9er management doesn't need encourgement from us to continue to play hard ball with him. Of course, this is merely my opinion.

This will be our first big test. The Vikes' d-line is pretty damn good. Lets see how our line holds up. I don't like our chances but I'm keeping my hopes up

I hope I am wrong but I think this Viking defense will force the 49ers in to a passing game which will really expose Hill's where Hill is weak. I think he will continue to stare down receivers thus throwing interceptions and his slow reads will allow sacks. The 49ers need another strong defensive and special teams game to pull off an upset.

...i agree.......defense is very key....

...its tough

- the 2nd best RB in the league (gore number 1)

- hall of fame QB

- in a dome

........tough hill to climb

Please update info on status on J Hill. this is a damn sorry sight that a guy with a broken shoulder, and a guy who can't hand off the ball get play time over a 3rd round pick and local boy.

I like Gore and Coffee on swing passes out of the backfield. VD quick seam routes. Then start to sprinkle in some inside runs. Morgan deep. I feel like our defense matches up perfectly to shut them down. Farve will throw an interception and don't be surprised if AD coughs one up. We should be able to hit Farve repeatedly. 49er in an upset 20-13

What interceptions?

I can't wait to see Frave on his back, wishing he never retired. Hurrying him will be where the interceptions are coming from.

Niners have to continue to strive to be the better team from week to week.

This is a new era. The era of hitting people in the mouth! Really Hard!!!

The Viking will have have to earn any win with blood spilled!!

What interceptions?

I can't wait to see Frave on his back, wishing he never retired. Hurrying him will be where the interceptions are coming from.

Niners have to continue to strive to be the better team from week to week.

This is a new era. The era of hitting people in the mouth! Really Hard!!!

The Viking will have have to earn any win with blood spilled!!

Matt,
can you interview nate davis on your podcast?

LOL... Hill has slow reads?

He admitted he held the ball too long for a couple of the sacks that have happened and all the sudden he has slow reads?

That is the opposite of what I hear. I hear he sees things develop more quickly than other QB's and that is why his weaker arm is not as much a liability as it would normally be. He sees it develop quickly and releases the ball sooner.

The Vikes have had a great D line for about three years, this year they have only been mediocre against weak teams. Unless they pull themselves together compared to how they played last week we will get some yds on the ground.

If we can shut down AP, a hard task, but we have done it before, we will win. Farve wont beat us with his arm with the way our DB's have been playing.

Plus isnt this the same farve that everyone used to say has trouble in dome's? Just because its his home now doesnt make him better in domes. Farve is 21-24 (Below .500) in domes. For a QB of his caliber and the legnth of time he has played, that's not a good statistic.

The key factors here will be who stops the run better. Them or us. I believe in us. Because this year we have been strong there and they have not.

We play the run decent, even better when we key for a guy of this stature. However, I think the main key to beating this team is something that everyone may have overlooked....pass rush. Peterson will get lots of carries. I suspect Willis and Lewis will have special assignment tabs on him and keep him rather modest with an agenda to stop the big play ability he offers. But if we allow Favre to sit back and pick on the DBs with minimal to no pass rush, he could be the X factor, and we could see a lot of "Favre still has it" highlights on ESPN at our expense. We MUST be ready to attack Favre and we must do a better job of getting to him than we have so far this year with our complete lack of pass rush. Favre on any day is capable of 4 or 5 INTs....but you MUST get to him and rattle him!

I though the cards would have been the GPS game for us and we won. Then it was the seahawks, who had just smashed the rams and we won that game. I don't think the vike's are as good as the cards. I see a low scoring win for us. We will ride gore for another 100 yd game. Gore seams faster in the open field this year.

Hardhitter49er is right, hill is staring down his receivers this year and failing to find the open ones.

With the cardinal win, Although I'll gladly take it, it also needs to be taken with a grain of salt because boldin was fighting an injury, and with breaston on the inactive list, the niners did an awesome job taking advantage of the situation. but take a look at how the cards tore up the jags last week, that's with their full wr corp.

the seahawks just got their season ended by patrick willis. just complete domination all around.

This week, I think the niners definitely have this game on lock down. the vikings do have adrian peterson, but look at how he's been playing, he's been getting caught at the line of scrimage, and because of poor tackling has been able to take advantage and break out. Coach Singletary's tackling drills are going to enable the niners to hold peterson to pedestrian numbers.

We are 2-0 NFC West facing another common opponenet.

No less intensity, no less important.

Extremely noisy home opener with pleny of implications for Favre and Co to establish an identity.

Take the crowd out of this one as early as possible and execute the game plan.

