49ers Win Big

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Regardless of last week’s result against the Seahawks last night’s Monday Night Football game was a must win for the 49ers.  If they had beaten the Seahawks and with the win last night the 49ers would have pulled within one of the game the NFC West title along with the owning the tiebreaker against the Cardinals.  The Niners are still technically alive for a playoff spot but in order for them to win the NFC West the Cardinals need lose their last three games (Lions, Rams, Packers) which seems unlikely but more importantly the Niners need to win to take care of themselves and win out the last three games (Eagles, Lions, Rams) to hope for a long shot spot in the playoffs.  The 49ers have two teams in front of them for the wild card, Giants and Falcons. With the NFC East being played out like a slugfest and with the Falcons big two playmakers in Matt Ryan and Michael Turner hurting and not at 100% there is a small window for the 49ers to creep up in the playoff standings.  Nonetheless the way the 49ers came out and defeated a very good Cardinals team that embarrassed the playoff bound Vikings last week the performance by the team, especially the D, showed that no matter the previous weeks results they learn from it, let it go and can come out and beat a team favored to win 24-9.  Let’s hand out some game gold nuggets:

(Game gold nuggets are based on a one to five scale, one being the lowest, five being the highest)

OFFENSE :

Anytime you switch to a spread offense your run game will suffer.  With rushing attempts of 9, 16 and 7 in the past three games for a total of 117 rushing yards it looked as though the 49ers best offensive player, Frank Gore, was becoming an afterthought in the run as offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye tried to suite the offense to Alex Smith’s abilities.  Being down in the second half in two of the last three games the switch was natural for the team looking for any type of offense and a quick score.  However last night Raye showed that the 49ers can still run the spread to move the offense but when the clock needs to be ran out to preserve a win you can always count on Gore.  With 25 rushing attempts for 167 yards, 6.7 average per carry and one touchdown Gore reminded everyone that he is the best offensive player on the Niners and that offense should run, literally, through him.  Smith did not have a spectacular game stat wise completing 19 of 35 passes for 144 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions but he ran the spread offense effectively.  With the defense creating turnovers that got the offense back Smith’s two interceptions only yielded nine points for the Cardinals.  But what does not show up in the stat book is how poised and how much of a presence Smith had on the field last night commanding the offense.  Smith is emerging out of his old shell and becoming a quarterback that you can rely on in passing situations.

There were times last night when Smith and Michael Crabtree were off as far as knowing where the receiver was going to be and where the quarterback was going to throw.  This is one of the negative side effects I see with Crabtree missing so much time before signing with the Niners but this is something that will correct itself as Smith and Crabtree work more with each other and it becomes instinct on where the two know the ball will be thrown and where the Crabtree needs to be.  Crabtree finished with 5 receptions for 67 yards with one touchdown.  His lone touchdown catch of the night gave the 49er Faithful a glimpse of his athletic ability and what to expect in the future when he pulled down a pass out of the air, continued running along the route and stiff-armed his way for a 35-yard touchdown.  That gave the Niners a 17-0 halftime lead and added momentum on top of the five turnovers by the 49ers D in the first-half.  The 49ers offense is starting to roll and finding its identity as maybe a pass first team but when the time calls for it they run the football effectively whether out of the spread or normal formations.

Another reason for the 49ers success last night was the excellent play by the offensive line that lead Gore to a big rushing night and protected Smith giving up only one sack.  The play that stood out the most to me by the O-line was on Gore’s 36-yard run in the first quarter with right guard David Baas leading the way with a crucial block that allowed Gore’s big gain.  Individually the O-line stats don’t show up in the box score but when you only give up one sack, the offense rushes for 189 yards and have 36:45 time of possession the offensive line as a whole has had a great game

DEFENSE :

