By Bud L. Ellis
Four times in 2010, the San Francisco 49ers will kick off in prime time.
Coming off an 8-8 season that they hope is a step toward becoming a regular playoff contender in the NFC once again, the 49ers will play one-fourth of their games in the national nighttime spotlight. The National Football League has released the game times and dates for the 2010 season.
San Francisco will play host to defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans on Monday Night Football in week 2, on Sept. 20. The 49ers also will play on Monday Night Football in week 12, Nov. 29 at Arizona. A Sunday Night Football meeting at home with Philadelphia in week 5 on Oct. 10 and a Thursday Night Football showdown with San Diego in week 15 on Dec. 16 also put the 49ers in the spotlight.
The 49ers open the season with three road games out of the first four: at Seattle, at Kansas City and at Atlanta (with the home game against New Orleans the only home contest in that stretch). Following the Sunday Night game with Philly, the 49ers play host to Oakland, travel to Carolina and play host to Denver to end the first half.
The bye week Nov. 7 splits the season perfectly in two. San Francisco opens the second half with consecutive home games against St. Louis and Tampa Bay. Following the Monday Night game at Arizona, San Francisco travels to Green Bay and plays host to Seattle before the Thursday Night contest at San Diego.
The 49ers close the regular season with a visit to St. Louis and a home game against Arizona.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 8:11 pm by bud
Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, National Football League, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The San Francisco 49ers got a 1st-round pick at a 5th-round price, trading this year’s 5th-rounder to the Miami Dolphins for former 1st-rounder Ted Ginn, Jr. on Friday.
Ginn, widely considered a bust after three largely unproductive seasons at wide receiver for the Dolphins, quickly fell out of favor with the team. And after Miami traded for Pro Bowl WR Brandon Marshall from Denver, Ginn became even more expendable.
Theoretically, he’ll fill a big need for the Niners. They don’t have much depth at the position, and last year’s top pick Michael Crabtree is more of a possession receiver than a deep threat. Ginn should benefit from the attention defenses will have to pay to Crabtree.
This is a low risk-high reward move for San Francisco. A change of scenery could solve Ginn’s problems. But whether he pans out or not, a 5th round pick is certainly worth the price of finding out.
Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm by Raj Sethi
By Bud L. Ellis
After finishing at .500 in 2009 and falling just two games short of a division title, the San Francisco 49ers look to recall their glory days of a generation ago in 2010.
To do that and to make the playoffs, the 49ers will have to navigate one of the easier schedules in the National Football League.
The NFL has released its list of home games and road games for every team. Dates and times will be announced later this spring.
San Francisco’s path includes just six games against playoff teams, two of those being the division home-and-home with NFC West rival and defending division champion Arizona. Super Bowl champion New Orleans comes to San Francisco, as does NFC wild-card qualifier Philadelphia. The rest of the home schedule features contests against St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Oakland and Denver.
Away from home, the 49ers play at AFC West champion San Diego and NFC wild-card team Green Bay. The remainder of the away schedule: St. Louis, Seattle, Arizona, Kansas City, Atlanta and Carolina.
Roll it together, and according to last season’s opponents’ win percentage, the 49ers’ schedule ranks 28th of the 32-team league. Seven of San Francisco’s games are against teams which won five games or less last season.
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Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 4:36 pm by bud
Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, National Football League, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Super Bowl, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
