"Do you remember bein' promising?" -- Trouble by Engine 88.

Continuing the tour of pain through the ex-members of the NFC West, this week the 49ers visit the the wreckage that once was the Atlanta Falcons.

* San Francisco vs. Atlanta
Sunday, November 4, 2007. 1:00 PM, PST.
Week 09
The Battle At The Bottom Of The Barrel

This game can be one of two things to the Niners in past-tense: it can either be the turning point where the team righted itself and put smidge of fear back into the NFC West title race, or it'll just be part of the conversation come the 2008 NFL Draft as SF picks within the top 5.

Photo via the Chron.

If you didn't watch last week's game against the Saints, be glad. Oh, horrors. The offense simply could not function, and the defense's faults were exploited. The 49er team was gently torn-in-two on both sides of the ball, like the Saints were pulling apart a soft oven-warmed sourdough roll.

No improvement since the previous week's 15-33 bastinado at the hands of the New York American football Giants. Nothin'. The problem continues to be the offensive play-calling, since there's been nothing but upgrades to the players on that side of the ball over last season's squad. The play-call is Offensive Coordinator Jim Hostler's responsibility. And, much like our current presidential regime and US foreign policy -- this important responsibility should be given to someone who can actually do the job. We haven't seen such a stubborn, fool-headed way of running an offense since, well... last season's Raiders.

This must end. The offensive unit is bringing down this entire franchise on-the-field. The best that can be said for all this adversity is that the team has held morale and stuck together better than could be expected in the face of blown expectations. And punter Andy Lee is distinguishing himself as being one of the league's best. O'course, he's getting plenty of practice.

"All my ghosts, on every sea, in every land / Who needs that now?"

The 49ers venture into the wilds of Jersey this Sunday to war with the New York American football Giants.

* San Francisco vs. New York Giants
Sunday, October 21, 2007. 1:00 PM, PST.
Week 07
The Battle Of Old Blood

* Photo of Cody Pickett being pursued by NYG linemen via SFGate

Both teams are stumble-bum flawed at this juncture; the Niners with their horrifically mis-called offensive scheme, the Jints with their utterly undermanned defensive secondary, and both teams with a wave of injuries.

Hoo-boy, the only sure thing 'bout this game is that it's sure to be uglifitateous.

Dang; the level of play wasn't always this way between the 49ers and the Giants. Throughout the 1980s, whenever these two franchises met, it was a toe-to-toe match of two great forces: Bill Parcells' big-stick powerhouser Giants and Bill Walsh's adaptive, keen-hewn Niners.

We remember those Giants of the 80s: The cold, steely eyes of Phil Simms. The maniacal thrash of Lawrence Taylor. The mustachioed guttiness of Jeff Hostetler. The flea-like skittering of Dave Meggett. Whoever-it-was-this-week that Parcells plugged in at halfback banging the ball behind that huge offensive line (which would include Jumbo Elliot, of course). Pepper Johnson, Leonard Marshall, and that damned Jim Burt on defense. Burt might have picked up a ring in 89 with the Niners, but we never really accepted the idea of having him on the team after that monstrous hit he put on Joe Montana in 1986.

American Football Spectacular's New York Giants correspondent Joon Lee had some choice recollections of past NYG/SF battles:

* Seattle vs. San Francisco
Sunday, September 30, 2007. 1:00 PM, PST.
Week 04
The Surpriseless Battle

This is it, the game that will tell whether the 49ers can seize the lead in the NFC West by taking down the Seahawks.

* Photo of Frank Gore breaking away via the Chron.

SF swept the series last year, even as SEA won the division, so you know that Seattle won't be sleepin' on the Niners. Rather, Head Coach Holmgren has the 'Hawks focussed directly on the Niners as threat #1 to his team's divisional crown.

"They got us twice last year, and no one liked the feeling," Holmgren said in the Trib. "You have to try to take care of business in your division, to hope for the playoffs, first of all, and for home-field advantage if that's out there for you."

No more creeping-up, no more surprises. This game'll be a toe-to-toe battle to seize the early season lead in the NFC West.

Ahhh, crap. During this week’s practice, 49er OLB Manny Lawson tore an ACL and will be out for the 2007 season.

This is a mighty blow to the nascent Niner defense, who had been counting on the former first-round pick to lend his lanky 6’5” frame and sprinter’s speed to the linebacking corps this year.

After two weeks of nail-bitin' wins over flawed NFC West opponents, the 49ers go to The Steel City to face the cultural might of the Steelers.

* San Francisco vs. Pittsburgh
Sunday, September 23, 2007. 10:00 AM, PST.
Week 03
The Battle Of Reality

Despite the recent coaching change, when it’s the Steelers, you know what kind of American football you’re going to get: power along both lines, an aggressive 3-4 defense matched with an offense built on power-running.

Now this is a team. It’s not the rebooted Cards or the formless Rams, PIT is a veteran, battle-tested organization. And for the first time in 2007, the 49ers will see what a real NFL franchise looks like.

* Photo of Kevan Barlow breaking away from Steeler defenders via SFGate.com

Next up on your American Football Spectacular: The Oakland Raiders host the wacktacular feast-or-famine Cleveland Browns, and the season’s first Bay Area TV blackout.

After staunching out the Arizona Cardinals last week, the Niners head to St. Louis to try to get ahead at the expense of the reeling Rams and bolt further ahead in the race for the NFC West.

* San Francisco vs. St. Louis
Sunday, September 16, 2007. 10:00 AM, PST.
Week 02
The Battle Of Overcoming

STL has been hit hard by the injury bug. Their players've been dropping by the wayside as quickly as our government's rationales for the Iraq war! The Rams already lost their best player, all-world offensive line cornerstone Orlando Pace, for the year with a shoulder injury. WR Torry Holt's knee is bothering him, OLB Pisa Tinoisamoa's ankle is tweaked, WR Issac Bruce is old, and CB Tye Hill just broke a bone in his back during practice. Broke his back. Yiii.

Needless to say, this is a team that the even the sluggish 49er team from the first three-quarters of the week 1 game against Arizona might match up favorable against. The Rams will only be dressing three cornerbacks for this game fer-pete's-sake!

But here's where things become even darker for the Rams' chances: RB Frank Gore's mother Liz passed away this week. She was the guiding light in his life, and the strong matriarch of his family. Knowing Frank's ferocious drive to do his best on the field for sake of his team and his family and those who believe in him, we fear for those who dare to stand in his path this Sunday.

Next up on your American Football Spectacular: The Oakland Raiders go to the mile-high city of Denver where a most-evil blocking scheme lurks, built to break men's hearts, knees, and fantasy teams...

For just a little while, there there be kickoffs and touchdowns and the illusion of a level playing field.

Tonight, it's time for the National Football League's 2007 regular season to begin. ful.

So, here's how we think it'll go.

In this preview, each division's teams are ranked in order of their predicted finish from first to last. Then, musical acts from each NFL team's area are presented in the same order. Read that over again before reacting: we're not ranking the music, just the NFL teams.

And you? Agree? Disagree? Confused? That's what the comment section is for. Let's talk. We can suss this out.

Please note, there will only be bands from New Jersey representing the "New York" franchises due to the NJ location of Giants Stadium at The Meadowlands. Simple as that.

Image of wintry goalposts via NFL.com: "General view of goal posts during a snowy Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington on November 27, 2006. Photo by Kirby Lee /WireImage"

As always, all predictions are guaranteed by American Football Spectacular to have been made with the best of intentions, and no real surety.

O, football; we're glad that you're back. The predictions commence after the jump.

It's time for American Football Spectacular's capsule reviews of the 2007 NFL Draft. Adventure, excitement,! All hard information was culled from NFL.com's pretty excellent draft tracker site. Proceed.

* Selection # / Team (trade info) / Player / Position / Height / Weight / School

* 01 / Oakland / Russell, JaMarcus / QB / 6-6 / 263 / Louisiana State: Sorry, JaMarcus; the Raiders only picked up one offensive lineman in the draft. So, uh, now you've got that guy and Jeremy Newberry to add to last year's offensive line unit. Start buying pain medication in bulk now, my friend, 'cause you will be sacked a lot this coming season. On the bright side for Oakland, have you seen how well the Golden State Warriors are doing?

