From: marshall@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com (Bob Marshall)
Subject: 49ers/Redskins
Reply-To: marshall@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 02:41:17 GMT

The 49ers beat the Redskins Sunday in a very entertaining game. Mike Cofer
kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired to give the 49ers a 17-15
victory. Cofer had missed two earlier field goals (41- and 47-yarders),
but in his defense I thought that both of the snaps on the misses were
poor and his timing was thrown off.

Steve Young started for 49ers and looked pretty sharp at times, but
the bottom line is that the 49ers did not score with Young at the
helm. At halftime the score was 12-0. Young was sacked for a safety,
although in his defense he probably would have escaped if not for
a flagrant face mask violation that caused him to get disoriented
in the end zone (the officials somehow missed it).

Steve Bono took over to start the second half, and in his first two 
possessions he took the 49ers on long scoring drives, the first ending 
in a touchdown pass to Rickey Watters, and the second ending in a beautiful 
pass to Troy Kyles. Kyles was probably the star of the game, along with
Bono, catching four passes in the second half. He's looked good in the
last two games, but he probably is a long shot to make the team, what
with Rice, Taylor, Sherrard, and Lewis all in front of him. Lewis also
had a good game, especially on a perfectly run hook-and-go pattern on
which he broke free by ten yards only to have Bono overthrow him when
he was wide open with only yard markers between him and the goal line.

The winning drive started on about the 49ers 20-yard line. It was a
vintage Montana-style drive led by Bono, mixing short passes to the
backs with passes to his wide receivers. The drive stalled on the
Redskins' 31-yard line, and Cofer came in and split the uprights,
although it appeared that the ball barely cleared the crossbar. The
commentators had predicted that the 49ers would bring in Robbie Keen
to try the kick, but apparently the 49ers decided it would be a real
confidence-builder if Cofer could make the kick (although it would have
been a real confidence-destroyer had he missed it).

Amp Lee started at running back but only had one impressive run of
ten yards, and no receptions. Watters started the second half and was
much more impressive. Surprisingly the 49ers threw the ball much more
than one would have expected.

On the down side, the 49ers' secondary played a rather poor game, although
there were some terrific hits by Merton Hanks (usually too late, but
still a lot of fun to watch). Dana Hall has still done nothing to
particularly impress me, but on the other hand he hasn't really made
any glaring mistakes. Don Griffin looked good on occasion. Also, the
punts continue to be very short; I don't think one punt went over 35
yards. At least the punts were fairly high and the coverage was fairly
good. Kickoff coverage was better than average. Mark Logan looked pretty
good returning kickoffs; nothing flashy, just banging the ball straight
up the middle for pretty good yardage. As for punt returns, Ron Lewis
misjudged a fair catch and almost ended up muffing it (he tried to catch
it and ended up not even touching it, and the ball was downed on the
four-yard line), and on another try was tripped up on an ankle-tackle
by the punt snapper.

The 49ers survived a big scare on the last play of the 1st half. With
three seconds left Young threw a long pass down the sidelines which was
tipped in the air. John Taylor attempted to pick the ball out of the
air and as he did so his knee collided with a Redskins' defender at
an awkward angle. Taylor went down in a heap immediately grasping his
knee. It looked awful at the time, but Taylor ultimately got up, refused
assistance and limped off the field under his own power. He had his knee
in ice during the second half, but by the end of the game the ice was
gone and he appeared to be OK.

All in all a very good preseason game, although someone needs to teach
the Europeans how to run a clock. In both this game and the Dolphins
game in Berlin the clock operators continually forgot to stop the clock
on dead balls (like out-of-bounds plays).

Looks like a terrific quarterback controversy is brewing. Do the 49ers
go with a gimpy, rusty Montana? Or do they go with the athletic and
talented Young, who looks great but fails to put points on the board?
Or do they go with the fans' choice, Steve Bono, who simply gets the
job done one way or the other? At this point, the logical choice is
Bono, but logic does not always prevail (cf: Dexter Carter).

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Bob Marshall                     \\     "It ain't age
Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.     \\     That makes me look this way
Sunnyvale, CA                      \\    It ain't the years, boys,
marshall@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com\\   It's the miles"
"I tell the truth 'cept when I lie"  \\     - Chris LeDoux
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Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA