In a close poll the readers of  Niner Noise  said you wanted a report on how the 49ers looked up close  as I attended the Niners game in Washington.  First I went in knowing the Redskins fans are known for playing nice with opposing fans but this was more than I expected.  Many of the local fans seemed to appreciate the large amount of 49er fans on hand, it was almost weird.

As for the game it wasn’t so much how the 49ers looked it was how bad the Redskins really are.  Too make matters worse for Washington they came into the game banged up with several key injuries.  The Redskin offense didn’t stand a chance all day vs. the 49ers defense and never would have scored a TD at all if the 49ers hadn’t noticeably taken the foot off the gas on that last Redskin possession.

This was a typical 49er game, great on defense, very good on special teams, good, creative run game and an overall ok offense.  What I noticed up close at the game was our defensive backs seem to be communicating well with each other.  I can’t tell you how many times safeties Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner would grab each other’s attention and talk out the assignment right before the snap.  The 49ers corners were playing too far off the ball and this was the reason for many of the Redskins completions.  The defense is FAST in the middle, nobody has run on this team in a long time and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.  No matter where the ball carrier goes linebackers Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman fly there with at least 1 defensive lineman and usually another LB or DB coming on to gang up on the tackle.  The defense is impressive, maybe the best in the NFL.

Page 2: What I saw out of Alex Smith and the Offense
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