King Kunta

Ahh a true 49er Whiner . Anything over 50 yards is no 'gimme', after starting at midfield due to a 14 yard shanked punt your offence failed to get within adequate field goal range. No shame in losing to the Jeff Fisher led Rams my friend, when we play tough defence and the offence doesn't turn over the football it's hard to score against us at home. We're a young team not ready for the playoffs, hopefully next year we can add some talent to the O/Line and get a safety or two then we could give the playoffs a shake. Yeah Givens is developing nicely, no longer just a deep threat Sam's trusting him on the intermediate routes and he took a great catch on 3rd & 3 to put the Rams in range for the game-winning field goal.

Rams baby! Doing what we should have done a few weeks ago. Defence was nasty, special teams was awesome and Sam made some plays with his legs to get it to overtime. Suck it Whiners

It is a little disturbing that Jovan Belcher and Junior Seau, who took his life earlier this year, were both linebackers. As we know there are lots of tackles and hits, often with the use of a helmet. With research suggesting concussion is closely correlated to depression these athletes are certainly putting their body at risk every time they take the field.

Although the pitch did favour the batsmen, it provided a much better contest for the viewers. In contrast to the Gabba it had pace for the majority of the test which induces stroke play and runs whilst also making it easier for the quicks to get wickets. Although not enough in my mind, there was a bit if grass which aided swing conventionally and reverse. Also scores in each team's innings were inflated by the quick outfield and shorter boundaries: although no result was achieved it was due to individual heroics and injuries rather than a road.

Once he trusts all his receivers and develops that synergy like he has with Amendola and Givens this offence will be far more dangerous. Yeah was good to see the ground and pound back its best, unfortunately I don't think SJax will be at the rams next year, maybe a few more performances like this will change Les Snead's mind. Finally the defence forced some turnovers Janoris Jenkins' two pick 6's amongst the teams 4 in total was the difference. Saw the niners game and Kaepernick further enhanced my belief that he is 49ers best playmaker and rightful QB. He throws the deep ball far better than Smith, has more velocity on his throws and can make plays with his feet. I'll still back my Rams against him next week as the Rams continue their undefeated record division

As everybody has done teams already and have covered my sentiments I'll analyse players instead. Best Player: Defence- JJ Watt (Texans) has been massive and can be credited for Houston being the team to beat right now. Playing defensive end in a 3-4 defence he has been able to stuff the gap while also getting to the quarterback with a league high 10.5 sacks. Offence- too hard to single out one player, at running back Adrian Peterson (Vikings) has been phenomenal averaging almost 6 yards a carry and over 110 yards a game he has been unstoppable. Wide receiver AJ Green (Bengals) with Megatron not operating at his 2011 level Green has taken the mantle as the best wide out in the league getting into the end zone more so than any other WR and has been a vertical weapon for Andy Dalton. Quarterback afterinitially struggling Aaron Rodgers has been lights for the last month or so, strengthening his case for a second consecutive MVP. With the largest touchdown/interception spread 25-5 and a huge game against the Texans, one of the best defences in the league, A-Rod has been operating at his record breaking 2011 standard in recent times. Worst players is a bit hard but; Matt Cassell, Mark Sanchez and the whole Arizona offensive line have been as expected pretty poor. Biggest surprise: pick 252, the second last pick in the draft Daryl Richardson has been a great change of pace back for the Rams and is averaging 5.7 yards a carry (3rd highest in the league), and seems destined to become the number 1 pick when SJAX departs. Reggie Wayne has halted his regression and his putting up career high numbers at 34 with a rookie quarterback. Biggest disappointment: I expected a slump but not to this degree, Cam Newton has been woeful on the field and even worse off it with his poor attitude infecting the whole team.