I would not be surprised to see Raye air it out some with the attention being paid to Frank and Co. either.

Likewise, Nate better be ready for the play action double pump from Favre too.

I expect a good balanced attack and a huge Road Win.

Marc – asking Shaun Hill to air it out would be like asking the Pope to preach in Iran – ain't going to happen.

Ol' Raye and Singletary will stick to their bread and butter and try to ram a heavy dose of Gore down opponent's throats until they cry uncle. I agree that Nate Davis is the one QB who could improvise on Raye's offensive script. I have high hopes for that kid.

LOL Franchise, poor choice of words on my part?

How about we get the WRs involved more?
I think the loaded box is a Rx for some shots downfield.

Touche'

I believe I'll be taking my nephew to his fist 49er game. One day after I take him to see Cal whoop USC.

Vikes D is formidable, 2 big dudes inside, and J.Allen will challenge Staley but the right gameplan can work. Maybe roll Hill out to his right a few times, and some screen passes to tire out that D front. Adrian will want to avenge his performance from last year, so we need to be ready and get the push on Favre.

"Don't let what you can't do get in the way of what you can do"Coach Wooden says. This little aphorism describes Shaun Hill's success perfectly. Gripe all you want about him but his meat and potatoes "aw shucks" way lends itself perfectly to the no nonsense take care of your own business approach to the game distilled by Coach Singletary. Win or lose(and expect them to WIN!) this team will only fail if they veer from that task. Attention to the little things and HARD WORK is what is making this team shows signs of being something special.I am loving the transformation.Go Niners!

Exactly, I haven't heard of a team that worked like we did this Summer. Winners work to win.

Hey Matt check out this article on Crabtree it actually has his cousin retracting his comments about Crabtree re entering the draft next year. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=4497596&type=story#

Finally somebody writes a journalistic piece on Crabtree. That was an interesting article and shows the situation is more complex. Crabtree's side is not a bunch of down home hicks. In truth they are sucessful black men who provide strong role models. It is amazing to me how these contract negotiations has been turned into "dumb" Crabbtree versus the NFL. He has some real balls to take on the NFL and I am looking forward to watching him play. He is going to be a great receiver.

Hopefully Marco Crabtree is in a 49er uniform. I still dont get it though. This has to be one of the most confusing situations I have ever heard of. I wish the Crabtree camp would just say something already this is crazy tell us does he want to play in SF or not so this story could go away!

Two ex Cowboys (one of whom has had multiple drug charges and another a megalomaniac ) a bail bondsman and a Senator (huh?)-no wonder the kid is insular ! Further the kid is getting paid off of endorsements and hasn't played a down in a NFL game let alone completed a training camp (will wonders never cease!?!). What a mess...ship it off to Jerry Jones in March -it's his kind of party.

2-0 vs 2-0...Game of the week but look at who the Purps have played - Detroit and Cleveland, the two worst teams in Pro football (maybe the Rams and Raiders can fight them for the bottom rung). We knocked off the NFC Champs in their house and a supposedly strong Seaturd team - both favored to beat us. This game will be won in the trenches and is a GPS for the O & D lines. I'd love Willis to send Grey Beard to the bench with a few fractured body parts and start his next retirement early. Go Niners!

Aaron: I guess the Crabtree camp did sat something recently(not Crabs himself ,because he is not involved in contract discussions).
On inside the NFL,Lombardi,their resident "expert" said that he had spoken to Parker and Parker had told him that now there is room for compromise with the 49ers.
I guess that filing of tampering charges against the Jets,did a whole lot of good for the Niners side in these negotiations. As usual,good job Scotty !

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/5771/eli-manning-drew-brees-and-shaun-hill

I wouldn't have guessed.

Matt: I wonder why it seems that every commentator always seem to be saying things like " The Niners might have to pass for a change to beat the Vikes" ,or " Running Frank gore on every play won't be enough to beat Minnesots",or "the niners will need to change from their usual game plan and Hill will need to pass.to get past the Vikings great run defense". etc etc etc?
Doesn't everyone know that the Niners have passed MORE this season than they have run the ball(58% pass in the Cards game !) ?
Is the media so out of touch and are the fans so brainwashed by the media,that nobody realizes that the Niners are exactly what Sing and Raye have said they wanted from day one,a well balanced offense that can run and pass. (and hopefully getting better at both,as the new Raye offense hits its stride,as most newly installed offenses do,around midseason of it's first year).

