This and that from the 49ers’ 40-21 victory over the Seahawks:
• Niners coach Mike Singletary termed Brian Westbrook’s slow transition into the offense a “blessing in the disguise.”
“I’m just thankful that we didn’t use Brian very much early on, and let him get acclimated, let him understand what we’re doing, the protections, and all those things,” Singletray said. “And now he has a better sense of what he can do, and we have a better sense for what he can do.”
Westbrook had six catches for 87 yards and his 62-yard touchdown catch
was the longest scoring reception of his nine-year career. Westbrook
leads all active running backs with 30 career TD receptions and his
8,885 yards from scrimmage since 2004 ranks fourth in the NFL.
Given his track record, perhaps it wasn’t surprising that Westbrook didn’t fully endorse Singletary’s assessment.
“I don’t know if it was a blessing in disguise,” Westbrook said. “It
was just a situation I was dealing with. Now that I’ve got my
opportunity, I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
Westbrook, 31, did say his body has never felt better in mid-December during his career.
• QB Alex Smith said he wasn’t surprised that he was booed. But he was
mildly stunned that catcalls greeted him after he began the game with
two straight incompletions.
“I was expecting, home game, knew if things got bad that I was going to
be prepared for that mentally,” he said. “Didn’t totally think it was
going to happen on the first two plays.”
Smith responded with a 22-yard completion to Vernon Davis on
third-and-10. Three plays later, he found Davis for a 42-yard touchdown
and a 7-0 lead.
“I think that set the tone,” Davis said of his 22-yard third-down catch.
“Once I got the big play, Josh (Morgan) looked at me and (Michael)
Crabtree looked at me and they were like ‘I’m next.'”
Actually, Crabtree (1 catch, 1 yards) wasn’t. But Morgan, who was held
without a catch against Green Bay, had three catches for a season-high
82 yards and scored his first TD since Week 3.
It was the second-most receiving yards of Morgan’s career. He had 86 yards against the Giants on Oct. 19, 2008.
• QB Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks burned the aggressive Niners secondary with double moves in their 31-6 season-opening win.
On Sunday, Hasselbeck burned San Francisco again on an 11-yard,
first-quarter TD to Ruvell Martin set up by a pump fake that fooled
safety Reggie Smith. But Hasselbeck says 49ers began backing off as
their lead expanded.
“Because of the score, I think they didn’t have to be as aggressive and
just played very soft,” Hasselbeck said. “They doubled one guy on the
left and one guy on the right pretty much most of the day on third
down.”
• The 49ers are 8-2 against NFC West opponents since 2009 and 5-14 against non-division foes.
On the road, they are 0-9 against non-division opponents the past two seasons.
This brings us to Thursday’s non-division game at San Diego (7-6), which
outgained the Chiefs 426-67 on Sunday in a 31-0 victory.
• After seven weeks off, Smith appeared to have plenty of energy.
He even tried throwing a downfield block on Seattle safety Earl Thomas
on Anthony Dixon’s 34-yard, first-quarter run. Smith whiffed.
“It was a good attempt,” he said. “But it didn’t help much.”
• Thursday’s game against the Chargers will mark Smith’s first
regular-season game in his hometown in his six-year career. Smith has
played in two exhibition games in San Diego.
• The Niners have 41 takeaways in their past 17 home games. They have 18 takeaways in their past 17 road games.
• Westbrook (87 receiving yards), Morgan (82) and Davis (70) became the
first trio of San Francisco teammates to post at least 70 receiving
yards since Sept. 9, 2001 (Terrell Owens, Tai Streets and J.J. Stokes).
• Smith threw for 195 yards and three TDs in the first half. It was the
most yards by a Niners QB in the first half since 2004 (Tim Rattay) and
the most first-half TDs since 2002 (Jeff Garcia).
• San Francisco scored its most points since a 50-14 win against Arizona on Dec. 7, 2003.
• Here’s the game story, notebook and report card.
I gave the Niners a “B” for coaching/overall on the version I e-mailed
to the office, but for some reason they got a “C” online. I’m really not
such a harsh grader.
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