Dreamy Second Half For The Smiths; A Nightmare For The Eagles

Maybe the worm is starting to turn for the long downtrodden 49ers.

Looking at their remarkable rise-from-the-grave 24-23 at Lincoln Financial Field, there was about a dozen ways the Eagles should’ve scored far more than 23 points. After all, the way Philadelphia moved the ball between the 20-yard-lines all afternoon was so effortless, so breathtakingly easy, awe-inspiring and frightening all at once. You watch it and it’s impossible not to notice that team just has a whole other phylum of athletes at the skill positions.

The thought occurs that perhaps those Miami Heat comparisons were apt. That team was just unstoppable and devastating on the fast break. Every turnover was an automatic transition dunk. But when they were forced to play in the half court, they got bogged down…

Well, think of the red zone as the Eagles’ half court, and the comparisons fit well. By my count the Eagles were in position to score at least a field goal in nine of their 12 possessions. They finished with two touchdowns, three field goals, two missed field goals and two fumbles.

Compare and contrast that to the 49ers, who had six scoring opportunities, and that’s counting two 40+ yard field goals that were certainly no gimmes (and they wound up being missed and blocked). The Niners cashed in with three touchdowns and a field goal on the other four.

That, to me, is the story of the game – That the 49ers were the tougher, both physically and mentally, in money territory, and whole heck of a lot smarter. You look at the box score and you see they had no business winning the game. But at least they were going to make the Eagles beat them instead of beating themselves. Or maybe just stick around in the game long enough to wait for the Eagles to shoot themselves in the foot.

Whatever, they’ll gladly take it. The Niners won road games on back-to-back weeks for the first time in a decade (Nov. 18 at Carolina and Nov. 25 at Indianapolis, in the 2001 season) and it also happened to be their last pair of consecutive wins during 10 a.m. PST starts as well. Usually this team has been absolute dog meat during those early starts. Remember the Kansas City game last year? Or the Green Bay one? I’d say that decision by Jim Harbaugh to spend the week in Youngstown, Ohio between these two games worked pretty well, and lord knows I didn’t miss the Santa Clara commute.

In producing their biggest comeback win since Oct. 20, 1996 against the Cincinnati Bengals, where the 49ers rallied from a 21-0 deficit to win 28-21 (in a game where the hero was the immortal Ted Popson with eight receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns), the 49ers got clutch second-half performances from their three most prominent Smiths as well as some standout performances from Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, Michael Crabtree, Joshua Morgan, Vernon Davis, Joe Staley, Mike Iupati, NaVorro Bowman and Ray McDonald.

Turnover differential has been a running theme for them on this young season, and again the 49ers won that battle, collecting three Eagles miscues while surrendering the ball just once themselves. None of their takeaways led to points, but they all prevented the Eagles from scoring.

As a result of this momentous win, the 49ers own a two game lead on everyone in their division; a claim no other team can make. Also, while the Niners are home next week (albeit against a tough Tampa Bay squad), their division foes all travel on the road. The 0-4 Rams are visiting the 4-0 defending champ Green Bay Packers, so that’s 0-5 right there. Seattle will fly cross country to take on the suddenly hot (and lucky as hell) 3-1 New York Giants. Arizona goes to 0-4 Minnesota, but that still looks like a toss-up game to me, with that Vikings pass rush on the turf.

You can’t exactly say that “NOOOOH-BODY” has it better than the 49ers, but there aren’t many teams in a better spot right now.
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Offensively, Alex Smith had a first half similar to the one the week before against Cincinnati. There were a few first downs, a couple of forays into enemy territory, but ultimately not much of anything on the scoreboard and a whole lot of frustration. As has been the case for darn near a calendar year now, he made a point of not throwing it to the other guys, but was just inaccurate and flustered enough – a high throw to Crabtree here, a low one behind Davis there – to fizzle drives.

The marked differences between today and the Bengals game – pretty much the only reasons to have a speck of hope in the second half – were that Smith and Crabtree were able to establish a connection early enough in the game to make you think there was a spark there, and, more importantly, the Niners were able to run the ball a little bit with Gore and Hunter.

