Recap of Week 2 performances

Frank Gore did something Sunday that only Hall of Famer Barry Sanders has done. That’s some pretty good company.

 

Gore scored on running plays of 79 and 80 yards. Only Sanders has scored on TD runs of 75 yards or more in the same game in the history of the NFL. What made it even more special is that the 49ers needed those two plays for their 23-10 victory over the Seahawks.

 

 

And, obviously, Gore received a lot of help to get into the end zone:

 

First quarter, first-and-10 from SF 21

This is a power counter play, and everyone did his job.

TE Vernon Davis lines up on the right side, and while everybody else is blocking down, his job is to hold up SS Deon Grant on the outside. He does not let Curry get off his block, and Curry is never a factor on the play.

RT Adam Snyder blocks down on DT Red Bryant and completely rides him out of the play.

RG Chilo Rachal easily handles MLB David Hawthorne, who lined up in the A gap between the guard and center.

C Eric Heitmann pushes DT Colin Cole into the backfield while Gore is going the other way.

LG David Baas’ block is the key on this power counter. He pulls and gets a block on Lawrence Jackson to create the opening.

LT Joe Staley makes the adjustment to handle DE Darryl Tapp, who moved outside Staley before the snap to inside him at the last second.

SE Josh Morgan goes in motion from right to left. He comes set behind Baas and Staley and then works 10 yards down the field to block CB Josh Wilson.

FL Isaac Bruce lines up on the left side and ties up CB Ken Lucas long enough to make it impossible for him to catch Gore down the field.

FB Moran Norris lines up in front of Gore in the off-set I formation. He follows Baas’ left hip and chips Jackson, who’s engaged with Baas, and then gets OLB Aaron Curry, too.

Gore squeeze through the opening and uses umpire Darrell Jenkins as a shield to get past FS Jordan Babineaux. Gore then uses the video screen to know from where the pursuit was coming. He angled to the right and dove into the end zone.

Oh, yeah . . . QB Shaun Hill handed Gore the ball.

The touchdown gave the 49ers a 10-0 lead with 2:36 remaining in the quarter.

 

Third quarter, first-and-10 from SF 20

This run play is a zone-blocking scheme in which everybody is blocking their gaps and moving to the right. The play can go to the right side or Gore can cut it back to the left. That’s what he wisely did. Davis lines up outside right tackle Snyder. The receivers are split to the left side, but the slot receiver Morgan goes in motion to the right, stops and comes back to the left where he ends up just on the outside of Staley. There are 10 defenders within 7 yards of the line of scrimmage, and only three of them are on the left side. Everybody on the line blocks down, and Staley gets to the linebackers to make a big block on Hawthorne. Morgan made the block on the outside linebacker to create the seal on the left side. Patrick Kerney remains unblocked on the left side but Gore scoots right past him. Babineaux takes a poor angle in the secondary as he comes up on Gore, who runs past him. Fifteen yards downfield, Bruce gets enough of Lucas to prevent him from making a play. Gore takes it right down the left hashmarks always into the end zone to give the 49ers a 20-10 lead after just 11 seconds in the second half.

 

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Here’s the player-by-player review from the 49ers’ 23-10 victory over the Seahawks:

 

Quarterbacks

7-Nate Davis: Did not play. He is the team’s No. 3 QB.

11-Alex Smith: Did not play.

13-Shaun Hill: It was an unspectacular day. Hill just keeps winning. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 144 yards, but was sacked four times. He ran right into Patrick Kerney for the first sack;

 

Running backs

21-Frank Gore: He gained 207 yards and two touchdowns on 16 rushing attempts, and also caught all five passes thrown his way for 39 yards. He left game with 7:30 remaining after spraining right ankle on tackle by Will Herring.

24-Michael Robinson: Played on special teams and got a few snaps when Gore and Glen Coffee were nicked. He caught two passes for 4 yard. On special teams, he slowed up kick returner Deon Butler to help stop him at 12-yard line on fourth-quarter return.

29-Glen Coffee: His illegal block on a punt return wiped out Allen Rossum’s 75-yard TD; released nicely out of the backfield to catch short pass and come up with 11-yard gain. Finished with nine rushes for 13 yards and caught two passes for 16.

