SF 49ers News, Notes, and Stats from Packers Game

• QB J.T. O' Sullivan led  the team to two touchdowns in the first half.
• O' Sullivan finished 8-17 for 154 yards with one TD and one terrible interception to Charles Woodson. 
• Alex Smith went 5-12 for 62  yards. Smith only played the 3rd quarter. 
• O'Sullivan completed some nice passes to WR Josh Morgan including a 59-yard TD at the end of the first half. 
• Morgan, the rookie WR from Virginia Tech, looks really good in the first two preseason games. He looks very big and muscular and reminds me of Terrell Owens back when he was a 49er. 
• New punt returner Allen Rossum capped off the scoring in the game with a sweet 67-yard runback of a Jon Ryan punt. 
• The 49ers showed a pass rush last night. They were collapsing the pocket of the Green Bay quarterbacks all evening. 
• Ray McDonald and Tully Banta-Cain did a great job pressuring the QBs.  There was no pass rush at all last year. 
• If the 49ers D-line can play like this throughout the season, the secondary will look a lot better than it did last season.
• Free agent WR Cam Colvin looks to be a good candidate for the practice squad if he doesn't make the 53-man roster. 
• Isaac Bruce needs to play more so he can gain some chemistry with the QBs. I don't care if he is a veteran and knows Mike Martz' system. He is playing with a new QB this season and needs to get his timing down with the QB.
• Safety Dashon Goldson looked impressive last night as well. I would like to see him start over Mark Roman. Goldson is a ballhawk. He played a lot of cornerback in college when he was playing for the Washington Huskies. 
• Mike Nolan has said one of the reasons he likes O'Sullivan is because he has "competitive fire."  So did Trent Dilfer. 

NFL Week 10 Awards

AFC East Player of the Week: Bills RB Marshawn Lynch
The rookie RB had 61 yards and one TD along with a two-point conversion to help the Bills beat Miami.

AFC North Player of the Week: Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger
Roethlisberger threw for 278 yards and 2 TDS and also ran for a 30-yard TD to help Pittsburgh beat the Browns 31-28

AFC South Player of the Week: Jaguars QB Quinn Gray
Gray threw for 101 yards and scrambled for a crucial first down in the fourth quarter to seal the victory over the Titans.

AFC West Player of the Week: Chargers RB Darren Sproles
Sproles had 2 TDS on a kick-off and a punt to jumpstart the Chargers to the upset win over the Colts

NFC East Player of the Week: Eagles RB Brian Westbrook
Westbrook's three TDS led the Eagles

NFC North Player of the Week: Packers RB Ryan Grant
Grant ran for 119 yards and one TD as he played much better than the overhyped Adrian Peterson of the Vikings

NFC South Player of the Week: Falcons QB Joey Harrington
Harrington was 19-26 for 192 yards with one TD to help the Falcons win their second game in a row. He threw a strike to Alge Crumpler for the game-winning TD in the fourth quarter.

NFC West Player of the Week: Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby
Dansby had two interceptions and a forced fumble to help Arizona beat the Lions 31-21.

Goat of the Week: Colts K Adam Vinitieri
Vinitieri
Viniteri missed a chip-shot 29-yard FG that would have gave the Colts a win over the Chargers

Upset of the Week: Rams 37 Saints 29
The winless Rams got their first win against the Saints. The Saints had won four in a row before the upset loss.

Ten Reasons why Mike Nolan Should Be Fired

In No Particular Order

1. Having 49ers financial consultant Paraag Marathe in the booth during games - Marathe, who knows nothing about Xs and Os, communicates with Nolan throughout the game on stats and instant replay challenges. Marathe is a financial and accounting genius, but he is not a "football guy." My sources told me that Marathe makes $100,000 a year as an employee of the 49ers.
2. Getting rid of WR Antonio Bryant - Why did Nolan get rid of the best WR the 49ers had last year? A player who was passionate about the game and who often complained on the bench about Alex Smith's wild throws. Was Bryant a malcontent or was he just frustrated by Smith's inaccuracy? Watching Smith play more and more, it is definitely the latter. Bryant was a threat as a WR unlike Darrell Jackson and Arnaz Battle.
3. Hiring VP Player of Personnel Scot McCloughan - Mr.McCloughan isn't just missing an extra "T" in his first name. He might be missing some brains as well. How could he trade next year's first round pick to the Patriots in order to select OL Joe Staley in this year's draft? This is the same man that traded a fourth-round draft pick next year to get WR Darrell Jackson from Seattle. Why would the Seahawks trade a player to a team in its same division unless the player was either hurt or past his prime? The answer is they wouldn't!
   
4. Drafting Alex Smith with the number one pick in the 2005 NFL Draft - Smith was not NFL-ready coming out of Utah. Nolan said he liked Smith because he put Smith through some weird drills before the draft, and Smith never questioned him. Nolan believed that made Smith coachable. Nolan also kept on raving about Smith's intellectual ability. Smith is a NFL quarterback and not a lawyer or doctor. His 4.0 GPA at Utah won't help him on the football field. By the way, Shawne Merriman, Braylon Edwards, Derrick Johnson, and Jason Campbell were all drafted later on in the first round. In the second round, the 49ers drafted David Baas when LB Lofa Tatupu was still on the board. Tatupu is now the heart and soul of the Seahawks defense while Baas is a backup on the 49ers.
5. Calling timeouts at the wrong time in the game - Nolan has made this mistake in every game it seems. He often challenges a play also when the play was obviously called correct by the referee.
   
6. Hiring Jim Hostler as offensive coordinator - The 49ers called a timeout today on 3rd and Goal at the Falcons two yard line. After the timeout, RB Michael Robinson gets stuffed for a two-yard loss as the defense sold out on the run. Before the timeout, the 49ers were gashing the Falcons with the run and the Falcons linemen were gassed and tired. After the timeout, they were well rested and were able to tackle Robinson to force a Joe Nedney field goal. Why didn't they do a play-action pass on 3rd and Goal?
   
7. For caring more about how he looks than how the team plays - Nolan spends too much time asking the NFL to allow him to wear a suit and tie on the sidelines during games. Maybe he should try to think of ways to get his team to play better than worry about the fashion police.
   
8. For repeating the same things every week at his weekly press conference with the media - After every game and every loss, Nolan uses different words but says basically the same things. His speech to the press will go something like this - "We will get better. We will improve, I can promise you that. We will not jump ship and we will stay the course and see this thing through. No one in our division is running away with the title and we have a big game coming up in Seattle."
9. For not preparing his team to play in the beginning of each game - It seems that the team is down by 20 before the second quarter has started. The team is never prepared to play and that is the coach's fault.
10. For being conservative on offense - Nolan is way in over his head as a head coach. It appears at times that he is allergic to touchdowns,and that is why he often has his team play conservatively in the red zone and settle for field goals. Does anyone not remember last year's 4th and 1 against the Rams in Saint Louis?