49ers' Pro Bowl summary: Third quarter

This is the first time I’ve watched the Pro Bowl from start to finish, and it might be the last. This is absolutely dreadful.

But I promised to chronicle the exploits of the 49ers’ players, so I’ll continue . . .

The third quarter concluded with the AFC leading 34-31. Here is how the 49ers’ representatives fared in the third quarter of the Pro Bowl:

TE Vernon Davis: The Pro Bowl has not always been kind to the 49ers. In the early 1990s, Brent Jones sustained a broken foot. Three years ago, cornerback Walt Harris broke his hand. The scary play of the night for 49ers fans involved Davis. He was blocking on WR screen pass to Roddy White. Davis was engaged with cornerback Darrelle Revis when 340-pound nose tackle Haloti Ngata pursued the play to make the tackle of White. But in the process, he rolled up Davis from behind. When Davis returned to the huddle, quarterback Tony Romo asked him, “Are you all right?” And on next play, Davis caught a 22-yard pass. I think that meant he was all right. . . . On the second play of the third quarter, Davis deserves an assist on a TD. He pushed James Harrison out of the way on a bubble screen to open the door for DeSean Jackson to take a pass from Donovan McNabb and turn it into a 58-yard touchdown.

RB Frank Gore: He did not play in the third quarter.

P Andy Lee: Had his second punt of the game. It wasn’t a great one. It went 36 yards, where it hit the back of Leonard Weaver, who was running down to cover it. The AFC took over at their own 20.

DL Justin Smith: The AFC got inside the 10-yard line when Smith made a couple plays. He stopped Ray Rice for no gain as he tried to cut back after initially taking the handoff to the right side. Then on a third-and-goal from the NFC 8-yard line, Smith recorded a sack of a scrambling David Garrard. That opened the door for ESPN analyst Jon Gruden to talk about Smith, who is making his first Pro Bowl appearance. “Justin Smith is a heck of a player,” Gruden said. “He just doesn’t have the flashy numbers a lot of people have. But when you grade effort and you grade production, you like Justin Smith. You like everything about him. He plays 3-technique, nose guard, right end, left end. He’ll even cover kicks if he has to. You’d love to have him on your football team. Glad to see him in a Pro Bowl.”

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