This past Sunday the 49ers returned home after a blowout loss on the road in Seattle for what they thought would be a way to get back on track. Instead, the team's struggles followed them to the bay area where they would show side-effects that carried over from the beat down received by the Seahawks. Hosting the Andrew Luck led Indianapolis Colts who 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh mentored at the University of Stanford, the reunion between college coach and former player eventually turned into a player teaching his former coach a lesson as San Francisco lost consecutive games for the first time under their third year head coach.
Penalties which have haunted the 49ers defense through the first few weeks continued to plague the team on Sunday including on the first two plays from scrimmage on the Colts opening drive which set up Indianapolis near mid-field. From there Andrew Luck would carve up the 49ers secondary before handing the ball off to the newest Colt Trent Richardson who was acquired in a trade with the Browns earlier in the week. Richardson took little time to fit right in, plowing into the end zone from 1-yard out on his first carry with his new club to put them ahead, 7-0. After failing to put together a single touchdown drive in Seattle in week 2, San Francisco's offense appeared to have shaken off the cobwebs on their second possession of the game, as the 49ers were able to establish the run game early on, something they've perfected under coach Harbaugh but were unable to accomplish in weeks 1 and 2. QB Colin Kaepernick orchestrated a nine play, 91-yard touchdown drive highlighted by a 13-yard TD run by running back Kendall Hunter, tying the game at 7. However, it would be the only time coach Harbaugh's team would pay the end zone a visit.
As if the 49ers receiving corps wasn't banged up enough to start the year, the team was without their best target on offense in Pro-Bowl tight-end Vernon Davis. Hampered by a hamstring injury suffered in the loss at Seattle, Davis watched his quarterback struggle all afternoon in what would eventually be Kaepernick's first loss at Candlestick Park since being promoted the starting QB in week 11 last season. Completing 13 of 27 passes for 150 yards with a fumble and an interception, Kaepernick followed up the worst outing of his NFL career with another sub-par performance. As for Andrew Luck, last year's first overall pick in the 2012 Draft didn't have one of his brightest performances either, throwing for only 159 yards on 17 of 26 completions, but he came up big when needed and put the game away for good in the fourth quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run he capitalized with an emphatic spiking of the ball. Indy added salt to the wound with another late touchdown by running back Ahmad Bradshaw as the Colts routed the 49ers by a final of 27-7.
The 34 points San Francisco scored in their week 1 win against Green Bay now looks like an anomaly as Kaepernick and company has scored a whooping 10 total points in their last two games. Is it a coincidence that the 49ers haven't been able to muster much success on offense while coach Harbaugh has elected to drift away from the read-option some? The 49ers have also utilized very little play-action plays, another area in which Kaepernick has excelled in. Regardless, Kaepernick's poor performances over the past two weeks which I believe he'll bounce back from, have already ignited a 'bring back Alex Smith' type of crowd on Twitter. Numerous users of the social media website sent Kaepernick tweets with stuff you'd expect from a 12 year old problem child. Everything from "You suck" to "Kaepernick is garbage" was sent to the 49ers quarterback and guess who favorited each and every tweet -- none other than Colin himself. If anybody wants Colin Kaepernick to bounce back from his recent struggles, it's Colin Kaepernick. And these negative tweets from so called "fans" should only add to his hunger.
Rome wasn't built overnight so for anyone that's been a Niners fan prior to the Harbaugh era knows the hardships this franchise has been through over the last decade or so. So to see panic of this magnitude from the fan base three weeks into the season is laughable.
Week 4 Preview: With blowout losses in back-to-back games for the 49ers, coach Harbaugh will have little time to prepare his team for their next opponent as San Francisco has a Thursday night meeting in St. Louis to face the division-rival Rams on short rest. Like the 49ers, the Rams are 1-2 and are hoping to rebound from a double-digit loss suffered in week 3. Losing 31-7 on the road in Dallas last week, St. Louis allowed nearly 200 yards on the ground alone and three touchdowns through the air. But by no means will Thursday night's game in St. Louis be an easy task for the 49ers who almost always have a hard time against the Rams, but it might be good for Kaepernick and company to play with their backs against the wall. Having opened the season as one of the few Super Bowl favorites, the 49ers have already taken a hit in many of the NFL's power rankings. So much so that pundits are prematurely declaring the 49ers season over if they lose and fall to 1-3. In their two meetings last season, coach Harbaugh was unable to solve Rams coach Jeff Fisher who handed Harbaugh both a loss and a tie in 2012. Entering Thursday's game, the all-time series between the 49ers and Rams is tied, 62-62-1.
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After an off-season that saw the release of future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and the drafting of phenom sensation Andrew Luck who was taken with the no. 1 overall pick, the Indianapolis Colts were dealt a blow just three games into their season when the team received tragic news that first year head coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia. Putting a damper on the Colts locker room, the news added to the team's 1-2 start. In a situation in which most teams would feel lost without their coach and leader, the Colts instead used Pagano's fight with cancer as motivation to fuel their will to win. Proving just that was their miraculous win against Green Bay in their first game after it was learned Pagano had cancer.