Finally, in the third quarter the dam burst and everything came together for Smith and the fellas in successive, quick touchdown drives.

The first was set up by an improvised play where Smith was rushed to his right and found an uncovered Hunter at the line of scrimmage who scooted for 44 yards. A couple plays later Smith caught the Eagles in a safety blitz and hit Morgan on a slant for an easy 30-yard catch-and-run. Morgan spoke frequently in training camp about watching tapes of the 49ers West Coast Offense of the 80’s with Joe Montana throwing 5-yard slants to Jerry Rice and John Taylor for 80-yard touchdowns, and that’s exactly the kind of play that had him so excited about being in this offense.

The meat of the second score came on a long Smith pass to Crabtree where he toasted much-hyped Eagles free agent signee Nnamdi Asomugha for a 38-yard gain. Three plays later he found Davis in a mismatch with linebacker Jamar Chaney for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 23-17. Smith finished the third quarter a Tom Bradyesque 9-for-9 for 178 yards, two TD passes and a perfect 158.3 QB rating.

The fourth quarter was oddly anticlimactic for Smith, in a way. After a missed 39-yard field goal by Eagles rookie Alex Henery gave the 49ers their first chance to take the lead, they weren’t able to capitalize. Smith took a sack on third down when right tackle Anthony Davis inexplicably decided to double team Cullen Jenkins instead of worrying about left end Jason Babin, who had already beaten him for two sacks. Babin had a free run at Smith, who saw him in time to secure the ball at least before absorbing the blow. On the sidelines Smith had a look on his face like he knew they blew a golden opportunity and the game was lost.

However, fate was kind to them and once more Henery missed a kick – this one a 33-yarder. On the ensuing game-winning drive Smith completed 3-of-4 passes for just 13 yards while Gore and Hunter did the majority of the work. Harbaugh called a risky toss play to Hunter on 3rd-and-7 from the Philadelphia 26-yard-line that worked beautifully. If that play was stuffed you better believe he’d be ripped the next day – deservedly so – for not having more faith in Smith. Gore scored on the next play on a tough inside run from 12-yards out to give the 49ers the lead they would not relinquish.

Gore was questionable to even play in the game after injuring his ankle the week before and not being able to practice much of the week and didn’t even start against the Eagles. Yet he had runs of 40 and 25 yards in addition to his 12-yard touchdown and finished the game with 15 carries for 127 yards. He came into the game with just 148 yards on 59 carries – a 2.5 yards-per-carry average (he’s boosted it up to a respectable 3.7 now).

The left side of the offensive line – Staley and Iupati – deserve a ton of credit, as they were monsters all game. Not only did they neutralize Trent Cole and keep Smith’s backside clean, but they were dominant in opening up all kinds of holes for the backs. Staley was a force on those sweep and toss plays, and Iupati was nimble and powerful in pulling and trapping on inside runs to the right. Also, Harbaugh deserves a ton of credit for seeing that it just wasn’t working with Chilo Rachal and benching him for this game in favor of Adam Snyder, who played quite well. Heck, even Davis, who was a disaster in pass protection with those three sacks allowed and two tripping penalties, did a credible job in the run game against the soft, undersized, and far too pliant Eagles front.

Defensively, I can’t be quite as generous with the plaudits. These guys struggle against quality QBs. Who doesn’t in today’s NFL?

Justin Smith had the clutch play at the end, forcing the fumble from Eagles receiver Jeremy Maclin when he was already scooting forward into field goal range. Dashon Goldson was Johnny on the spot to scoop up the fumble before sliding out of bounds. Yet, even though nobody played a truly outstanding game – I’d say Bowman came the closest – just about everybody had their moment or two in the sun.
Eagles coach Andy Reid had a considerable role in this disaster of a game for Philly, but he saw quickly that the Niners planned to take LeSean McCoy away come hell or highwate and adjusted his plan to have Vick throw early and often. Like I said, it looked beautiful and easy in between the 20’s.

