San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Josh Morgan (84) catches a 24-yard touchdown in front of St. Louis Rams cornerback Justin King (31) and safety Oshiomogho Atogwe (21) in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in San Francisco, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The San Francisco 49ers might have played the most uninteresting 35-0 blowout in team history. Granted, it is always exciting to see the defense and special teams put up points, but somehow, it just seemed real slow. Well, that was the first half. The second half did get better for the 49ers and looking at their win as a whole, we know that the source of points doesn't always have to come from the offense.
"It's a total team win, without a doubt," said QB Shaun Hill. "The defense stepped up and got points. Special teams, if I'm not mistaken, made it 7-0. That's huge. Every unit is pitching in, even though offensively we didn't do as good as we would have liked to have done. The team came away with a 35-0 win, and that's all that matters."
And for Hill, it was important to take the momentum from the defense to get the offense going.
"Anytime you see your teammates out there doing great things, I think it feeds the whole team, the crowd, the fans. It was kind of a little quiet out there and a little bit, kind of lull there in the first half, and then finally we got it going, stuck with it. The crowd got into it. We got into it and started putting up some points and turning the game in our favor."
As Hill mentioned, the first score of the game came off of LB Scott McKillop's special teams fumble recovery in the end zone. McKillop reflects on his first career touchdown.
"Right place, right time, but protection covered, it bounced off of one of their gunners and I jumped on the ball, with a little help from Jeff Ulbrich in the pile, but it was an important way to start off. In the past couple weeks we haven't been performing as well on special teams as we'd like to, so that was one of the things that myself and my fellow special teamers took upon ourselves to perform a little bit better."
The 49ers finally got into the swing of things and would score two touchdowns in the second half. Despite playing the Rams, the 49ers did exactly what they needed to do to estbalish themselves as the team to beat in the division. TE Vernon Davis feels that the team has gotten better and is capable of winning more games down the stretch.
"I think that we will continue to beat teams. We just have to keep on plugging. Just like coach Singletary says 'don't be satisfied with just this win, at the end of the night, let's put it behind us and just get ready.' I believe that we have to the Falcons coming up, let's put behind and let's get ready for the Falcons, and keep it moving one game at a time."
The offense didn't get going until the second half and for the 49ers, that could be a troubling sign. Had the 49ers played another team and fallen behind, it might have been harder for them to get back into the game. But the defense and special teams did step up, making it easier for the 49ers. LB Patrick Willis believes that the defense can be Top 10 material. I talked with NT Aubrayo Franklin yesterday and says that the defense has Top 5 potential. The defense has formed itself to be the identity of the team.
The defense is still getting better and the offense is starting to find some consistency. But from what we can learn from last Sunday's game, the 49ers can score in many different ways-- a sign of a good football team.
When Mike Singletary was asked to assess the team's performance in the first quarter of the season, said that it has gone well.
"We just have to continue to focus on the goal at hand knowing that as we go forward, it's only going to get tougher. It's only going to get rougher and we have to make sure mentally we rise to that occasion, because it's going to be that way."
And after four games, it looks like the 49ers are going in the right direction.
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