Sorry Matt. a few weeks ago i called you a homer. Last night i saw you on the NFL channel ( you looked great) you were far from a homer. You spoke honestly and said what you felt. Unfortunately that might come back to bite you in the ass in the local realm. Especially when we beat the Vikings. Dont get me wrong we are a work in progress , but so are the Vikes. You blew a great chance yesterday. After we beat them tomorrow the national media is going to blitz us. If you had made a profound statement they would all come looking for you. However, your remarks went status quo and will be forgotten. Niner fans will still love you, even though you appeared to jump ship.
Kendrick

The stories about what a great kid Crabturd is and how "passionate" and football-minded he is are quite frankly getting nauseating. Blah blah blah....we get it...you're so passionate about it that you are willing to sit out and make a complete ass out of yourself over your own pride. Only an egotistical punk does something like that. GET A TRADE FOR THIS PSYCHO PUKE ASAP!!!

Oh and another thing....just because the NFL says we can't actually trade Crabpuke until March 5 or whatever, does NOT mean we can't come to terms with another team for a trade way before that and just wait till March 5 to make it official. I fully expect this punk to sit out the season, and I would imagine the 9ers will be trying behind the scenes to work out trade negotiations not long after our season is over....whenever that will be.

Get to work, Jed! Git-r-done!

Quite frankly the hate Crabtree bunch are what is getting nauseating.
Since we KNOW that Crabs has not said anything during this whole process and we know he was a model citizen and great team mate before he signed with Parker,what basis do you have to rip the kid ,except that you are mad that he is holding out,as his agent is telling him to do?
As I have said,we know Parker is a sleeze and has a reputation and as Kevin Lynch said,is just using Crabs for Parker's own purposes(to make a statement and get himself a place at the Collective Bargaining Agreement talks that are coming up). So,we know Crabs has always been a good kid and never a diva etc,and we know Parker is probably keeping Crabs in the dark and that Parker has a horrible reputation for causing situations like this. And we know that many of the drafted players are kept in the dark until their agent tells them to finally go sign(see Curry in Seattle,same thing).And we know Crabs was fine until Parker became his agent.
So blame Crabs for signing with the guy or blame Crabs for not firing the bum,but don't blame the naive kid,who knows nothing about business,for doing what everyone says he is doing,working out and staying in great football shape while waiting for the expert he hired to tell him when the contract is ready to sign (just like Curry said he was doing,while he was holding out).

whoa 9er1... tell us how you really feel? take a deep breath, man... and get used to the idea of crabtree being a 49er for at least the next 5 years. I don't like the holdout anymore than you do, but when you step back, and listen to the people who understand how the process works, you realize that this is simply about guaranteed money. everything else is just posturing, to get the other side to cave. eugene parker wants all of us to freak out, in the hopes that it puts extra pressure on the 49ers to cave to appease the fans. like it or not, crabs and parker are within their right to negotiate till nov 17, 1pm pst. and it looks like they will. it's just business. If MM is right, then Crabs is the guy the 9ers front office wanted most in the draft. it's the guy they think will be the best player in the draft 4-5 years down the road, and at a position of need. if you remove all passion from the argument, then wouldn't you wait 1 more month to get the player you believe to be the most valuable long term commodity in this rookie class? the threat of a holdout is bullsh*t. Parker knows it, the 9ers know it, I think now MM believes it, also. This is just a game of chicken, and the 9ers can't afford to swerve first.

Exactly Ronnie Lott! You have too much common sense for most fans though .

The niners are clearly built as a running team, if you ever look at their pass protection, the pocket that hill has to work with is so darn smal,l it's nearly impossible for him to sit back and make his progression reads without someone getting in his face. however, if the niners can somehow protect hill and give him time to make reads, hill could shred the vikings apart just like how brady did on MNF a few years ago. the viking's secondary is not much to speak of, but making running lanes against those 2 monster williams tackles or getting the edge around jared allen is going to be tough.

I guess I expect too much from fans.I should remember that the word fan is short for Fanatic ,and I should realize that most fanatics are not logical but are all about emotion.
I am as passionate and emotional about my team as any fan but hopefully hate is one emotion we can do without.
I hate what Parker is doing and I hate that Crabs is holding out,but I try not to hate the kid that will probably be on our team for the next decade.(now that is logical !).

So you are saying that IF the O line can give Hill time,we will CONTINUE to be more of a passing team than a running team.
You do know that we have passed more than we have run,so far this season,don't you ?

The Vikings know its coming but they wont see it coming. 49ers are gonna hit em in the mouth so tuff its gonna pop the lid of their dome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpq-TSQNViA

> You do know that we have passed more than we have run,so far this season,don't you ?

That's mainly because our run sucks. With the exception of 2 particular plays against Seattle our running game is non-existant. We did pass more than run because the run did not work. As long as we cannot run the ball well on a consistant basis we will continue to pass more than run.

