Who would have thought that the 49ers and Raiders would have gone into their week 6 match-up with Oakland owning 2 more wins than San Francisco? That is exactly what happened. The 49ers followed up a promising exhibition season up with their worst start in nearly a quarter century. However, this would be the game that San Francisco got off the snide.
Well, it wasn't all too pretty; but San Francisco finally won its first game. The added bonus was that the victory was against their cross bay rival, Oakland. So onto the game recap.....
Oakland won the toss, and elected to receive. On the opening kickoff, new 49ers CJ Spillman made a great open field tackle on the speedy Jacoby Ford at Oakland's 12. A few plays later, on 3rd down, Jason Campbell hit Michael Bush for a 1st down. A couple plays later Michael Bush once again picked moved the chains, this time on a run up the middle form the shotgun. Not a good start for the 49ers defense. After Michael Bush ran for no gain, Jason Campbell ran for two yards after Takeo Spikes made a nice open field tackle. Oakland picked up another 1st on 3rd down, this time with a Jason Campbell run of 9 yards; 1st and goal Oakland. On 1st down, Campbell hit Luis Murphy on the outside, but Nate Clements forced a fumble; Murphy recovered. On 2nd down, Langston Walker would be called for an illegal formation penalty setting up goal to go from outside the 9. San Francisco would eventually hold and force an S-Bas FG (3-0 Oakland)
The first three plays of the 49ers initial drive would result in penalties. Two on Oakland and one on San Francisco. After the dust settled Frank Gore would gain 15 yards, running up the middle into Oakland territory. However, two Alex Smith incomplete passes and a Frank Gore negative carry would force San Francisco into a punt.
Oakland would drive down 88 yards on 12 plays with their next drive. The big play coming on a Murphy end around for 43 yards, absolutely horrible tackling by three different 49er players. Oakland would stall and be forced into a FG situation, which Janikowski would hit (6-0 Oakland, 2nd Quarter)
After the 49ers went three-and-out, Oakland would take over at their own 34. However, Jason Campbell threw a deep go to Zach Miller; the ball was intercepted by Manny Lawson at the 43; great play and coverage by Lawson.
The 49ers had great starting position at their own 43 yards, but couldn't capitalize. San Francisco's drive stalled at Oakland's 34, but instead of going for it or maybe even a FG, Singletary and Co. decided a punt was the best decision. It would result in a touchback, only netting 14 yards for San Francisco.
Believe it or not, there were 5 consecutive 3-and-outs by both teams; this game was getting ugly pretty darn quick. San Francisco would take over at their own 18 with 2:18 remaining in the half, and they would go with the spread offense. Smith would hit Morgan for five yards up the middle the Westbrook for 19 yards; Brian did most of the work gaining 18 after the initial reception. After an incomplete pass to Gore and short completion to Ted Ginn, the 49ers would be in another 3rd down situation. This time, however, Smith would hit Michael Crabtree on a short slant to the right for 8 yards, and a 1st. On the very next play Smith would hit Josh Morgan up the seam for 35 yards, inside the Oakland 20. With time running out, and after 3 unsuccessful plays, Joe Nedney would hit a 25 yard FG to cut Oakland's lead in half (6-3 Oakland, Halftime)
The 49ers would come out like gangbusters in the 2nd half. Well, if gangbusters meant six plays and negative four yards. Wow, that was hard to watch; especially for a second time.
The Raiders would start their initial 2nd half possession at midfield, with a chance to expand on the three point lead. However, a holding penalty on Marcell Reece would set the Raiders back and force yet another three-and-out.
Finally, the 49ers would get something going on the next drive. Frank Gore would start the possession with runs of 6 and 5 yards, the ladder of which would have went to the house if it wasn't for horrible blocking up front by Anthony Davis and Moran Norris. A couple plays later, on 3rd down, Alex Smith would hit Michael Crabtree for a 1st down, moving the chains. The 49ers used some trickery on the next play; a direct snap to Frank Gore went for 11 yards and another 1st. On 3rd and three from Oakland 48 Alex Smith would hit Vernon Davis for a 1st down. On 3rd and 8 Alex Smith would hit Ted Ginn for 18 and a 1st down. However, Alex Smith would be called for a phantom intentional grounding penalty. By phantom I mean; what the hell were the officials looking at? Smith would redeem himself on the next play by throwing a perfect pass to Michael Crabtree for 32 yards and a TD (10-6 San Francisco) end of 3rd Quarter
Both teams would go 3-and-out once again before Oakland took over at their 26 with just over 11:00 left in the game. On 3rd down Jason Campbell hit Zach Miller for 22 and on the next play the two would then connect for 26. There was some horrible coverage by Nate Clements, Shawntae Spencer and Taylor Mays on those two plays. As what would be a continuing theme for Oakland, they would falter inside the 49ers 30 and be forced to go for a 40 yard FG, Janikowski would hit it. (10-9 San Francisco)
San Francisco would start at their own 20 with over 8:00 left looking to burn some time. However, Frank Gore wouldn't have any of that. He would take the ball off of right guard for 64 yards, inside Oakland's 20. Great vision, great anticipation and nice blocking led to the large run play; Michael Huff would finally take Gore down. The very next play Anthony Dixon would stampede for 16 yards off left guard, however, the touchdown would be called back because of a Joe Staley holding call (he did tackle the Raider defender). The 49ers wouldn't have any of that, Alex Smith would hit Vernon Davis for 17 yards on a misdirection throw back, completely fooling the Raiders defense (17-9 San Francisco)
The game would end without much drama after that. Jason Campbell would throw an INT to Takeo Spikes and the 49ers gained a single 1st down to go into the V formation, something they haven't been able to do all season long.
