Each quarterback made one great play against the Texans, but overall the QBs did not play well like they did against the Vikings last week.
QUARTERBACKS: C-. Alex Smith made one brilliant play: On the first series of the game he faced third and five. He bought time by rolling to his right, he kept his eyes downfield looking for receivers and he threw an accurate pass as he took a hit. Ted Ginn Jr. caught it, and the Niners got the first down.
The rest of Smith’s night was shaky. He missed Randy Moss for a touchdown – Moss was wide open running down the middle of the field, but Smith didn’t see him, so he threw a short pass to Davis instead, which Davis dropped.
Colin Kaepernick’s best pass was incomplete. He threw a beautiful back-shoulder rocket to Randy Moss, but Moss dropped it. Kaepernick also rushed once for 12 yards, but he finished the game with a 56.6 QB rating and just 2.4 yards per attempt.
Josh Johnson played the best of the 49ers’ four quarterbacks. He finished with a 102.1 QB rating and 10.7 yards per attempt. His first pass was a perfect deep pass to A.J. Jenkins for a 32-yard gain. Johnson lofted the ball high in the air and it fell right over Jenkins’ shoulder and into his hands before the wide receiver ran out of bounds. Johnson is the only QB on the Niners with that combination of arm strength and touch. However, on the very next play Harbaugh called another deep pass to Jenkins and Johnson overthrew it.
Scott Tolzien completed a 7-yard pass to Anthony Dixon to convert a third-and-3, but other than that he did not play well. He finished with a 51.6 QB rating.
