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Anquan Boldin of the San Francisco 49ers hauls down one of his two touchdowns against the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football.
This was a HUGE win for the San Francisco 49ers who went into Washington and put the beat down on Shane Falco’s team 27-6. ESPN put up a graphic after the game showing the percentage of teams who make the playoffs at 6-5 vs those who make it at 7-4. 6-5 teams make it less than 50% of the time where 7-4 teams make it almost 75% of the time.
That’s just how big that win was for the 49ers in what has become a tightly contested playoff race with the Arizona Cardinals. The 49ers won the game with excellent defense and very solid showing from their offense.
The special teams and defense gave the 49ers offense a lot of short fields to work with, but the offense did a much better job of capitalizing on their chances.
Here are the three topics I wrote about last week as the keys to a Niner Victory:
The Front Seven of the San Francisco 49ers vs. RGIII and company
The 49ers front seven were absolutely on fire. Ahmad Brooks has been a man possessed this season playing the best football I have ever seen him play. He has always been a solid pass rusher, but his much improved run defense has made this 49ers linebacking group the unquestioned best in the league.
The number one rushing attack in the NFL was held to 100 yards on the ground for the game. I also must say that it is very rare that two elite inside linebackers get to play together in the NFL. The 3-4 defense has made a relatively recent resurgence into the NFL, and the 49ers have found the two best interior linebackers for it.
Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman were all over the field yesterday. They are so much fun to watch play together. Aldon Smith also had a very promising game with two sacks as he slowly returns to his 2012 form.
Anquan Boldin vs. Deangelo Hall
Anquan Boldin was finally allowed to make plays this game. Deangelo Hall spent most of his time on Vernon Davis and the defense paid dearly because of it. Boldin finished with 5 catches for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns.
This is the first time in a while that I have seen the 49ers just throw the ball at Boldin and let him make a play. In a 0-0 game in the first quarter on a big 3rd down the 49ers finally listened to me and just said, “eff it, throw it up to Boldin.”
The throw wasn’t perfect, but Boldin is excellent at playing the ball in the air. The very next play he ran an excellent route and Colin Kaepernick threw a strike for the Niners first score of the game and the lead. When the 49ers needed big plays they looked Boldin’s way( and picked on Josh Wilson) and because of that, had an effective passing game for the first time in three weeks.
Colin Kaepernick
When I wrote this article on Saturday I wrote that Kaep was in a bad spot mentally. He did a good job of beginning to work his way out of it. The Washington Redskins’ poor- pass defense definitely helped as Kaep threw for 235 yards and 3 scores.
What I really liked was that Kaep used his legs to create plays for the 49ers. Kaep doesn’t need to rush for a hundred yards, but he does need to extend plays and pick up first downs because of them.
In the 3rd quarter of a 10-6 game the 49ers were knocking on the door. Another field goal would have kept it just a one- score game. On first and goal from the 6-yard line, Kaep dropped back for a pass.
With nothing open he scrambled to his right, kept the play alive by resetting his feet and then fired a fastball to Anquan Boldin in the back of the end zone. That touchdown was a direct result of Kaep’s mobility.
Later in the game he picked up a 4th down as he scrambled and ran for it. Not a lot of yards on either play, but his legs helped to give the 49ers a better chance to win. We need to see more plays where he uses his legs to make defenses pay.
The 49ers have a big game next week at home against the St. Louis Rams. The 49ers have been disappointing at home this year and need to win there to continue to solidify themselves as a playoff team.
It looks their playoff road is leading to a final showdown against Arizona in Glendale.
The more they can win to finish out the year to give themselves a game or two lead will be big for them making the playoffs.
