NFL San Franciso 49ers: Grading the Week 8 Win vs. Cleveland Browns

The 49ers definitely looked a little rusty today coming off the bye, especially in the second half. But, again, they found a way to pull out a win and make it look easy for the most part. Playing in front of a pumped-up home crowd, the Niners ran the ball down the Cleveland Browns' throat en route to a 20-10 victory.

Alex Smith looked fine again, but the entire offense stalled a bit against the Browns' fourth-ranked defense. Speaking of defense, the 49ers' front seven did their usual damage, but the secondary had some trouble. Altogether, it was a good effort. Let's hope San Francisco can knock off that bye-week rust in time before they travel to D.C. next week.

The 49ers will be headed to face the tumbling Washington Redskins next weekend, with a chance to improve to a ridiculous 7-1 record. For now, they can enjoy a hard-fought win, and a four-game lead in the NFC West, at 6-1.

Here are my grades for the 49ers' Week 8 win.

Passing Game: B

Again, I attribute some of the shortcomings today to rust from the bye week. But still, Alex Smith looked just fine. On the first drive, Smith almost threw a pick in the red zone. But he had an acceptable line of 15-for-24, 177 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. His QB rating was just south of 100.0.

None of those numbers jump out as spectacular, but the fact of the matter is that Smith has been absolutely consistent in every aspect of the game this season—especially winning. He's only thrown two picks on the season and has 10 touchdown passes. That's a huge step up from preseason expectations.

Wide receive Braylon Edwards had a decent day returning from injury, but seemed to be taking it a little bit easy on that recently repaired knee. That's something I have no problem with, especially with Michael Crabtree stepping up to catch his first touchdown pass of the season.

I would have liked to see the tight ends get more involved. Vernon Davis was not a big part of the offense today, and I don't even remember seeing Delanie Walker on the field at any point! 

Oh, and can we give a little love to Joe Staley and Isaac Sopoaga, who each had a reception today on some cool gadget plays? I love those formations they run with Sopoaga in the backfield, and if they can mix it up with some trick screens like that, it adds a whole new dimension to this offense.

But come on. These guys both push 300 pounds and they couldn't lower a shoulder to break a few tackles and rumble into the end zone? Give a little effort for yards after the catch!

Running Game: B+

Before I put anything, let's all take a second to stand up and give Frank Gore a big ovation for rushing for over 100 yards for the fourth straight game, moving into second place on the all-time 49ers rushing list in the process. 

OK, if you really stood up at your computer just now you are either crazy or the best fan ever. Anyway, the offense once again circulated around Gore and Kendall Hunter, who each racked up at least a 4.3-yard average on the day. The offensive line looked great for most of the day, opening holes for them. But they definitely didn't adjust to meet the Browns' new strategy after halftime.

Almost all the rushing yards came in the first half. That's all well and good, but you have to make adjustments to counter the defense, and the 49ers did not do that today. That's another thing I attribute to rust, but they will need to fix that before the New York Giants come to town in two weeks.

One thing I did want to mention about the rushing game is that Alex Smith looked like a professional scrambler when he tucked the ball and ran today. That's an aspect of his game that is undervalued but definitely shouldn't be. 

The O-line overall today played great, only allowing one sack. But again, improvements need to be made in practice this week to ensure that running game has a chance for 60 minutes, not just 30.

Front Seven: A

Why am I not surprised this unit showed no signs of a bye week hangover? Aldon Smith improved his NFL rookie-leading sack total to 6.5, Ahmad Brooks got two (one without his helmet on) and Patrick Willis came up with a huge sack in the second half.

Willis played a great game like usual, and his partner in crime Navorro Bowman had 11 tackles. Isaac Sopoaga came up with a fumble recovery, and the Niners were putting good pressure on Colt McCoy all day. The Browns actually fumbled four times, losing one of them.

The fact that the Niners were forcing that many balls to come loose is a great sign. They are already one of the league leaders in turnover differential, so it's nice to see that the bye week didn't affect that part of the defense's game.

Oh, did I mention that the no-100-yard-rusher streak reached it's 29th game? Incredible. This front seven held the Browns banged-up rushing attack to 66 total yards. But I don't think it would have mattered. Insert Peyton Hillis, insert Adrian Peterson, hell, insert Barry Sanders. At this point, I'm convinced that nobody will reach triple digits on the 49ers.

Secondary: B-

Let me preface this by letting off a little steam: For the second time this season, a 49er defensive back was unjustly penalized for an illegal hit, that wasn't even close to illegal. The refs need to learn that some players actually just know how to hit receivers. 

Just because Dashon Goldson absolutely blew up a Browns receiver, doesn't mean it was a helmet-to-helmet hit. Anyway, I just hope Roger Goodell is smart enough to waive any potential fine for this hit when he sees the tape.

Goldson made up for that big penalty by making a huge interception in the end zone to kill a Cleveland drive in the second half. The secondary as a whole played fairly well but got burned a couple times. Josh Cribbs's touchdown catch in the second half was just poor coverage coupled with poor tackling by Tarell Brown. 

Going into next week, I'd like to see the DBs make whatever adjustments it will take to get to the point where they are playing with as much passion as they were before the break. It seemed to just be a flat effort by the whole unit today. Now I can't grade them too low, since the Browns only scored one touchdown; but in my opinion, allowing 65 percent of McCoy's passes to be caught for nearly 250 yards is not the effort we've come to expect.

Special Teams: A-

Not much to report here. Andy Lee had to punt on the first five drives of the second half and did a great job, as usual. David Akers was two-for-two on field goals, including a chip shot in the fourth quarter to ice the game. He's now 13-for-15 for the Niners in 2011. Not bad, old man. 

Ted Ginn, Jr. didn't really have many opportunities to set up a good return; but you'd like to see more than he gave today. I'm not expecting back-to-back return touchdowns like we saw against Seattle, but definitely more than a combined 51 yards on four punt and kickoff returns.

Coaching: A-

A-? They won! Why not just an A, you picky bastard? This is what I imagine some readers might be thinking. And it's understandable. I am giving Harbaugh and his minions that little mark for two reasons:

1. The second half was ugly for almost the entire 30 minutes. I admire that they got a team who hadn't seen field action in two weeks to come out so hot at the beginning of the game, but whatever was said at halftime had the exact opposite effect. I think Harbaugh could have adjusted much better at halftime to counter what the Browns would do on defense.

2. No post-game handshake drama? That added such a layer of intensity to the Detroit game, why not make it a regular thing? Let's get ready to rumbleeee!

The ultimate result is what matters. A 20-10 final. Another home win. A stranglehold on the NFC West, at 6-1. I want to see some steam built up going into the game against the Giants in a couple weeks, but for now I'm extremely content with what this coaching staff and team has done.

Overall: B+

The Niners definitely need to work on a few things in practice over this coming week. Get Alex Smith and the receivers sharpened up a bit. Get Vernon Davis and Braylon Edwards to full health so they can contribute more against the Redskins.

The running game looked great for one half, but can definitely work with the offensive line and the coaches to improve play-calling and endurance to make sure it's a full-game effort. The secondary needs to get pumped up and stick tight on receivers a little better. 

Give Ted Ginn, Jr. some kind of new return scheme to open up the field for him and see if some good field position comes out of it.

Overall, a great game. A few things here and there that need to be tweaked, but that's to be expected after a week off. The 49ers sit in first place in the NFC West and have a beautiful 6-1 record heading into a very winnable stretch of their season.

Here's to hoping the Niners step up and squash the Redskins in Washington next weekend!