• In addition to his forced fumble, Justin Smith chased Vick around a handful of times and pressured him into some hurried throws. He also brushed hands with Smith early in the game, causing Vick to dislocate a finger in his throwing hand.
• Rookie Aldon Smith had the first 1.5 sacks of his career, hit Vick three times and was generally the team’s most consistent pass rusher and just missed a couple more sacks. A game like this will get him more playing time.

• Ahmad Brooks had a couple of his usual bonehead offsides penalties, but he was also relentless in pressuring Vick and got a few licks in.

• Ray McDonald got in on a sack with Aldon Smith, missed another sack on the play that wound up being a touchdown pass in the first quarter and got a couple hits on Vick.

• Isaac Sopoaga didn’t have much to do since the Eagles never ran, but he got to block some on offense in the full house backfield.

• NaVorro Bowman made at least three plays in this game that Takeo Spikes wouldn’t have had a prayer of making. He tackled Vick and McCoy in the open field on a pair of third down plays and bothered Vick on a few well-timed blitzes in the red zone. I mean this sincerely: He’s been the 49ers best player this season and he’s playing as well as any inside linebacker in the NFL right now.

• Dashon Goldson led the team with 10 tackles and really popped a couple of people. He had that big fumble recovery and he wasn’t responsible for any of those long ones to DeSean Jackson from what I saw.

• Carlos Rogers has a rep as a finesse corner, but he was used a number of times on corner blitzes and forced Vick into a few bad plays. He also picked him off on an early bomb attempt to Jackson, giving him interceptions in successive games. He was toasted in zone coverage a few times, but I’m not sure how much of it was him. The Niners were doing some screwy things back there.

• Tarell Brown shouldn’t be starting anymore. People are going right at him every game. The best thing I can say about his game is he dove at Jackson’s feet in the third quarter to hold him to “only” a 61-yard gain instead of a 86-yard touchdown. Who knew at the time it would lead to a missed field goal attempt by the Eagles?

• Chris Culliver got extensive playing time as a fourth corner in place of Tramaine Brock, and wasn’t too bad. He was in four tackles, so the Eagles went his way quite a bit, but they were short completions.

• I think Reggie Smith might have been the worst 49er in this game. Yup, even worse than Anthony Davis. They need Donte Whitner to get healthy. The defense still hasn’t played a game with Whitner and Goldson together.

49ers Special Teams Makes a Winner of Harbaugh -- A Ginn

SAN FRANCISCO -- Football players can be really selfish pricks sometimes.

You think you've got a storyline going, where a certain theme has been established for 55 minutes and change and a chance at a really dramatic ending set up to make up for what was mostly a dull affair.

And then stupid ol' Ted Ginn ruins it with back-to-back touchdown returns; first a 102-yard kickoff he raced back all the way down the right sideline to make it a 26-17 ballgame with 3:45 to go, and then, just for the heck of it, a 55-yard punt return right up the gut a mere 59 seconds later to close out the scoring.

Obviously going into the game all the focus was on 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, but it was another import from Stanford, Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, who took a short pass from beleaguered quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, broke one tackle and zoomed past the 49ers secondary for a 55-yard touchdown to make it a perilous 19-17 lead for the hosts with 3:56 to go.

The 49ers had been winning, mostly comfortably, for the better part of the final three quarters, but Baldwin's score was supposed to show us a couple of things. It was supposed to give us some kind of definitive proof, one way or another, that Harbaugh's offense, which had sputtered in fits and starts the whole game, could finally get creative enough to manage a couple of first downs when it mattered. Finally, after enduring 55 minutes of Alex Smith playing with one hand tied behind his back, we were gonna witness the extent of just how much Harbaugh trusted his quarterback.

But no, Ginn had other plans.

"On a kickoff you’re always taking a chance," said Ginn afterward. "Sometimes you might not make it to the 20. You might only get to the 10 or 15-yard-line and hurt your offense, but with our special teams you always have a chance."

Harbaugh seemed to think the 49ers had a chance simply by handing it up to gut to Frank Gore -- eight-man Seattle fronts be damned -- and to avoid those dreaded turnovers and sacks. This formula, which he described as "blue-collar" seemed familiar somehow, but I'm having difficulty putting my finger on it.

