The race for MVP rages on at the midway point of the season, and it’s loaded with QBs, for good reason. Brees, Manning and Favre have a combined record of 21-1 and show no signs of slowing down. So we’ll give them their due, for now. Things are going to get mighty interesting, though, in the coming weeks as races get tighter and become closer to being decided, including this race for NFL MVP…..

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Their games are getting tighter, but it’s not like the Saints just beat a bad Falcons team on Monday night. That was a tough divisional match up and the Saints just keep, you know, marching…oh, forget it.

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—No TDs against the Niners, but Manning still had a Week 8 best of 347 yards. Plus, the Colts remain undefeated.

3. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Okay, forget that one blemish against Pittsburgh. After another strong showing against his former team, Favre has now thrown for 1925 yards with 16 TDs and just 3 picks. And his team is 7-1. Raise your hand if you expected that kind of success.

4. Jared Allen, Minnesota Vikings—Three more sacks against the Packers. Jon Gruden talked about Allen having a “motor that never stops,” and that’s pretty spot on. Allen is not just playing like defensive player of the year, he’s making a strong case for MVP.

5. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—Sorry Cedric, but while you were on bye, Favre and Allen terrorized the Packers, and Chris Johnson and Maurice Jones-Drew racked up a bunch of yards and TDs. We’ll hold you a spot, but let’s see how you do against the Ravens this week.

Honorable Mention–Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Andre Johnson, Texans, Tom Brady, Patriots; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Chris Johnson, Titans; Reggie Wayne, Colts; Matt Schaub, Texans

Remember the name Jairus Byrd, because he just jumped on this list…and don’t rule out Michael Crabtree, who had a very impressive NFL opening game against Houston last weekend.

1. James Laurinaitis, St. Louis Rams—Four more solo tackles against the Colts last Sunday, so this kid has done nothing to hurt his standing.

2. Jairus Byrd, Buffalo Bills—This safety has been flying under our radar, but he was chosen as the NFL’s defensive rookie of the month for his 15 tackles and (yikes) 5 interceptions in October alone. Wow.

3. Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos—The bye week should have this young stallion rested and ready to face two daunting defenses in the Ravens and Steelers coming up. Can he handle it? Time will tell.

4. Hakeem Nicks, New York Giants—Did you see that lucky grab and run for a score Sunday night? Maybe it was more than luck…it was being in the right place at the right time, football instincts that can’t be taught. And along with Byrd, Nicks won NFL offensive rookie honors for October.

5. Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia Eagles—This rookie has become a new favorite target of Donovan McNabb, and had 5 more catches Monday night against Washington.

Honorable mention: Matthew Stafford, Lions; Johnny Knox, Bears; Ryan Succop, Chiefs; Michael Oher, Ravens

A few changes in the works…we’ve eliminated all New York Giants now from contention until they get their act together again. Well, IF they get their act together again. Drew Brees is an animal, and Cedric Benson and Matt Schaub have also entered the Top 5…..

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Now Brees has a thrilling comeback to add to his 2009 resume, and coming back from down by 21 on the road was enough to vault him into first here over Peyton Manning, who was good but not great in beating the Rams.

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Can Manning do what Brees did? We’re not sure, and that’s the only reason we have him sitting a notch below the Saints’ QB this week.

3. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—He climbed over Adrian Peterson again, this time stunning his former team with a career high 189 yards. And let’s not forget his former team is the defense-minded Bears.

4. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans—He leads the league in TD passes with 16, and he has the Texans playing out of their minds at the moment. If the team had a few more wins, he’d be ranked even higher here.

5. Jared Allen, Minnesota Vikings—Allen was mostly held in check by the Steelers, but we’ll let that slide. I’d hate to be Aaron Rodgers this weekend.

Honorable Mention–Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Andre Johnson, Texans, Tom Brady, Patriots; Brett Favre, Vikings; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Vernon Davis, 49ers

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat is reporting that there’s a strong possibility that first round pick Michael Crabtree will start this week when he makes his NFL debut against the Texans. He would replace Josh Morgan while Isaac Bruce will remain at flanker.

There’s a good chance that Crabtree won’t have much of an effect on the Niners’ offense for at least a couple of weeks. They’ll remain a run-first team and Morgan will still see plenty of playing time considering he’s San Fran’s best run-blocking receiver.

The question I have regarding Crabtree is what kind of an affect he’ll have on the team’s locker room. Considering he held out for five weeks, he couldn’t have endeared himself to his teammates. And now at the first opportunity, he’s being thrust into the starting lineup.

With that in mind, Mike Singletary wouldn’t make a move like this if he knew he’d lose the locker room. He has the respect of his players and they trust his decisions. If he thinks that starting Crabtree gives his team the best chance to win, his players will follow.

Why not see if the rookie can sink or swim right away?

Up until their 45-10 loss to the Falcons in Week 5, Shaun Hill and the 49ers felt pretty good about how they started their 2009 season. Hill wasn’t setting the stat book on fire, but he kept the chains moving by making smart decisions and taking care of the football.

