49ers’ Gore shines in loss

By Eric Krupka  |   Tuesday, September 09, 2008  |  Comments( 12 )

 San Francisco 49ers
Last weekend, the San Francisco 49ers opened up the regular season against NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals for the third consecutive year. Unfortunately for San Francisco, for the second time, it's 0-1 to start the season. This time, the offense was to blame for a 23-13 defeat. Quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan’s first NFL start was nothing to...
What's the buzz about?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!

CommentsComments: 12
 No.1
Jedi		 12:10 PM
09/09/2008
Nice article Eric. One correction though. The 49ers beat the Cardinals last year on a last minute drive by Alex Smith. (they also swept the Cardinals last year.) If memory serves me, the 'Niners started the season last year 2-0.

Sundays loss was pretty simple. If you give the ball to the other team 5 times, expect to lose, and lose badly. In my opinion, a blow out is losing to any team by over 14 points. Losing the game by 10 points, shows how good the 49ers defense was Sunday. The Cardinals offense had 5 additional chances to score, and the 49ers held them to only 23 points! The defense was playing most of the game near or under the shadow of their own goal post... I was impressed to say the least.

The offense, however, was not as stout as the defense. Frank Gore and the offensive line worked well getting good rushing opportunities, but the offense gave up the ball 4 times. (3 times that really meant anything.) The passing attack showed flashes, but suprisingly reminded me of "pre-season." Unfortunately it was the first two pre-season games, in which the 49ers were quick to turn the ball over under O'Sullivan. The receivers looked pretty good. Bryant Johnson seemed to work well with the offense, making some good catches. Issac Bruce didn't get many looks during the day. In fact, Battle seemed to be in sync more than Bruce.

The one aspect of the game that seemed to be a strength last year, cost the 49ers... Special Teams. The punting and return coverage was abysmal. The Cardinals seemed to start from their own 40 or better for most of the game. Toss in a few turnovers and penalties, and... well let's just say, the coaches have alot of film to go over and lots of errors to correct.

There's always next week...
Avatar
 No.2
RedskinFan21ST		 09:58 PM
09/09/2008
Martz isn't stupid. He might not like to run the ball but he knows that the best player on the offensive side of the ball is Frank Gore. I don't know what many people expected from JTO esp. in Martz offense when he's going to throw the ball at least 30 times a game. There's going to be a lot of sloppy play from the QB position, whomever it may be.
 No.3
EastCoast9er		 12:38 PM
09/10/2008
I did not expect much from JTO's first time out there like that.
What I do expect is for him to step up more each game and get better...the same standard I had held Alex to.

Alex let us all down...I can only hope that JTO does not. 1 game is not a trend. If he does nto improve this next week against a very weakened Seahawks though I will start to wonder where we look next year for our new QB...and who will be doing the looking for us as our new coach.
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.