49ers win on Nedney 29-yarder

Wow, what a game. Not only did Troy Smith continue to come back after several frustrating penalties, keep the team in the game. His passing allowed the team to run and get the game winner in overtime. Troy Smith ended with 356 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately, the Seahawks won and the 49ers are still two games back.

49ers drive cont: OJ Atogwe hit Delanie Walker for no reason and got called for the pass interference penalty. Here's come Nedney for a 30-yarder and the game. 49ers drive: Tony Wragge is playing left tackle. To runs to the left probably in order to help Wragge.

Rams drive: Three and out, bull rush by Justin Smith sacks Bradford on third down. The 49ers go with Lawson and Haralson as pass rushers, and Reggie Smith as the SS.

Joe Staley is on crutches, something to keep in mind if the 49ers get the ball back.

Rams win toss. The 49ers haven't won too many coin tosses this year.

Rams drive cont: Terrific play by Patrick Willis after a 1-yard gain on a pass to Steve Jackson on a critical 3rd-and-7.

Rams drive cont: Why isn't Manny Lawson in the game? He's been the team's best pass rusher of late.

Rams drive: One of the stories this year has been the defense's inability to stop the opposition when it counts. Justin Smith is hurt

49ers drive cont: TD Michael Crabtree. Great catch, and what a throw. Troy Smith is really countering the all the adversary he's faced. Have the 49ers found a quarterback?

49ers drive: Joe Staley after getting X-rays on his right legMichael Lewis There's the offense. 30- yard screen to Gore and tack on a 15-yard phantom face mask. Troy Smith is over 300 yards passing.

Rams drive: The 49ers defense is dominating. On third down, Ray McDonald made a great play on 3rd-and-1.

49ers drive: San Francisco is now 0-10 on third down. Smith is 3-11 for 18 yards on second and third downs.

Rams drive: Another three and out for Rams. That's three straight for the Rams.

49ers drive cont: Joe Nedney makes a 46-yard field goal easily despite the right knee injury. Davis just got his 11th penalty. He completely tackled Chris Long on a touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree.

49ers drive: Anthony Davis went out for a play and now Joe Staley is hurt. Tony Wragge at left tackle. Watch out.

Rams another three and out. 49ers still in it

49ers drive: Only 54 total yards for the 49ers in the second half

Rams drive: Great stop and a three-and-out by the 49ers. Now can the 49ers get a drive going without some sort dispiriting penalty?

49ers drive: Chilo Rachal is now out at right guard. It's mysterious why he hasn't been playing. Nothing doing in this drive. There's no cohesion, and now a blocked punt. They are starting to reek in all phases.

Rams drive cont: Touchdown, Steven Jackson. The 49ers again came with the blitz and you wonder why. Bradford is great against the blitz and Jackson was able to side step the blitzing Goldson to score.

Rams drive cont: St. Louis is driving, and they are shifting a lot of players on defense with rookie Phillip Adams at cornerback. In the press box they say Adam Snyder is now out. With Rachal out, it looks like Tony Wragge is going to take over.

Rams drive: 10 penalties on the 49ers now. Reggie Smith in again. OLB's are Lawson and Haralson.

49ers drive: What Troy Smith hasn't done is sustain a drive. The Rams are tough against the run and Gore is not getting the 3- and 4-yard runs to keep drives going. Still tied at 10

Rams cont: Amendola was wide open for a touchdown, and Bradford missed him. He had 5 yards on safety Dashon Goldson. The Rams are doing a great job of warding off Ted Ginn Jr. from catching the punt. That's why Rams are getting a lot hidden yardage the roll out of the punt.

Rams drive: Taylor Mays started for the first drive of the second half. Interesting, the 49ers are not using Manny Lawson much from the base defense, but then he comes in third down.

49ers drive: Field position is killing the 49ers. They've have six plays of over 20 yards, but since they are starting behind their 20, they are not going anywhere. The other issue is, once they get the midfield, they start to run. Keep passing!

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | November 14 2010 at 05:45 PM

First Half Tied 10-10

First half assessment: Terrific first half by Troy Smith. He completed 6 of 9 passes for 171 yards, on pass to throw for 300 yards. But the 49ers couldn't take advantage of their big plays. They had a chance to take control of the game but a delay of game penalty forced a Joe Nedney field after Troy Smith fired a 3-yard pass for 6 to Vernon Davis. Penalties really stung the 49ers, including a bad call on Travis LaBoy that set up the Rams touchdown.

