49ers Throttle Bucs But Needlessly Lose WR Morgan

SAN FRANCISCO -- 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh was wrong three times on Sunday afternoon.

1) He went for it on 4th-and-2 from Tampa Bay's 20-yard-line with four minutes to go and a 41-3 lead, instead of kicking the field goal. In fact, he didn't just go for it; he called a pass.

2) After the game he speculated that receiver Joshua Morgan's injury wasn't too serious, even though Morgan's left foot was badly twisted underneath him in similar fashion to the injury that befell San Francisco Giants star catcher Buster Posey on May 25th and ended his year. Morgan needed assistance from teammates to get off the field and was helped onto a cart. A couple hours later CSN Bay Area reported that Morgan fractured his ankle, which likely means he'll be out for the season.

3) In the otherwise cheery postgame presser, Harbaugh gave a reporter (okay, me) some guff for mispronouncing Ricky Jean Francois' name during a question. "It's Ricky Gene, get the pronunciation right," he chided. One would think the "Francois" part would be a dead giveaway of the French roots of his nose tackle's surname, but nonetheless, I went to the Jean Francois himself in the locker room who assured me it is in fact pronounced Zhahn-Frahnswah, not Jeen-Frahnswah.

Whatever. Harbaugh's a football coach, not a linguistics professor. I don't care if he calls Jean Francois "Ndamukong Suh," really. It's his room. And it's hardly the first time he's been condescending to the media when the facts were clearly not on his side. As fans and colleagues have told me ad nauseam, as long as the team is winning, nobody will ever care how Harbaugh acts or speaks.

However, while mistake No. 3 was trivial for Harbaugh the first two certainly weren't, and it casts a pall on an otherwise perfect 56 minutes for the coach, where he made, I'm sure, literally hundreds of correct decisions in guiding his team to a remarkable, stunning, merciless 48-3 win over previously 3-1 Tampa Bay.

Let's focus on the good stuff first.

The Buccaneers came into the game no doubt filled with confidence. Their coach, Raheem Morris, referred to his team as "The West Coast Killers" based on their wins at Arizona and against these very same (well mostly same) Niners last season. He boasted about his squad's confidence on the road playing in hostile environments. The Bucs had won 9 of their previous 12 away games. In last year's meeting with the 49ers, San Francisco came into the game with a two-game winning streak, just like this season. Tampa Bay whupped them up and down the field, winning easily 21-0 and handed the Niners their first shutout at home since 1977. The Bucs defense had six sacks of starting QB Troy Smith that day and hounded him into a 51.5 passer rating, while their guy Josh Freeman had two touchdown passes, no interceptions and a 117.9 QB rating.

However, not everything was hunky dory with the 2011 Bucs, even though they'd won their past three games. For one thing, the schedule was stacked against them. They had to play on Monday night this week and then fly cross-country to face the 49ers, so they didn't have too much time to recover or prepare. Also, Freeman hasn't been the same guy so far this year. Last year he was sensational, with 25 touchdowns, just six interceptions, and a 95.9 rating as a second-year starter. He came into this game with three touchdowns, four interceptions and a 81.1 rating.

As the game unfolded, it because quickly apparent that 49ers QB Alex Smith (11-of-19, three touchdowns, no picks, 127.2 rating) is not very similar at all to Troy Smith except for their shared last name. Smith sliced and diced through the Bucs on the opening possession and hit tight end Delanie Walker on a perfect pass in between three defenders to make it 7-0.

Freeman, meanwhile was very similar to the guy he's been throughout the first four weeks of this season (minus the fourth quarter heroics this time), rather than the one who starred last year. He threw two early picks; one that was returned 31 yards by Carlos Rogers for a touchdown to make it 14-3 and another to rookie Chris Culliver that led to another score to make it 21-3 and the rout was on.

Smith, who didn't have to do much on this day, only showed off one other time. He was red hot to open the third quarter too, hitting Michael Crabtree on a slant on 3rd-and-14 for 15 yards, then Morgan on a bubble screen for a 24-yard catch-and-run and then Vernon Davis over the middle for 23 and a touchdown to make it 31-3.

Mostly though, the 49ers ran and ran and ran it some more. They ran shotgun draws that surprised the Bucs and from jumbo formations with six linemen (right guard Adam Snyder was lining up at fullback) and three tight ends that didn't. It really didn't matter if Tampa Bay knew it was coming or not, particularly after they lost defensive tackle Gerald McCoy to an ankle injury late in the first quarter. The more lopsided the score got, the less resistance the Buccaneers offered.

