Four Turnover Doom the 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers lost last night to the New Orleans Saints 25-22 on a last second field goal. The 49ers lost this game by turning over the ball four times, including three turnovers on the Saints side of the field. Two of those turnovers were horrendous, a muffed punt and a terrible Alex Smith throw. You're not beating any team by turning over the ball four times, not even against bad teams. While the four turnovers doomed the 49ers, there were some positives from this game.

- I have to give Alex Smith his due. He was impressive last night. He did throw two interceptions, one which was a particularly ugly throw, one of them wasn't his fault as the ball was tipped. Smith are particularly strong in the 2nd half, driving the 49ers down the field for two touchdowns completing passes that I didn't think he had in him. On the last drive, Smith made my jaw hit the floor. Without any timeouts, Smith drove the team down the field working the sidelines and running for a couple of first downs. I'm still very skeptical of Smith and have doubts that he could have an entire season like this impressive, he was effective last night.

- After looking terrible during the first week, Frank Gore reminded everybody last night that he is the entire offense for the 49ers. (Just my luck I sat Frank Gore on my fantasy team this week. Luckily I still won.) Gore rushed for over 100 yards and caught seven passes for 56 yards and scoring two touchdowns. The 49ers will only go as far as Frank Gore takes them.



- Besides that one bad snap by David Baas, the 49ers offensive line impressed me the most last night. This is a line that is without their starting center, Baas is filling in at that spot, and they have two rookies starting. The line cleared holes for Gore to run through and didn't give up one sack last night and only two quarterback hits.

- The defense finally remembered they're one of the best defenses in the NFL. They only gave up 287 total yards to one of the best maybe the best offense in the NFL. The defense also got after Drew Brees pressuring him all night forcing Brees out of the pocket and sacking Brees twice. The 49ers will need this same effort from the defense on Sunday in Kansas City.

Issues That Worry Me
- While Gore is the most important player on the offense, he needs a break every once in a while. The 49ers brought in Brian Westbrook to relieve Gore and he's only seen the field once in two games. Same goes with rookie running back Anthony Dixon. The 49ers will wear out Gore at this pace, he's had injury issues in the past, if they don't give him a break every once in a while.

- Alex Smith portraying Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Blind squirrels can find nuts every once in a while and Alex Smith can have a good game every once in a while. I still remember that game in Seattle during Smith's second season where he torched a Seahawks team that was going to the playoffs year after year under Mike Holmgren. So he's capable of having games like that last night, but he's still too inconsistent.

- The upcoming schedule scares me. The 49ers have back-to-back road games against Kansas City and Atlanta and come back home for a Sunday night game against Philadelphia. This team could easily be 0-5 after the Philly game. I still think the 49ers are capable of winning those games, but they still worry me.