There is plenty to complain about last night's game given the mistakes we saw in just about every aspect of the team's performance. For every positive you could argue there were two negatives. Nonetheless there were some important positives we can take from the game.
One area where the team really stood out was along the offensive line. The play was certainly not perfect. Obviously the David Baas botched snap was absolutely brutal and dramatically affected the game (2 point conversion attempts and so forth), but I actually am fairly surprised it hasn't happened more frequently given Baas' relatively recent elevation to the position. It's not an excuse for the poor snap, but the team recovered from that snap.
Given all the turmoil and change we've seen on the line I still think they deserve strong kudos. Last night Smith was not sacked, he was only hit twice, and Frank Gore just bulldozed over the Saints. On the negative side, a pressure on Smith arguably led to the first interception, and a defensive lineman getting his hand up led to the second interception. However, all in all, I don't think we could have expected much better form a rather patch-work offensive line.
Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis are certainly showing growth and expectations were high on them heading into the season. However, last night we watched a backup right guard and backup center combine with two rookies and Joe Staley (the only hold-over starter at his current position from last year) and put together a whale of a performance. What do you think led to this success? And given the fact that we were dealing with a spot starter at right guard and a center who likely won't be the starting center a month from now, how do we assess last night's performance in the context of the rest of the season?