All-Professional Footballers

As we approach the NFL Final Four, and on the heels of naming my collegiate Pepster All-Americans, it is time to name the best professional footballers of this NFL season.  This is my reflection of the best players from throughout the NFL.  It is simply who I thought played the best this year.  Although there are more than 11 offensive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I also choose some backups to account for different styles of players. I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I feel like it. Now here are the Pepster 2012 All-Pros.


Offense

QB - Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers; Tom Brady, New England Patriots - Controversy out of the gate as no Peyton Manning and none of the "young guns".  Don't worry RGIII, you will have plenty of time to make this list if you stay healthy, and Luck and Wilson look like future staples.  As far as no Manning, Rodgers and Brady just looked much more in control of games, against much stiffer competition than the AFC West this year.  Rodgers was first in QB rating, and Brady's Patriots led the league in scoring.

RB - Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings; Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks; Alfred Morris, Washington Redskins - No explanation should be necessary, nor will be forthcoming.

WR - Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions; Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears; Andre Johnson, Houston Texans; Wes Welker, New England Patriots - C. Johnson with a single season record 1,964 yards and 122 receptions and Marshall with an often electrifying 118 catches, for 1,508 yards and 11 TDs.  Johnson and Welker with equally spectacular seasons, although 118 catches for Welker can be described as ho-hum.  Remember all of the "where is Wes Welker in the playbook" discussions the first quarter of the season?

TE - Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta Hawks; Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys - Two of the all-time greats.

T - Ryan Clady, Denver Broncos; Joe Staley San Francisco 49ers; Joe Thomas, Cleveland Browns - Clady and Staley are nasty.  Staley's performance with one hand against Matthews was phenomenal.

G - Mike Iupati, San Francisco 49ers; Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens;  Logan Mankins, New England Patriots - Iupati, in my opinion, is the best offensive lineman in the game.  Yanda always seems to control his guy.  Mankins because the highest scoring offense has to get some line credit, and he is the best on that team.

C - Mike Pouncey, Miami Dolphins; Maurkice Pouncey, Pittsburgh Steelers - Mike doesn't get much credit yet because of his team.  When I asked Mike who should back him up on this team, he responded, "My brother Maurkice, calling up the freaks"!

Defense

DE - J.J Watt, Houston Texans; Julius Peppers, Chicago Bears; Cameron Wake - No discussion necessary.

DT - Vince Wilfork, New England Patriots; Justin Smith, San Francisco 49ers; Haloti Ngata - Again, no discussion necessary, but I will say that Wilfork, Watt and Charles Tillman should be the only 3 vote getters for defensive player of the year.

OLB - Aldon Smith, San Francisco 49ers; Von Miller, Denver Broncos; Chad Greenway, Minnesota Vikings - Smith and Miller are game changing defensive players.  Greenway led all outside backers in tackles.

ILB - Patrick Willis, San Francisco 49ers; NaVorro Bowman, San Francisco 49ers; Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers; London Fletcher, Washington Redskins; Jerod Mayo, New England Patriots - The Niners picks are no brainers, Kuechly led the league in tackles, and Fletcher has been good for a long, long, long time!!!

CB - Charles Tillman, Chicago Bears; Richard Sherman, Seattle Seahawks; Tim Jennings, Chicago Bears; Patrick Peterson, Arizona Cardinals - See my Tillman note above, and Sherman was fantastic.  Jennings led the NFL in picks with 9.  As for Peterson, remember when the Cardinals were undefeated and had a great defense - yeah me either - but Peterson is awesome.

S - Dashon Goldson, San Francisco 49ers; Thomas DeCoud, Atlanta Falcons; Morgan Burnett, Green Bay Packers; Thomas Davis, Carolina Panthers - Goldson is always around the ball, on runs or passes, and DeCoud caught every overthrown pass in the NFL. Burnett led all safeties in tackles, and I just love watching Thomas Davis play.

Special Teams

K - Blair Walsh, Minnesota - One of the greatest kicking seasons in history.  36-36 on extra points and 35-38 on FGAs, including 10-10 over 50 yards.

P - Andy Lee, San Francisco 49ers - I don't normally care about punters, and Lee led the league in net yardage (along with Thomas Morestead), but dropped more than Morestead inside the 20.