The 49ers defense last night was stellar in all aspects: Seven turnovers, five in the first half, that included two interceptions (INT), seven forced fumbles (FF) recovering five of them to go along with 4 sacks.  The D got everyone involved with interceptions by safety Dashon Goldson, who also had 2 FF, and cornerback Tarell Brown.  The five fumbles were recovered by defensive end Parys Haralson, cornerback Dre’ Bly, safety Mark Roman forced the fumble he recovered and defensive end Justin Smith.  Linebacker Ahmad Brooks was the most impressive with a FF and recovery to go along with three sacks.  It is well known how good of an offense the Cardinals have and with the way quarterback Kurt Warner was playing the last four games in which he had 12 touchdown passes and no interceptions with at least a 120 passer rating in each of the games the 49ers D proved it is a force to be reckon with.  The 49ers D have been great against the run this year but it was the weak play against the passing game that opponents exploited so to shutdown a high-powered offense like the Cardinals (Anquan Boldin 5 receptions for 40 yards; Larry Fitzgerald 2 receptions for 22 yards) and limiting their big play makers the 49ers D showed to the nation how good their defense can be and how they rise to the occasion.

A lot has been said about Alex Smith and his development as a quarterback being hindered because of all the various offensive coordinators he has been through.  The 49ers D have shown what the team can develop into if they have consistent coordinators on the sideline.  Greg Manusky is in his third year as the 49ers defensive coordinator and with big games this year against the Rams (five turnovers, shutout), Colts (held Peyton Manning and company to 18 points) and holding Pro Bowl running backs Steven Jackson, Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner and Maurice Jones-Drew all under 100 rushing yards the 49ers are showing a blueprint for the offensive side of the football.

SPECIAL TEAMS :

The only blot on the special teams was Joe Nedney’s 53 yard miss in the second quarter.  It was a long field goal but there was no wind last night at the ‘Stick.  Because of the defenses performance the missed field goal did not matter but at the time the 49ers were to add to a 10-0.  53 yards is within Nedney’s kicking distance and he will need to make these kicks in the last three games of the season.  Andy Lee was his normal self averaging 41.2 yards on each punt.  He did shank one punt in the third quarter that set up a Cardinals field goal.  The big play of the game on special teams came from defensive end Ray McDonald who blocked an extra point which made the score 17-9.

COACHING :

A lot of credit has to be given to Mike Singletary in the way he prepared the 49ers for last night’s game and for making the team forget about the tough loss against the Seahawks that was a win within their reach.  Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye called a great game by starting out in the spread formation and passing a lot making the Cardinals D think that was going to be the case all night.  But slowly and effectively Raye called running plays for Gore and it worked out to their advantage.  Another great defensive scheme was set-up by defensive coordinator Greg Manusky.  The 49ers brought pressure all night on Warner and made him look like a rookie and forced him to throw into double coverage.  Manusky masked his zone coverage very well and most passing downs he was dropping seven into the zone and on one play only had two rushers and the 49ers caused an interception.  What the coaches need to do now is make sure the 49ers can carry this confidence and momentum over to the next three games if the Niners even want to entertain thoughts of making the playoffs.

Up Next @ Philly:

The 49ers will travel to Philadelphia on Sunday against an Eagles team fighting for the NFC East.  The 49ers have only won once on the road this year which was in week one against the Cardinals and the 49ers have a short week.  Anything is possible but the 49ers will need a performance like last night to be able to keep up with the Eagles.

Niners Win 20-13

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Mike Singletary’s intense passion and motivation gave him a perception of a head coach that is stubborn and unwilling to go against his “physical” with an F style of offense he wanted to install with offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye.  Singletary said in training camp that he wanted to run the football 60% of the time each game.  With a great running back in Frank Gore and an average, if that, non-big playmaking quarterback in Shaun Hill you would probably want to run the football a majority of the time as well.  Not only because of the “Fhysical” nature Singletary longed for but he realized Hill is a game-manager at best and at the time the best offensive player on the team was Gore.  Things have changed since the start of the season with Vernon Davis emerging, finally, Michael Crabtree (MCT) signed, Alex Smith inserted as the starting quarterback and the realization that the 49ers offensive line is not as good as originally thought and is no way cable of successfully running the football 60% of the time.  Even with the evidence of the last six weeks in which the offense was only successful in the spread/shotgun formation Singletary said all week that he was not going to deviate away from his offensive philosophy of running the football down the defenses throat.  He pulled a fast one on us yesterday, which was good, in that he had Raye pass the football on 41 of 61 offensive plays.  That comes out to passing the football 67% of the time.  And the result? A 49ers 20-3 defeat of a very good and playoff hungry team in the Jaguars.  The success of the offense allowed the defense to rest after coming off the field which produced six sacks, two fumble recoveries and three points given up.  Let’s hand out some game gold nuggets.