Post Game Quotes from Niners Community
So...
If at the conclusion of a game, the numerical value next to the ‘SF’ is higher than the other team’s, what does that mean? (Virginia 9er, 10/17/11 on the 49ers 1st win)
Raiders beat the 49ers...
for less penalty yards. (Drummer at the end of the game 10/17/11)
"First and foremost, I am very thankful. I thank God for our players and our coaching staff staying together, sticking together, hanging together, fighting, and I'm very proud of our guys." (Mike Singletary 10/17/11, sounding like the 49ers just won the Super Bowl
On whether he intentionally overthrew the ball on the intentional grounding call:
"Who knows." (Alex Smith, 10/17/11) You should know that Sir
Analysis
Well if this wasn't an ugly game, what was? I mean, seriously! Everyone talks about a win being a win, but this didn't feel like a win to me. Sure, we won our first game, but didn't look good doing it. Alex Smith looked like a drunk Ryan Leaf in the 1st half, overthrowing the ball on multiple occasions. If we had a halfway accurate QB on some of those plays, the score would have been much different. I remember watching this game in October and feeling disgusted, not much changed after I watched most of it again. That said, the 49ers came out on top and defeated their cross bay rivals, that is a win that I know all of us wanted.
The Good First off, the 49ers won; that is a big deal. The 49ers gave up a total of 61 yards after Oakland's first two drives ended up in FGs. Additionally, Oakland went three-and-out 7 different times, plus two more drives that ended in interceptions. Let us be serious for a second, the 49ers defense played on whale of a game. When you look at the fact that no Raider possession lasted more than 2:53 after the initial two drives, that is pretty amazing. Eight of the Raiders drives ended up with a total of 6 Yards. Frank Gore and the running game got it going in this game, rushing for 158 yards and over 5 yards per carry. I also saw both Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis grow a lot in this game, especially Iupati. The 49ers secondary also did a great job in this game, however, a lot of that could be contributed to Oakland's lack of playmakers on the outside. Jason Campbell finished 8/21-83 Yards and a 10.3 QB Rating. The WOW factor is one with those stats. The Bad Alex Smith's 1st half, pretty horrible stuff; completing 8 of 20 passes. The 49ers committed a whopping 11 penalties for over 143 yards. In Fact, if you subtract their total yards from penalty yards, you are looking at under 200; not good. The play-calling, seriously it couldn't have been worse in this game. The 49ers could have gone for the kill, instead, they decided to sit on the ball and wait for a loss; luckily Oakland didn't oblige. Standout Performances Frank Gore had one great run, but he grinded it out all game long. Gore was one of the major reasons the 49ers were over 50 percent on 3rd downs. The one huge run showed all the skills that make him among one of the best RBs in the league. He displayed Quickness, vision, patience etc... it was an absolutely amazing Emmitt Smith type run. The offensive line stepped up in terms of the run game, and protecting Alex. He was sacked twice, but had protection in some of the plays that were missed. The standout performances on the o-line were Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis. Game Changing Plays There were a couple of them. But, the main one was Frank Gore's montersous run in the 4th quarter, that put the game away. However, you have to look the blocking on that play; Mike Iupati man-handled his defender as did Crabs on the right side. TKO made a great play on the interception that pretty much ended the game. This folks is why I want him to remain a 49er, he can come up and make amazing plays; while remaining steady all game long. Conclusion It was not a pretty game, but we did win. Alex Smith looked horrible in the 1st half, but made plays in the 2nd to win. I am not sure this win goes to the factor of Oakland giving it away, or the 49ers winning it. That said, we made plays and they didn't. Playmakers such as Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, Takeo Spikes, and even Nate Clements stepped up big time. I do, however, believe that this will be the game that Mike Iupati became the all-pro performer that we will see for the next decade. The coaching wasn't the reason we won the game, in fact, we won despite it. Stats Alex Smith: 16/33- 196 Yards- 2 TD- 2 Sacks (87.4 Rating) Frank Gore: 25 Rushes- 149 Yards- 5.1 AVG Michael Crabtree: 4 Receptions- 57 Yards- TD Vernon Davis: 4 Receptions- 35 Yards- TD Jason Campbell: 8/21- 83 Yards- 2 INT- 2 Sacks (10.7 Rating) Michael Bush: 20 Rushes- 47 Yards- 2.4 AVG Zach Miller: 2 Receptions- 48 Yards
| 1st Downs | 10 | 17 |
|
Passing 1st downs
|
4 | 8 |
|
Rushing 1st downs
|
4 | 7 |
|
1st downs from Penalties
|
2 | 2 |
|
3rd down efficiency
|
5-15 | 7-17 |
|
4th down efficiency
|
0-0 | 0-0 |
| Total Plays | 53 | 66 |
| Total Yards | 179 | 349 |
| Passing | 69 | 191 |
|
Comp-Att
|
8-21 | 16-33 |
|
Yards per pass
|
3.3 | 5.8 |
| Rushing | 110 | 158 |
|
Rushing Attempts
|
30 | 31 |
|
Yards per rush
|
3.7 | 5.1 |
| Red Zone (Made-Att) | 0-2 | 1-3 |
| Penalties | 8-60 | 11-143 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 0 |
|
Fumbles lost
|
0 | 0 |
|
Interceptions thrown
|
2 | 0 |
| Defensive / Special Teams TDs | 0 | 0 |
| Possession | 26:39 | 33:21 |