R - Jacoby Jones, Baltimore Ravens (Kicks); Leodis McKelvin, Buffalo Bills (Punts); T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts - all three were incredibly exciting, although Trindan Holliday marks a huge run after his playoff performance.  I could also just have Patrick Peterson return kicks as well.

Everybody's All-American

As college football has concluded its 2012 campaign and we are 1 step closer to a playoff to decide the national champion, this seems as if it is the right time to name the Pepster All-Americans.  This is my reflection of the best players from college, and by no means is meant to indicate who will be high draft picks, or as my prognostication as to which players will become good or great professionals.  It is simply who I thought played the best last year.  Although there are more than 11 offensive and defensive players listed, the team is selected to account for the various offenses and defenses used around the country (trip receivers, spread, 3-4, 4-3, etc.). I also choose some backups to account for different styles of players. I chose to explain my picks in some instances, and not in others. Why? Because I feel like it. Now here are the Pepster 2012 All-Americans.


Offense

QB - Johnny Manzell, Texas A & M;  Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois; Geno Smith, West Virginia- Manzell needs no explanation.  Lynch set the record for most rushing yards by a quarterback and Smith put up ludicrous numbers - which he had to do because his defense was ludicrously awful!

RB - Kenjon Barner, Oregon; Montee Ball, Wisconsin, Stefphon Jefferson, Nevada - If you are asking why Barner and Ball, then you are not a true college football fan.  Stefphon Jefferson because he was second in yards, second in touchdowns scored and first in "he spells his name, How?"  Duke Johnson will be on this list next year - Guaranteed!

WR - Marquise Lee, USC; Stedman Bailey, West Virginia; DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson; Terrance Williams, Baylor - Lee had 118 receptions for 1721 yards; Bailey had 114 receptions for 1622 yards and 25 TDS!!!!  Hopkins had only 82 catches for 1405 yards, but 18 TDs, while Williams had an astounding 1832 yards - on 97 catches - after losing Robert Griffin III.

TE - Zach Ertz, Stanford - and since nobody uses TEs anymore, no Tyler Eifort.

T - Luke Joeckel, Texas A & M; Cyrus Kuandijo, Alabama; D.J. Fluker, Alabama.  Joeckel is by far the best offensive lineman in the country, and well, did you see Alabama's running game?

G - Chance Warmack, Alabama; Cyril Richardson, Baylor - Once again - Alabama's offensive line and as for Richardson, just watch the Kansas State tape, with Lache Seastrunk constantly running up the middle.

C - Barret Jones, Alabama - Seriously, they were that good.

Defense

DE - Jadeveon Clowney, South Carolina; Damontre Moore, Texas A & M; Bjoern Werner, FSU - Clowney - just for the bowl game hit.  Yes THE Bowl Game HIT!  Moore because A & M played a lot more than just offense.  Werner is most people's starter, but I thought he just took too many plays off.

DT - Star Lotulelei, Utah; Sharif Floyd - Lotulelei might have been the best player of which you have never heard.  Floyd was a beast that anchored a darn good Florida Gator defense this year (and to appease the Gator fans before they see that I did not include Matt Elam on my team).

OLB - Jarvis Jones, Georgia; Khaseem Greene, Rutgers; C.J. Mosley, Alabama - Jones needs no explanation - but he did lead the country in sacks, and the only reason Greene needs an explanation is because nobody watches Rutgers.  Mosley is phenomenal, and to be honest, the only reason I have Greene ahead of him is that I really like watching Greene play.

ILB - Manti Te'o, Notre Dame; Arthur Brown - Kansas State - Te'o received most of the acclaim and all of the apostrophes, but Arthur Brown can flat play defense as well.

CB - Dee Milliner, Alabama; Johnthan Banks, Mississippi State; Jordan Poyer, Oregon State - Milliner was my MVP of the BCS Championship game, and Banks allowed Mississippi State to play an extra safety in the box against all of the tough SEC offenses.  Poyer had 7 interceptions.

S - Phillip Thomas, Fresno State; Ed Reynolds, Stanford; Eric Reid, LSU - Thomas led the country with 8 interceptions, while Ed Reynolds anchored a tough, tough Cardinal defense.  Eric Reid is included because the LSU defense was way too good to not have someone on the team, and I personally found Barkevious Mingo incredibly disappointing - and I can give lots of examples, if you prefer.