(Game gold nuggets are based on a 1 to 5 scale with, one being the worst, five being the best)

OFFENSE

Smith completed 27 of 41 passes for 232 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.  The last stat is the most significant.  With Smith controlling the game while also moving the offense down the field for two touchdowns and two field goals Singletary was convinced that the 49ers can pass a majority of offensive plays and be successful.  “I would say right now I think we have more playmakers in the passing game. We have a lot of playmakers we can throw the ball to. … The best thing that happened this week is I saw leadership on the offensive side of the ball.” Singletary said.  Of the 41 pass attempts 34 of them, 82%, were in the spread/shotgun formation.  The 49er Faithful knows that Smith became a star in college because of Urban Meyer’s spread attack and the only success he has shown this season has been in the spread formation.  Of Smith’s two touchdown passes the one to Gore showed his maturity into a reliable starting quarterback and how comfortable he is now in running the offense.  He relied on his instincts as he scrambled to the right and looked as if he was about to try to run the football in for a score at the five-yard line but he pulled up and sent a perfect pass just over the Jaguars defense and floated perfectly into Gore’s hands as he straddled the sidelines with his toes for the score.  Vernon Davis was his usual self leading all receivers with six receptions for 69 yards and one touchdown.  Smith had plenty of time to pass throughout the game thanks to the offensive line that did not give up a sack.

When you pass 67% of the time the running game will of course suffer.  Gore only managed 33 rushing yards for 16 carries averaging only 2.1 yards per rush.  Even though Gore was heavily involved in the passing game, seven receptions for 14 yards and one touchdown,  the 49ers will need to be careful to not abandon the running game all together and become a one-dimensional team like they were in the first-half of the season only having success in the running game.  But with yesterday’s results and how fun it was to watch a vertical passing game for 67% of the time how could you not want them to pass the football a majority of the time?

The 49ers offense only managed three points in the second half.

DEFENSE

The 49ers defense had their best game of the season so far against the Jaguars yesterday.  (I leave out the Rams game, because the Rams are horrible and the Florida Gators could probably have as much success against them.)  The D only gave up three points, recorded six sacks (a season high) and two fumble recoveries and forced four punts on ten drives.  Defensive end Justin Smith had a big game with five tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.  While the D did not give up a touchdown and limited another big-time Pro Bowl running back Maurice Jones-Drew ,75 rushing yards on 15 carries, they did give up 307 passing yards against David Garrard.  With 49ers offense only able to score a field goal in the second half the defense stepped up and recorded huge sacks that sealed the victory for the Red and Gold.  Outside linebacker Manny Lawson sacked Garrard in the third quarter that ended in a recovered fumble that also ended the Jags drive on the 49ers 17-yardline.  Again with the Jags inside the red-zone at the 49ers 14-yardline the D recorded another sack that resulted in a recovered fumble.  Outside linebacker Parys Haralson forced Garrard to fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter that stopped another Jags potential touchdown score.

When the 49ers offense is successful that carries over to the defense.  Not only because the D can rest more on the sidelines and get ready for the next series but seeing the offense finally make plays and put the 49ers in the lead early in the game the D stepped up like an MLB All-Star closer protecting a lead for a victory.  The D frustrated the Jags offense all game and never allowed them to get an offensive flow started.  Going forward if the 49ers want to contend for the NFC West and a playoff spot it will be the 49ers D that will win them games and not the offense.

In the 49ers five wins the D has given up only 35 points; In the 49ers six losses 178 points have been given up.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Not much happened with the special teams unit for the 49ers and Jaguars.  Kicker Joe Nedney added to the 49ers lead with two field-goals of 46 and 27 yards.  Punter Andy Lee was not his Pro Bowl self only averaging 37.6 yards on five punts but with the way the defense played Lee could have had the Jags start at mid-field after each punt and the 49ers would still have won.  The punt return coverage did give up a 42-yard return by Brian Witherspoon.  The 49ers had Jags kicker Josh Scobee miss two field-goal tries.

