FanHouse San Francisco 49ers

It no longer matters that Michael Crabtree skipped training camp after being selected tenth in the 2009 draft, feeling he deserved the pay scale of a much higher selection. It also no longer matters that Crabtree missed San Francisco's first five games, watching from home as the 49ers compiled a 3-2 record without him. What's important now is that Crabtree finally signed his rookie contract, has worked hard over the last two weeks, and will see his first NFL action this Sunday in Houston.

It's likely he'll even be in the starting lineup instead of current No. 2 wideout Josh Morgan.

"I'm helping him learn my position and take my position," Morgan told reporters in the locker room Monday, as he said that coaches informed him Crabtree and Isaac Bruce would start on Sunday.

As we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that offensive line continuity is a good thing , but you may not realize just how important it is.

After looking at the first month of the season, it seems pretty clear that if you can keep your offensive line together, there's a pretty good chance you'll be a winner.

Five weeks into the NFL season, only 10 teams have started the same five offensive linemen every week. Of those 10 teams, seven have winning records including the surprising Bears. 49ers and Jets and the undefeated Giants. Combined those 10 teams are 28-18 this year.

SAN FRANCISCO -- In the midst of a pride-swallowing performance that ended with the 49ers on the wrong end of a 45-10 blowout loss to Atlanta, veteran cornerback Dre' Bly became emblematic of a self-important San Francisco team that wasn't nearly as good as its 3-1 record.

After fumbling on a showboating interception return and offering little contrition for his carelessness Sunday night -- "I have fun. Dre' is going to be Dre'" was his explanation -- Bly apologized profusely on Monday for an on-field celebration he admitted was "a poor choice."

Bly, who first approached coach Mike Singletary as well as his teammates, used Singletary's news conference as a stage to announce his public apology.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Anyone who doubted the authenticity of the Atlanta Falcons following their 2-1 start has to take notice after Sunday's 45-10 blowout of the San Francisco 49ers, a game that could have easily exposed the visitors as the pretenders their skeptics thought they might be.

Would they perform a cross-country face plant, coming off the dreaded bye-week hangover? Would they come out like the humbled, outmatched team that resembled the post-Bobby Petrino wreckage in that Week 3 26-10 loss to the Patriots in Foxborough?

Not a chance.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The Atlanta Falcons weren't even finished piling up takeaways, yards and points in Sunday's 45-10 rout of the 49ers at Candlestick Park when San Francisco coach Mike Singletary lost his sideline poise.

Rather than take out his frustrations on one of his underachieving players, Singletary instead engaged in a third-quarter shouting match with Falcons right guard Harvey Dahl.

During an early third-quarter drive that was dominated by running back Michael Turner (22 total carries for 97 yards) chewing up the 49ers' 3-4 defensive front, Singletary and Dahl argued back and forth, with both of them very animated and obviously irate. Neither was penalized for the jawing match.

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Every week we're taking a look at sacks around the league. We looked at Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' sack problem in our main Between the Lines feature this week, but here are some other notes from Week Four.

• If a Dan Marino-style quick release is an offensive lineman's best friend, Seneca Wallace is becoming a lineman's worst nightmare. Wallace stepped out of bounds for a sack on a play where he could have easily thrown the ball away for an incompletion for the second time in two games. In this case, Wallace rolled out of the pocket and had plenty of time to throw. Eventually linebacker Freddy Keiaho, who wasn't a rusher on the play, came up to force Wallace to make up his mind. Instead of simply tossing the ball out of bounds (he was out of the pocket so any pass beyond the line of scrimmage would have not drawn an intentional grounding penalty), Wallace stepped out of bounds five yards behind the line of scrimmage. It goes into the books as the easiest sack of Keiaho's career, and clearly angered the Seahawks' offensive line--center Chris Spencer is seen throwing up his arms in disbelief at the end of the play.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Michael Crabtree was introduced wearing a 49ers jersey, not Hammer Pants. Consider that a glimmer of hope, 49ers fans.

Maybe his holdout taught him the lesson he says it did.

"It was a humbling experience," Crabtree said.

If ever a kid needed one, it's San Francisco's first-round pick. After missing training camp and the first four games, Crabtree essentially got the same deal the 49ers offered months ago.

They didn't blink. Crabtree and his coterie of agents, advisers and perhaps a washed-up rap star did.

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The San Francisco 49ers reportedly signed their first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree Wednesday morning, bringing to an end a long contract negotiation that saw Crabtree sit out all of training camp, the preseason and the first four games of the regular season.

Each week, FanHouse takes a deeper look at the obvious -- and not so obvious -- options for your NFL suicide pool. Standard rules apply: pick one team to win straight up (no point spreads), and each team may only be used once.

If you were alive in your pool heading into Week 3, then it's pretty much a given that you're alive as we get ready for Week 4. With no major surprises, and with the obvious pick in the Ravens cruising to an easy blowout victory, even the most inexperienced of players couldn't help but advance.

While there might not be one team that sticks out as the clear-cut, obvious choice this week, a few games should provide the opportunity to make it safely to Week 5. Let's take a look.

This is why they got him.

Not for his name or the blocks he can throw downfield during a random pass play. It wasn't for his grit or his scruff or his record number of starts. The Vikings picked up Brett Favre because, unlike anyone they've had in five years, he can make plays with arms.

On a Sunday in the Metrodome, Favre did just that, scrambling around as the clock ticked away, down by four to a scrappy 49ers team that was looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 1998, and tossed one of those cannon throws towards the end zone, where Greg Lewis made the catch of the year so far in the NFL -- a snag that moved the Vikings to 3-0, and commenced the gushing over No. 4.

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