San Franciso 49ers: Grading the Week 5 Win

I’ve been a 49ers fan my entire life. I was born the day they won the Super Bowl in 1989. I remember the glory days of Steve Young, the good years of Jeff Garcia and the joke of a team that followed. 

However, I can’t remember a game since 2002 where the 49ers looked so completely dominant in every aspect of the game as they did Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Jim Harbaugh has really got these guys playing like contenders, and I’m loving every second of it. The Niners were favored at home by three points, and I think it’s safe to say they covered the spread.

San Francisco went up 7-0 early on a beautiful pinpoint pass from Alex Smith to Delanie Walker and never looked back. The Niners didn’t even bother to mutter “good luck” as they sprinted away and out of sight of the Bucs, to a tune of 48-3.

The offense was great, the defense was better and the special teams unit was fantastic. Playing football in the Bay Area is fun again, and Tampa Bay was the unfortunate punching bag for eight years of 49ers frustration. This one will be entertaining to review.

Here are my grades for the 49ers Week 5 win.

Passing Game: A

Is it too soon to be mentioning Alex Smith in the same breath as Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning?

Okay, show of hands: Who almost closed the browser after reading that line?

That, of course, was a joke. However, Smith’s 2011 season is far from a laugher. The guy went off against the Bucs, completing 58 percent of his passes for 170 yards and tying a career-high three touchdowns. 

He ended up only throwing the ball 19 times, but didn’t it feel like the 49ers held the ball for 90 percent of that game? Smith racked up a rating of 127.2 and didn’t turn the ball over again. I guess Frank Gore wasn’t kidding when he told us No. 11 was coming. Smith looked supremely confident in the pocket today and was making quick, smart decisions and great throws.

The scoring strike to Delanie Walker on the first drive was a shockingly good pass. It was Brady-esque, and I’m not going to backtrack on that one. Smith only threw 19 passes today, but that was really because the running game was so effective and 49ers scored so quickly. And his completions were crisp and on the money. I can only remember two bad passes all day, and the second one was a mix-up on a route run by Michael Crabtree.

The passing game also offered a glimpse of Colin Kaepernick today. He surprised me; the kid looked god-awful in the preseason but looked poised on his drive today, completing all three passes for 35 yards. That’s great news knowing the rookie might be able to fill in if Smith goes down.

Running Game: A

I feel pretty terrible about calling out Gore in one of my previous articles. I wondered something along the lines of, “Is Gore over the hill?” God, I’m a terrible human being. Or just a terrible Niners fan. Of course the two are synonymous for me, so...

Anyway, Gore busted out for 125 yards on 20 carries against a supposedly tough front seven. He did lose a fumble, but that was more a fluke than anything. He punched one into the end zone and was cutting and pounding all day. It was like the Frank Gore of old.

Kendall Hunter tossed in 65 yards on nine carries and did a great job of spelling Gore when necessary. Anthony Dixon appeared out of thin air finally and touched the ball twice, including a one-yard touchdown run. As a whole, the 49ers run game was nearly unstoppable, going for 213 yards on the day.

And finally, (this feels so good to do) let’s give the offensive line some props! No sacks allowed, the aforementioned massive rushing total and I believe only two of the team’s three penalties were committed by linemen. Adam Snyder is infinitely better than Chilo Rachal, Anthony Davis looked better than usual and Joe Staley was back to his old, dominating self. Overall, a fantastic effort from the O-line. We will need them to keep that momentum going next week in Detroit.

Front Seven: A

This unit is riding on a 4.0 GPA for the season right now, and the valedictorian is Mr. Patrick Willis. He had a monster game, recording 10 tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass defended. His buddy NaVorro Bowman pitched in five tackles and old faithful Justin Smith had four tackles and a sack.

Aldon Smith continues to impress me. He played limited time again but contributed two sacks when he was on the field. His ability to get to the quarterback is amazing, and even with small playing time he’s getting better and better every week.

If Alex Smith continues to throw the ball well and Aldon Smith gets inserted into the lineup a little more regularly, I daresay the 49ers will have the most fearsome Smith trio in the NFL! What an honor.

Not only did the front seven come up with three sacks today, they did what they do best. They held high-powered Tampa Bay running back LeGarrette Blount to 34 yards and the Bucs to 86 rushing yards total. The linemen and linebackers were all over the field and their athleticism this unit has was really on display.

And a big shout out to Ricky Jean-Francois, former seventh-round pick of the 49ers who filled in admirably for an injured Isaac Sopoaga today at nose tackle and pitched in two tackles.