44-Moran Norris: He saw a lot of action, as the 49ers went primarily with their base offense that consist of a fullback. He actually got to touch the ball a little, as he gained career-long 15-yard on a counter play in the second quarter; made important 11-yard catch on third-and-10 when 49ers had ball at own 1. Carried twice for 16 yards, and caught three passes for 17.

 

Wide receivers

18-Micheal Spurlock: Entered twice at QB in the 49ers’ Taser offense. He fumbled the handoff to Gore on a third-and-5 and managed to get 3 yards; had Vernon Davis open for a first down on a third-and-22 but the former Ole Miss QB badly overthrew him out of the Taser formation;

81-Brandon Jones: Inactive. He fractured right shoulder blade on Aug. 6 and returned to practice last week.

83-Arnaz Battle: Was the No. 3 receiver, and caught just one pass for 1 yard.

84-Josh Morgan: Made back-to-back blocks on corner that enabled Gore to gain 9 and 13 yards; he did a nice job blocking but did not see a pass come him way.

88-Isaac Bruce: Made nice defensive player to bat down a would-be interception of Ken Lucas on deep pass; should’ve been able to catch ball that would’ve gone for at least 25 yards on a corner route in second quarter. He had a second drop on a short pass thrown behind him; kept fourth-quarter drive alive with two third-down catches.

89-Jason Hill: Inactive, coaches’ decision.

 

Tight ends

46-Delanie Walker: Made tackle on opening kickoff; had 23-yard reception wiped out by penalty;

85-Vernon Davis: Picked up 16 yards after the catch on 49ers’ second play of game (17-yard gain); made a juggling catch on a 15-yard gain on third down. Both of his catches came on first drive. Four other passes went his way but all were incomplete.

 

Offensive line

59-Cody Wallace: Inactive, coaches’ decision.

62-Chilo Rachal: Did a good job of preventing penetration through his gap. Very strong at the point of attack but did not always hold his block long enough.

64-David Baas: He had a much better game than in the opener, including big contributions on Gore’s TD runs.

65-Barry Sims: Saw action on field-goal team.

66-Eric Heitmann: Overall, a very good game despite a holding penalty that wiped out 23-yard pass to Walker.

68-Adam Snyder: He was better than last week, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Although he was working against Patrick Kerney, who recorded the first sack of the game, it wasn’t Snyder’s fault. Hill should’ve gotten rid of the ball and he ran right into the defender; also allowed Lawrence Jackson to work to his outside to strip Hill for a sack and fumble.

69-Tony Wragge: Saw action on special teams.

74-Joe Staley: He’s been the 49ers’ best offensive lineman in both of the first two games. Got nice kick-out block to help spring Norris for 15-yard run; recovered fumble after Hill fumble.

77-Tony Pashos: Played two possessions in first half and was beaten soundly around corner by Jackson for a 7-yard sack; also played on the 49ers’ 16-play drive in the second half; called for holding on run play to his side.

 

Defensive line

90-Isaac Sopoaga: Played very stout at the line of scrimmage, and was credited with two tackles.

91-Ray McDonald: Had rookie RG Max Unger on rollerskates to sack Hasselbeck on third play of the game.

92-Aubrayo Franklin: Nice play to sniff out screen and work down the line to throw Julius Jones for 5-yard loss in second quarter; got a little pressure on Hasselbeck up middle to force him to scramble at run out of bounds after 2 yards. Recorded three tackles.

93-Demetric Evans: Saw about 10 snaps on defense, and also played on special  teams.

94-Justin Smith: The pass rush wasn’t as dominant as a week ago. He made tackle of Julius Jones for 1-yard gain when the Seahawks were backed up; had a broken tackle of Justin Forsett that resulted in 13 extra yards on a screen pass.

95-Ricky Jean-Francois: Inactive, coaches’ decision.

96-Kentwan Balmer: He is showing signs of developing into a pretty good player. He saw a lot of action in the rotation and did not disappoint with four tackles including one for a loss.

 

Linebacker

51-Takeo Spikes: His blitz up middle on second play of game hurried Hasselbeck into incomplete pass. He was credited with five tackles.

52-Patrick Willis: Came up hard to force incomplete pass to Justin Griffith on third-down play; knocked Hasselbeck out of the game with hard hit at the goal line that prevented touchdown. He had five tackles.

53-Jeff Ulbrich: Did not play from scrimmage, but had an assisted tackle on special teams.