Now for my Matt Elam aside.  I attended 3 Florida games and watched at least a portion of every other game.  While Elam is a talent, (he was a consensus All-American for everyone else and is the highest rated safety in the draft - to date), he often runs himself out of plays, is often out-of-position, over pursues way too much, is way too eager to make the big hit/play rather than make a tackle and takes stupid - and I mean STUPID - penalties, often personal fouls.  I personally saw that in the LSU game there were times where Elam was on the bench in the second half for several plays - and not for an injury or equipment reasons either.  In fact, his signature play, running the receiver down and causing the fumble in the LSU game, only happened because he bit horribly on the play-action fake and was WAY out of position.  I will give him credit for not giving up on the play, though.

Special Teams

K - Cairo Santos, Tulane - 47 - 48 on the year, and that miss was on an extra point.  Plus, my Palm Beach County brethren, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, felt he was the best kicker in awarding him the Lou Groza award.  This was a category that should have, and was, fought over by the 3 Florida kickers, Dustin Hopkins, Caleb Sturgis and Jake Wieclaw, but Santos rose above them all.

P - Kyle Christy, Florida - Although Christy only finished seventh in punting with a 45.8 yard (Ryan Allen of Louisiana Tech had an astounding 48 yard average, Christy affected each and every game with his punts, giving the Gators great field position on subsequent drives after pinning the opponents deep in their own endzone, and the Gators desperately needed the short field with their offense.

R - Marcus Murphy - Missouri - He had a 24.1 yard kickoff return average with 1 touchdown and a 13.9 yard punt return average with 3 touchdowns.  I would love to put Duke Johnson here, but he didn't return any punts  I could divide the return duties, but then I would just be playing favorites.

Picks of the Week

Welcome back to this year's "Picks of the Week" segment that will occur weekly at We Make It Rain. As a refresher, I like to keep track of what I would have earned had I actually bet on all of the games (since gambling is illegal). Each pick is using the spread (straight up is for wussies), and the betting line is from the same website each week as of the time of typing the entry. I will keep a running tally of my record, plus my winnings/losses. We will pretend that I bet $100 on each game, with one game each week going for $250. Winnings/Losses will be calculated including a 10% vig, which just makes the math that much simpler. On to the picks.

New York Giants - 3 1/2 v. Dallas Cowboys

Yes I know, the game already happened, but I lost it.  Might as well own up to it.

Chicago Bears - 9 1/2 v. Indianapolis Colts

For once, it is the Bears with the offensive firepower, and the Colts with a rookie quarterback.  Nevertheless, it is the defenseive changes for the Colts going to a 3-4 that may make Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis less threatening than normal.  Bears win.

Philadelphia Eagles -9 1/2 at Cleveland Browns

Rookie quarterback and rookie running back could spell disaster for the Browns, especially since Brandon Weedon looks like he is the least prepare of all the rookie QBs to start.  Speaking of rookies, Mychal Kendricks, the Eagles linebacker from Cal, could be the best player from this year's draft, including Luck and Griffin.

Detroit Lions -8 v. St. Louis Rams

Can Sam Bradford be Sam Bradford and can Steven Jackson be Steven Jackson?  Two big questions that are as yet unanswered.  Calvin Johnson is the best offensive player in the NFL and has vowed to gain 100 yards receiving each game.  The only thing that might stop him is the emergence of Titus Young at the other receiver position.

Houston Texans -11 1/2 v. Miami Dolphins

I hate to give up this many points this early in the season, but the Miami Dolphins could challenge for the worst team in football this year.  Here is hoping that Ryan Tannehill is, as one Dolphin stated, "even better than we hoped he could be".

Kansas City Chiefs +3 v. Atlanta Falcons

Even when they are winning, the Falcons don't seem to be spectacular.  The Chiefs defense has been assembling a lot of talent the last few years.  At the very least they keep it close.

Jacksonville Jaguars + 3 1/2 at Minnesota Vikings

If Adrian Peterson doesn't play, or isn't himself, this could be the worst offensive (or most offensive) performance of the week.  The Jaguars defense flew under the radar and were at times spectacular last season.

