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Fooch's Update: I've also created a Troy Smith/Alex Smith/49ers QB Discussion FanPost. Feel free to discuss the QBs in this recap thread or the above linked FanPost.
Wow. Just wow. The 49ers spent much of this game looking absolutely horrible. They'd make a couple decent plays on a drive and then see it stall out outside of field goal range. On defense they were containing the Broncos but Kyle Orton was getting all day to find receivers and it seemed inevitable that things would open up for them. Disaster appeared to strike in the third quarter as Kyle Orton hooked up with 49ers public enemy Brandon Lloyd on a 71 yard pass to the 49ers 1 yard line. Tim Tebow easily ran in the next play and the Broncos had what appeared to be a fairly insurmountable 7-3 lead.
And then the fourth quarter happened. The third quarter ended on a game-saving chop block penalty against the Broncos that brought back a 38-yard touchdown pass. The 49ers gave up a field goal but that Gaffney touchdown would have been a back-breaker. The 49ers managed a solid return on the field goal, and the excellent field position set the 49ers up in a position to find success, and for once they did. Of course, we're all talking about the 38-yard chuck from Troy Smith that managed to slide between two Broncos defenders into the arms of a falling Delanie Walker at the Broncos 1 yard line. A lucky pass for sure. But sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Coach Singletary discussed it briefly in the post-game press conference and made the Favre comment that many of us were thinking. The idea that sometimes a guy will throw up a "No! No! No! Yes!" type of pass. Sometimes it works, sometimes it is an interception.
The 49ers now head into the bye week looking to get ready for a big divisional matchup against the resurgent St. Louis Rams. I'm not going to expect this win to turn the season around. After all, the team struggled a lot and got some huge breaks that they haven't seen all that much lately. I know some folks were already fully on the Troy Smith bandwagon by the end of today, but clearly he has plenty still to prove. I would certainly love to see him take a hold of the starting QB job, but we'll just have to wait and see.
For now though, let's just enjoy a nice little 49ers win. The team is now 2-6 and no closer to telling us where they are as a team. The bye week will allow time for plenty of over analysis as the team is now halfway through their season. Amazing how little we really know about this team so far into the season. It's certainly been a wild ride.
I took plenty of pictures and will work to get them posted at some point. I'll try tomorrow, but it may not happen till I get back in a few days. Either way, it's been a blast and thankfully the 49ers won. Now, I'm off to a nearby pub to throw back a few pints.
GO NINERS!
