49ers 42, Jaguars 10: Grades

Here are the grades for the 49ers’ 42-10 win over the Jaguars.

Quarterbacks: A. One of the best games ever by a quarterback who completed just 10 passes. Kaepernick scored three touchdowns, one passing and two rushing, and he averaged 10.2 yards per pass attempt and 9.3 yards per rush attempt. He made 10 breathtaking plays in the first half alone – designed runs, scrambles, pump fakes, passes on the run, accurate passes downfield. He also seemed to make every correct call at the line of scrimmage, all though the 49ers burned two timeouts in the first half because Kaepernick took too long. Colt McCoy played the 49ers’ final offensive series and completed one pass in the flat to Bruce Miller.

RUNNING BACKS: B+. Frank Gore scored two touchdowns for the second week in a row, something he’s never done before. But he averaged just 3.7 yards per carry and over the past two games he’s averaged only 3.2 yards per carry. Kendall Hunter had nine carries and two were great, one was a 41-yarder and the other was a 33-yarder. Both carries were outside runs, tosses, sweeps. He has a burst to turn the corner which Gore lacks. But Hunter was not successful between the tackles where he rushed 6 times for only 3 yards. Bruce Miller had a 43-yard catch-and-run on the second play of the game. He lined up at wide receiver and the Jaguars didn’t cover him, pretended he was still in the backfield or standing on the sideline. Miller’s best play was a 13-yard catch-and-break-a-tackle-and-run in the fourth quarter.

WIDE RECEIVERS: B-.  Anquan Boldin dropped one pass but he had a good game, four catches for 56 yards. Kyle Williams gained 10 yards on a fly sweep and then 7 yards on a short catch and seemed to be getting into a rhythm on offense, but he never touched the ball again.

TIGHT ENDS: B-. Vernon Davis has been great all season and he was great today, catching a 31-yard pass and scoring a touchdown in the red zone. Vance McDonald did a lot of blocking but he did not receive a single pass.

OFFENSIVE LINE: A. Gave up zero sacks, almost zero pressure and they created enormous running lanes on power off-tackle runs and toss plays.

DEFENSIVE LINE: C. Got zero sacks and almost zero pressure on Chad Henne, a statue. The 49ers’ D-line got very little penetration against a bad offensive line.

LINEBACKERS: A. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman and Ahmad Brooks and Dan Skuta were outstanding. Willis forced a fumble, had one tackle for a loss and six total tackles. Bowman knocked away one pass, had one tackle for a loss and 10 total tackles. Brooks had three tackles and one tackle for a loss. And Skuta had six tackles, one tackle for a loss, a fumble recovery and a touchdown. I’ve never typed so many stats for linebackers before.

SECONDARY: B. The safeties played better than the cornerbacks. Eric Reid had eight tackles and he batted away one pass. Donte Whitner knocked away a touchdown pass in the end zone in the fourth quarter. Tramaine Brock almost intercepted a pass but didn’t and then gave up a touchdown catch a couple of plays later. Tarell Brown gave up a few catches and he missed one tackle.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-. The 49ers forced the Jaguars to start three drives behind their 20 yard line, Anthony Dixon had a 47-yard kick return and Kyle Williams had a 22-yard punt return. On the other hand, the Niners gave up a 40-yard kick return and a 16-yard punt return.

COACHING: B+. This was the week for Greg Roman and the 49ers’ offensive staff to get new players involved. The 49ers did a good job of that, but they could have done better. Roman gave Kyle Williams four touches on offense in the first half and Williams started to seem comfortable on his third touch. That bodes well for the rest of the offense. Still, Williams could have used more targets. Roman gave Kendall Hunter nine carries, but Roman should have given Hunter more. Roman called eight runs and one pass for Gore after the Niners took a 28 point lead. Those touches should have gone to Hunter. Gore took shots he didn’t need to take and he fumbled once. One more thing – Roman should have called a few passing plays for Vance McDonald. Roman called none for the rookie second-round pick. This game was a perfect opportunity to build the young tight end’s confidence. He has six catches and no touchdowns this season.