Secondary: A

The two parts of this team I was most worried about coming into the season were the offensive line and the secondary. Both units put my worries to rest, at least for one game. Carlos Rogers has really stepped up and been a big-play guy all season. That’s something the defense has been sorely lacking for the last few seasons.

It’s so huge when a DB can get a big interception. Not only does it give the offense the ball back, but it’s a huge momentum shift. A secondary that can get you takeaways is invaluable. Rogers got another big one today, returning a Josh Freeman pass to the end zone in the first quarter.

Ever since Dashon Goldson (nominee for hit of the week on his forced fumble, methinks—the picture on this slide is right after the hit) returned to the lineup, the secondary has looked fantastic. Tampa Bay has some big, strong receivers that are deep ball threats, and they were shut down. All. Day. Long. 

The Bucs’ big three of Arrelious Benn, Kellen Winslow and Mike Williams combined for 128 yards on 12 catches. Not bad at all. Freeman looked lost in the pocket today, and I attribute that to the coverage downfield by the 49ers. They were all over the receivers and never got burned like in games past.

Chris Culliver recorded his first career interception and had three other plays where he broke up a pass. Tarell Brown had a big game with three passes defended as well. Overall, a secondary that holds Freeman to a 17-33 passing day is going to be getting drinks on the house.

Special Teams: A

I wonder what Andy Lee did all day on the sideline. I didn’t look back through the statistics, but I’d imagine that was the least he has ever had to play since donning the red and gold. Lee only had to punt once all day, and of course it was a good one.

David Akers made all six extra points and nailed both field-goal attempts. Kendall Hunter had one kick return for 22 yards and Ted Ginn, Jr. got three punts and 51 yards on returns. Nothing special, nothing bad. And the coverage, as always, was solid.

Coaching: A-

Ahhh, you thought we were going to have a perfect score, didn’t you? Well, so did I.

Harbaugh and his staff did absolutely everything right today, up until the very last scoring drive in the fourth quarter. 

With Kaepernick in, the 49ers had the ball around the 20-yard line of Tampa Bay on a fourth-down play. I can understand the desire to get Kaepernick some snaps, but it’s risky to go for it in that situation when you can make an easy field goal.

Nevertheless, Harbaugh defied logic and went for it. Forget about the possibility of offending the Buccaneers by running up the score. Forget about wanting to get Kap some rare real-game experience. There is potential on every single play for players to get injured, and that’s exactly what happened on an unnecessary down.

Now it seems as if Josh Morgan, San Francisco's most consistent receiver to date, will be out for a long time. He broke his ankle after making the catch and converting the first down when it got caught under the defender on the tackle. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a major joint in your body shattered, but it’s one of the few things that hurt worse than an open-field tackle by Ray Lewis.

Aside from that one little mistake that ended up having a horrifically huge impact for the passing game down the road, the coaching was perfect. Great game plan, good play calling and the cutthroat mentality I’ve been waiting for.

Up by 30 points in the second half? Screw it, let’s go for more. I love that.

Overall: A

I don’t believe in A+’s (unless I’m receiving it), so we’ll go with the solid A. The 49ers played an absolutely incredible game at home against the Buccaneers on Sunday. The offense was on full throttle. Alex Smith and Frank Gore really took advantage of the open game plan and put up big numbers. 

The offensive line played a great game, and we got contributions from everyone at some point. Anytime you put up 48 points in the NFL, you deserve big-time props.

As for the defense, it was another solid outing for the front seven and an inspired game by the secondary. Seemingly every pass Josh Freeman threw either hit a hand or ended up in the mitts of one of the Niner defenders. The Smiths combined for three sacks and the defense had had two picks, one returned for a touchdown.

We can only hope Josh Morgan recovers quickly because San Francisco is now thin at wide receiver thanks to a coaching gaffe. You can never expect something like that to happen, and it ultimately came about because of the play on the field, but it was still a boneheaded move by Harbaugh to even go for it.

Again, that aside, the 4-1, first-place San Francisco 49ers head into Detroit next week on cloud nine, ready to take down a possibly undefeated Lions team. No matter the result of the Monday Night Football contest between the Lions and Bears tonight, next week is a huge game between two franchises that are finally playing their way into the spotlight.

I love where Harbaugh has the 49ers right now, and I have high hopes for the rest of the season. Tune in next week for my newest report card. And as always, Go Niners!