New Englad Patriots -5 at Tennesee Titans

I am not sure that anyone knows what we have in Tennessee this year, but Kendall Wright looks exciting.  Colin McCarthy is the best linebacker nobody knows about (yet).  With that being said, the Patriots generally outscore almost everybody, and will do so this week.

Buffalo Bills +3 at New  York Jets

Go Harvard!  Do the "Tebow, Tebow, Tebow" chants start this week?  Jets running game is awful, which also means that it will not set up the passing game very well.

Seattle Seahawks -3 at Arizona Cardinals

Yes John Skelton was like 5-2 last year, and yes he had some connection with Larry Fitzgerald.  But, Marshawn Lynch finished strong (even though he might not play this week), and Russell Wilson just outright won a three-way QB battle in camp.  Seattle's defense can stop Arizona much better than Arizona can stop Seattle - with my apologies to Adrian Wilson.

Green Bay Packers -5 v. San Francisco 49ers

Yes, the 49ers have talent, but I think that last year was a bit of an overachievement.  The Packers are still reeling from not making the Super Bowl!

Carolina Panthers -3 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Cam Newton is better than Josh Freeman, and I am not sure what else the Buccaneers have to offer.

Denver Broncos - 1 1/2 v. Pittsburgh Steelers

Not sure what to make of Pittsburgh this year.  They may not be able to run, because of running back confusion and because of the injury to guard David DeCastro, and they have defensive question marks.  So, I'll give it to Peyton's experience.

Baltimore -6 1/2 v. Cincinnati Bengals

A.J. Green is fantastic, but I just cannot buy into the Bengals being as good as they were last year.

Oakland Raiders -1 1/2 v. San Diego Chargers

The Chargers have questions at running back, receiver, defense.  Oakland, which has been much maligned, may have some talent on their team if Carson Palmer can limit his turnovers and utilize the talent properly.

BIG BET OF THE WEEK

New Orleans Saints -8 at Washington Redskins

The Saints received great news today with regard to the unsuspension of several players, including Jonathan Vilma.  Their high flying offense was going to force Griffin to try to outscore them anyway, which would inevitably lead to a rookie mistake or two, regardless of how talented Griffin is.  Saints win big!!!

Previous Week's Record: N/A
Big Bet Previous Week:  N/A
Year to Date: N/A
Big Bet Year to Date:  N/A
Winnings (Losses) Last Week:  N/A
Winnings (Losses) To Date: N/A

WE'RE BACK

We apologize for the long delay, but Hopps, Sinickal and I are all very busy people. I did want to take a few minutes to start a new series dedicated to the just completed Olympics. With each post I will tell the tale of what I think are the main stories from the Olympic Games in London 2012, generally in descending order (according to me), although from post-to-post I may go out of order if consecutive stories are related topics.


I will write about 1 story per entry, along with pictures of Olympians that we (read I) will miss the most.

That being said - the undisputable number 1 story of these Olympic games is:

USAIN BOLT!!!

He became the first person ever - EVER - to duplicate gold medal winning performances in the 100m and 200m dashes, and the first person since Carl Lewis in 1988 to repeat in the 100m.  On top of that, he anchored the world record breaking 4x100m relay team, and London belonged to Bolt.  Americans who think that everything has to be about America will insist Michael Phelps was the story of the Olympics, but he wasn't - it was all Usain Bolt!

Now on to the Olympians that I am going to miss most (alphabetically, of course).

1 - Dana Hussain Abdul-Razzaq - Iraq - Track

2 - Mourielle Ahouro - Cote de Ivorie - Track

3 - Faluke Akinradewo - USA - Volleyball

4 - Abeba Aregawi - Ethiopia - Track

5 - Tatiana Ariza - Colombia - Soccer

This entry will be updated shortly with pictures!

Let's Get Ready to Gamble!!!

It is the return of Trash Talk Central! Your Tournament Hosts are happy to be back. Oh, and how about America's University!!! No. 1 in the East, No. 1 in your hearts!

This year, we will have two (2) tournament games for you to play. A standard bracket game where you will predict the winners of all 64 games, and a winner take all tournament survivor pool. You can play in one or both.