If you think the comparisons to Mike Singletary are too harsh, then consider try these numbers on for size: The offense managed a whopping 209 yards, Gore averaged a paltry 2.7 per his 22(!) carries and they converted 1-of-12 3rd down attempts while scoring exactly one touchdown on five trips to the red zone. Twice the defense gifted them the ball deep inside Seattle territory in the first half and repeated handoffs to Gore led only to a 6-0 lead, thanks to two short David Akers field goals.

The boys produced another field goal drive midway through the second before finally embarking on their one touchdown drive of the afternoon, right before half. It covered 49 yards, but Smith found Vernon Davis for a couple of receptions and had an 11 yard scramble of his own.

Harbaugh has mentioned multiple times how mobility and "athletic instincts" are traits he looks for in quarterbacks (see Kaepernick, Colin) and one gets impression that Smith the message: Scramble or sit. He ran five times for 24 yards, and his bootleg to the right side from a yard out with 12 seconds to go in the half was a gutty effort, as he dove at the end zone with two defenders bearing down on him.

"I think I have that ability," said Smith. "The last couple of years I got away from that a little bit, there was a different emphasis."

And that emphasis was making him the scapegoat for everything that went wrong, mostly.

Clearly keeping Smith safe and sound is not a big emphasis for Harbaugh. Smith's most important contribution in the first quarter was to serve as a lead blocker for Gore on a misdirection toss play, and Smith did well to wall off two Seahawks pursuers. Smith was wise enough to dive after getting what he could on his scrambles, but asking him to use his legs when the blocking breaks down instead of trying to wait for receivers to get open is a dicey proposition.

Even though Smith completed 15-of-20 passes and managed a perfectly respectable 90.4 passer rating, he only totaled 124 yards through the air (6.2 yards per attempt) and was handcuffed far too much in the red zone. We were led to believe that the 49ers vanilla offense in the preseason was just for show, that they were saving the "real" offense for when the games count, but judging from what we saw today, the August fare was the real offense. What you saw is what you get. Either Smith will have to earn his coach's trust before he's allowed to pass like a real life NFL quarterback, or Harbaugh badly miscalculated in thinking the same dinky bubble screens and tight end screens that worked at Stanford will work here.

Enough negative stuff for now. Offense aside the 49ers did play quite superbly. The defense held Seattle to only 219 yards (64 on the ground and just 2.9 per carry) and made life miserable for Jackson, sacking him five times, stripping him of the ball twice and intercepting him once on a Hail Mary attempt. End Ray McDonald's five-year, $20 million contract looked like a great investment and it was amazing to see how drafting his replacement with the seventh overall pick of the draft rejuvenated Parys Haralson, who had two sacks. Justin Smith added two sacks of his own, which wasn't surprising because he's Justin Smith and the Seahawks offensive linemen were a bunch of rookies who aren't Justin Smith.

The 49ers subbed liberally along the defensive line, using both Ricky Jean Francois and Will Tukuafu to great effect, and they brought in Aldon Smith and safety Reggie Smith for passing downs, replacing Haralson and Madieu Williams, who was the injured Dashon Goldson's fill-in as the starting free safety. Interestingly, it was Tramaine Brock who checked in as the nickel corner (and who got the interception) and not Shawntae Spencer, the 49ers longtime starter who pronounced his hamstring fully healed. Rookie Chris Culliver also didn't play from scrimmage.

San Francisco's real edge, however, was on special teams. Ginn had 268 return yards to Seattle's 114, Akers was perfect on four field goal attempts and punter Andy Lee boomed five long ones, averaging 59.6 gross and 54.2 net. It's damn near impossible to kick ass as a special teams unit more than that, without forcing a few fumbles or blocking a kick or two anyway.

Add it all up and the 49ers are 1-0, beating an opponent they had absolutely no excuses against. Alex Smith still has proven precious little to soothe the fan base and Harbaugh even less. Pre-season officially ended a couple weeks back at San Diego, but for all intents and purposes it ended tonight. The Cowboys come to town next week and 209 yards of offense will not cut it.

Well, unless Ginn goes bonkers again.