Frank Gore (20 carries for 125 yards) found wide running lanes between the tackles the first three quarters, and then rookie Kendall Hunter ran a series of student body sweeps and tosses left and right for 65 more yards of his own on nine carries. All in all, the 49ers had a season-high 213 rushing yards, with their backs often not getting touched until they were 10 or 15 yards down field.

The domination of their offensive line didn't just extend to the run game however. Smith wasn't sacked once all game and I can't even remember him being hit. Everyone up front did a great job, but tackles Joe Staley and Anthony Davis in particular deserve kudos for their work.

Defensively there wasn't much to quibble with either. Harbaugh noted how quickly his secondary reacted to the ball, how they read routes and how they got their hands on so many passes. Culliver, the third-round pick with prototypical size and speed but only three games of cornerback experience in the SEC, looked like the real deal and Rogers put the kibosh on his butterfingers reputation with an interception in his third successive game. He never had more than two in any of his previous six seasons in Washington. Also, free safety Dashon Goldson laid out Bucs receiver Mike Williams with a ferocious hit in the third quarter, causing a fumble. It was the first time all season that both starting safeties -- Goldson and Donte Whitner -- played at the same time, and the results speak for themselves.

The front seven stuffed LeGarrette Blount (10 carries for 34 yards) even without starting nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, who missed the game with a staph infection. Jean Francois was superb in relief and the 49ers extended their streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher to 27. They also had three sacks, pretty much all of the "coverage" variety, with first-round pick Aldon Smith collecting two of them. He now has 3.5 on the season, which leads the team and trails only Denver's Von Miller among rookies.

In short, the 49ers were the much better team in every facet a football game could be measured. They won all three phases, controlled the line of scrimmage and thoroughly out-coached and out-executed the road weary Bucs. Harbaugh and his assistants deserve all the credit in the world, not just for having the team absolutely prepared for this game, but also in a big-picture sense, as their fingerprints on the team are easy to see everywhere.

The 49ers, even without the benefit of mini-camps to install the new offensive and defensive schemes, look for all the world like runaway division champs and one of the seven or eight best teams in football. It's taken virtually no time at all for Harbaugh to change the culture of the locker room and to turn Smith into not just a serviceable quarterback, but a good one. Again, they deserve full credit for that.

However, two things can be equally true, and the facts remain Harbaugh totally screwed up the end game.

He tried to run up the score, because it's what he does. It was the same way at Stanford, when he went for two with a billion point lead against USC late in the game, prompting then-Trojan coach Pete Carroll to ask him "What's your deal?"

As Harbaugh said in last Monday's presser, he's "moody and complicated." Part of this complication extends to being a bully when he knows the other team has given up and quit. He doesn't know how to win gracefully and he feigns surprise when people ask him why he enjoys stepping on the opponent's throat and twisting his heel.

"You've got to play," he said. "You can’t take a knee with four minutes left in the game. It could have been a run. Josh was competing; I think he's going to be okay. [QB Colin] Kaepernick is competing; he's got to get to work. We're not taking a knee with four minutes left in the game."

Nobody was asking you to take a knee, coach, and I understand that Kaepernick needs "work" though I'd question the value of that work in a 41-3 game against a defeated team. But that's what downs 1-3 are for. On 4th-and-3 it's just good form to kick the damn ball.

The thing about Harbaugh is that unlike previous 49ers coaches, he's repeatedly demonstrated that he's capable of learning, even though he'd never admit, ever, that he made a mistake in the first place.

The media suggested that mayhaps right guard Chilo Rachal wasn't playing too well? Harbaugh insisted that he was, then benched him in favor of Adam Snyder, who's been tremendous.

Some of us wondered why Kendall Hunter wasn't playing when Gore was struggling early, and voila, Hunter has gotten a lot of work the past three weeks and prospered.

Harbaugh was questioned why he kept a field goal on the scoreboard in a loss to Dallas instead of taking the penalty and accepting what would've been a 1st-and-10 at the 22-yard line in the fourth quarter.

Against the Bucs he gleefully pulled an Akers field goal off the board and accepted a Tampa Bay penalty early in the fourth quarter and then had Smith throw in the end zone to Davis to make it 41-3.

