Week 9 - What do you get when the two worst defenses in the league face one another? How about the highest-scoring first half of the 2016 NFL season. Coming off a BYE in Week 8, the 49ers returned to action in Week 9 with a meeting with Drew Brees and the visiting (3-4) New Orleans Saints. In a match up of two struggling defenses which have given up an average of 30 points per game, it would be no wonder that the score would be 31-20 at the half. And with first half leads in five of their six losses this season entering Sunday's game, Chip Kelly's 49ers would get off to a similar start in this one.
After celebrating his 29th birthday over the weekend, Colin Kaepernick would throw for close to 400 yards on the afternoon as he tallied 398 on Sunday, more than his first two starts combined this season. A 31-yard gain on a short hitch to receiver Quinton Patton would help set up his big day and put the 49ers in position to take an early lead as they would have to settle for a 49-yard field goal from kicker Phil Dawson. But the Saints would follow that up with four consecutive scoring drives of their own to take the lead as Tim Hightower started things off with a 4-yard touchdown run. With turnovers costing San Francisco on several opportunities, the first would be an interception by Kaepernick as the Saints quickly turned their 4-point lead into an 11-point lead with a 1-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Michael Thomas. In an early hole at the start of the second quarter, coach Kelly would decide to go for it on a 4th and 1 call which would prove to be costly as the 49ers came up short on the attempt. Once again the Saints would turn San Francisco's turnover into points as Mark Ingram capitalized a 76-yard drive with a 5-yard receiving touchdown.
But this time, the 49ers would answer with a big play of their own. In only his second start with the 49ers, DuJuan Harris would have himself a nice day while filling in for the injured Carlos Hyde. Though he would only compile 59 yards on the ground, Harris would tally 83 yards thru the air on five receptions, including a 47-yard catch and go touchdown that made it a 21-10 game. Unfortunately, the Saints would waste no time to answer right back as Ingram ran for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the ensuing drive, making it the second-longest touchdown run in Saints franchise history. After being benched last week in favor of Tim Hightower, Ingram made quite the impression for getting his starting job back by rushing for 158 yards on Sunday. Ingram's big day would also mark the seventh straight game in which the 49ers have allowed an opposing player to rush for 100 yards for the first time in NFL history. After a 48-yard field goal by Dawson, the 49ers would strike with their biggest play of the afternoon as Kaepernick found a wide-open Vance McDonald who raced to the end zone untouched for a 65-yard touchdown to pull within 8-points. However, it would be the closest the 49ers would get as Brees was able to march the Saints down the field with less than a minute to go to add a field goal to their lead, making it a 31-20 ball game at the half.
After a nice kick return to open the second half by Jacorey Shepherd, the 49ers appeared to be in business and on their way to making it a 4-point game as Kaepernick and company marched their way into enemy territory and set up shop inside the New Orleans 8-yard line. But a 7-yard run to the 1-yard line would end in disaster as second-year running back Mike Davis fumbled at the goal-line, recovered by the Saints. Though the Saints would fail to cash the mistake into points and were forced to punt, the 49ers would only be able to score a field goal on their next possession. It would also be their last scoring opportunity on the afternoon as the Saints added another 10-points in the fourth quarter to pull away with the 41-23 victory.
Despite the loss, Colin Kaepernick threw for the second-highest passing total of his career with 398 yards and became the 15th player in 49ers franchise history to rush for over 2,000 career yards after adding anther 28 yards on the ground on Sunday. Quinton Patton would haul in 106 of those yards on 6 receptions as the 49ers fell to 1-7 on the season. As for the Saints who improved to 4-4 on the year and have bounced back after an 0-3 start, quarterback Drew Brees who threw for 323 yards and a trio of touchdowns is on the doorstep of becoming only the third QB in NFL history to reach the 450 touchdown mark as he currently sits at 449 career touchdown passes. With the Saints still very much alive in the NFC South and in contention for the division, they trail only the Atlanta Falcons who sit at 6-3 on the year.
Week 10 Preview - On the road in Week 10, the 49ers will make a stop in the desert as they visit the (3-4-1) Arizona Cardinals. In what's been a disappointing season for the Cardinals -- last year's NFC Western division champions, Bruce Arians has seen his guys play some ugly football as of late and is hoping they can return to form after coming off a BYE in Week 9. With a 30-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers in their last outing and a 6-6 tie at home to division rival Seattle in the game before that, Arizona has the perfect match-up in place to take out some anger and get their fourth win of the season. Though I don't expect a repeat of last year's visit to Glendale -- a 47-7 shellacking of the 49ers, I do expect another Cardinals victory. With a 33-21 win at San Francisco earlier this year back in Week 5 on Thursday Night Football, the teams exchanged blows in the first half in what was a relatively close game until late when the Cards pulled away, Arizona will have their starting quarterback around this time as QB Carson Palmer was sidelined with a concussion in their last meeting. And with Carlos Hyde questionable to play on Sunday, the 49ers might have to rely on another big game from DeJuan Harris in hopes of pulling off the upset.
