In reaching the NFC Championship Game two years running, the 49ers have had to topple two of the best quarterbacks in recent years.
But if San Francisco is to be Super Bowl-bound for the first time in 18 years, they’ll have to down one more today.
“He fits right in with that group, the elite ones,” 49ers defensive end Justin Smith said of Atlanta’s fifth-year quarterback, Matt Ryan. “And he’s playing awesome football right now.”
His teammates agree. Almost.
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The big question after 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh made the change from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick seemed to be this: Is anything less than a Super Bowl appearance mean it was the wrong move?
Silly question, really. Too many things go into winning and losing football games at the playoff level, and issues such as Justin Smith’s injury and the kicking woes are no small factors to the negative. And that Frank Gore right now feels like that guy poised to have a monster game to propel the Niners to New Orleans is a huge one to the positive.
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Over the past week, the 49ers have gone from a team many so-called experts were predicting to lose in their playoff opener against the Green Bay Packers to the national media’s new darling.
Quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s record-setting day in the 45-31 win in the team’s playoff opener got him on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and his trademark bicep kiss has been dubbed Kaepernicking. The possibility of a Harbaugh Bowl — matching 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh against his brother, John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens — looms for the second straight year.
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By:
Antonio Gonzalez
01/17/13 9:52 PM
49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman wants to be a coach one day soon, and he already knows at least one person he’d hire on his staff.
Try running back Frank Gore.
“I always tell Frank, ‘Man, when you’re done playing, come find me or I’ll find you,’” Roman said Thursday. “Because he’s a guy I love working with as a player, and I’m sure I’d love working with as a coach.”
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The 49ers are the people’s choice going into Sunday’s NFC Championship Game. As of Thursday morning, they went from 3½- to 5-point favorites in some places, a remarkable spread, considering that the home field is usually figured to be a 3-4 point advantage.
Oddsmakers do not make predictions. They set a line to try to get an even distribution of betting on each team, so this line means the 49ers have nation-wide support.
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Justin Smith, a veteran of 12 NFL seasons, may not be willing to give his left arm in the quest for professional football’s greatest prize. But he’s willing to put a brace on it.
“It’s a love-hate relationship right now,” San Francisco’s premier defensive end said of the brace holding his partially torn left triceps together, as he and the 49ers head into Sunday’s NFC Championship Game in Atlanta.
“But it’s one of those things and it’s doing its job.”
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By:
Josh Dubow
01/16/13 8:12 PM
Despite all those gaudy statistics and impressive physical skills, Colin Kaepernick faced plenty of questions coming out of Nevada about whether he was the product of a gimmicky college offense that would have no chance of working in the pros.
On the big stage of the NFL playoffs, Kaepernick is demonstrating just what he and that pistol offense are capable of against the toughest competition.
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Nevada athletic officials are trying to capitalize on “Kap” mania.
Ex-Wolf Pack quarterback Colin Kaepernick has the 49ers one win away from their first Super Bowl since 1995. And university officials are hoping the man who is fast becoming one of the school’s most famous alums will help them sell some football tickets next season.
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Colin Kaepernick could revolutionize the quarterback position in pro football. His speed is more explosive than that of most NFL tailbacks, and he slings the ball downfield with the velocity of a ninth-inning closer. Last week, Kaepernick looked like the super-quarterback that coaches had once dreamed Randall Cunningham, Daunte Culpepper and Michael Vick would become.
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If we learned anything after 16 regular-season games and last week’s divisional playoff round, the 49ers will be making travel arrangements for New Orleans and Super Bowl XLVII about 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
While San Francisco still has to beat the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome on Sunday, it’s a mere formality at this point.
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