49ers trounce Chargers, 41-6

By Gabe Schapiro

In the final preseason tune up before the regular season gets underway next week, the San Francisco 49ers (3-1) took it to the San Diego Chargers (1-3) last night, running away with a 41-6 victory. Despite several starters not suiting up, and several others only making brief appearances, all three facets of this 49ers squad were on display. Their offense punched in four touchdowns, their defense racked up four sacks and three interceptions, and their special teams unit had multiple nice returns and a blocked punt in the Chargers own endzone that went for another score. The overmatched Chargers managed just two field goals on the night.

Colin Kaepernick played for just the first series of the game, but made it count marching the offense down the field, culminating with a quick pass to rookie wideout Quinton Patton, who deked his man and ran it in for a 43-yard touchdown. Patton, who made his 49ers debut last week against the Vikings, had another strong outing, finishing with two receptions, 52 yards, and the touchdown.

After the opening series backup Colt McCoy took over and played into the third quarter. He wasted little time getting in on the onslaught, contributing a five-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dixon half way through the second quarter. On the night he completed eight of 15 passes for 56 yards, and the one touchdown.

Third string QB B.J. Daniels who has been opening eyes all preseason, took over late and did more of the same. He threw two touchdown passes five minutes apart to put a nail in the San Diego coffin, highlighted by a 45-yard touchdown grab by Lavelle Hawkins. Hawkins, who is still fighting for a roster spot on the teams muddled receiving corps, was the games leading receiver with four receptions for 62 yards and the touchdown. Daniels completed five of his nine passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns. He also flashed his running ability, with six carries for 54 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball linebacker Cam Johnson was the star, finishing with six tackles, two sacks, a blocked punt, and managed to recover the blocked punt in the endzone for a touchdown. FS Craig Dahl, LB Michael Wilhoite, and CB Tramaine Brock hauled in an interception each.

Maybe the only negative on the night for San Francisco was the injury of RB LeMichael James, who sustained a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He is expected to miss three-to-four weeks. With James out Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter will get the bulk of the carries. At punt and kick returner, the duties will likely go to one of WR Kyle Williams, CB Perrish Cox, or WR Quinton Patton.

All in all, the 49ers end their preseason schedule on a very high note, and look raring to go for the regular season opener next Sunday, September 8 at 1:25 PM against the always-tough Green Bay Packers at the friendly confines of Candlestick Park.

Preseason preview week 4, 49ers at Chargers

By Gabe Schapiro

In the final tune up for the regular season opener, the preseason schedule comes to a close this Thursday at 7pm when the San Francisco 49ers (2-1) face off against the San Diego Chargers (1-2) at Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers finished a disappointing 7-9 last season, a distant second place to the AFC West Champion Denver Broncos. As a result, they enter 2013 with a new general manager, Tom Telesco, and a new first time head coach, Mike McCoy. Their roster is headlined by many of the same key players, namely QB Phillip Rivers, TE Antonio Gates, and RB Ryan Mathews. There have been some changes, headlined by the acquisition of DE/OLB Dwight Freeney and their first two draft picks, OT D.J. Fluker and the controversial ILB Manti Te’o, but with Rivers and Gates declining, there chances of contending appear slim.

Last week San Francisco came away with a decisive 34-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Colin Kaepernick, who played through he first quarter, his longest action of the preseason, started off slow completing just one of his first six passes before settling in. He led an 11 play, 84-yard touchdown drive, culminating in a five yard touchdown pass to rookie Quinton Patton, who was making his 49ers debut. The game was also highlighted by an 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Lavelle Hawkins and a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter from Jewel Hampton and Anthony Dixon. The 49ers defense was stout once again, but did surrender their first two touchdowns of the preseason schedule.

With the regular season opener just a week and a half away, position battles are becoming clearer and the final roster is starting to take shape.

Prior to last weeks game veteran QB Seneca Wallace was signed to a one-year contract, adding to the competition for the backup job behind Kaepernick. In addition, yesterday it was announced that they had released Scott Tolzien, leaving Colt McCoy, B.J. Daniels, and now Wallace to fight it out. McCoy was unspectacular last week, completing 73% of his passes but also throwing an interception. Daniels and Wallace saw limited action late in the game, completing two-of-three and two-of-two passes respectively.

At wide receiver, Patton finally got onto the field, starting the game as the third receiver behind Anquan Boldin and Marlon Moore, and didn’t disappoint, hauling in a team high four receptions for 35 yards and a touchdown. Jon Baldwin made his debut following the trade last week that sent AJ Jenkins packing, finishing with two receptions for 23 yards. Best guess has Boldin, Moore, Kyle Williams, Patton, and Baldwin making the final roster, with a possible sixth wideout spot still being up for grabs.

On the defensive side of the ball, the picture looks pretty clear. During a press conference from defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, it was announced that rookie FS Eric Reid and DT Ian Williams would both be getting the nods to start the opener. They have both been the odds on favorites to start over Craig Dahl and Glenn Dorsey respectively, but this was the first official word. He also indicated that CB Nnamdi Asomugha has the edge for the third corner back spot, but is a little banged up which has prevented him from officially locking it up.

Following the upcoming game against the Chargers, it will finally be time for some regular season action. For San Francisco the journey starts on Sunday, September 8 at 1:25pm up against the tough Green Bay Packers, at Candlestick Park.