Rams drive: The 49ers doubled Danny Amendola on third down with Dashon Goldson over the top and they force a punt. For the third straight drive, Reggie Smith is in at strong safety. 49ers going with Brooks and Haralson at outside linebackers.

49ers drive: Anthony Davis gave up his seventh sack of the season on third-and-2. Smith did hold the ball a little too long.

Rams drive cont: The 49ers sent a blitz on third down and Danny Amendola and he got them in the red zone. Why blitz, particularly with left tackle who didn't play well in the last game. 10-10. So much for momentum. Also a bad call on Travis LaBoy, who hit Bradford in the chest, but they said it was hit in the head. Not so. It's 10-10.

Rams drive: For this drive, Reggie Smith is in and so is Travis LaBoy. Ricky Jean Francois is also in. Rodger Staffold, the Rams rookie left tackle is down after getting rolled up on.

49ers drive cont: 49ers drive stalls after they got a first and goal at the 3. The main problem was a delay game call after Troy Smith three a 3-yard TD to Vernon Davis. The play is taking way too long to get transmitted; the 49ers are breaking the huddle too late.

49ers drive cont: The 49ers are really going down the field. They are running a lot of two men routes and then sending them deep. On his first three passes, Troy Smith accounted for 135 yards counting the 37-yard pass interference call on Rams cornerback Ron Bartell.

49ers drive: Chilo Rachal is out and Adam Snyder is replacing him. No word on a injury for Rachal. He missed a day of practice during the week because of personal reasons.

Rams drive: Reggie Smith was in that drive for Mays at strong safety. Sack fumble, Rams recover. 49ers force the punt, momentum definitely on the 49ers side.

49ers drive: 65-yard pass to Josh Morgan to set up a Frank Gore 1-yard run. Joe Nedney hurt his right knee, but he seemed fine on the extra point. Troy Smith saw eight in the box, and the immediately went to Morgan. There looked like there was some confusion in the Rams secondary.

Rams drive cont: Bradford went right at the 49ers weakness, nickel back Tarell Brown and he had great coverage on wide receiver Brandon Gibson. Rams forced to punt.

Rams drive: Nate Clements interception was nullified by an off-sides by Ahmad Brooks. The rookie QB gets Brooks on the hard count. A veteran defense getting fooled by a rookie hard count? Not good.

49ers drive: First drive started with promise with a 34-yard completion to Vernon Davis, but two sacks and the Joe Nedney knee injury forces a punt. The 49ers were max protecting on the first sack with eight guys in and still gave up the sack. Not good.

Rams went 8 plays and covered 54 yards to set up Josh Brown's 32-yard field goal. Bradford was 5 for 5 for 41 yards.

Rams drive: Will James looked like he hurt himself on the kickoff coverage. He walked off the field however. Rookie Phillip Adams is replacing James in the nickel. James has head injury, doubtful to return. Tarell Brown is also playing nickel.

Rams rookie quarterback Sam Bradford is the opposite from what you might expect. He's excels when blitzed. He's in the top five of quarterback rating when pressured.

-Frank Gore told David White this week that he's surprised Bradford has done so well because Gore said quarterbacks from shotgun offenses don't do well. Fortunately, Alex Smith was nowhere in sight.

Here are the inactives for the 49ers: WR Kyle Williams, QB Alex Smith, CB Tremaine Brock, LB Keaton Kristick, LB Thaddeus Gibson, T Barry Sims, T Alex Boone, and WR Jason Hill.

Talking to my Chronicle cohorts David White and Scott Osler, there's a feeling Ted Ginn Jr. may break a punt of kickoff.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | November 14 2010 at 02:15 PM

Singletary: playoffs still possible

Mike Singletary was tight-lipped about everything after the game, even whether Alex Smith would make the trip to London. If he can't play, there's no reason for him to go. Singletary wouldn't name David Carr his replacement saying he would have to look at the game film, which leads the door slightly open for a Troy Smith start. Singletary also said promoting Nate Davis is a possibility.

Also a possibility, the playoffs according to Singletary. "I still believe we can go to the playoffs," Singletary said when he was asked if his team is just not very good.