* 02 / Detroit / Johnson, Calvin / WR / 6-4 / 237 / Georgia Tech: The founder of K Records and a key member of the Northwestern indie rock scene, it will be intriguing to see how well Johnson excels within Detroit offensive coordinator Mad Mike Martz's multi-receiver pass patterns. (Har, har.) Now seriously, either Calvin Johnson has the talent to be a success wherever they go, but Detroit's legacy of leadership futility makes it specifically difficult to succeed there. Fire Millen!

* 03 / Cleveland / Thomas, Joe / OT / 6-6 / 313 / Wisconsin: Went fishin' with his Dad for draft day rather than dealing with the New York City draft spectacle. Smart guy.

* 04 / Tampa Bay / Adams, Gaines / DE / 6-5 / 260 / Clemson: The Bucs coveted WR Calvin Johnson, but'll settle for a new defensive edge-rusher to succeed the aging pass-rushing DE Simeon Rice.

* 05 / Arizona / Brown, Levi / OT / 6-4 / 328 / Penn State: Must protect pretty QB Leinart. So, they got this guy.

* 06 / Washington / Landry, LaRon / FS / 6-2 / 205 / Louisiana State: Sure must suck to be a Washington fan. After wasting a bunch of money on free agent safety Adam Archuleta last season, Washington spends its first-rounder on another safety.

* 07 / Minnesota / Peterson, Adrian / RB / 6-2 / 218 / Oklahoma: A speedy power-back with a history of injuries, this guy is the new Priest Holmes. What that means is this caveat: sure he's great; but how long will he last?

* 08 / Atlanta (from Houston) / Anderson, Jamaal / DE / 6-6 / 279 / Arkansas: The Falcons have been trying to buy or draft a pass rush for the past couple years. Maybe this'll do'er.

* 09 / Miami / Ginn Jr., Ted / WR / 6-0 / 180 / Ohio State: Surprise! On her couch in Chicago, Jessica shouted at her television in disbelief. We don't blame her. The Dolphins needneedneedNEEED a quarterback above all else! Yet instead of picking up ND's uber-touted QB Brady Quinn, Miami picks up a speedster receiver coming off a debilitating leg injury. Who-the-wha-now? Hmph. Extremely high-risk, with poor odds of good results. This pick will determine how the the history of the 2007 NFL Draft is remembered.

* 12 / Buffalo / Lynch, Marshawn / RB / 5-11 / 217 / California: Cal's own Marshawn goes to Buffalo to replace Willis McGahee at running back, and appreciate the musical canon of Ani DiFranco.

* 13 / St. Louis / Carriker, Adam / DE / 6-6 / 292 / Nebraska: A big, meaty defensive end from Nebraska, Carriker's name is a lot more fun if you imagine Homestar Runner saying it out loud. Try!

Photo of Patrick Willis via sf49ers.com

All the rest from round one after the jump.

* For the 49ers,
WANT: NT/DL
DO-NOT-WANT: WR

Shut up. Listen, picking a wide receiver high in the draft simply does not pay dividends by nature of the position. You've got the rare Larry Fitzgerald, and the example of the 7th round pick success Marques Colston, but the story of the first round-drafted WR is one that in most cases traffics in failure and pain. Like Jawbreaker, Leonard Cohen, or AFI.

Hang on, I'm going to hurt you now:

Rashaun Woods, the 49er first round draft pick of 2004. We're sorry we had to bring that up.

No, the thing that could help the Niners the most would be to expend their eleventh overall 2007 first round draft pick on a defensive lineman. Albeit one not named Alan Branch. Sorry, dewd.

The d-line was manhandled last year, what with guys playing out of position, and this weakness trickled down through the entire defense's effectiveness.

Ideal for the Niners to pick up would be young DL Amobi Okoye or the hard-driving DE Adam Carriker. But not DT Alan Branch -- he has too many character questions. And we've already had a Reggie McGrew DT bust. No; no more of that, thank you.