But on Sunday, Atlanta jumped out to a sizable first half lead and forced Hill to beat them through the air. What proceeded was a nasty performance highlighted by off-the-mark throws and inconsistency. He didn’t get much help from the running game, but he never got into a rhythm passing and his limitations as a quarterback were on full display. He struggled mightily with the intermediate and deep passes today.

That said, the Niners won’t be making a switch any time soon. It’s not like Mike Singletary didn’t know that Hill wasn’t Peyton Manning in preseason and Hill still beat out Alex Smith for the starting job. The bottom line is that San Fran will struggle this season when it can’t run the ball and the defense doesn’t step up.

Speaking of the Niners’ defense, Matt Ryan and Roddy White absolutely took them to school today. Ryan threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns on 22 of 32 passing, while White had his best outing of the year with eight receptions for 210 yards and two touchdowns. White, who had gotten off to a slow start this season, found holes in San Francisco’s defense and as he often is, Ryan was accurate with his throws.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re going to start something new this week….individual power rankings in the NFL for MVP, coach of the year and rookie of the year. We may expand this to separate entries, since frankly it’s difficult picking just three of each. But here is what we’re thinking so far after the first quarter of the season….

MVP

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—With all due respect to Drew Brees and Peyton’s little brother, there is no way in hell the Colts would be 4-0 without Peyton. And he’s doing it with young receivers not named Harrison and Gonzalez.

2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Favre mostly handed off to his stud RB Adrian Peterson the first two weeks, then made himself comfortable with a game winning pass with 2 seconds left against the Niners, and a fierce performance including 3 TDs against his former employer Monday night. Again, without Favre, is this team 4-0? Probably not.

3. Steve Smith, New York Giants—Are you kidding me? This guy has not only made everyone forget about Plaxico Burress, but he’s on pace to catch 136 passes, which would be second in NFL history for a single season. Smith is the only receiver in the league averaging 100 yards per game (102.8) and has 4 scores.

Read the rest of this entry »

NINER NOISE poses that very question.

Who gave in? Crabtree of course. McClouhan at no point gave into the demands of Crabtree and his inner circle. He said the offer is what is, take it or leave it. He did not receive the money he was looking for and the 49ers gave him more money in guarantees than originally offered but it was lower than the 9th pick B.J. Raji’s $18 million and higher than the 11th pick, Aaron Maybin, received which was $15 million.

No one will really know why Crabtree decided to sign. Was it the 3-1 start by the Niners? Was it the Jets trading for WR Braylon Edwards and him thinking that he would not get the money Deion Sanders was saying two other teams would pay him? Was it selfishness, like the holdout, that made him sign? Meaning he knew how much money he would lose by sitting out the season and also hurting his draft stock value if he returned to the NFL draft next year.

Every week Crabtree held out, his stock continued to fall. He wasn’t going to be drafted as high next season because teams knew that he was going to be a pain to sign. So if he didn’t take the 49ers’ deal, he had to hope that he was enough of a distraction to force a trade. But the 49ers played hard ball and won. But by holding out in the first place, Crabtree ensured that both sides lose. He’s at least two months behind, and who knows what kind of shape he’s in. He’s going to have a tough time making a big impact this season.

The rookie salary structure in the NFL is so screwed up that it should have made my list of the 10 Dumbest Things In Sports. It’s beyond me why any player, having not played a down in the NFL, feels that he can hold out for more than the obscene amount of money that he’s already being offered. The NFL needs to go to a format that is more like the NBA, where each draft slot has a specific dollar value attached to it based on the salary cap and league revenue.

ESPN.com reports that wide receiver Michael Crabtree has agreed to reopen contract discussions over the 49ers.

Eugene Parker, Crabtree’s agent, is scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday. Parker declined comment when reached.
Niners coach Mike Singletary said Monday that he would still like to have Crabtree play for the team this season.

“Any guy that can play and help us win, I would never say, ‘No, we don’t need him,’” Singletary said. “We need all the good football players we can get.”

Crabtree, the 10th overall selection in April’s draft, is the only unsigned first-round pick. He has missed the first four weeks of the regular season.

I don’t think Crabtree is dumb. I think he got dumb advice from his dumb agent who only now realizes how bad a mistake he’s made with his client’s future. If I were Crabtree, I’d fire Parker immediately to ensure he doesn’t screw this deal up even more than he already has.

Parker and Crabtree played Russian roulette and lost. At 3-1, the 49ers have proven that they don’t need him to win and had Crabtree held out any longer, I’m sure the front office was thinking about cutting their losses and using that money to re-sign players like Patrick Willis.

This is a win-win situation for the 49ers. If Parker balks and Crabtree continues to holdout, then San Fran can use the money elsewhere and remove themselves from the situation. If Crabtree signs, then Mike Singletary can get his big paws around his young receiver’s neck and strangle some sense into him.

Either way, this is a positive for a Niner team that has a lot of hope building on this young season.