So rest assured that when the grave results do come in on poor Morgan, that Harbaugh won't admit he erred, when his efforts to impress the AP Poll or whatever he was attempting to do cost him one of his best receivers and most popular players inside the locker room. I'm guessing the next time the 49ers are administrating or receiving a whipping, he'll be more conservative and that the explanation he'll offer for his change of heart will bend the truth severely, similar to the way Morgan bent his ankle.

Morgan got needlessly hurt last year too at Kansas City, when Mike Singletary called a pass on the final play with the 49ers trailing 31-3. Morgan scored a cosmetic touchdown to make it 31-10 at the gun and Singletary sent his message -- that he's a terrible coach who could care less about his players' safety.

Maybe next time a 49ers coach calls a pass play in a blowout, Morgan will just fall down.

A Note About the 49ers Offense

It’s true that the 49ers came into the game ranked 32nd – dead last – on offense, but I came away from the Bengals game more encouraged, not less. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve no doubt noticed that every week Jim Harbaugh has been given Alex Smith and the receivers more rope. Smith is getting more attempts and still completing passes at a high percentage. By hook or by crook Kendall Hunter and fullback Bruce Miller have been incorporated into the offense, which has totally given the backfield a dynamic dimension it had previously lacked. It may not seem like much, but it’s nice to have a fullback that can gain 10 yards on a swing pass and a speedy halfback you can run toss plays with. Smith has always been comfortable with Vernon Davis, but now he’s starting to link up with Michael Crabtree and Joshua Morgan. You saw the difference not having Chilo Rachal in there made for the line. In a few weeks Braylon Edwards will return and that will be another weapon on the boundary and in the red zone.

What I’ve always liked about Harbaugh when watching his Stanford teams was that you could see that he had a vision and a plan, both in the short term (single games) and the long term (the season). The guys he recruited all fit together so beautifully and Harbaugh was a mastermind at maximizing everyone’s strengths and minimizing their weaknesses; and for adding new wrinkles week after week to surprise his opponents.

I feel like that’s what’s going on with the 49ers now. Finally the team is running an offense conducive to Smith’s strengths. Finally they have a running back in Hunter to give the backfield a thunder-and-lightning dimension when for so long their idea of understudies were glorified goal line backs like Anthony Dixon and Glen Coffee, who were just bigger and slower than Frank Gore. The way Hunter is being used now is how Brian Westbrook should’ve been used last year, but the inept coaching staff had him chained to the bench.

More importantly, Harbaugh understood right away the parameters of what he had to work with, with his offensive line, his quarterback, and his receivers. His line can’t hold their blocks for long, the receivers don’t have much straight line speed and the quarterback is naturally reluctant to throw long as it is. Why force this group to run a vertical passing offense like previous regimes did, when none of the personnel is suited for it?

Instead, in Edwards, Morgan, Crabtree, Davis and Ted Ginn, the team has a nice collection of guys who can run hitches and outs and in cuts and the occasional slant to get six or eight yards at a time and keep the chains moving. It looks horrific on 3rd-and-16, but as long as the line isn’t committing a penalty or giving up a sack and the receivers aren’t dropping passes, it works. The more rhythm and comfort they gain playing within the system, the more consistently it will continue to work.

You don’t see many teams stopping the Cardinal offense now, do you?
Of course the key to it all looking easy is the running game, and it’s impossible to deny that the Eagles run defense is 15 kinds of awful. Again, the more comfort and trust Smith and the receivers earn, the less predictable they’ll be, which will open up more running lanes. It all fits together.

Smith finished the Eagles game with a 112.1 passer rating, which was a career high for him in a road start. His 291 passing yards were the most he’s ever had in a win. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team also ran for 164 yards when he put up numbers like that.

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.

Dr. Harbaugh needs new, patient, Smith past Eagles in one piece; Week 4 picks

"First do no harm."

That's the Hippocratic Oath, which all Pre-Meds are taught on the first day of school. For San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who was hired to heal an offense that had been read its last rites, it has largely been his approach with dead-man-walking QB Alex Smith. He wanted to repair and rebuild his passer's shattered confidence and bruised psyche. He wanted to protect him from the slings and arrows, both on and off the field. The idea has been to keep the throws safe, the attempts few and the expectations manageable.

