Vs.
By Scary Barry Rodriguez September 22, 2013
Candlestick park, San Francisco - It was a warm day and a festive mood abounded at Candlestick park. The joyful fans expected their hometown heroes to bounce back from a dreadful loss to the Seattle Seahawks on the road. After all, this was the same Indianapolis Colts team that struggled to beat the Oakland Raiders in week two. Right !
Then like a low tech black and white Sci-fi thriller the Aliens came down to earth " body snatchers in San Francisco " and replaced the real San Francisco 49ers with a Zombie squad ! The home team was in a trance , rendered helpless by the power of the Aliens !
Now, back to reality ! For the third game in a row the Niners played sloppy football. Minus Vernon Davis , with stone handed receivers dropping passes, Colin Kaepernick , last season's superman couldn't hit the side of a barn with his passes. The running game couldn't keep the Colt defenders from savaging the 49er offensive line. The result was the " prevent offense ". That is to prevent the team from converting on third down and prevent the team from scoring !
Coach Jim Harbaugh and his genius coaching brain trust just couldn't solve the mystery known as the methodical Indianapolis Colts. On offense they ran on every first down and on defense they collapsed the pocket on poor befuddled Kaepernick. The Colts didn't exactly set the field on fire ! The Niners were just straight out pathetic !
The Niners did score on one well executed drive in the first quarter . Kendall Hunter ran the ball in for the lone 49er touchdown. The rest of the game consisted of the San Francisco failing to convert on third down and the Colts offensive line pushing around the Niner defensive front , while their runners took time off the game clock.
The scored at halftime was 10-7 in favor of Indianapolis. The 49ers received the kickoff to start the second half but could do nothing. From this point on Indianapolis went on to score seventeen points while grinding down the the Niner defensive unit . It was a game of attrition ! Despite having the opportunities , the 49er offense just couldn't give their tired defensive unit a break !
The short passing game with the use of running backs and tight ends as receiver was tried. Nothing produced points. Late in the third quarter and throughout the fourth , the defense was hindered by costly penalties. This game seemed a rerun of the bygone days of coaches Mike Nolan and " Iron Mike " Singletary . It was that bad ! Andy Lee was busy punting seven times. Andrew Luck was 18/27 for 164 yards. Very humble statistics but he didn't turn over the ball ! The Colts amassed 179 yards on the ground. Trent Richardson was more a decoy than anything else. Bradshaw took most of the carries. Even though the Niners knew what was coming on every first down the defense couldn't stop the chunks of yards.
For the second game in a row Colin Kaepernick seemed lost ! He didn't step up and get what he could ! He was tentative. I have no idea what the 49er game plan was. The post game media commentary will say how the Colts shut down the " read option " offense. The execution and selection of the plays was terrible. Uninformed persons think the " read option " is just about running. Wasn't Alex Smith , now with the Kansas City Chiefs criticized for the short passing game ! Where was the long ball ! The average yardage gained on Niner pass plays was under five yards !
This game represented a step back for Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers. It they want to be considered legitimate Super Bowl contenders they 'll have to fix the problems and move forward. Last season raised the expectations of all the Bay area fans. How easy is it to forget the dreadful reign of coaches Erickson, Nolan and Singletary. Its okay if coach Harbaugh makes like the hard man and stiffs the media if his team can win !
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