I think the 49ers are good. I believe they are poorly coached. They don't play with confidence, and they make far too many mistakes. Also, the 49ers have miscalculated their rookie offensive linemen. Anthony Davis will be a good player, but his pass protection is a huge issue. It was Davis' missed block that led to the Smith injury.

Alex Smith said the X-rays revealed no breaks in his left shoulder and the pain wasn't as great as it was when he hurt his right shoulder in 2008.

Carr is way too smart to take on the coaches at this point. While he saw the logic in handing off to Frank Gore, he also said Carolina was playing lots of man coverage. Unfortunately, when he did pass, he failed to take advantage, he was 5 for 13 for 67 yards and one interception.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 24 2010 at 02:01 PM

Post game - It's over

The 49ers continue to make mistakes big and small that prevent wins. In the final drive, Ted Ginn Jr. decides to run out the kickoff despite being 5 yards deep in the end. He didn't get to the 20 and the return burned four seconds. Then on first down, David Carr checks it down to Vernon Davis for a minimal gain and that used a lot of time. Then you add up all the penalties. Terrible.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 24 2010 at 01:30 PM

49ers postgame-Great relief

-Alex Smith had some choice words for the referees. "That's ridiculous," Smith said when asked to respond to the intentional grounding call in the third quarter, before Smith cranked up his 32-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree. "I've never seen that before," Smith went on. "He (the ref) doesn't know (if the ball slipped). He has no idea."

-When asked if Smith was trying to throw the ball away on that play he said, "Who knows?"

-Smith for the time this season, didn't have any turnovers. He said that was a point of emphasis. "It's a hard way to play," Smith said. "But Mike Johnson and I talked before the game. If it's not there throw it away. There were a bunch of throw aways."

-A few of us were asking Shawntae Spencer about the defense and on his own, he came out with support for Smith. "I guarantee you if you sat down with any of the offensive coaches, they would tell that most of the stuff that happened wasn't his fault. It's easy to just blame one guy."

-Everyone was feeling good about this win, because it was a win, but how good should this team feel, particularly offensively? They had one long touchdown drive, and their other touchdown was set up by Frank Gore's 64-yard run. Read More '49ers postgame-Great relief' »

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 17 2010 at 05:01 PM

Game over -Smith intercepted Game over

49ers drive: Smith leads them again. Great pass to Crabtree to get them in position. Gore scores on a 1-yard pass. It's now 24-17 and Singletary decides to forgo the onside kick.

49ers drive: Terrific 62-yard return by Ted Ginn Jr. The 49ers have a first down at the Eagles' 36 and Alex Smith in the shotgun.

Eagles drive: The 49ers are following a pattern. In the late going, they can't stop the opposition. David Akers makes the 47-yard field goal. The 49ers trail by 10.

Eagles drive: Smith has a history of getting mad and performing well. He did it at Utah, when the coaches decided to start another player ahead of him, after regaining his starting job, he became the starter and never looked back.

Smith just led the 49ers on a touchdown drive and he looked great doing it. His best pass was a 36-yard laser to Davis and then Smith got the ball Davis on a 7-yard TD. Unbelievable. Smith certainly responded to the near confrontation he had on the sidelines with Singeltary. It's 24-17.

Singletary kept jawing at Smith and players and coaches got between them including Adam Snyder. Very unusual. Smith is coming out and getting booed. Alex Smith and Carr went out, but Smith is the quarterback.

Alex Smith and Mike Singletary were having an animated conversation on the field. I think Smith is out. At one point, it looked like Singletary was pointing the score board.

49ers drive: Fans booed Smith as he came on the field, now they are booing him with every play. 49ers go three and out.

This is getting so bad, Gwen Knapp just said the 49ers shouldn't be serving pizza in the third quarter but tequila shooters.

49ers drive: Alex Smith fumbles and Qunintin Mikell picked it up and returned for a touchdown. A dagger.

Eagle drive cont: If the 49ers should win this game. The Eagles came in without Michael Vick, CB Asante Samuel and G Nick Cole. Then they lose T Jason Peters (knee) and WR DeSean Jackson during the game. The Eagles are without their best defensive back, wide receiver, offensive lineman and quarterback. The 49ers do force a punt.

Eagles drive: NaVorro Bowman got really got duped by Kevin Kolb who ran for 19 yards on 3rd-and-18.He's going to hate looking at that during film study tomorrow.

49ers drive: Moran Norris dropped a first down pass, and a run go Gore on second down went 2 yards. Smith didn't have enough time to find a receiver on third down. They had bunched receivers on the left and two of them hadn't turned around by the time Gore stepped up in the pocket. Gore was split out wide and never left the line of scrimmage, but I don't think he would have gotten enough room to get the first.

Eagles drive: Philly goes for it on 4th down, and the 49ers knocked down a pass to Celek. Good play by Goldson. There's a ray of hope.

49ers drive: The 49ers overcame a sack and a false start with a 31-yard pass to Vernon Davis only to see Gore fumble. It was interesting on the sidelines after the fumble, Davis kept following Gore and talking to him while Gore just kept walking away from him. It's Gore second fumble of the night and the 49ers' third turnover.

Eagles drive cont: 41-yard play to Jeremy Maclin. The play was called on a Taylor Mays blitz. Coming into the game, opposing quarterbacks had compiled a 124.5 passer rating against the 49ers' blitz. The 49ers do a good job of forcing a punt after the long completion.

Eagles drive: The 49ers are off-sides on the opening kickoff after tackling the kick returner at the 17. More mistakes.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 10 2010 at 08:25 PM

Nedney misses 40-yarder at the half, 17-10 Eagles

New stream for the second half

Halftime Assessment: The 49ers just have too many problems to play a smooth game. Alex Smith, even though he had a fairly good half, looks shaky. The offensive line is out of sync on runs, and most distressing, the defense is missing altogether. The linebackers get blocked way too easily, and that might be because the defensive linemen aren't occupying blockers like they did last year.

49ers drive: Nedney after nailing a 50-yarder, missed a 40-yarder. The 49ers can't take advantage of the turnover.

Eagles drive: Will James has replaced Tarell Brown as the nickel back. The 49ers can't get any pressure. 49ers get a sack-fumble from Parys Haralson. The first fumble recovery of the year of the 49ers.

49ers drive: Nedney hits a 50 yarder that would have good from 60 into the wind. Smith continues to hook up with Crabtree. They started a tradition the last two games of working out together about two hours before the game. They should keep doing that. 17-10.

49ers drive: More mistakes. Josh Morgan dropped a pass, Gore tripped over pulling David Baas's feet. Punt.

49ers drive: On the punt, Ted Ginn went backwards, and then two players got caught for a block in the back. If that doesn't encapsulate the 49ers season, what does?

Eagles drive: Justin Smith got his second sack of the game and that caused an punt.

49ers drive: Fans are booing the first down runs by the 49ers, even though they are averaging 5 yards a pop. Smith threw his eighth interception of the season, this time on a long pass to Ted Ginn Jr. Smith constantly throws to the wrong shoulder on deep passes. Smith is 1 for 11 in passes of 21 yards or more this season.

Eagles drive: Dashon Goldson is holding his right arm. Also Chilo Rachal isn't moving well. They should replace him. Eagles get a field goal out of the Gore fumble, which probably couldn't be helped. The linebacker came out of nowhere to hit him from the side and get the ball out. Eagles lead 10-7.

49ers drive: The 49ers were really taken advantage of Crabtree VS. Hanson, and then Frank Gore fumbled on the drive. The Eagles will now have the ball at the 49ers 32 to start the second quarter. The 49ers are proving they can move the ball and their mix of run and pass has been almost even. But they can't make mistakes like they just did.

Eagles drive: No one covered tight end Brent Celek and he went for 32 yards to set up the Eagles score. Pretty good start by linebacker Takeo Spikes, who made at least three tackles. The Eagles best linemen, T Jason Peters went out with a leg injury. The 49ers couldn't sack Kevin Kolb, he got loose and found Celek for an 8-yard pass.

49ers drive: The Eagles made three lineup changes before the game because of injuries. Former 49er Joselio Hanson replaces cornerback Asante Samuel, of course Kevin Kolb takes Michael Vick spot at quarterback, Max Jean-Giles replaces right guard Nick Cole and Moise Fokou takes Akeem Jordan's spot at right outside linebacker. That's a good omen for the 49ers, a team in need of omens.

The 49ers have three offensive linemen inactive: C Eric Heitmannn, T Alex Boone, and T Barry Sims.

Micheal Lewis' "hit squad" is still up in the upper reaches of Candlestick Park. Several players sponsor tickets for youth and maybe Lewis is still doing it.

A lot of cheering in the press box after the Giants win.

NOTE: I always get knocked off the internet at Candlestick, so if the blog goes dark, you'll know what happened.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 10 2010 at 06:40 PM

Post game: Smith and Singletary explain loss

Mike Singletary and Alex Smith addressed the media. Singletary wasn't upset at Nate Clements for his costly fumble and said he hadn't talked to Clements about it.

"Roddy White made a good play on the ball," Singletary said. "I'm sure he thought he was going to score. He didn't notice the guy behind him."

Singletary was asked if he would have slid down instead of trying to score if he was in that situation as a player. "That's an unfair question," Singletary said. "That was 20 something years ago."

He also said that Adam Snyder's insertion into the lineup in the second half was because of an injury. He might be mistaken about that.

Smith continued to blame his two interceptions on himself, saying they were costly and that they were bad decisions. Smith said on the first one, he should have taken a sack instead of throwing high to running back Frank Gore. On the second one, Smith thought the safety was going to follow Vernon Davis across the field. Instead he stopped and stepped in front of Josh Morgan for the pick.

The 49ers seem to be inventing ways to lose. Their two close loses have been so thin, and partially a result of bad luck. Nate Clements has an interception and if he tucks the ball away on his return, the 49ers probably win the game. He was switching the ball from one side to the other when he was hit from behind. The 49ers also could have won if safety Moore doesn't make a shoe-string tackle on Smith on the 15th play of their drive.

Also, for the second time this season, the defense couldn't hold the opposition at the end of the game.

After four games, it's clear the 49ers are vulnerable to lose any game because of three factors.

-Too much inconsistency at quarterback.

-A lack of speed at cornerback. Even though he had a tremendous game against Atlanta, I don't know if he has the speed to play the position any more. It means the 49ers have to make up for that void defensively.

-Their special teams coverage units make them constantly lose the battle of hidden yardage.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 03 2010 at 01:48 PM

Falcons win, 16-14

Falcons setting up for a 43-yard field goals with seven seconds left.

Falcons drive cont: Atlanta with a fine pass to Roddy White is at the 49ers 30. They're in field goal range with under a minute left. But their kicker Matt Byrant is inconsistent on long field goals.

Falcons drive cont: Pick by Clements and then he got striped and the Falcons recovered at the Falcons' 7. Wild play. In the exchange, the Falcons lose a lot of yardage.

Falcons drive: The 49ers sacked Matt Ryan at Atlanta's 3-yard line but still couldn't prevent a first down two plays later, which they may regret later.

49ers drive: 15 play drive, but no points. An outstanding drive, but a blitz on third down by the safety and then a shoe-string tackle on Smith ended the drive third drive. The 49ers were setting up a screen to Gore that looked like had promise. Now it will be up to the defense to stop Atlanta with under four minutes left.

Falcons drive: The 49ers get a stop on a sterling drive by Nate Clements, who made a tackle for a 6-yard loss and then tackled Snelling after a short gain on third down. However, the 49ers will start their drive inside their own 10.

Third-quarter analysis: Alex Smith's inconsistency reflects the team effort as a whole. His play is mainly stopping the offense in the second half.

49ers drive cont: Another punt by Lee after the 49ers gain one first down. The offense has completely sputtered. After a great first half, Smith has struggled in the second half.

49ers drive: Adam Snyder is in for Chilo Rachal in a non-injury replacement.

Falcons drive: 49ers force a three and out.

49ers drive: Three and out by the offense. The 49ers haven't scored since the first quarter they need to get something going offensively. They did show a new personnel group in the last drive with four receivers on the field for the first time this season. They also going with a lot of empty backfield looks.

Falcons drive: Another field goal by the Falcons, this time 32-yards by Matt Bryant off the turnover. The 49ers are having a hard time setting the edge. Teams are getting way too much yardage on runs to the outside. They were excellent at setting the edge last year.

49ers drive: Terrific time-consuming drive and then Alex Smith's seven interception of the season. Disappointing. Smith just can't make those kinds of mistakes particularly after such a well-organized drive. Smith was making good adjustments at the line, including calling draws out of the shotgun on third down. A good adjustment. At least the 49ers get a long drive and the defense a rest.