As always, the most important thing is to respect the rules of the Game. In this case, the Game refers to your bracket submissions for the standard game, the tournament survivor game, payments and trash talk. Let's take them in order:

1. BRACKETS - This year, we are changing the rules a little. You may enter a maximum of 3 brackets, however the champion selected in any bracket can not appear in the Final Four of any other bracket submission!! Your Tournament Host will make all final decisions on the validity of multiple "family" entries. Scoring is standard with no bonuses and escalating points by round. Tie breaker will be the total score of the title game. You can enter your brackets here. Brackets will automatically lock on Thursday.

*Please note that you have to register with CBS Sports to play fantasy sports. I play fantasy football there and I do think they are the best game manager. So please consider registering if you haven't already.

2. SURVIVOR POOL - If you enter the survivor pool, will be required to email your your pick to the Tournament Host by the start of the first game any day games are played beginning on Thursday, March 15. This means that you will have to make up to 10 picks in the tournament. Each day, you must pick one team to win that day. Once you pick a team, you can no longer select that team in subsequent rounds. You must email your pick every game day to silas2727@yahoo.com. FIRST PICKS ARE DUE NO LATER THAN 11:55 AM EASTERN TIME ON THURSDAY, MARCH 15TH.

3. PAYMENT - YOUR DONATION MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN MONDAY, MARCH 19. I know that I say this every year, but there will be no exceptions. I am too busy this year to chase you down. You will simply disappear from the pool.

PLEASE EMAIL ME AT silas2727@yahoo.com TO ENTER ONE OR BOTH POOLS AND I WILL REPLY WITH INFORMATION FOR DONATIONS AND ADDITIONAL RULES.

4. TRASH TALK - Trash Talk Central will be have a message board on the website for you. Also, we at WeMakeItRain will have some open threads to trash talk here. As always, the rules for trash talk are to 1) be funny, or smart, or both; and 2) be respectful of one another.

Super Bowl Roundtable

Pepster: OK - It's that time of the year - time for the Super Bowl roundtable. Pats-Giants - Who ya got?

First, since we know that the the Giants are going to have the ball first, either by winning the toss:

Sinickal: Hey - that's my prop bet!

Pepster: ... or because Belicheck loves to defer, let's start with the Giants having the ball. What do we think? Let's start with you Hopps, since you did so well in picking the baseball playoffs.

Hopps: I think that Eli is the better Manning at this point, and he is going to have a huge game, by throwing to, wait for it ... Jake Ballard.

Pepster and Sinickal: What?!

Hopps: I am serious. With all of the attention paid to Nicks, Cruz and Manningham, Ballard is going to end up with over 100 yards, possibly with a back breaking touchdown.

Sinickal: I don't think Ballard is going to that big of a story, maybe one or two catches, but it will be easy for the Giants to exploit that Patriots secondary. I mean Julian Edelman, come on. I wish he was guarding me back when I was in college.

Pepster: I think we are in general agreement that the Patriots defense will have trouble with the Giants offense. However, I think it is going to be a lot of Ahmad Bradshaw. Coughlin will definitely want to prove they can run the ball, after doing so poorly in that department all year.

Sinickal: And speaking of Coughlin, he did go to America's University - have to root for him.

Hopps: I didn't know he went to American University.

Sinickal: Not American - America's.

Pepster: He means Syracuse. Such a homer. What about when the Pats have the ball?

Hopps: The Giants D-line will be the determining factor. Jason Pierre-Paul will get to Brady, and the team will have 4 sacks.

Pepster: They only sacked Brady once in the first game.

Hopps: They are much healthier now. And the Nascar package - Tuck, Umenyiora, JPP, Boley, Kiwanuka - that's a sick pass rush. To counter the pass rush, the Pats will rush for over 100 yards as a team, with a healthy dose of the law firm.

Pepster: What about passing? Brady did throw for over 5K this year.

Hopps: Gronk will be a non-factor, meaning that OchoCinco will have to have a big game.

Sinickal: HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Pepster: General thoughts?

Sinickal: The Giants are better at every position except Tight End and QB, and I am not sold that the QB matchup gap is very big at all. Plus, more bad stuff results from Eli winning that Brady winning. Eli would have beaten Brady in two Super Bowls, making it impossible for Brady to be considered better than Montana or Bradshaw. Eli would have more rings that Peyton. Coughlin would have to be considered one of the greatest coaches of all time.