The analysis of the Raiders -- as much as can be done -- follows the jump.

iously, how can this be so? The Raiders -- owners of the worst record in the NFL last season at 2-14 -- have been saddled with the most difficult schedule in 2007? Huh-whaah?!

Aye, 'tis true. Along with AFS correspondent DJ Burrito's beloved Buffalo Bills, the 2007 Raiders are calendared to face franchises that had a combined winning percent of .539 in 2006.

Let's explain how this came to be. Here is how NFL schedules are generated since the 2002 season's re-alignment. Steady now:

* Home and away against its three division opponents (6 games).
* The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating three-year cycle (4 games).
* The four teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating four-year cycle (4 games).
* Two intraconference games based on the previous year's standings (2 games). These games will match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place, and fourth-place teams in a conference will be matched in the same way each year.

Awrioght-then. First off, the other three teams in the AFC West division (SD, KC, DEN) are either good or better-than-good. San Diego had the best record in the NFL last season at 14-2. Both Denver and AFS correspondent Kyle's Kansas City Chiefs each went 9-7.

The two divisions that the Raiders draw in 2007 are the AFC South (IND, JAC, TEN, HOU) and the "Black And Blue" NFC North (CHI, GB, MIN, DET). There are some particularly powerful teams in there. Da Bearsss had the best record in the NFC with Lovie's keen Cover Two D. SFist Eve's Indianapolis Colts rode their precision one-back offensive scheme all the way to Super Bowl XLI.

Though the AFC South's Titans and Jaguars both finished at .500 in 2006, both squads fall squarely under the label of fiery teams that no one wants to see on their slate in 2007: the Jags because of their punishing style of play in all aspects of the game, and the Titans for the undefendable QB Vince "he-just-wins-games" Young.

The two intraconference last-place teams are the still-unformed Cleveland Browns, and the underperforming Miami Dolphins -- both of which could beat the Raiders. In fact the Browns did beat the Raiders in 2006.

Yeah, this Raider season ain't shaping up to be a whole lot of fun. But we're not going to sugar-coat it for you. And we're not even to the draft yet. Damn you, NFL, damn you.

Just as we did with the 49ers, after the jump we have analysis, forecasting, and a simplified text version of the Raiders' 2007 schedule suitable for wallet or wall. Just copy, paste, print, and grouse.

* Photo of Al Davis surrounded by sword-wielding squirrels via blog.nbx.com. No, we have no idea. Yes, we had to use it.

Can QB Alex Smith continue significantly improving his play without Norv? Will all those nice offseason pick-ups gel into a usable 3-4 defense? Can RB Frank Gore's body continue to withstand the pounding that he dishes out to opposing players? And y'figure we only got another good four-or-five seasons left in the honorable DL Bryant Young, right?

Only one thing's for sure: the franchise's stadium-building business won't be settled anytime soon. If ever. It'd be no surprise at if the Niners were still stuck with The 'Stick in 2012.

After the jump: analysis, forecasting, and a simplified text version of the 49ers' 2007 schedule suitable for wallet or wall. Just copy, paste, and print.

* Jeremy Newberry, C

Now, we here in the Bay Area know Mr. J-New 62; he went to Cal and then became a three-time Pro Bowl center for the 49ers. He was a warrior, a tough guy, a rock in the middle of the offensive line. Then his legs gave out.

Various reparative surgeries were performed with discouraging levels of success. The poor guy has been out of the game for over a full season now, recuperatin' after microfracture surgery on his left knee.

Now, as part of the long-standing SF-OAK player recycling program (SF loves young players, Al loves veterans, and no one likes to move out the Bay Area), Newberry has been given a contract with the new Raider staff. He's a great character for the locker room. He's been a great player. But can he play American football again?

Lord knows Oakland could use any help they can on the O-line.

* Dominic Rhodes, RB

Who-the-what-then?!

Why the hell is Al adding another running back? RB was one of the few settled positions on offense. You've already got the passionate LaMont Jordan and the speedy Justin "Son of Huggy Bear" Fargas.

According to last season, every other position could stand an upgrade. And you add a running back? No comprendemos.