You can't make that comparison because as soon as the rain came both teams altered their strategy plus there was three hours recovered in longer days. Rather than hypothesising I would prefer to look at what happened which was a drawn game. Despite the players efforts to get a result. Umm never quoted Saturday, and you can't simply ignore crowds on workdays that's ridiculous. Does that mean we eradicate Friday's as an outlier as it was also a weekday? As you said, nobody wants to watch a team 2 down bat and bat and bat. So why don't they create more bowler friendly wickets? I would rather a test match that is going down to the wire rather than a match with a "distinct possibility" of getting a result. Firstly that is purely guesswork and your opinion; there is no way we know what happens if Kallis goes for 43, perhaps JP Duminy doesn't go for his run and doesn't injure himself and makes a hundred, no point in pondering what ifs? Also that possible dismissal, like many others, was the batsman's undoing rather than the bowlers. A pitch that relies on batsman's poor stroke-play rather than bowler's skill is not entertaining for me. No, don't misquote me I said 4th day pitches "offer variance in sideways movement off the seam and variance in bounce on the 4th day" which is usually as a result of crumbling wicket and cracks appearing which create doubt into the batsman's minds as the ball's movement and bounce is variable. For a moderator you're incredibly petty and seem to struggle to be able to create useful retorts as opposed to the other posters, for a guy who has spent much of his life on an internet forum I thought you would be of a higher standard. Shame you turned a cricketing observation into personal attack but good job buddy.

The crowds have been abysmal since the first day, you can't deny that. It is in part due to people want to see results and things happen, not games that meander along with no result and this pitch has not induced wickets and therefor the game has been a fizzer. As for 'plucking number' the crowd attendance figures seem to reflect the interest in the game, don't you think? You're contradicting yourself saying 4th day pitches offering variation in seam movement and bounce is "bulltish", but then go on to say many 4th day pitches start to crumble and break which creates natural variation in bounce and movement... Also you seem to think it's a good wicket because it stays true but pitches should crumble and offer natural variation in the latter days of a test rather than stay consistent in movement, pace and bounce. The aim is to get a result not for batsmen to boost their averages. That's my point, there was a lot of anticipation for the first test of the summer and Brisbane finally hosted a top ranked team so they obviously drew well on the first day. But the conditions haven't been conducive to entertaining cricket and as a result people haven't turned up. That's BS that a rained out day will put any cricket result beyond doubt. They get about half of it back in extended play, it's the pitch that created the draw not the rain don't kid yourself. Anyway if you two prefer watching leather fly to all corners of the ground that's your prerogative, for mine I (as a quick myself) would rather see an even contest between bat and ball especially with some of the quality quicks going around.

You've gone away from my original point that this pitch has heavily favoured the batsmen which has come at the expense of a tight contest and ultimately the purist's viewing expense. It is also evident that the crowds have been woeful, 4500 today and 11,000 on Sunday after the initial 25,000 show that people aren't willing to pay to see these types of matches. Most pitches around the world will offer variance in sideways movement off the seam and variance in bounce on the 4th day but the Gabba's been a road and a slow one at that. Psychologically I admire the Cowan and Clarke of course, but the pitch failed to provide a surface to adequately test their respective techniques. Also what about that Kleinveldt guy he bowls absolute puss; I play second eleven subbies and I reckon would put him to shame and he seemed to overstep every second delivery.

He had been leaving everything outside off on day one and then came out and started flashing on day three due to the reduction in time. Surely you understand with the loss of a days play and their advantageous position they picked up the tempo which resulted in the Kallis and De Villiers wickets. Not sure what they were letting go, day 3 and they were on 400 odd. No point batting into the 4th day and making the game certainly a draw. Wanting a pitch that will yield a result as opposed to a nonrespondent lifeless pitch is something all fans should want. Surely you would prefer a final day chase as opposed to mere stat padding? If cricket's going to stay alive and grow the curators will have to give both the batsmen and bowlers a chance as the crowds are dwindling as there barely seemed to be 5000 at the ground today.

If it hadn't rained day two South Africa wouldn't have upped the tempo and in most likelihood Kallis would have gone onto a double hundred and De Villiers probably would have tonned up, in addition to Amla being given rightfully not out they would of most likely batted into day 3. A day's play, extended by an hour, to only yield one wicket which was a fluky run out, doesn't stimulate my cricket juices but each to their own.

South Africa would have batted for at least two days if there was no rain and it seems Australia could also, so I think a draw would have been reached with or without rain. That's not really my point though, this pitch and atmosphere is so dead it's boring. They should look at Melbourne or even test matches like Hobart's last year are far more enjoyable where the pitches are more lively and batsmen are challenged every ball.

These flat slow dead pitches take all the enjoyment out of the cricket, odds are Adelaide will produce a pitch similar to the Gabba's and be another dull event. Hopefully some people will turn up to create some atmosphere, it's a snooze fest there today.