COACHING

Singletary held his cards close to chest all week indicating that the 49ers would not all of a sudden reverse course and become a passing team.  Secretly he has telling Jimmy Raye to channel the Utah Alex Smith and make him pass a majority of the time.  Easier said than done especially with the 49ers offensive line.  But you have to give Raye credit for developing a game-plan that best used his quarterback, wide receivers and running back in the passing game while exploiting an injured Jags secondary.  While I would have liked to have seen more success in the running game in the end it does not matter if it was the pass or run, or both that won you the game but that you got the win.  Given an early lead defensive coordinator Greg Manusky was able to rush Garrard with multiple blitz’s that forced sacks and turnovers.  Manusky had his linebackers do most of the blitzing as he left his secondary in coverage to limit wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker and Jones-Drew to only yards but no touchdowns.

Overall Singletary prepared his players on offense and defense well thanks to a great game-plans drawn up by Raye and Manusky.  After the game Singletary, Raye and Smith said they take the offensive strategy game by game and that next week there could be a majority of running plays called rather than passing plays.  This will surely be the theme echoed all week against a Seahawks team the 49ers destroyed with their running game in week two.  But I bet you that the cards will be held tight once again as the 49ers come out and pass all over a weak Seahawks secondary.

After the game Singletary said Vernon Davis, Alex Smith and MCT voiced their opinions about opening up the passing game.

Next up @ Seattle

The 49ers played the best four quarters of football so far this season against the Jags.  This will carry over against the Seahawks who they beat 23-10 in week two.  With a win against the Seahawks and a Cardinals loss against the Vikings, a Monday Night Football showdown will be set-up the following week between the 49ers and Cardinals for the NFC West lead.  One week at a time though, the 49ers look poised for another win.

49ers Destroy Lams

Special teams, offense, defense, offense, defense.  That was the order of the 49ers touchdowns scored on Sunday as the Red and Gold demolished the Rams 35-0 improving their record to 3-1 and widened their NFC West divisional lead to two games.  The 49ers first touchdown was kicked by Rams special teamer Quincy Butler after the punt returner let it bounced which hit off of Butler’s foot allowing rookie Scott McKillop to recover the football for the games first six points.  By half-time it was 7-0 and I was just happy the 49ers had some points on the board against the Rams.  The 49ers offense predictably got off to another slow start and that continued into the second-half as the 49ers opening drive of the third quarter yielded another punt.  When the 49ers got the ball back for the second time of the third quarter Shaun Hill led the offense on a 48-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis, 14-0.  The catch and play was very similar to Davis’ first touchdown against the Vikings the week before.

The 49ers did a great job of holding down the only threat on the Rams offense in Steven Jackson who had only 79 rushing yards.  The D decided to get into the scoring category when Patrick Willis intercepted a pass by Kyle Boller which he ran back for a 23-yard touchdown, 21-0.  Willis who had one of his best games of his career with 8 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, 3 tackles for losses, 3 quarterback “hurries” and 1 pass defended to go along with the INT and touchdown was spying Boller the whole way on the pass and broke on it as soon as he realized where it was going.  After the score there was 5:31 left in the third quarter and with the way the Rams were playing I thought the scoring in the game was finished as I waited for the 49ers to go into conserve mode and bleed out the clock.  To my surprise offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye wanted to go for the jugular as Shaun Hill drove the offense 43 yards in just over two minutes for a 24-yard touchdown pass to Josh Morgan for a 28-0 lead.  Morgan missed a potential receiving touchdown in the first-half that bounced right off his hands.  He made up for that mistake on the pass from Hill that was perfectly placed for Morgan so long as he could jump up and catch the football.  For Hill to look to Morgan and to trust him to make that type of play shows Hill quickly forgets about mistakes made earlier in the game and shows the trust he still had in his receiver no matter what previously happened.  Any scoring after that would have just been icing on the cake and the 49ers got all of the icing it could take 14 seconds later with a fumble recovery by Ray McDonald for an 11-yard touchdown, 35-0.

This is what great teams are suppose to do against the lower level teams in the NFL.  You don’t just beat them, you destroy them.  The 49ers are not one of the top-ten teams or one of the great teams in the NFL yet.  However with the way they have been playing on both sides of the football this should serve notice to the rest of the league that the 49ers are for real and if you do not take us seriously we will make you pay.

