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ByCamInman BayAreaNewsGroup SANTA CLARA Wide re- ceiver Anquan Boldin rec- ognizes that the San Fran- cisco 49ers are on the prec- ipice as the season winds down. However, he isn't about to write off this sea- son just because it hasn't gone as planned. "We expect for people to throw dirt on us and feel like everything is all for naught," Boldin said Fri- day. "But the feeling in the locker room is completely different. Guys feel like we still have a lot to play for. That's the feeling that I get." The 49ers are 7-6 and on the verge of being elim- inated from playoff conten- tion. They need to beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sun- day, then the Chargers and Cardinals in their final two regular-season games just to have a shot at making the playoffs for a fourth straight season. You might be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the 49ers are going to beat the Seahawks on Sunday, not after how thor- oughly the Seahawks dom- inated the 49ers at Levi's Stadium on Thanksgiving in a 19-3 victory. And certainly not after how the 49ers got outplayed by the 1-11 Raiders last Sun- day. Even so, Boldin said, he likes what he sees from his teammates at a time when few others believe in them. "We had a pretty good week" of practice, Boldin said. "Although we didn't have a chance to get out- side (Thursday) because of the weather, (Friday) we fin- ished up pretty well. Guys are moving around (well), guys are involved, they seem to be into the game plan." Boldin acknowledged that he is surprised by how poorly the 49ers have fared to this point in the season. "Everybody is," Boldin said. "Had you asked us where we would probably be at the end of the sea- son; 14-2 or something like that. Unfortunately, things don't always work out the way that we want them to. Whatever hand you're dealt, you do the best with it and just continue to fight." The 49ers catch the Se- ahawks at a time when the Seahawks are playing at a level expected of a defend- ing Super Bowl champion. The game will be played on the same field where the Seahawks beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship game Jan. 19. Boldin said he doesn't get too caught up in ranking ri- valries, given he has played in memorable ones in high school, college and the NFL. Still, he said, the NFC Championship game against the Seahawks "has to be right up there at the top, with what you're play- ing for, the right to go on to a" Super Bowl. • Inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman (knee), right offensive tackle An- thony Davis (concussion), nose tackle Glenn Dorsey (forearm) and wide receiver Stevie Johnson (knee) won't play against the Seahawks. Coach Jim Harbaugh said Davis still is experienc- ing lingering effects from the concussion he suffered against the New York Gi- ants on Nov. 16. Cornerback Chris Cul- liver (knee) and Tramaine Brock (hamstring), cen- ter Marcus Martin (knee) and safety Bubba Ventrone (groin) are questionable. Jonathan Martin will start in Davis' place for the ninth time in 13 games. Harbaugh said it's to be "de- termined" whether Marcus Martin will start at center Sunday. • On Wednesday, Se- ahawks coach Pete Carroll called Harbaugh a "stud" for the way Harbaugh coaches. NFL Boldin says 49ers not done yet despite record LossestoSeattleonThanksgiving,lowlyRaiderslastweekdrawskepticism MARCIOJOSESANCHEZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Anquan Boldin (81) runs against Oakland Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson (24) during the first quarter in Oakland on Sunday. By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press Discussing his Green Bay Packers' victory over the At- lanta Falcons on a snowy night at Lambeau Field this week, coach Mike McCar- thy uttered the sort of plat- itude that certainly sounds true. "Winning in December is important," McCarthy said, "and winning in December is difficult." Actually, a look at recent history shows the first part is not necessarily the case — especially if the ultimate goal is the Super Bowl. The idea that a strong regular- season finish is a prerequi- site for an NFL champion- ship turns out to be one of the myths and misconcep- tions about the last month of the year. Only once in the last nine years has a team with a better post-Dec. 1 regu- lar-season record than its Super Bowl opponent won the title. And three times in that span, a team with a losing record down the stretch wound up taking home the trophy: Baltimore was 1-4 after Dec. 1, 2012; New Orleans was 2-3 head- ing into the playoffs three years earlier; Indianapolis was 2-3 three years before that. Each of those champs beat a Super Bowl foe that had a winning record over its final five regular-season games. There's also a deep as- sumption that cold-weather teams dominate in the late season and playoffs. "The weather definitely plays a part in football games late in the year," Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon said. "I don't think there's a player alive that loves to play in cold weather, but you can get used to it." The Vikings chose the north sideline at TFC Bank Stadium — their temporary home while a dome is be- ing built — because they thought it would help dur- ing colder games. With the angle of the sun on Decem- ber afternoons, the south sideline where the visitors stand is usually completely shaded; if the sun is out, the Vikings' sideline gets all of it. Coach Mike Zimmer said on-field readings from Min- nesota's home game against Carolina on Nov. 30 showed a 20-degree difference be- tween the sunny and the shaded sideline. "The players thanked me for being on that side a cou- ple of times," Zimmer said. While players — or their fans — in spots such as Buf- falo or Pittsburgh might hope for an edge down the stretch in this season's tight AFC playoff race, data com- piled by STATS also shows that not all teams based in cold-weather cities thrive this time of year. Sure, over the past 10 seasons, New England is a league-best 42-7 in Decem- ber, and 14-4 when it's 32 degrees or colder at kickoff (oddly enough, only Hous- ton, at 3-0, has a higher winning percentage). But Denver is only 8-9 at 32-or-below at kickoff, a .471 winning percentage that's a significant drop from its .609 in all other games over the decade. Another exam- ple: The Cleveland Browns haven't been particularly good in any weather the past 10 years, but their win- ning percentage drops from .349 at 33 degrees or above to .238 when the mercury drops. "Sometimes if you take a cold-weather team into warm weather late in the year, that can affect them just as much as it does when you take a warm- weather team and put them in cold weather. Now you've been practicing in colder weather