Pepster: What?

Sinickal: Hear me out. Two Super Bowls, and he was on the sideline for BC the last time that Notre Dame was a number 1 team, and he took the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC championship game in their second year of existence. And .... I REALLY HATE BOSTON SPORTS FANS!!!

Hopps: Screw you!

Sinickal: I also want people to realize the curse of Bridget Moynihan. Bridget is 3-0 in Super Bowls, Gisele is 0-1.

Pepster: Selections? I say Giants will win outright, so definitely take the points.

Hopps: Same here.

Sinickal: Its unanimous. I think the line stinks, though. Patriots -3? Most people cannot figure out why the Patriots are even favored in this game. Everything points to the Giants, which means you should "run to the smell"! That is a Steve Czaban rule, but it also fits Gambling Rule No. 4 - they only mistake sports books make is not opening even earlier to take your money.

Pepster: Any prop bets? Mine are times that Madonna is insulted by being on the same stage as Nicki Minaj and MIA - infinity.

Sinickal: I say that a piece of Madonna will fall off on the field during the halftime show. My odds: Wig 6:1, Breast Implant 26:1, Sex Toy 263:1, Tooth 12:1, Jewelry 6:1, Ghost of Sean Penn 65:1.

Pepster: My favorite prop bet is "how many times will Pepster become upset when someone mentions Tim Tebow?". Only acceptable bet is "ALL OF THEM"!

Hopps: Come on guys - get serious. I say the over of 2 i going for it on 4th down, and that the Pats will have more penalty yards than the Giants.

Sinickal: Peyton Manning's name will be mentioned twice in the first quarter - Over.

Pepster: As for a real bet - I am taking the over.

Hopps: I am taking the under.

Sinickal: The O/U is 55 or 54 (depending upon where you shop). I would want to take the under so I will not be betting this. Gambling Rule No. 12 - only bet money on the over. Too much emotional trauma trying to nurse an under home. Remember the old adage - when you are over, it is over.

Pepster: Everyone, enjoy the Super Bowl. And repeat after me ... "JPP for MVP! JPP for MVP"!

NFL Conference Championship Weekend Picks

So, my quest for a perfect playoffs ended way early, but my disdain for my personal picks ended after watching thelast quarter of the New Orleans - San Francisco game. Fantastic, and just absolutely the reason why we watch playoff football. Well, that and watching the sports bar I was in turn off the Denver-New England game for UFC.

As always, I will make the picks straight up and against the spread.

Baltimore Ravens +7 at New England Patriots
Baltimore Ravens

New England's offense is out-of-this world, however, the Pats have to play against an equally talented (and perhaps more so) defense in the Ravens. However, the Ravens can play the run, and the pass, whereas the Patriots can only really pass. In fact, Aaron Hernandez (about whom I commented when he was at UF would be the best pro out of those Gator teams), was the leading running back last week for New England. For those new to the game of football, Hernandez is a TIGHT END!

Since New England cannot really run very well, and if they try, Haloti Ngata will stuff that, leaving Terrell Suggs to rush, Ray Lewis to cover sideline-to-sideline, and the opportunistic secondary to make things difficult for the New England pass catchers.

One caveat, New England can win if Rob Gronkowski gets matched up with Ray Lewis or a safety one-on-one.

That being said, Ray Rice outperforms everyone, and scores enought for the Ravens to wing.

New York Giants +2 at San Francisco 49ers
New York Giants

San Francisco was ridiculously impressive last week, and Alex Smith looked like he not only belongs in the league, but he could be a star. However, that was against New Orleans' defense. The Giants defense, led by the best player in the league this year, Jason Pierre-Paul, is much bigger, faster, stronger and more athletic than the Saints.

Although the 49ers are tough against the run, I expect AHmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs to be somewhat productive, with Patrick Willis getting a few licks in.

The caveat, if Frank Gore has a 135 yards rushing, 80 yards receiving and 3 Touchdown kind of game, the 49ers can win.

I don't think they will.

Last Week Straight Up: 2-2
Last Week Against-the-Spread: 2-2
Playoffs Straight Up: 3-5
Last Week Against-the-Spread: 3-5