The San Francisco 49ers offensively for the second straight week have not looked good this time against the Indianapolis Colts.
Colin Kaepernick got sacked three times, completed 13-27 of passes for 150 yards and, a fumble lost and an interception and it also didn’t help that tight end Vernon Davis missed the game due to a hamstring injury. Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman did make an emphasis of getting the run game going as the prior two games Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter struggled to find running lanes.
It worked well for the 49ers on their second possession of the game in which Gore had his two longest runs of the season and Hunter finishing off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7. Kaepernick also ran for a first down as well and the only throw was the first play of the series to Anquan Boldin for 14 yards.
A telling sign is that even though Roman wanted to run the football more it didn’t necessarily happen as in the first quarter Gore had six carries, yet finished the game with 11 carries. Hunter had three carries and his only other came in the third quarter.
Making it interesting that San Francisco primarily looked to throw even while only trailing by one score as the Colts in their first two games did not defend the run well. Their defense did a great job of not allowing receivers to get open, getting pressure and forcing him to make quick decisions whether or not to run the football and as a result he got sacked three times. With the lack of a rhythm on offense it meant that Andy Lee came into punt seven times.
This meant that the Colts won the time of possession battle with the 49ers defense on the field for much of the game and even late into the fourth it was still a one possession game before Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers picked up penalties.
Andrew Luck finished the game 18-27 throwing for 164 yards and got sacked once. Ahmad Bradshaw ran well with 19 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown and recently acquired Trent Richardson didn’t impress with 13 carries for 35 yards and he did manage a touchdown.
With the loss San Francisco fell to 1-2 and even more concerning is that Patrick Willis left the game with a groin injury and with a short week that’s a cause for concern, yet it’s also good that the team doesn’t have to dwell on what happened against the Colts.