Smith has rewarded Harbaugh's faith by generally being smart and accurate and playing at least one half of good football in all three games so far to produce a 91.3 passer rating and, more importantly, a 2-1 record. However, to be fair to him, he was already on the road to enlightenment well before Harbaugh got here. Since an Oct. 17 game against the crosstown Raiders, Smith has combined to throw for 10 touchdowns and only two picks over nine starts, and his 0.9 interception percentage is the lowest for any NFL quarterback. He's not slinging it 50 times a game and throwing it for 400 yards, but Smith has accepted his own limitations and taken his own oath to first do no harm.

That's all well and good as far as the scoreboard and Smith's own psychological demons are concerned, but now comes the time for both he and Harbaugh to apply the Hippocratic Oath to the quarterback's physical body, which has already taken an absolute pounding.

It's ironic that all the talk coming into this game has been about Michael Vick's injuries, the abuse he's taken and how negligent the referees have been in protecting him. Harbaugh even played doctor as a joke, and opined that the Eagles should sit the electric playmaker for a week. Smith, meanwhile, is the one who has endured 11 sacks over the last two weeks, who suffered a concussion in Week 2 the same as Vick did and who survived former teammate Nate Clements launching himself into his helmet during a 13-8 win at Cincinnati. Smith has survived all the blows without missing a snap and hasn't uttered a peep about needing more protection from the referees or his own linemen.

What Smith needs now though is to be protected. Not from us evil media, and not from his error prone nature but from his coach using him as a crash test dummy. Through the first three games we've seen Harbaugh use him as a lead blocker, on rollouts at the end zone with no blockers to help him and on college style option plays. Harbuagh has had him passing with max protection schemes where only one or two receivers have gone out on the pattern, and the only good those extra blockers have done is to ensure that Smith will have to eat the football when his limited options are double-teamed.

The game against the Eagles, who are second in the league with 12 sacks, represents a bevy of nightmarish match-ups for the 49ers. Joe Staley, who has been more matador than left tackle against opposing bull-rushers, gets Trent Cole, a two-time Pro Bowler with 60 career sacks. Anthony Davis, who's been prone to getting beat off the ball by speed rushers, particularly on the road, faces Jason Babin, who already has four sacks and lines up as wide as possible in the Eagles funky defensive alignment. Most disconcerting of all, right guard Chilo Rachal, who was benched last week for wretched play and will be on a short leash on Sunday, gets defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, who has generated more inside pressure this season than anyone besides Ndamukong Suh.

This is what the kids would call an uh-to-the-oh situation.

On the other side of the ball the 49ers are still at a speed disadvantage against Vick, running back LeSean McCoy (the team's best player by far); and receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, but not to the extent they have been in past seasons. The linebacking corps is far more athletic with youngsters NaVorro Bowman, Ahmad Brooks and Aldon Smith, and corner Carlos Rogers can keep up with the smurfs far better than Clements could. Strong safety Donte Whitner's hip is bothering him, but that shouldn't be as much of an issue this week since tight end Brent Celek has been all but eliminated from the Eagles offense.

Sure, the Eagles should still be good for three or four touchdowns on Sunday if Vick plays the whole game, but he hasn't been able to finish either of the past two games and has been very charitable with the football. The possibility exists that the 49ers could get a cheap score or two.

Harbuagh will want to keep the ball away from the Eagles offense. He'll want long, time-consuming drives that keep Vick and Co. on the sidelines. If ever the 49ers will get their 30th-ranked running game untracked, it will be against the Eagles, who are coincidentally ranked 30th themselves against the run. He'll want to line up as many of his elephants in there as he can to trample Philadelphia's smallish front seven.

It won't work.

No matter how many blockers the 49ers put out there, the defense can jam one more than they can account for in the box. Also, the more big uglies you have, the better chance one of them will whiff on a block, will commit a hold, will jump early or otherwise blow his assignment.

The solution isn't more blockers, it's less. Stretch the Eagles out with three and four receivers and run quick hitters up the gut against Philadelphia's soft underbelly. Give the ball to Kendall Hunter on draws and use the Philly's over-aggressiveness against them. Give Smith as many options in the pass game as possible so he can diagnose where the mismatch is and get the ball out quickly to Vernon Davis or Michael Crabtree. This is not the kind of game where he's going to find guys open deep, so the goal should be to get the ball out of his hands as quick as possible.