and you have to go out and play in warmer weather — and you're not used to that, either," said Moon, who played for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos before moving to the NFL. "Fatigue sets in. Guys can get a little more tired or de- hydrated." At the other end of the spectrum, there are teams from warm-weather sites that do just fine in the cold, such as the Miami Dolphins, who in admit- tedly small sample size have gone 4-3 at 32-or- below since 2004, a .571 winning percentage that dwarfs their 33-and-above mark of .416. "If guys excel in cold weather, it has to be some- thing they've been coached on or they've been taught to block it out and say, 'We're going to play better,'" Red- skins receiver Santana Moss said. "When coach (Joe) Gibbs was here, he always taught us that 'Redskins weather' was bad weather — wet, soggy, gloomy, cold. And we actually won games that time of year. We had the same team that didn't even go to the playoffs, but we won games in Decem- ber." AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, con- tributed to this report. NFL Bad December tough to shake Wins this month both important, difficult for teams MORRY GASH — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers throws during the first half Monday against the Atlanta Falcons in Green Bay, Wis. RICHARD DREW — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Heisman Trophy award is to be presented Saturday. Among the favorites to win the Heisman are Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper and Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon. By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press NEWYORK It was just two guys talking football and posing for pictures with a big bronze trophy. The day before the Heis- man Trophy presentation, Wisconsin running back Melvin Gordon and Ala- bama wide receiver Am- ari Cooper answered questions about their sen- sational seasons, their coaches, their chances to upset Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and win college football's most fa- mous individual award and who might win the na- tional championship. Cooper wisely passed on making a prediction about how the top-ranked Crimson Tide will do in the College Football Play- off against Ohio State. Gordon, however, said Friday he's leaning to- ward 'Bama. So much for Big Ten solidarity. That was about as close to a scandal as you will find at this year's Heisman ceremony, a welcome de- parture from recent years for many fans and voters. "You hate to think the guy you're voting for might have done something aw- ful in his personal life away from football," said Kyle Ringo, a Heisman voter who works for the Boulder Daily Camera in Colorado. Whether character should count in Heisman voting has been a hot topic in three of the last four years. Not so much this time around as Mariota, Gor- don and Cooper have steered clear of serious public missteps. "Character counts in everything you do," Coo- per said. Last season, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston won the Heisman in a landslide, a little more than a week after a Flor- ida prosecutor decided not to charge him with sexual assault. Winston was ac- cused of rape by female Florida State student. This year Winston was cited for shoplifting in the offseason and suspended for a game in September for shouting an obscene internet meme in a cam- pus cafeteria. "Once those events hap- pened, I decided to exclude him this year," said Gene Frenette, of the Florida Times-Union in Jackson- ville. Winston's numbers have fallen off in his sophomore season, he has 17 intercep- tions in 13 games com- pared to 10 in 14 last year, but he also has guided the Seminoles to another un- beaten regular season and a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals against Oregon and Mar- iota. "He's probably not here because of the off-the-field issues," Gordon said about Winston. In 2012, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Man- ziel came to the Heisman presentation with a pre- season arrest on his re- cord that nearly got him thrown off the team before he could become Johnny Football. Two years before that, Auburn's Cam Newton was asked if he thought he would get to keep the Heisman at the news con- ference following his vic- tory. The NCAA had inves- tigated Newton's recruit- ment, found his father had tried to peddle his son's commitment for money, but cleared the quarter- back of any wrongdoing. "The lack of any off- the-field stuff did make (voting) much easier and I think better for col- lege football in general," said voter Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express- News. Scandal-free event focused on football Mariota favored to win today over Gordon, Cooper HEISMAN TROPHY By David Ginsburg The Associated Press BALTIMORE Navy's un- precedented 12-game win- ning streak against Army has increased the pressure on both teams Saturday. The Cadets are desper- ate to snap a slide that be- gan when the current crop of players were in grade school. The Midshipmen are determined to main- tain the upper hand in a series that began in 1890. "The streak is out there. Everybody on the team, ev- erybody at the school real- izes that," Navy senior cap- tain Parrish Gaines said. "It does kind of seem like something we've got to do. Everybody I've played with on this team has beat these guys every year." No Navy team since 2001 has lost to Army. Dur- ing that time, the Midship- men have outscored the Cadets 400-132, including 34-7 last year. Before this 12-game run, the longest winning streak either team enjoyed was five. "This is a game we want to win, particularly with all the talk about Navy hav- ing won so many in a row," said first-year Army coach Jeff Monken, who helped the Midshipmen get the streak started while serv- ing as an assistant coach at the Naval Academy from 2002-07. Army (4-7) is a decided underdog against Navy (6- 5). But there have been far bigger upsets in a rivalry the Midshipmen lead 58- 49-7. "Coach Monken said one thing to us: Right now, we haven't played that team," Army senior de- fensive back Geoffery Ba- con said. "The 2014 Army team hasn't played the 2014 Navy team. So right now, we're 0-0." Beating Navy is always the top priority at Army. "Not just to end the 12- game winning streak, but for us as a program," run- ning back Raymond Ma- ples said. "To beat Navy to end the season — our archrival — is our mantra. It's what we live by." REYNOLDS WRAP Army can't win if it can't stop quarterback Keenan Reyn- olds, the key to Navy's tri- ple-option attack. A year ago, Reynolds ran through the Cadets for 136 yards and three touchdowns. COLLEGE FOOTBALL Navy puts 12-game win streak on line | SPORTS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 2 B