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Week 6 - Meeting for the first time since Super Bowl XLVII just three seasons ago, Sunday's match-up between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, both of whom entered the game last in their respective division's at 1-4, took on the look of two entirely different teams than the ones that met in the Super Bowl. Out of the 44 starters in that Super Bowl, a combined 10 remain on that team today. And unlike that game which ended in disappointment for San Francisco fans, it was the 49ers who prevailed on Sunday. Niners QB Colin Kaepernick would build off of his best outing of the season just a week ago, a heart-wrenching loss to the Giants, with an even better performance in this one.
Throwing for a season-high 340 passing yards, Kaepernick connected on long passes to Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin who had big games against their former team as well as fullback Bruce Miller who totaled a career-best 89-yards receiving on three receptions. The biggest play of the game coming on a career-high 76-yard touchdown reception by Smith. On the play, Smith torched Ravens cornerback Shareece Wright who signed with the 49ers during the offseason and demanded to be released just a week ago. Picked up by the Ravens, the Baltimore defender was exploited all afternoon long as Boldin burned his former teammate on a 51-yard reception in the fourth quarter to put him over 100 yards receiving in the game, which then set up a 21-yard touchdown catch by Quinton Patton, the first of his career. Scrambling in and out of the pocket, Kaepernick found Patton wide-open in the end zone after Wright slipped on the play, adding salt to the wound and making his disappointing Ravens debut that much worse. The Niner defense also did their part as the Ravens ground attack was held to just 76 yards.
Baltimore's Joe Flacco threw for 343 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but was picked off twice on the afternoon. In a last-ditch effort and a chance to hand the Niners consecutive last-minute losses, the former Super Bowl MVP heaved one into the end zone only to have the ball batted down by San Francisco safety Eric Reid, sealing the victory for the 49ers. The win, San Francisco's first since Week 1, helped the Niners end a four-game losing streak and snap a six-game losing skid to the Ravens who fell to 1-5 on the season, their worst start in franchise history through the first six games. Despite having to settle for four Phil Dawson field goals in the 25-20 win, a number of nifty passes by Kaepernick, including two for touchdowns, helped stave off a 5-game losing streak and breathe life into an offense that has looked much improved from the offense that struggled out of the gates. Then again, Baltimore's defense isn't quite what it once was.
Week 7 Preview - With a short week ahead prior to the 49ers next game -- a Thursday night showdown with the arch-rival (2-4) Seattle Seahawks who are coming off a last-minute loss at home to the undefeated Carolina Panthers, San Francisco will look to claim their first win in the division and first winning-streak of 2015. While the 49ers have mirrored a completely different team this season than the one that made three consecutive trips to the NFC Championship which ended a season ago, the Seahawks have yet to look like a playoff team this season either and appear to be suffering from a Super Bowl hangover, having already blown a number of fourth quarter leads this year, including in back to back games (losses to Cincinnati and Carolina). And if not for an illegal tip in the end zone late in their Monday night meeting against the Lions three weeks ago, Seattle would be starring down a 1-5 record right now. Even given their recent struggles and new faces, these are still two teams that don't like each other as both teams look to shed the title of "last-place" in the division.
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Heading into Sunday's game to face the Arizona Cardinals (10-5), the 49ers who had already clinched a playoff berth, had plans of leaving the desert with a win in hopes of improving their seeding. As for the Cardinals, Carson Palmer and company needed a win against their division-rivals and a loss from the Saints in order to punch their ticket to the playoffs. Unfortunately for them, they would get neither. Winners of three in a row and four of their last five, Arizona would run into a brick wall that is the San Francisco 49ers who have beaten the Cardinals in nine of their last 10 meetings. But after squandering a 17-point lead in the first quarter, it appeared San Francisco's reign over their division foe was in danger.
After opening the game with 17 unanswered-points in the opening period by way of a Phil Dawson field goal and a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers would find themselves struggling to score again until late in the fourth quarter. But in San Francisco's dominant first quarter, Arizona would get a heavy dose of former Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin early on. Boldin who starred in three Pro Bowls over seven seasons with the Cardinals where he set numerous records (most of which he still holds to this day) before being dealt to the Ravens in 2010, would remind Cardinal fans of his talent. In his first game in Arizona as a member of the opposing-team, Boldin hauled in nine passes for 149 yards, including 109 of them on six grabs in the first quarter alone. Boldin would also be the recipient of Kaepernick's first touchdown pass on the day, a 4-yard TD setup by NaVorro Bowman who during Arizona's second drive, jumped out in front of a pass intended for Larry Fitzgerald for his second interception in as many games.
