© Kirby Lee | 2020 Jan 19
The universe works in funny ways. Just as 49ers fans were still coming to grips with losing Matt Stafford to the NFC West rival L.A. Rams, the NFL Network on Monday night decided to replay Super Bowl 54 in its entirety.
By entirety, I mean the part where the 49ers lead, 20-10, in the 4th quarter — and then Jimmy Garoppolo goes 3-for-11 for 36 yards, takes a sack and throws a game-ending INT.
Yes, that includes the 3rd-and-10 overthrow of Emmanuel Sanders deep.
And you clicked on the Jock Blog to escape your troubles, huh?
Sorry, sports fans. It’s the real world out there. It ain’t the movies.
To recap: Stafford, gone to the Rams. Jimmy G, still here.
And it all plays out in Hi-Def in your living room.
How are we going to get through this?
The Jimmy-Must-Go crowd turns its attention to Xanadu, where DeShaun Watson becomes a 49er. Pondering DeShaun Watson in Santa Clara for the next decade causes one to drool, and may require a bib.
That crowd, of course, must understand that the cost of doing business is real. Or, as a five-time Super Bowl-winning owner once said: “You gotta bring a** to get a**.” (Hat tip, Ed DeBartolo, Jr.)
I see our pal Matt Barrows in The Athletic proposed sending this year’s first-round pick, this year’s third-round pick, the 2022 first-round pick, the 2022 third-round pick and wide receiver Deebo Samuel to the Texans for Watson.
And even that might not be enough. There’s an alternate scenario where instead of Samuel, the 49ers send Nick Bosa to the Texans in that deal.
Nick Bosa!?!?
This is what it’s come to.
We are at that point in our sports lives where we have to make what the adults call “value judgments”, kids. Where we understand that everything in life is a trade-off. Where you don’t get things for free, as I was just saying to my good friend Bernie Sanders.
Even given that, sending Bosa away would cause great emotional distress. As we have had fun the past week talking about Tom Brady’s place in sports lore, and as I continue to play the role of soldier-on-small-Pacific-Island-that-still-thinks-World-War-2-is-happening and continue to say Joe Montana is the greatest I’ve ever seen, I frequently admit that even No. 16 doesn’t win Super Bowls without Fred Dean and Charles Haley sacking fools.
As the irrepressible Danny Rojas in “Ted Lasso” says “Football is life!”, I say: “Pass rush is life!”
We had Keyshawn Johnson on the show today and he advocated dangling Bosa in a Watson trade. He said players like Jason Pierre-Paul, who will be chasing Patrick Mahomes on Sunday, are proof that you can find elite pass rushers outside of the top five. JPP was a No. 15 pick in the 2010 first round, and Keyshawn pointed out the 49ers drafted Javon Kinlaw at No. 14 and Arik Armstead in the top-10 to go hunt QBs.
No pressure, Javon and Arik. Go play like Bosa and Pierre-Paul, and we’re good.
Anyway, this Jock Blog doesn’t have the answer. It’s a meditation of sorts, a licking of post-Stafford wounds, and post-SB 54 wounds and pondering the very real chance that the 49ers may well run it back with James Garoppolo, and add the Nos. 12 and 43 draft picks to a team they believe is already a playoff-caliber team.
John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan get paid a lot of money and face a lot of scrutiny to make these value judgments. I’m getting closer to thinking DeShaun Watson is a judgment worth valuing. Let’s continue the ride, sports fans. I’m in it with y’all.