Game Observations:

The Pros:

• Everyone on the team got into the game and contributed.  If you can get a score from your special teams, two from defense and two on offense you know you have something going right for your team.  This gives us confidence going forward knowing that any unit on the team can score a touchdown.

• The 49ers defense had their first shutout since the last game of the 2001 season. Shutouts don’t come easy in the NFL and the 49ers should be proud of the goose egg they had on defense.

• Shaun Hill was 14 for 24 for 152 yards with two TD’s and no interceptions.  He is 10-4 overall as a starter and is 7-0 when he starts at Candlestick.

• Josh Morgan’s receiving touchdown in the third quarter was the first by a Niners receiver.  This could easily go into the Con category but Morgan is starting to come around as a threat and with the play of Vernon Davis defenses will be focusing more on the tight end in the passing game.  I saw the 49ers receivers progressing in this game.  It won’t show up in the stats column but Raye is getting them more involved as he sets up the passing game with the run.

• Glen Coffee played well in the absence of Frank Gore.  I expected more as he only had 74 rushing yards and did not break off any big gains but he played well enough for the 49ers to be able to continue running the ball, he had 24 attempts, and kept the Rams concerned about the run.

• The 49ers are off to a 3-1 start through the first quarter of the season. Even though they rank 28th in the league in offense their defense is ranked 7th in the NFL.

The Cons:

• Joe Nedney missed a 43-yard field goal in the second quarter with the score tied 0-0.  Nedney needs to make these field goals especially in close games and in the first-half.  The 49ers offense gets off to a slow start and any point we can come by in the first-half helps us the rest of the game.  In the future if the 49ers continue to have a slow starting offense and they cannot get points on special teams or defense they may be out of games come the start of the second-half when they start playing teams like the Falcons, Colts, Bears and Eagles.  These teams will take advantage of mistakes unlike the 49ers four opponents so far.

• Shaun Hill was sacked four times by four different Rams, three of them backups.  The offensive line played better but still allowed too many sacks by a defense that is not good at pressuring the quarterback.  They gave Hill the time he needed to make plays most notably his two TD passes but to give up four sacks against the Rams D shows there is still a lot of work to be done by the O-line.

• The 49ers scored some points but showed they are still developing their offense.  The offense generated 228 yards in total offense against an 0-4 team ranked 29th in the league in defense.

• The 49ers had drives end 7 times in punts compared to the Rams 8 drives that ended in punts.  To make matters worse the 49ers were 4-13 on third-down conversions.

Game Grades:

Offense (B-):  The grade could have been higher had the 49ers offense had a more productive first-half on offense.  They did this against the Vikings last week as well and have to watch out going forward in the future.  The D will not always be there to bail out the offense in the first-half.  Teams that are better than the 49ers will exploit their slow generating offense.  Getting the 49ers first TD by a wide receiver was huge.

Defense (A):  A shutout, 177 total yards against, an interception and fumble ran back for TD’s and 5 sacks will get you an A grade every week.

Special Teams (B+): If not for Nedney’s missed field goal this might have been an A grade.  Nedney needs to be automatic on field goals when the game is tied.  Andy Lee was in Pro Bowl form making up for the lack of the 49ers offense with 5 of his 7 punts placed inside the 20.

Coaching (A-):  Mike Singletary and Jimmy Raye stayed true to the run even when it was only getting two or three yards.  As unexciting as that may be for the 49er Faithful the commitment to the run pays off in the passing game.  Raye showed he trusts Hill to make plays calling up three throws to the end-zone on which he connected on two of them for TD’s.  Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky drew up another brilliant game plan as he limited Steven Jackson and the damage he can do and forced Boller into making mistakes by pressuring him with the linebackers.  Special Teams coach Al Everest gets an A for another special teams TD.

Next Up:

@home vs. Falcons.  The 49ers are at home and have the momentum going into week 5 with their blow out win.  The Falcons will be rested as they are coming off of their bye week but I think the advantage goes to the 49ers who will have their bye week in week 6.  If the 49ers can push their record to 4-1 they will go into a tough stretch of their schedule fully rested, Frank Gore back and with lots of confidence when they travel to Houston (week 7) and Indianapolis (week 8).

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