Ugh. Just Ugh. That game was pretty ugly. I mean, there were some nice spots. I get that. But by and large, that game just continued what I think has been a generally disappointing pre-season. At times during the game, I just wanted to watch this over and over. Way more entertaining.
That said, it's just the pre-season. If we get too wrapped up with big pictures things, we are going to go crazy. The pre-season is all about the little position battles and roster construction in general. For the most part, the offense and defense are fairly set. They'll start to game plan; they'll scout more. That happens during the season.
Follow me after the jump for a brief interview of pertinent position battles.
Back-up QB:
That was, I think, the game everybody wanted to see from Colin Kaepernick, and Alex Smith too. Both players did well enough given the somewhat crappy situations in which they found themselves. Mistakes were made, but eh, pre-season. It's the Scott Tolzien-Josh Johnson battle that was interesting. Tolzien getting the third place nod may just be that - a nod. Maybe they are shopping him for a trade (not a bad idea, frankly). Maybe we are just reading into everything too much. Either way, he looked good, throwing a few excellent passes that should have been caught /cough AJ Jenkins.
Alex Smith: 5/7 for 69 yards and 1 super duper TD to Vernon Davis.
Colin Kaepernick: 4/4 for 80 yards.
Scott Tolzien: 1/4 for 16 yards.
Josh Johnson: 0/1 in mop up duty.
Back-up RB:
This battle was a little bit restricted given the injuries, so Rock Cartwright and Anthony Dixon got some touches and both had nice days. It was particularly nice to see Mr. Dixon have a good day. I don't think he should make the team - we simply have too much talent - but he is such a cool dude. I would love to see him be successful somewhere.
Anthony Dixon: 13 carries for 58 yards with an excellent and patient TD run.
Rock Cartwright: 8 for 32 with a long of 27. By most standards, not a great game. If we can any production from a ST guy, though, then that's just awesome.
Kendall Hunter: 4 for 13.
Frank Gore: ONLY WENT 2 FOR -4 YARDS AND IS LIKE 35 YEARS OLD AND TOTALLY WASHED UP.
Back-up WR:
A harsh day for this battle, as Chris Owusu, Brian Tyms, and Nathan Palmer were largely absent. Brett Swain had a nice catch, though I don't think he is much in the running, and if he is, it's as a special teams guy. Kyle Williams had a huge gain, demonstrating the devastation he can wreck upon a team when he finds open ground. The problem for him going forward is getting open and beating coverages. I think he has grown in this regard, but I still think he has a ways to go. What I really liked was the AJ Jenkins "fly" play - the one that Ginn typically runs. Jenkins is totally fast and he can put on some nice moves. It gets me really excited for when he learns how to catch a football, or at least for when he puts some Stickum on.
Michael Crabtree: 3 for 21. Nice game. It's good to see him in the pre-season.
Kyle Williams: 1 for 46.
Brett Swain: 1 for 16.
AJ Jenkins: 1 for 11 with an egregious drop.
Back-up CB:
I just don't know what to make of Perrish Cox. The guy can look so lights out one minute and then just wiff on an open field tackle (like he did in the 2nd quarter). This might have something to do with his off-the-field issues, in that he has had less time to hammer down his technique. And, it's not like Tramaine Brock isn't guilty of the same problems. He had a player in his sights during the second quarter as well. What happened? He ducked his head and totally whiffed. In High School, I was yelled at every time I ducked my head to make a tackle. That is the last thing to do in the pros.
Perrish Cox: 3 tackles with 1 assist and a nice Interception.
Tramaine Brock: 5 tackles.