Boldin would strike again on San Francisco's following drive, catching a pass and taking it 63-yards, setting up Kaepernick who found a wide-open Vernon Davis in the end zone. Trailing by double-digits, Arizona's frustration would build as their only promising drive in the first quarter ended with the first of two missed field goals on the day by Jay Feely who's first miss went wide right from 37-yards out. The Cardinals would eventually put some points up on the board before the half, however, as Carson Palmer connected with tight-end Jake Ballard from a yard out to make it a 17-7 game. Niners kicker Phil Dawson who had made a franchise record -- 27 consecutive field goals, had a chance to improve on that mark and add to his team's lead before the half. Instead, he missed a chip-shot from 27-yards out but would later redeem himself. Arizona would open the second half much like they did the first -- sloppy, as Cardinals running back Rashard Mendenhall fumbled the ball just four plays in, recovered by NaVorro Bowman who also forced the fumble and added a sack to his stellar day.
The Cardinals would eventually bounce back and tie the game as Feely split a pair of field goal tries in the fourth quarter followed by a 34-yard touchdown pass from Palmer to wide-out Andre Roberts who made a spectacular grab to make it 17-even. The 49ers would break that tie as Phil Dawson tied a personal-best with a 56-yard field goal to pull ahead with 1:50 remaining. Palmer would march his team all the way to the 25 yard line where Feely would once again tie the game at 20-20. With 34 seconds remaining and overtime on the horizon, the 49ers were in need of a hero if they planned on winning in regulation. In this case, they would get two. On the ensuing kick, LaMichael James ran the ball back 45 yards to set up the 49ers with great field position near midfield. After an 18-yard completion to Boldin, Kaepernick would connect with one of the most unlikeliest of heroes in Quinton Patton.
The rookie wide-out out of Louisiana Tech has had little to cheer about in 2013 having battled injury all season and had only one catch to his name coming into Sunday's game. But with 18 seconds on the clock, Patton would come up with the biggest play of the day as he made a leaping 22-yard grab along the sideline to put San Francisco in field goal range. Phil Dawson would do the rest as his 40-yard field goal split the uprights as time expired, sending the 49ers who improved to 11-4 on the year into the playoffs as a 5 seed with the 23-20 victory. With San Francisco's run game virtually nonexistent, the 49ers offense was forced to go through QB Colin Kaepernick who threw for 310 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 21 of 34 pass attempts. Meanwhile, Carson Palmer threw for 407 yards to go along with 2 touchdown passes and an interception, becoming the first player in NFL history to throw for 4,000 yards in a single season with three different teams (Bengals, Raiders and Cardinals).
Despite the loss, the Cardinals who fell to 10-6 on the year, have nothing to pout about under first-year head coach Bruce Arians who could very well hear his name be called for Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. In the NFL's most competitive division this year, Arians who with the help of a stout defense and an improvement at quarterback, turned the franchise from 5-11 just a year ago into a 10-win team in his first season at the helm. Only the third 10-win season for the Cardinals since the franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1988.
Playoff Preview: Currently riding a six-game win-streak into the playoffs, the longest active streak of any team in the league, Jim Harbaugh's 49ers now focus their attention on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field where they'll get set to face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday who sneaked into the playoffs at 8-7-1. Having won three straight against the reigning NFC North champs, including a 34-28 victory in the season-opener, Sunday's meeting will be a rematch of last year's NFC Division Round match up which San Francisco won by a final of 45-31. But neither of those games were played in the elements both teams will be forced to face on Sunday. With temperatures that will rival that of the 1967 Ice Bowl between the Cowboys and Packers at Lambeau (-13), the forecast for Sunday's game is expected to be below freezing with a high of -3 and a low of -19 at the time of kickoff. Not to mention wind chills close to -30 degrees. I'm no weather man but if those temperatures stick, Sunday's NFC Wild Card game will go down as the coldest playoff game in NFL history, surpassing the previous record of -13 in the aforementioned Ice Bowl.
With freezing temperatures that could shrink the pigskin among other things, we could be in store for a very sloppy, low-scoring game. Then again we could also be in store for a high-scoring, back and forth melee highlighted by poor tackling depending on which way you look at it. How it plays out, we just don't know. One thing we do know, however, is that high emotions will be brewing. Colin Kaepernick who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up a fan of both the 49ers and Packers will once again face off against Aaron Rodgers who was born and raised in northern California where he grew up a die-hard Niners fan. And though we probably won't see another record-setting performance on the ground from Colin Kaepernick who torched the Packers defense for 181 rushing yards in last year's Division round match up, we might see somewhat of a revival from the read-option which hasn't been seen too often by the 49ers this year opposed to last season. As for San Francisco, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and company will have his their hands full with Aaron Rodgers who will be seeking revenge for his team's blowout loss in last year's playoffs.
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