With two wins in their back pocket already, the 49ers don't have to gamble too much against a desperate, more talented opponent. The main goal should be keeping Smith healthy, with anything more than that considered gravy. Just get him out of there in one piece and give the offensive line a chance to catch its breath and regroup. A loss the team can survive. An extended absence from Smith they cannot.

First do no harm.
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Week 4 Picks:

San Francisco at Philadelphia (-9): Obviously the line is based on Michael Vick's availability. I think the 49ers have more speed on defense than they've had in the past, particularly at linebacker and safety, but that the Eagles will still be good for 27 or so if Vick plays the full 60. I can't see the offense, with all its limitations, getting to 17 without turnovers really coming into play. Eagles 27, 49ers 16.

Detroit at Dallas (-1): The Cowboys are still awfully gimpy at receiver and corner and the Lions are the wrong team to be having issues with along the interior of the offensive line with Ndamukong Suh coming to town. This should be a fun one. Lions 27, Cowboys 24.

Carolina at Chicago (-7): Vegas seems to think the Bears defense will force at least three turnovers out of Cam Newton because I don't know how they expect the Bears to outscore anyone by a touchdown. Look for an inspired performance out of tight end Greg Olsen who will be looking to show Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz that tight ends do matter. An upset special. Panthers 23, Bears 17.

Buffalo at Cincinnati (+3): The Bengals defense has been very respectable thus far through three weeks, save for the occasional flub from corner Nate Clements, but now they get a real test with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Fred Jackson and the rest of the high-flying Bills. After their triumph against the Patriots it would only be natural for Buffalo to completely look past Cincinnati right? The good thing for them is that they don't show up until the second half anyway, so nothing will change. Bills 24, Bengals 16. **FOUR STAR SPECIAL**

Tennessee at Cleveland (-1): The Browns are a one point favorite, but for the life of me I can't fathom why. The Titans are just playing so much better than them, Kenny Britt or no Kenny Britt. I'm expecting Colt McCoy to get rag-dolled quite a bit in this one. Titans 23, Browns 13.

Minnesota at Kansas City (+2): Not very often a winless team through three weeks is a favorite on the road, but here we are. It's true that the Vikings have been one of the best teams in the NFL in the first halves and the absolute rotten worst in the second halves, but I simply can't see Jason Allen walking off the field a loser in this one. His departure from the Chiefs was anything but friendly, and he's going to be looking to tear Matt Cassel's head off out there. Vikings 26, Chiefs 13.

Washington at St. Louis (even): I don't have a line for this one, presumably because of concerns about Rams RB Steven Jackson. This looks like a drab match-up but is secretly the most important game on the sked. The Rams can't afford to fall too far behind the division leaders, even in the NFC West and the Redskins need to bounce back from their late nosedive at Dallas to show they're not the same old also-rans in the NFC East. I think the short week and the travel will get them. Rams 20, Redskins 17.

New Orleans at Jacksonville (+8): A rookie quarterback making his second career start against the Saints and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams? Where do I sign up? Games like this actually tempt me to bet real money. Saints 30, Jaguars 13 **FIVE STAR SPECIAL**

Pittsburgh at Houston (-4): Another fun game pitting two defenses bent on insisting they're a lot better than they actually are. The Texans still don't know when the healthy Arian Foster is going to show up. The Steelers don't know who the heck will play tackle. I don't know if I'll be able to deal with all the singing Steelers fans at the sports bar. Hopefully they won't be singing at the end. Texans 34, Steelers 27.

NY Giants at Arizona (+1): Eli Manning is coming off a great game, even with no-name receivers, and the Cards scored just 10 points at Seattle. Pressure is mounting on Kevin Kolb to show he's a franchise QB, or it would be if Arizona had any fans. (Hey-O.) I'm gonna go with the team I know has a running game I can trust and some pass rushers. Giants 27, Cardinals 20 **THREE STAR SPECIAL**

Atlanta at Seattle (+6): No, this will not be one of games I catch up on later. The Falcons don't have much rhythm on offense and Matt Ryan has been getting knocked around, but they're not gonna have to score much to get past the low-watt Seahawks. Falcons 23, Seahawks 13. **TWO STAR SPECIAL**

Denver at Green Bay (-13): The line surprises me. The Packers in recent years just haven't taken games like this very seriously, and Kyle Orton can put up some garbage time points throwing it to Brandon Lloyd and Eric Decker. Packers 34, Broncos 24.