I'd rather have 16 runs for 5 yards each than 1 run for 80 and 15 runs for zero.

good points, TOP_CAT... I understand how frustrated fans like 9er1 and some of the others on this blog are. I feel the same way. and to be honest, I got caught up in it all too at first. I bought into the whole "he's not going to sign! we are gonna lose the pick!" crap too.

Then I took a deep breath, and realized that it was simply propaganda put out by a very clever and tricky agent to freak out the fan base, and hopefully the 9ers front office. it's all just war tactics. and now that I know what the position of the 9ers front office really is (thanks in no small part to MM) I can just sit back and relax and enjoy my team playing surprisingly good football. and when Crabs finally does sign (and he will) I will be thrilled to watch him play for us. I really don't care if the kid is insane or greedy. as long as he works his ass off in practice and on the field. people need to remember, we drafted a football player, not a saint. otherwise the niners would have picked archbishop desmond tutu with the 10th pick in this years draft.

Dirk: I was inclined to agree with you, but then I found this piece written by Mike Sando for Espn:

"Touchdown runs covering 79 and 80 yards pumped up that rushing average nicely, but the 49ers had six rushing first downs on those 17 carries.

This was not simply a case of Frank Gore busting two long runs and doing nothing the rest of the day. Gore also had runs covering 13, 9, 6, 6, 5 and 4 yards. If we set aside Gore's two longest and two shortest runs, he had 12 carries for 48 yards on the other plays, good for a solid 4 yards per attempt.

The 49ers have so far been reluctant to use three wide receivers on first and second down. They have not used four wide receivers at a time this season, a significant departure from Mike Martz's offense last season. The passing game worked well enough within these confines to carry the winning fourth-quarter touchdown drive at Arizona. There's still a sense the team will need more from Hill and the passing game, but it's tough to argue with a 2-0 record."

considering we have seen almost exclusively 8 man fronts, we haven't been that bad. and remember, when the d puts 8 men in the box, if your back gets through the first line, there isn't anyone home to stop him. hence the big runs...

Tutu would be like alex,good at sitting on the bench.
But with all that money Alex has,I doubt he is a Communist.

Joe Theisman is picking the 49ers.

Topcat -you know ,I enjoy some of your posts however the "most fans -THEM'' routine directed at people who differ in opinion is really a bit smug.It is possible you are in error as well-I hope you can acknowledge that and agree to disagree. One of my posts above could be interpreted as anti Crabtree railing for instance.It is not.Yes there are some posts that display way too much venom at the kid.I suspect the amount of fans who are just wary of the conjecture outnumber the haters. Personally, I am much more interested in our team as it exits right now not conjecture about what it will be IF someone signs...and the paucity of info directed at that task lately is rather disconcerting.

If you get your wish and Crabtree signs then he better be pretty darn good from day one. There'll be very little tolerance for rookie mistakes now. One bad game and they'd boo him out of the stadium. He better have pretty thick skin. It would probably be worse than if Smith had won the starting QB spot and had a bad game.

TOP CAT, that all sounds just fabulous, but at one point I would imagine Chad Johnson was a "model citizen" and a "great teammate" too. At one point I bet Terrell Owens, Antonio Bryant, Kellen Winslow and Roy Williams were model guys and great teammates too. Amazingly, none of them has won a SB, and most of them are considered head case primadonnas, bigger than the game itself and everything the concept of TEAM is NOT about.

Honestly, I don't care anymore how much athletic talent this guy has, I don't want him anymore. And, as in your scenerio, if he really is this poor "victim" of an evil agent, then the fact that he is stupid enough to just keep dealing with it when HE holds all the cards is even more a testament to what an idiot he is.

Either way he surely isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he makes up for it by having exactly the attitude Singletary does NOT want(see Vernon Davis) on this TEAM. If you play well with your talents as a team overall, you don't NEED the superstar head case primadonna WR on your team, just look at the Patriots SB's...I don't recall any superstar diva WRs on those teams!

Oh and by the way, it doesn't matter what Sing said in any article about how he was "so impressed" with the kid's passion and emotion, etc. Of course he's going to say that...what would you expect him to say about his own 1st round pick? Why de-value him for a possible trade?

Here's another thought - even if he signs now and winds up being as advertised, we will never be able to sign him again in 3 years when he becomes a free agent. NEVER. He is going to want Bill Gates money I can see it now. He will sign with Dallas or NY....bank on it. We'd be screwed.

Give me the 1st or 2nd rounder for this clown, pick someone who WANTS to be here, and I'm all good!