At 3-2 the 49ers hold an ever so slight lead over the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West and this with big games coming up against Houston,  Indianapolis,  Chicago and Green Bay.  Excitement is filling the air as Michael Crabtree will be making his NFL debut and the 49ers will have Frank Gore back from injury.  Here are a couple things to keep your spirits high following the trouncing we took at the hands of Atlanta.

1.  Standout DE- Mario Williams has a total of 10 tackles and 1sack in 5 career games against Tony Pashos,  this from his days with Jacksonville

2. Houston is 4-11 after wins over the last 15.  This the 3rd worse mark in that span.  I know it's a random stat but it show a lot on inconsistent play by this team

3. San Francisco is 6-1 in the last 7 games in which Frank Gore has played and are a total of 7-3 with Frank Gore under Mike Singletary

4. Houston is surrendering an average of 244 pass yards per game over the last 12 games dating back to the 2008 season

5. The addition of Michael Crabtree to the starting lineup is more important then originally imagined.  Unless Houston decides to have #1 corner Dunta Robinson switch sides Crabtree will be going up against a very suspect corner in Jacque Reeves.  This coupled with the fact that Houston's two starting safeties,  Bernard Pollard and Eugene Wilson are not good in pass coverage so expect little help if any from over the top.  This also means that recently demoted #3 wide receiver Josh Morgan will not be going up against Houston's #2 corner instead their nickel back,  Glover Quinn,  who just isn't that good. 

6. Even with Mario Williams Houston has totaled only 5 sacks through 6 games in 2009.

7. Houston QB Matt Schaub has thrown 24 INT's in 27 games since joining the team in a trade from Atlanta which means he is turnover prone.  This bodes well going up against opperatunistic 49ers CB's Nate Clements,  Shawnatae Spencer and Dre Bly . 

8.  Houston's top 3 cornerbacks have a total of 18 career INT's this including Dunta Robinson.  In comparison the 49ers top three corners have a combined 78 career picks.

9. 2nd year RB- Steve Slaton is averaging a pedestrian 3.0 Yards Per Rush in 2009 and has already fumbled 5 times in 2009.  That's one fumble per 19 attempts in 2009,  a major sign of the dreaded soph slump. 

10. Houston has a total of 10 turnovers this season compared to 5 for San Francisco (only 3 of San Francisco's turnovers have been on offense, 1 on special teams and 1 on defense)

11. Houston is only 12-14 in there last 26 home games. Not how much means except for the fact that Houston doesn't have a great homefield advantage. 

                     There is a lot of small indicators that show good things for the 49ers,  including Houston's record as home favorites over the last 3 seasons (5-8),  they are 3 point favorites over the 49ers.  Just wanted to point out some of these random statistics that i find interested.  Especially the Mario Williams against Tony Pashos head to head statistics.