San Francisco 49ers: Bring on the Hawks

Vernon Davis hurdles over a defender as he runs the ball in for a touchdown

This is the first time I get to write about my beloved Niners after Matt couldn’t recover in time from an extended Thanksgiving hangover and boy am I excited. This was a solid tune up win for the San Francisco 49ers against the St. Louis Rams, 23-13, in a game I thought they would struggle offensively against a stout defensive line.

All year, the Niners offensive line has been varying shades of erratic, and Sunday was no different as the line gave up 4 sacks and only produced 83 yards rushing on 30 carriers.

However, when you take into account that Mike Iupati didn’t start, reshuffling of positions was in order after Joe Staley got hurt in the first quarter (Alex Boone from right guard to left tackle, Joe Looney in at right guard), the line’s play wasn’t as bad. They were able to provide Colin Kaepernick with time to find open receivers for big gains, allowing the offense to move efficiently through the air for the second week in a row.

The passing game was very impressive Sunday as Kaep was able to make smart, quick reads that have sometimes been absent from games. I am not sure how much of this can be attributed to the return of Michael Crabtree (he played a lot more than I expected in the game), but regardless, Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis found themselves open time and time again, while turning their catches into big gains.

Anquan was once again patrolling the intermediate zones where he works so beautifully, providing Kaep with the security blanket the young QB needs as he grows into becoming a NFL quarterback.

Then Vernon’s ability to stretch the field and make plays really comes into affect because he doesn’t have to function as much as a check down receiver. He provided two highlight plays, the touchdown catch that saw him stop on a dime and turn up field before hurdling Janoris Jenkins into the end zone and first quarter catch that saw him hurdle another Rams defender before dragging another Rams DB five more yards before being tackled.

Finally, King Crab made his presence felt late in the third quarter when he ran a hitch and go on Trumaine Johnson on a 3rd and 5 play for a 60 yard gain. Crab didn’t seem to have his full acceleration to turn the gain into a TD, but the route is what really got me fired up because the team is going to need that more than breakaway ability to give Kaep a few more windows with which to hit passes.

All this talk of a passing game moving the ball does not mean the team was perfect on offense, as I almost thought this game was going to be a carbon copy of the Panthers game. Two stalled drives in the first half that resulted in field goals have become an all to common practice for the Niners offense.

I won’t beat a dead horse either, but know that the Niners will not win next week if they cap off long drives with field goals. In the second half, it was the team’s inability to move the ball that lets everyone know this team still has a ways to go recreate the offensive magic of the playoff run last year.

Final stats aside, the defense turned in an absolutely dominating performance that made the Rams look like an elementary offense for the first 3 quarters. They bottled up RB Zac Stacy and forced career backup QB Kellen Clemens to beat them, and it’s safe to say that did not happen.

Looking back, there were no standout individual performances by any particular players, just a systematic beatdown by Vic Fangio’s boys. Jason Smith and Tony Jerod-Eddie really turned in a stout performance up the middle, both in the run game and collapsing the pocket on pass rushes.

Jerod-Eddie especially has been steadily improving as the season has gone on, giving the Niners a pleasant surprise along a line that has seen its fair share of injuries. Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman once again had stellar games in the middle, feeding off each other while producing a sack each.

And finally on the back end, the Niners DBs combined to give up less than 6 yards per attempt, as they swarmed to the ball and didn’t let the Rams create any separation until late in the game. Eric Wright especially stepped up in place for the injured Tarrell Brown, while Trumaine Brock once again turned in a top notch performance that Niner fans are accustomed to seeing out of him this year.

As the Niners prepare for the only test that has mattered all year next week, they will need to clean up the running game and show some resclience with captain Joe Staley out for the week with an MCL sprain. To me, a loss here will only go on to reinforce the notion that the Niners cannot step up this year and get a win when they are facing a top notch team.