After a difficult bye week which left more than football on the minds of Colts players and personnel alike, QB Andrew Luck led Indianapolis to an 18-point, second half comeback over the reigning MVP Aaron Rogers and the Packers. Following their 30-27 victory over Green Bay, interim head coach Bruce Arians delivered the game ball to the 52-year old Pagano's nearby hospital bed. On Sunday, Pagano who has since progressed in his fight against cancer, made his first trip to Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium since being diagnosed with leukemia and witnessed his quarterback make history by throwing for an NFL single-game rookie record with 433 passing yards, surpassing the previous mark of 422 yards set last year by Carolina's Cam Newton. Watching from a far, Pagano's Colts improved to 5-3 on the year with their 23-20 win over the Miami Dolphins. The best part of all, however, would be Pagano's emotional post-game speech following the win which sent chills down the spine of any true sports fan.
Though Pagano returned to the hospital on Monday to undergo his second of three chemotherapy treatments, he'll be with his team in spirit in week 10 when the team travels to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. And in case you aren't convinced just yet that the Colts are the feel good story of 2012, on Tuesday players and coaches did the deed of shaving their heads in support of Pagano, proving that the group of guys Indianapolis has is more than a team, they're family. And after appearing to have started the season in the rear-view mirror of Washington's Robert Griffin, Andrew Luck has since leapfrogged RG3 in the race for the Rookie of the Year Award and is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Not to mention he's already paved his path to become a pretty darn good QB having already surpassed Peyton Manning's win total who finished 3-13 in his 1998 rookie campaign with the Colts. All of this has quickly made the Indianapolis Colts one of the teams to watch in the NFL once again and for undoubtedly many years to come. Get well soon, coach!
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With three teams watching their playoff aspirations pass before their eyes still seeking their first win of the season heading into Week 8, it's not often you begin seeing those who don't believe they can bounce back and make a push down the stretch jockey for sole possession of the first overall pick in the upcoming draft. And with a super-prospect at the QB position in Stanford's Andrew Luck who's the consensus number one overall pick for the second consecutive year and has drawn comparisons to John Elway, a team tanking the season for a player with the potential to be one of the all-time greats isn't unlikely.
Though any team coming off an unsuccessful season and in the middle of a rebuilding period would like to plug a young quarterback of Luck's caliber into their franchise, Luck could however decide to pursue his senior year in college if he's not satisfied with the team who gets the first overall pick. And while he would risk leaving a bunch of money on the table and the chances of getting hurt, it wouldn't be the first time Luck ditched being the first overall pick as he chose to return to college last year despite his head coach Jim Harbaugh heading to the pros to coach the San Francisco 49ers. Some sources have even gone as far as saying Luck would consider pulling the same move Eli Manning made in '04 when being drafted first overall by the San Diego Chargers who he refused to play for which eventually led to a trade to the New York Giants.
Those three teams who remain win-less are the Miami Dolphins, the St. Louis Rams and the Indianapolis Colts. But only the Dolphins and Colts are rumored to be in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes as the Rams are unlikely to draft another quarterback given it was only a season ago that they selected last year's Rookie of the Year Sam Bradford first overall. The Miami Dolphins on the other hand are in desperate need of a quarterback having started both Chad Henne and Matt Moore this season with little to nothing to show for. Meanwhile in Indy, the Colts have been without arguably the best QB in all football since the beginning of training camp when it was learned that Peyton Manning would need neck surgery for the second time this year. The news of Manning's injury prompted the front-office to sign veteran QB Kerry Collins who agreed to come out of retirement, but would be benched in favor of backup Curtis Painter after only three weeks.
The Colts' failure to tally a win this late in the season was something nobody saw coming and proves just how dependent the franchise really is on the great Peyton Manning, perhaps more so than any other team is with their star player. Even the New England Patriots who were without Manning's arch-rival Tom Brady in '08 were able to finish the season 11-5 with then backup QB Matt Cassel under center when Brady went down during the season-opener with a knee injury that put him on the shelf for the entire season. But just how much is Manning's absence to blame for the Colts' dismal 0-7 start? Many are pointing the finger at the Colts defense or the lack thereof following their most recent loss on Sunday night in which they were dismantled by a final score of 62-7 to the New Orleans Saints. The critics have said Manning's health wouldn't have changed he fact that the D still gave up 62 points when really Indy's offense would've been on the field longer if Manning was healthy, thus preventing less chances for New Orleans to score.
Manning's 2011 campaign hasn't been ruled out just yet as doctors say there's still a chance he can see live action this season, but with the team already out of playoff contention come Manning's return, why risk bringing him back with the possibility of him not being at full strength and hurting his neck again? While the Dolphins selecting Andrew Luck is a no-brainer if they're given the opportunity, the question of whether or not the Colts should do the same is in the air. With an aging Peyton Manning at the helm could we see Indianapolis steal a page out of Green Bay's book by letting Manning show Luck the ropes much like Brett Favre did with Aaron Rodgers? Follow me on Twitter @FraserKnowsBest
