From: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com (Bob Marshall)
Subject: 49er/Patriots
Reply-To: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 92 20:32:51 GMT

Well, it wasn't as easy as it should have been, but the 49ers topped the
Patriots 24-12 in a very ugly game. The 49ers failed to put New England
away early, and then let them actually take the lead for the first time
this season. Early in the fourth quarter the 49ers were in a lot of
trouble, trailing 12-10. They got a big break when Young threw a floater
out in the flat, and Maurice Hurst cut in front of Waters for a sure
interception and TD, but he boxed the ball to the ground. Later on the
same drive, the 49ers were facing third and five from about the 40.
But Young scrambled for a big first down, and the 49ers moved on down
the field for the go-ahead touchdown. From then on things returned to
normal, with the Pats looking utterly helpless, and the 49ers hitting
on all cylinders.

All of New England's points came after special teams mistakes. Ron Lewis
fumbled once on a punt return, leading to a FG by New England late in
the 1st half (their first points of the season in the first half!).
Then Klaus Wilmsmeyer muffed a low snap, then ran with the ball even
though it looked like he had time to kick it. Fortunately the Pats
could only muster a field goal out of the opportunity. The last screw-up
came when Lewis dropped a punt after calling for a fair catch. It wasn't
really his fault, since a New England player hit him as he was trying to
catch the ball, but for whatever reason no flag was thrown; the only
explanation was that the defender was blocked into Lewis, but it sure
looked like a flag should have been thrown. (By the way, after the two
fumbles by Lewis, who just returned from IR, I noticed that Don Griffin
returned punts in the fourth quarter). The Pats took advantage of
the break to move downfield for a TD on another questionable call. Ron
Coates made a diving catch at the back of the end zone, landing right at
the chalk line. It easily could have been called either way, but after
careful scrutiny of the replay in slo-mo it appears the officials made
the correct call.

Steve Young was once again the hero with several big runs late in the
game. Ricky Watters also had another big day, gaining 105 yards on the
ground, plus a lot more through the air. He also had two TDs. Jerry Rice
had the other TD on a great catch-and-run play; a textbook example of
downfield blocking and running behind blockers. Rice caught the ball
over the middle running across the field, turned and ran back the
opposite direction, waited for his blockers to pass him and get in
front of him, then coasted to the end zone down the sideline as the
blockers sealed off perfectly.

The defensive line played a pretty good game, with four sacks. The 49ers
also blitzed a lot, which did not result in any sacks, but which forced
numerous hurried passes. I'd like to see a lot more of that.

Lots of stupid penalties by the 49ers again. I don't remember any holding
penalties, but they had tripping, clipping, pass interference, false
starts, illegal blocks, etc. Particularly galling was a chintzy face-mask
call on Dennis Brown on a sack inside the Pats ten-yard line. Instead of
forcing a punt inside the 10, the Pats got another chance and moved the
ball out to the 40.

To make the game even uglier to watch, we got James Brown and John
Robinson as announcers. Boy, were they bad!

Cofer watch : Missed a 51-yarder (kicked it straight, but short), made
a 36-yarder. As much flack as he has taken, he is now 9-14 on FGs, and
leads the conference in scoring.

I can't really think of any other 49er players deserving of mention.
Tim Harris had a pretty good game, even though his knee was very sore.
Brent Jones made a few nice catches. I guess the entire secondary deserves
credit for shutting down Irving Fryar.

Looks like this "easy" part of the 49ers schedule is not going to be
as easy as it appeared to be.

=============================================================================
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
=============================================================================