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| ARI at TB | BAL at PIT | CAR at TEN | CIN at BUF | DAL at PHI | DEN at DET | GB at KC | HOU at OAK |
| JAX at NO | NE at IND | SD at MIN | SEA at CLE | SF at ATL | WAS at NYJ | ||
Week 9 Game Recap: San Francisco 49ers 16, Atlanta Falcons 20
What you need to know
| San Francisco 49ers |
Alex Smith had his moments, but overall he was erratic, overthrowing wide open receivers and making mistakes under pressure that led to four turnovers. It wasn't all as bad as the statline looks, but he needs more weapons to succeed in this offense.
With the absence of Frank Gore, who was inactive due to an ankle injury, the running game was surprisingly potent. The tandem of Michael Robinson and Maurice Hicks won't scare anybody too much, but they were good enough for 116 yards rushing, including the 49ers' only touchdown (a nine yard run by Hicks).
Okay, here's a newsflash: the San Francisco receiving corps is weak. The only real threat was TE Vernon Davis. Starting wideouts Darrell Jackson and Arnaz Battle caught only a few short passes between them, and looked very ordinary doing so.
| Atlanta Falcons |
Another newsflash: Boy, did Joey Harrington stink. He showed no patience in the pocket, and frequently missed his targets by a country mile. To his credit, and really, it made the difference between the Falcons winning and losing, he avoided the mistakes that plagued his counterpart on the other side of the ball.
Warrick Dunn and the running game in general really bailed Harrington out. Dunn had a season high hundred yards on the ground, and picked up a TD. Jerious Norwood ran well in relief, but hurt his ankle and was done for the day early in the second half. FB Ovie Mughelli vultured a goal line TD as well.
With Alge Crumpler sidelined with an injury, Joe Horn made a reappearance, getting a good share of short yardage passes for the first down. Roddy White had the best day of any Falcons receiver and was impressive when he had the ball, but he was unable to reach most of Harrington's errant throws.
What you ought to know
| QB Alex Smith, Pass: 17 - 38 - 149 - 0 TD / 3 INT |
Smith's shoulder appeared to be healthy, but he was plagued by inconsistency -- on his part and that of his receivers. In the first half, he had a lot of time to throw and had some success passing -- but overthrew open receivers on several occasions. After the half, he was more erratic, throwing under a bit more pressure. This resulted in a four turnover half (three interceptions, one fumble lost) by Alex Smith. In a four point game, that was the difference between the 49ers winning and losing.
| RB Michael Robinson, Rush: 17 - 67 - 0, Rec: 2 - 2 - 0 (1 targets) |
In the absence of Frank Gore, Robinson got the nod as the starter, but also split carries with Maurice Hicks. On the touchdown drive, it was Robinson getting all the carries, but then they put Hicks in when they got to around the ten yard line and promptly scored a TD. Though Hicks had a better average per carry, Robinson continued to get the lion's share of the carries as the game went on.
| RB Maurice Hicks, Rush: 7 - 49 - 1, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Hicks split carries with Michael Robinson. Even though Robinson was the starter and got more carries, Hicks had a good game and scored the 49ers' only TD.
| RB Moran Norris, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (2 targets) |
Norris, the fullback, caught one pass, which went for a first down.
| RB Frank Gore |
Gore was inactive due to injury (ankle).
| WR Arnaz Battle, Rec: 4 - 35 - 0 (10 targets) |
As went QB Alex Smith's day, so went Arnaz Battle's. All of his catches came in the first half, though he was targeted evenly in both.
| WR Darrell Jackson, Rec: 2 - 21 - 0 (8 targets) |
Jackson looked a little sluggish in his return to the lineup after sitting one out with a quad injury. He was targeted once in the red zone, and Smith looked his way more often as the game progressed, but the results were just not there.
| WR Bryan Gilmore (1 targets) |
Gilmore was wide open on his one target, but the pass was overthrown.
| TE Vernon Davis, Rec: 7 - 77 - 0 (10 targets) |
Davis was easily the most dangerous player for the 49ers. Several of his targets were deep patterns, he got open consistently, and fought hard for yardage once he had the ball.
| TE Delanie Walker (3 targets) |
Walker was only a target when Smith was desperate and found no one open. Of course, when Walker was open on a deep post pattern, Smith overthrew the ball.
| PK Joe Nedney 3 - 3 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 10 points |
Nedney was reliable, going three for three on field goals, with the longest for 49 yards.
| SF Rush Defense |
They were unable to stop Warrick Dunn. Up the middle. Need we say more?
| SF Pass Defense |
The 49ers secondary had a good game, but really, against Joey Harrington, it's tough to give them an A+ for it. The secondary played well, but they barely pressured the QB.
| QB Joey Harrington, Pass: 14 - 25 - 138 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 14 - 0 |
Harrington started off badly and didn't get much better as the game went on. He was able to stay composed under pressure, however, and completed a few third and short passes that made a difference between the team potentially scoring or punting. His favorite target was Roddy White, but he sure did a lousy job of actually getting him the ball. Harrington's saving grace was that he didn't do anything really wrong (save for one interception), which was enough for the win on this day.
| QB Byron Leftwich |
Leftwich was inactive due to injury (ankle).
| RB Warrick Dunn, Rush: 27 - 100 - 1 (1 targets) |
Dunn had a season high 100 yards rushing, and scored a touchdown. He wasn't really used in the passing attack at all. He was getting most of the carries even before Jerious Norwood injured his ankle.
| RB Jerious Norwood, Rush: 6 - 39 - 0 |
Norwood looked very good until he injured his ankle. He was able to return but then aggravated it upon his return. Even before he got hurt, he was getting only about a quarter of the carries.
| RB Ovie Mughelli, Rush: 2 - 2 - 1 |
Mughelli had two carries for two yards and a touchdown.
| WR Joe Horn, Rec: 4 - 23 - 0 (4 targets) |
Horn had the surest hands of any Falcons receiver, but was only looked for on short routes. Three of his four catches went for first downs.
| WR Roddy White, Rec: 3 - 55 - 0 (8 targets) |
White kept on getting the ball thrown to him. But Harrington saw him and kind of chucked it somewhat in his direction on most attempts. The announcers of the game kept on talking about how explosive he could be, but neglected to add to it that he has to have the ball first. All three of his catches were for first downs, and he looked particularly good on a third and long catch over the middle, in which he had to fight for the extra yard, but got the first down.
| WR Michael Jenkins, Rec: 2 - 31 - 0 (5 targets) |
Jenkins was looked to often in the second half (four of five targets) but was unable to make anything happen. He just did not get open consistently.
| WR Laurent Robinson, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (3 targets) |
Robinson caught one ball; it was just short of a first down. With Alge Crumpler out, there was opportunity for him to stretch the field a bit, but since Dunn was running the ball well, and Harrington was throwing badly, there was nothing there for him.
| TE Dwayne Blakley, Rec: 2 - 10 - 0 (2 targets) |
Blakley caught both balls thrown his way, but was primarily used as a blocker.
| TE Martrez Milner, Rec: 2 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
Milner caught both balls thrown his way, but was primarily used as a blocker.
| TE Alge Crumpler |
Crumpler was inactive due to injury (knee/ankle).
| PK Morten Andersen 2 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points |
Andersen was effective on two short field goals.
| ATL Rush Defense |
The Falcons were never dominant on defense, but held the running game just enough to force the 49ers to throw.
| ATL Pass Defense |
The secondary covered the receivers well, making it a tough day for Alex Smith. In the second half, they were finally able to pressure Smith into a few mistakes, which they capitalized on.