Preseason preview week 3, 49ers vs Vikings

By Gabe Schapiro

In the third game on the preseason schedule, this Sunday, August 25 at 5pm, the San Francisco 49ers (1-1) will be taking on the Minnesota Vikings (0-2) at Candlestick Park. Last season the Vikings went 10-6, clinching a wild card birth before being eliminated in the first round by their division rivals, the Green Bay Packers. This offseason the Vikings made several big moves to try and improve on what was a surprisingly successful season last year. The most note-worthy ws the trade of their star but at times controversial wideout Percy Harvin, the signing of Greg Jennings to replace him, and their impressive haul of three first round draft picks.

Last week the 49ers squeaked out a win against the Kansas City Chiefs, 15-13, predominantly thanks to the leg of new kicker Phil Dawson and the arm of rookie quarterback B.J. Daniels. Dawson went
three-for-three on field goal attempts, and Daniels led the 49ers on their only touchdown drive of the game on a 13-play drive in the fourth quarter. A seventh round pick out of South Florida, Daniels didn’t receive a single snap in the teams first preseason game against the Broncos, but turned some heads with his play last week. He is fighting for the backup job behind Colin Kaepernick with Colt McCoy and Scott Tolzien.

The new most note-worthy development as the roster begins to shake itself out with two preseason games remaining, was the announcement on Monday that A.J. Jenkins had been traded to the Chiefs in return for fellow receiver Jon Baldwin. In a classic change-of-scenery type move, both receivers are former first round picks who have struggled to make an impact since arriving in the NFL. Jenkins appeared in just three games last season and didn’t record a catch. He hadn’t been showing much so far this preseason, and so it appears that San Francisco finally decided to move on. Baldwin, a 26th overall pick from the 2011 draft, has played in 26 games over the last two seasons, hauling in 26 catches for 579 yards and two touchdowns.

Baldwin enters a still unclear picture at wide receiver for the 49ers, and last week failed to bring the situation into any kind of focus. For the second week in a row Anquan Boldin and Marlon Moore were the starters, but remained in the game for just the opening drive. Chad Hall was inserted against the Chiefs starting defense, finishing with two receptions for 39 yards, and a team high five targets. Austin Collie and Lavelle Hawkins were inserted into the game late, and finished with one catch for 11 yards and two catchers for 20 yards respectively. Undrafted rookie Chuck Jacobs had the one touchdown reception of the game late in the fourth quarter. Kyle Williams and Quinton Patton dressed for the pregame warm-ups, but did not play. As has been the case ever since Michael Crabtree went down, the receiving corp will continue to be possibly the biggest area to keep an eye on through these last two preseason games.

San Francisco’s defensive unit, however, seems to be as stout as ever. The team gave the Chiefs starting offense line fits, and finished the game with seven sacks. The battle at cornerback following the loss of Chris Culliver appears to be going well, with Parrish Cox, Tramaine Brock, and Nnamdi Asomugha all putting in solid outings last week. At free safety Craig Dahl started for the second straight week, but coach John Harbaugh said following the game rookie Eric Reid will be getting looks with the first team defense.

The third game of the preseason tends to be when the starters really start to see more playing time as they gear up for the regular season, so as always, keep an eye on these key position battles, and hope for good health.

Jury still out on Tolzien, McCoy or Daniels for number two quarterback spot

By David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The 49ers who completed their second pre season game on Friday night was an uneventful match in Kansas City although they did manage to win the game 15-13. As we saw in the first game this wasn’t much of a match up it was obviously the intrigue involved with former 49ers quarterback and now Chief Alex Smith facing the 49ers for the first time ever and seeing him in another uniform was certainly strange.

The 49ers are concerned from a roster stand point this wasn’t exactly a big deal of a game were not seeing a lot of competition and were not seeing the starters for all that long 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick only played one series and that series was uneventful it was highlighted by a big 50 plus yard run by running back Frank Gore. Kaepernick he looked so good in practice and in the first game there was really no reason to run.

There was no need having Kaepernick go onto the field and get hurt, the 49ers immediately shifted to back up mode partly because the back up quarterback situation is a little bit more tumultuous and the 49ers need to make a decision about the number two guy behind Kaepernick whether it’s going to be Scott Tolzien, Colt McCoy, or B.J. Daniels who the 49ers drafted this year. From that prospective it’s not sure if the 49ers got a whole lot of answers.

None of these guys really separated themselves from the field and they all had okay games but nothing particularly note worthy, you could see Tolzien was 3-8, McCoy was 3-6, Daniels probably had the best game going 6-9 for 72 yards including a little bit of scrambling 4-13. You have to note that he threw the only touchdown pass in the game. You have to note that Daniels was playing in the fourth quarter when they were going at third and fourth string guys or in other words players that won’t even make it to the NFL when the season starts.

Most of those guys might make it to the practice squad at that. Daniels had a good game and could see that and you could see the raw talent. The 49ers liked when they drafted him but he wasn’t only going against high quality opponents. McCoy and Tolzien were going to get slightly better and they had a little bit tougher time. The 49ers looked at their performance and said “oh boy we got to be a little concerned with how their playing, because none of these guys are separating themselves and making it obvious whose going to be the number two quarterback.

It’s a bit of a concern if Kaepernick gets hurt and if your comparing McCoy and Tolzien and the reason to separate Tolzien from McCoy is that McCoy has started about 20 games in his NFL career. So at least he has the experience being under center when it counts. Tolzien has been in the league for a couple of years and knows the 49ers system a little bit better because he’s been with the team for a couple of years but at the same time he’s never taken the field and that’s got to be a little bit of a concern you never know how a player is going to respond under pressure.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio