NFL San Francisco 49ers: Grading the Week 3 Win

Well it wasn't pretty by any means, but the 49ers bounced back and got a win in their first road game of the year. Color me impressed. Judging by their problems away from Candlestick in recent years, I definitely expected them to collapse and crumble in Cincy.

Alex Smith was solid if not spectacular again, and the play calling was much better. Thirteen points is nothing exceptional, but when you allow eight, it's all good. Overall, I was much more impressed with the team's effort today than in last week's loss or even the big win in Week 1. 

I probably would have had more fun watching my grandmother play shuffleboard, but a boring win is still a win. Here are my grades for the Niners' Week 3 victory:

Passing Game: B+

Alex Smith is slowly becoming the most consistently invisible quarterback in the NFL. He puts up average numbers and has yet to make a huge mistake. He still holds the ball too long in the pocket and sometimes his passes are off target. But for the most part he has looked just fine. And that's all we have wanted out of him for the last few seasons.

He finished the game 20-for-30 with over 200 yards. No touchdowns, but perhaps even better: no interceptions. Whatever Jim Harbaugh has been whispering in his ear is working. Smith looks more comfortable and confident on the field than ever before. He's making some tough throws and even escaping blitzes and turning broken plays into big ones. 

His pass to Michael Crabtree in the end zone that was negated by penalty was perfectly placed. He also lofted a nice pass to Vernon Davis on a long completion in the second half on a key scoring drive. Overall, he found Davis eight times for more than half his passing yardage on the day. That's huge. Davis needs to be the guy they bring out of the backfield and get the ball to. He's such a big, fast, dynamic play maker and I was glad to see them finally get the rock in his hands.

Smith was hurried a lot and sacked five times; so that's definitely one thing that the offensive line needs to work on. They are proving themselves over and over as the worst unit on the team. I have a particular bone to pick with Chilo Rachal, by far the worst starter on the team. He's been playing and mostly starting for San Francisco for a few years, and has never, ever been good. Rachal can be counted on for at least a holding or false start penalty a couple times a game. I just have a hard time believing that there is no better option on the depth chart. He single-handedly earns the O-line another solid F for this week.

OK, I feel better. But overall I think the passing game did a solid job. No mistakes, enough to win and just one drop as far as I can remember. Here's to hoping they keep it up next week in Philly. 

Running Game: C

I hate to say it, but I have to wonder: Is Frank Gore washed up? Is he fully healthy? Because the guy has had a bad line blocking for him forever, but he still put up numbers. Suddenly, Kendall Hunter has started looking like the guy we want to have the ball this season. And he did nothing to disprove that today. He didn't put up huge yardage, but he also didn't get the ball a lot. When he did, he made moves, got extra yardage, found open space and most importantly he found the end zone.

Hunter and Dixon may be the future combination for the Niners' backfield, but Gore just signed a big extension and needs to start producing. He's a tough guy and a great teammate, but when you average 2.5 yards per carry against a pretty awful team and didn't show many signs of life with the ball at all, it's very worrisome. 

Gore can still be the feature back, he just needs to get movin'. Where are the broken tackles, the piles dragging, the quick cuts and bursts through the small holes he rarely gets? I'm chalking this up to a slump for now, but the running game as a whole needs to produce more if we want to keep winning, and a lot of that responsibility falls on Gore's shoulders.

And we all know how bad the line is. If you forgot what I think already, refer to the previous slide.

Front 7: A-

What a fantastic game from the front seven today. This is my favorite unit to grade, because, well, they are always good. They allowed 79 yards rushing, which is a big number for them. Enough said!

They only got Dalton on one sack, but all the things they usually do well were magnified today because they came through in the clutch.

A couple big stands in the red zone held the Bengals to field goals and likely saved the game before we knew it even had to be saved. Patrick Willis had a normal standout game and just felt like throwing in a defended pass to the stat sheet as well. Navorro Bowman had another huge game with 10 tackles, and Ahmad Brooks got a sack.

Overall, another job well done on defense.

Secondary: B+

I've been waiting for years to say this—the secondary played like champs today. The Niners told Nate Clements, We don't need you, fool! Everyone looked great on coverage today. Andy Dalton picked them apart a little bit on a couple early drives, but they knocked passes down, stuck with the receivers and made key plays when it mattered more than a few times. 

They pulled down two interceptions, including one on a drive at the end of the game that essentially sealed the deal. I was happy with how tight they played the big Cincinnati Bengal receivers, the lack of penalties called against them, the tackling and everything in between. And it seemed like their only real goal was to find the ball and either hit the receiver and force an incompletion or get a hand on it themselves.

Dashon Goldson had a huge performance in his first game back, and I'm hoping him anchoring the secondary is what it needs to maintain this spark. Because I know this great performance wasn't necessarily against the best competition, but it wasn't bad by any means. And they are going to need to play even better next week when the Eagles start throwing the ball everywhere.

Special Teams: B

Not much to report here. Andy Lee had an off game, meaning that he looked human and didn't kick the ball out of the state of Ohio. He was simply average on punts. But he had to punt quite often, and he did so successfully. 

David Akers nailed another long field goal that actually proved very crucial to the outcome of this game. Ted Ginn, Jr. got a few nice returns but nothing out of the ordinary. The coverage team was fantastic, and now we're moving on so you don't fall asleep and miss the last two slides.

Coaching: B

Ah, finally a passing grade for Harbaugh and Co. The play calling was still vanilla, but he loaded it up with sprinkles this time. He heeded Vernon Davis' advice and opened up the passing game. This allowed Davis to be used as he should on offense. There were a couple brilliant play calls today and he never made any irrational decisions that cost the 49ers.

Overall, I think the coaching staff did a great job of keeping their players in the game, despite it dragging on and on. They provided enough spirit or whatever you want to call it in the second half to inspire the team to take the lead and protect it. 

And of course, most importantly, they got that essential first road win and bumped the record up to 2-1. Believe it or not, our San Francisco 49ers are sitting alone in first place early on in the NFC West!

Overall: B

It was exceptionally boring, but they didn't score a lot of points, and the running game seemed non-existant. But overall, the 49ers earned a hard-fought road win and now sit alone in first place in the division. This was their most complete effort to date, by far.

The 49ers are clearly going to be a team that plays sound, mechanical football. The possession game, field position game, my-kicker-is-better-than-your-kicker game is how the Niners will approach their contests. 

I enjoyed that Davis was used more liberally and that Hunter got a few more snaps. Smith continues to improve and look more and more comfortable in the pocket. The secondary looked great and the Niners bounced back from a potentially deflating overtime loss last week to finish this game and get a big win.

If they continue to not turn the ball over, make smart decisions and out play the opponents in the more technical aspects of the game, they will continue to crank out wins, no matter how ugly they may be.