54-Marques Harris: Got Hasselbeck a tick too late as a pass-rusher off the left side in second quarter; played on the coverage units. Also made contribution with two tackles on special teams.

55-Ahmad Brooks: Inactive, underwent arthroscopic on left knee Aug. 31 to remove a bone fragment.

56-Scott McKillop: Did not play from scrimmage, but had two tackles on special teams.

98-Parys Haralson: His pressure from the outside forced Hasselbeck to step up and get sacked by McDonald; had a fourth-quarter offside penalty. It was a quiet game after he played so well in the opener.

99-Manny Lawson: Made nice play to string Julius Jones out on a sweep to the right, leading to a loss of yardage; he failed to pick up Jones out of the backfield on 1-yard TD pass at the end of the first half. Working against Jones, he narrow missed getting to Wallace on the pass that was intercepted. Showed his athletic ability to run down scrambling Wallace and hold him to 1-yard gain in the fourth quarter. He was credited with four tackles.

 

Defensive backs

22-Nate Clements: It was another physical Clements performance as he came up with six tackles and four passes defensed. He was ruled to get to the ball a split-second too early on pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for an 18-yard pass interference penalty; broke up pass to Nate Burleson down the field that resulted in Goldson’s interception. Upended Jones with a tackle on swing pass. Broke up fourth-down pass in end zone with 2:11 remaining.

23-Marcus Hudson: Inactive, coaches’ decision.

25-Tarell Brown: Made good play as gunner on punt coverage to hold up Justin Forsett until his ‘mates got there. He was not credited with a tackle but he helped corral Forsett on that play for a minus-1-yard return;

26-Mark Roman: Played in six-DB situations, and did a very nice job with some sure-tackling. Roman had five tackles. He came up to make a nice tackle on Burleson to keep him inbounds late in the fourth.

28-Curtis Taylor: Inactive, coaches’ decision.

30-Reggie Smith: Saw action as a gunner on punt coverage and had one assisted tackle after being inactive for Week 1.

31-Dre’ Bly: Made a nice contribution out of the slot, breaking up one pass with a hard hit on Houshmandzadeh;

32-Michael Lewis: Came up aggressively in run support to run Julius Jones out of bounds for 2-yard loss in first quarter. He had a team-high nine tackles, mostly in run support. But one tackle came after he surrendered a pass down the field.

36-Shawntae Spencer: Was all over fade route to Houshmandzadeh on third-down pass in end zone to force a Seattle FG; did another good job on Housh on another deep route later in game.

38-Dashon Goldson: Made a quick adjustment from thinking about a big hit to catching a deflected pass for a third-quarter interception. Added three tackles.

 

Special teams

4-Andy Lee: Used his rugby-style kick to drop 41-yard punt at the Seattle 4; He averaged 46.8 yards (40.2 net) on six punts.

6-Joe Nedney: Made field goals of 37, 42 and 39 yards.

20-Allen Rossum: Had a 75-yard punt return for a TD nullified. He averaged 7 yards on five punt returns, and had one 20-yard kickoff return.

86-Brian Jennings: Handled all the long-snapping duties. And he hustled down field to assist on two tackles.

 

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Practice squad

T Alex Boone: A project, the rookie from Ohio State needs to work on his footwork during pass protection.

LB Diyral Briggs: Made it past the 53-man cut, but was released when club signed Pashos.

WR Dobson Collins: The rookie from Gardner-Webb mimics the opponent’s top receiver in practice.

TE Joe Jon Finley: Won the practice-squad job over draft pick Bear Pascoe.

FB Brit Miller: The converted linebacker showed enough promise to stick around.

OL Drew Radovich: Among the Vikings’ final cuts, he was added to the 49ers’ practice squad Sept. 9.

RB Kory Sheets: Explosive runner was among the final cuts.

WR Dominique Zeigler: Has not practiced during the first two weeks because of an ankle sprain.

 

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Unsigned

WR Michael Crabtree: The No. 10 overall draft pick remains in a contract impasse that reached its 55th day on Sunday.

 

Injured reserve

CB Walt Harris: Sustained torn ACL in right knee during organized team activities on May 19. Harris, 35, is not under contract to the 49ers next season, but he said he plans to rehab and play again.

RB Thomas Clayton: He sustained a torn ACL in right knee in the 49ers’ exhibition opener Aug. 14 against the Broncos.

 

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