Felt like we copped some pretty harsh calls just watching the 4th Q and OT, but the coaching staff has got to take responsibility for not calling a timeout on that field goal when the play clock is running down. Can't complain too much though 49ers had their share of bad luck with Smith and missed field goal. Shame we couldn't go and get the win as it would have been massive for this young group, especially Bradford. Yeah its a pleasure to watch Arian Foster and each teams defence make plays, lots of talent going around.

Oh man what a crazy game, Akers arguably the leagues best kicker misses a 41 yard attempt then a delay of game cancels out a game winning 54 yard field goal. Those ties are a real buzzkill.

Aldon Smith is scarier than them all, especially with our O/Line, I still think your offence is susceptible to a talented pass rush with defensive backs who can make plays. Playing at Candlestick is a different story for a young team though.

Ahh a Whiners fan, you have a right to be confident but if our defence can bring our nasty pass rush and force ol' noodle arm into turning over the ball ala against the Giants we could be in for a contest. It's going to be hard seeing our weaponless offence get too many points against the best defence in the land.

I was eager to watch him live on TNF with the numbers he had been putting up, but thought his arm was a little disappointing. All of his deep balls were under-thrown and it was only Jacksonville's ineptitude that failed to pick him off 2 more times for the night. Although his athleticism was evident and he made a lot of good plays with his feet. Shame I will be sitting an exam as the Rams march into Candlestick coming of a much needed bye week.

If your Chiefs get the number 1 pick, which seems likely, I don't think you'd look past Geno Smith. Dude has a wicked arm, he had a 25 touchdown streak without throwing an interception recently halted and has put up some crazy numbers this year, think he threw for something like 650 yards and 8 touchdowns in a game. Hard to get too excited when the Rams aren't playing, MNF might be interesting if Vick continues his turnover woes may lead to the 3rd round rookie Nick Foles who lit it up in the preseason seeing some snaps for the Eagles.

It's not as prevalent as the NBA where they do so without any hesitation, but yes they do tank. Colts last year ensured they secured the number one pick by losing in the final round. A week after defeating playoff bound Houston they were pretty awful against a 4-11 Jacksonville, which mainly came down to bad play-calling. Coming back to the NBA, its widely acknowledged teams put the cue in the rack by purposefully mismanaging their team so as they bring bad players on big contracts in order to 'stink it up'. Golden State Warriors last season practically sent out their D-League team against a depleted spurs team and Patty Mills a back up point guard scored 34 points. The difference between the NBA and the AFL is that they all admit its happening and the fans are seemingly happy to see it happen. Staying on the thread, Rams were really dismal in London thank god we don't have to play anymore home games there. If we were in our dome to a sold out crowd I'm sure the result would have been closer. What about Alex Smith's game, 18-19 232 yards and 3 touchdowns near perfect game against a pretty solid Cards defense

The best team certainly won Macca, a garbage time touchdown made the scoreline appear respectable but Rodgers smoked our acclaimed secondary and Sam failed to get any rhythm going for much of the game with most drives stalling around the 50. Showed we still have some work to do if we are to match it with the big guys, while Packers' receiving group seems to be back on fire with Nelson and Cobb getting their 2011 form back. In other games, a Ray Lewis depleted Ravens defence were trampled on by the Texans offence which seem to be back on track after a hurdle last week and can stake their claim as AFC's best.

I'll be using my swot vac period effectively, planning on getting up to catch the second half of the Rams Packers game. If Long and Quinn can bring the heat and minimise Rodger's impact we may be a chance but the depleted offensive line will have to keep Clay Matthews out of Sammy's face. Although he threw for 300 last week he needs to execute in the red zone if we are to take the W, can't expect the defence to keep this Packers juggernaut under 21

Brian Cushing, Houston Texans inside linebacker and defensive captain is out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL, plays a big part of their defence and will be much worse off without him. The key will be for Packers O-Line to keep Watt off Rodgers, they guy has been wreaking havoc this year second in sacks got a few forced fumbles as well, should be a fun game to watch.

Seems all the earlier games were the close contests and the later morning games are blowouts, Vikings, 49ers, Patriots and Bears all doing numbers on their opposition today. Minnesota defence stifling the Titans only allowing 5 first downs up until now.

Rams defence was straight up nasty today, 9 sacks and many more shots on Kolb. Felt sorry for the guy back there Quinn looks an absolute star of the future hopeful the offence can find a way to move the football without Amendola as they were pretty ugly today.