New England at Oakland (+5): My heart says Raiders, my head says Patriots. I can't see New England losing two in a row. Maybe if the Raiders were more of a passing team instead of a running team, but they aren't. Bill Belichick is gonna make Jason Campbell try to match points with Tom Brady, and he's not up to it.
Patriots 38, Raiders 24.

Miami at San Diego (-9): No Antonio Gates for the Chargers and the Dolphins for some bizarre reason are way better on the road than at home. The Chargers pass rush has been lackluster and San Diego has given off some bad vibes so far, where even Philip Rivers has been uncharacteristically sloppy. Chargers 24, Dolphins 17.

NY Jets at Baltimore (-4): What a game. For my money these are the two most complete teams in the AFC. I'm curious whether the Jets will use Darrelle Revis on Anquan Boldin or rookie Torrey Smith, who demolished the Rams last week. Rex Ryan will worry the most about taking away Ray Rice after how badly Oakland's Darren McFadden gashed them. The Jets have to forget about trying to get Shonn Greene going and go right at Baltimore's corners. I'll take the Jets and the points. Ravens 20, Jets 17.

Indianapolis at Tampa Bay (-10): What a dog game. Curtis Painter against a rabid Buccaneers defense. I'm still waiting for Josh Freeman to get untracked and this is the week it's gonna happen. The Colts gave it everything they had last week against Pittsburgh and it still wasn't enough. I think this is the week they quit. Buccaneers 27, Colts 10.

Last week's W-L: 13-3
Season W-L: 32-16
Week 3 Vs. Spread: 9-7
Season Vs. Spread: 17-29-2
Week 3 +/- Points (All games count as one point unless specified): +8
Season +/- Points: -22

Defense, Smith, Rookie Backfield Key 49ers 13-8 Win at Cincinnati

Okay, so it wasn't exactly Montana-to-Taylor.

Still, for this fragile, rickety, scotch tape-and-paper clips 49ers offense, that 10-play, 72-yard touchdown march in the fourth quarter at Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium was a pretty big deal.

Not only did rookie Kendall Hunter's 7-yard scamper around left end give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish -- unlike last week, when they surrendered two separate double-digit leads to Dallas -- but it also allowed quarterback Alex Smith and his offensive mates to unburden themselves somewhat after they spent the better part of an afternoon being totally frustrated by an ordinary-at-best Bengals defense.

Let's start with Smith, as we always must.

The best thing that can be said about his first half is that he didn't turn it over. He underthrew Michael Crabtree twice, missed a couple of open receivers and took at least one sack due to indecisiveness. Generally speaking, he did nothing to absolve himself of blame from the goose egg on the 49ers end of the scoreboard.

However, he had by far his best second half of this young season, completing 11-of-13 passes for 127 yards and spreading the ball around. He was robbed of a third quarter touchdown pass to Crabtree by some horrid officiating and a lazy, incompetent FOX broadcast team that couldn't be bothered to give a damn.

Trailing 6-3 with 8:57 to go after a Frank Gore fumble cost them three points, Smith was 4-of-5 for 48 yards, with the last three completions going to Vernon Davis (8 receptions for 114 yards). Sprinkled in between those passes were stretch plays and tosses to the sparkplug Hunter, who got some meaningful playing time because Gore was either benched or hobbled by a second quarter ankle injury, whichever explanation suits you.

Gore did carry it once for four yards on 3rd-and-2 from the Cincinnati 31 on the drive, but was otherwise thoroughly stymied for the third straight afternoon, totaling 42 yards on 17 carries. You'll note the consistency of his 2.5 yards-per-carry average.

Overall it was the kind of game for Smith that might win him a couple of admirers in his locker room and some begrudging respect from a coach or two, but one that won't make a blip on the national consciousness. As far as the talking heads on the highlights go -- particularly the ex-players -- Smith's name is synonymous with a joke and two or three pretty passes to Davis aren't going to change that perception anytime soon. Neither will passing numbers after 60 minutes of work that typically resemble a good quarter for Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, et al.

While it's cliche for pundits to mention the revolving door of offensive coordinators and head coaches whenever they feel like making the obligatory excuse for Smith, what I find interesting that is that his supporting cast -- particularly that offensive line -- is hardly ever mentioned.