49ers lead 14-10 and get the ball first. What the 49ers often failed to do is adjust at halftime. Let's see how Mike Johnson does that.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 03 2010 at 01:01 PM

Falcons get field goal, 49ers 14-10 halftime lead

New stream for second half

First half analysis: Smith played well and the play calling was varied. Mike Johnson made good on getting the ball spread around with seven different receivers touching ball. When was the last time that happened? On defense, the 49ers look really tired, even though the time of possession wasn't that skewed. You wonder if the harsh training camp and hitting during the week is weighing on them.

Falcons drive cont: Terrific play by Manny Lawson to force an intentional grounding call on Matt Ryan. The Falcons get three points on the field goal however. 14-10.

Falcons drive: Atlanta is now at the 49ers 8 with 32 seconds left to the half.

49ers got to the Falcons 30 and Smith was pressured and threw a high pass to Gore that was tipped and picked. The sixth pick by Smith. Now the Falcons have time to drive

Falcons drive: The 49ers force their first three and out with a blitz on one of the pass plays. The 49ers need more of that.

49ers drive: SF gets a few first downs and then punts after getting the ball at their own 5. Delanie Walker looks like he turned his left ankle. He's going to the locker room on a cart. Josh Morgan stopped his route on third down and was really upset for some reason.

Falcons drive: Intercepted by Spencer off a tip by Takeo Spikes. Ryan tried to force it into Tony Gonzalez. Great diving pick by Spencer, who has made two picks in consecutive weeks. The 49ers just robbed the Falcons of points. They really needed that.

49ers drive: The 49ers only go four plays because of a sack and false start. Nevertheless, Alex Smith is 8 for 8. Too bad the team couldn't have gotten just a few first downs to get the defense rested. However, there have been plenty of timeouts, so the defense should be rested.

NOTE: The 49ers really need a long drive here. A three and out puts that defense is out on the field way too soon.

Falcons drive cont: Touchdown Harry Douglas off the bunch formation. Nate Clements couldn't fight through a pick by Tony Gonzalez. Manny Lawson has a right knee contusion but is running on the sidelines.

Falcons drive: One problem with a blocked punt for a touchdown is the Falcons get the ball right back with no rest for the defense. As the quarter ended, the Falcons are at the 49ers' 15. The 49ers defense looked gassed in the face of the Falcons no huddle. However, the 49ers are blitzing. Three blitzes in six passing plays, and they are hitting Matt Ryan. They hit him five times in this drive alone, including one sack. Ryan's face is red and his forearm is bleeding. The 49ers getting to him.

Falcons drive: Punt block by Delanie Walker and Dominique Zeigler. Taylor Mays catches the punt and keeps his toes in bounds for a touchdown. Unbelievable. The 49ers were almost caught with 12 men on the field; Dashon Goldson just got off the field in time.

49ers drive cont: Davis stretches into the end zone after a slip screen. The first touchdown on the opening drive in over 19 possessions. Jimmy Raye never scored a TD on an opening drive in 19 games. The 49ers greatly helped by a 34-yard pass interference call on Delanie Walker. 49ers 7-0.

49ers drive cont: It doesn't look like the 49ers are scripting their plays. An efficient drive, but not much in terms of personnel group or formation variation from the Jimmy Raye era. Nevertheless, the team is moving the ball with short passes and tough inside runs. The 49ers are stacking their receivers, which is a new wrinkle. They are in the red zone after a timeout and deciding whether to go for it on fourth down.

49ers drive: SF has to call timeout when Brian Westbrook, in on third-and-short, failed to go in motion.

Falcons drive: Sf forces a punt with aggression. They blitzed twice in four passes including on a third-down pressure. Dashon Goldson had two big hits on Falcons players.

The Falcons will receive

Mike Johnson, the new offensive coordinator, will call plays from the booth. KNBR said that Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree were out two hours before the game working on routes. Smith also told KNBR's Rod Brooks that he would be used more in Johnson's offense. That probably means more roll-outs and bootlegs and may be even some planned quarterback runs. The 49ers also might use shotgun formations.

Posted By: Kevin Lynch (Email) | October 03 2010 at 11:10 AM