49ers 27, Redskins 6: Grades

Here are the grades for the 49ers’ 27-6 win over the Redskins.

KAEPERNICK: B. He fumbled a snap, forced two passes into tight coverage and almost got intercepted both times, and converted just 29 percent of his third downs. That was not so good. But he did some good things – 134.5 passer rating, 3 touchdowns, no picks. In comparison to the opposing quarterback, Kaepernick looked like John Elway.

WIDE RECEIVERS: B+. The Redskins did not respect Boldin, did not double-cover him constantly, and Boldin made them pay – 5 catches, 94 yards, 2 touchdowns. The Redskins also allowed Mario Manningham to beat soft coverage four times for four short catches.

TIGHT ENDS: B. Vernon Davis caught a 40-yard pass and a touchdown pass. He also dropped a deep pass along the sideline and he fumbled. Vance McDonald caught the one pass Kaepernick threw to him, and McDonald gained 23 yards.

RUNNING BACKS: D. Frank Gore was terrible – 31 rushing yards on 13 carries. He has just 79 rushing yards on 26 carries the past two games. Kendall Hunter was much worse – 8 carries for 12 yards. Anthony Dixon had a 9-yard run and that was the 49ers’ longest run of the night.

OFFENSIVE LINE: C. They did not play well without Mike Iupati, did not consistently move the Redskins’ front-eight. They also gave up two sacks, but those sacks were Kaepernick’s fault.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B+. Aldon Smith was terrific– two sacks and four QB hits. And Glenn Dorsey, Justin Smith and Tony Jerod-Eddie shut down the Redskins’ running game in the second half, but they were giving up about 4 yards per carry in the first half before the Redskins failed to convert a fourth-and-2 in the third quarter when the game was still close.

LINEBACKERS: A-. Ahmad Brooks was dominant – two sacks, two QB hits and three tackles for losses. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman were very good in the second half, but they were just OK in the first half.

SECONDARY: B. They played soft coverage and gave up 17 catches. They seemed to want to keep everything in front of them, and so they didn’t give up any catches longer than 18 yards. But they did give up an 18-yard catch to Santana Moss on third-and-19.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A. LaMichael James was fantastic, averaging 26.5 yards per kick return and 14.4 yards per punt return. But the Redskins have the worst special teams in the league, so it’s tough to tell if James is becoming a good returner or if he just took advantage of bad kick coverage.

COACHING: B. At least these guys are better than Mike Shanahan’s bunch. These Redskins are as bad of Shanahan-coached team as there ever has been – terrible offensive design, and not much creativity on either side of the ball. It seems like Shanahan and his coaches have packed it in for the season and are waiting to get fired. Give the 49ers credit for not losing to that.

Still, the 49ers were beating this dreadful team just 10-6 in the third quarter. Three of those points came off a Redskins’ turnover – an interception by the Redskins’ awful quarterback. Overall, this offense couldn’t score enough points to put away one of the worst defenses in the league until the Redskins failed to convert a fourth-and-2 at the 49ers’ 41-yard line. After that, the Redskins seemed to give up.

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