I mean good lord, when are people out there gonna wake up and realize that this offensive line is every bit the tire fire as the ones that get Jay Cutler and Michael Vick knocked around goofy week after week? At least those teams can run block somewhat. Gore has no holes. None. Or maybe he's just too slow to hit them these days. Hunter certainly had no problem cutting back and exploding through cracks on that fateful touchdown series.

The line got Smith sacked five times -- though he might have been responsible for two -- and committed six penalties as well. Right guard Chilo Rachal in particular was an abomination, with two sacks allowed, two holding penalties and a false start. He got benched in the second half for Adam Snyder, and one has to think that Jim Harbaugh is giving serious thought to making that switch permanent. Rachal has been definitively the worst lineman on the team for three years running now, which is a formidable accomplishment.

Looking at my notes, I have the least negative plays for left guard Mike Iupati, so I guess he wins the Best 49ers Offensive Lineman of the Game award, which is about as impressive as being the Best 49ers Fullback (nice debut for Bruce Miller with four grabs for 25 yards), the Best 49ers Free Safety or the Best NFC West Team Through Three Weeks. I've got it as Iupati, Jonathan Goodwin, Joe Staley, Adam Snyder, Anthony Davis and Rachal last. Your order may differ. Either way, we'd be arguing the aromatic and gastronomic semantics of various kinds of rotten fruit.

Also, it would be nice if just once somebody noticed that the receiving crew that Smith is working with isn't exactly the '99 St. Louis Rams. In fact, this bunch might rival Cleveland for the saddest wide out corps in the NFL. Braylon Edwards was supposed to change that, but he's hurt. Crabtree is maybe 70 percent at most and has had no training camp so he's rusty as hell. Smith has had to make do with Joshua Morgan, who is slow; and Ted Ginn, who is soft. Yes, the elite quarterbacks out there could make those guys look good. But if they had to work with these receivers and this offensive line? Well good luck to whoever wants to take that Pepsi Challenge.

Alright, enough whining on Smith's behalf. He certainly doesn't ask for my help and he could've left this place for greener pastures if he wanted to. After four thousand words I've spilled on what is charitably a mediocre offense, I suppose it's time to give credit to the fellas on the other side of the ball who were actually responsible for the win.

Obviously, having Dashon Goldson and Shawntae Spencer back in the secondary made a huge difference, and after a surprising opening drive for the Bengals, where rookie QB Andy Dalton sliced through them effortlessly, the defensive backs slammed the door the rest of the way, punctuated by late fourth quarter interceptions on consecutive series by Carlos Rogers and Reggie Smith.

Cincinnati only converted 1-of-10 third down conversions and for all intents and purposes the Niners held them to just that opening field goal for the whole game. The Bengals five other points came virtue of that Gore fumble early in the fourth quarter and from 49ers punter Andy Lee running backwards 18 yards to take a safety on purpose on the penultimate play of the game.

The run defense was stout as usual, holding Cedric Benson to just 64 yards to extend their league-leading streak of holding individual rushers below a hundred to 25 consecutive games. Surprisingly, the secondary was able to cover up Cincy's receivers without the benefit of a pass rush. Ahmad Brooks had one bone-rattling blindside sack of Dalton, but outside of that he was pressured but a handful of times and seldom hit.

Strong safety Donte Whitner suffered what he described after as a non-serious hip injury, but it impaired him enough to miss all but the opening series. Madieu Williams filled in admirably in his stead, as did C.J. Spillman and Smith, in spots. The odd man out was Tramaine Brock, whose nickel role was seized by Spencer, despite the fact that Brock had an interception in each of the past two games. That's a good call by the coaches, looking at the film and not the stat sheet. Spencer is a clear upgrade at that spot.

Rogers gets the game ball on defense from me, not only for his interception but also for making a touchdown-saving tackle of Benson on a run play after Gore's fumble. It forced the Bengals into a first-and-goal instead of a 10-3 lead and they stalled out three plays later. An honorable mention goes to linebacker NaVorro Bowman who was a tackle machine and has easily been the team's best linebacker through three games, despite having Patrick Willis as his partner inside. Spencer was solid in coverage and Goldson made his mark by laying the wood whenever he could. If only those two could've played last week, this team is probably 3-0.

It was an ugly game, but full credit to the Niners for being 2-for-2 in "must-wins" so far. For their efforts they're the sole leaders of the NFC West with a 2-1 record and they'll be in great shape if they can even one of their next three games on the sked (@Philadelphia, vs. Tampa Bay, @Detroit).