Your first and last football commentary for 2012 (maybe)

Picture Unrelated, except maybe I ate too many cookies already this week

I don't much care for the New York Giants. Never have. I always thought their coach was a jerk, their players were clowns, and their football ugly. Plus their uniforms are boring and ugly and their players get way too much attention because they play in the largest media market in the country.

Not much has changed, except now that the 49ers play ugly football I still think the Giants coach is a jerk and their players are clowns. Manning has been a punk since draft day.

Here's the thing: Alex Smith isn't very good at football, but he doesn't have to be. The 49ers defense is so good that he can Trent Dilfer his way to a superbowl victory. That is, he could if he were as good as Trent Dilfer. Which he is not. Zero conversions on third down? Sure no problem. Numerous checkdown passes in the dirt? You bet.

Some have suggested that part of the fault for the 49ers ineptitude lay with the receiving corps. I'm not buying this. It's like saying that your food sucks because the waiter brought it out wrong. It's not the waiter's fault that the food tastes like shit. That's the fault of the chef, and in this case Chef Smith cooked up some garbage (please pronounce that last word with the accent on the 'ahge', as in the french: gar-bahhhge; thank you).

The fact is that it doesn't matter how good the receiver is if the QB can't get them the ball. And Smith cannot. Apparently he can only throw to the tight end, and then only rarely. You can maybe lay some of the blame on the offensive coordinator for not devising a scheme that would enable his receivers to get open. But even when open can you count on Smith to deliver the football? No.

In summary: If your team is built on defense and special teams and your special teams takes two massive dumps on the field then you will lose. Every time.

Also, if you cannot convert a single third down you don't deserve to go the Superbowl. Even if your defense is totally, insanely awesome. Patrick Willis makes it appear as though Optimus Prime got tired of saving the planet and decided to play some NFL football. That guy is a walking clinic on tackling and kicking ass. And I'm pretty sure I saw Justin Smith pick up two Giants offensive lineman, smash their heads together, then knock down the littlest Manning like he was one of those inflatable boxing dolls for little tykes (any resemblance to Eli Manning strictly intended). 

Alex Smith watched all this from the sideline and said, damn, I need to step up my game. And then he went out there and sucked. Shameful.

One saving grace for this season is that the Niners should be pretty good in Madden next year. So that's something.