San Francisco 49ers: The Good and The Bad From Sunday’s Win Against the Jaguars

Oct 27, 2013; London, UNITED KINGDOM; San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars during an International Series game at Wembley Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Martin-USA TODAY Sports

This game wasn’t really fair. From the beginning, everyone watching knew how the game was going to turn out. The San Francisco 49ers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in London to the tune of 42-10. No one expected the Jaguars to keep up with the 49ers, but after hearing: “This is the National Football League, anything can happen! Any given Sunday!” for the billionth time, you would expect Jacksonville to put up some sort of fight. This was more like a scrimmage with the 49ers going up against the scout team. Now I really don’t mean to be harsh, especially because the 49ers were in the same position not too long ago, but it is what is. I feel for Jacksonville and their fans and I believe better times are around the corner, but that game was bad. It even got stale for 49ers fans to watch. Surprisingly, the game against the Jaguars wasn’t perfect. There was still “the good and the bad.”

The Good

Pretty Much Everything

This is a case of everything was good, so nothing was good. You can take the performances of all the units with a grain of salt because it was against the Jaguars, but the 49ers performed very well in all phases. The offense executed with a good balance of run and pass. They ran down Jacksonville’s throat and scored four touchdowns and just moved the ball at will. When the Jaguars scored their only touchdown and created a sliver of hope, the offense drove down the field in a few plays and crushed that hope by scoring another touchdown.

The defense was more than stout. Besides a couple garbage time drives and a fumble by the offense, the defense effectively shut down Jacksonville’s offense. The Jaguars couldn’t run or pass. The defense also helped the offense by scoring a touchdown of their own. Now whether this was because the defense was great or the Jaguars are just bad is up to you decide. But when the defense was playing their hardest, The Jaguars couldn’t do anything.

The special teams coverage was good as always and they continue to be a step up from last year.

With the bye next week, the 49ers capped off their fifth straight win in exciting fashion. The team is clicking and is extremely hot going in to the bye. The 49ers have scored at least 30 points or more in five straight games and in all six of their wins. And with key players coming back very soon, the 49ers are the NFC’s hottest team and teams are dreading to see them next on their schedule.

The Bad

Yes I know I said above that pretty much everything was good. But like I’ve said before, perfect games are rare. Although, this game was as close as you could get to one without actually being one. There is still something holding the 49ers back from a perfect performance.

Kyle Williams

Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. I feel sorry for him. After fumbling away the 49ers chances at a Super Bowl in 2011 and then getting hurt midway through 2012, Williams has been struggling badly. Dropping passes, muffing punts, fumbling kickoffs and calling for fair catches are his contributions to the 49ers right now. He did all of these things in one game on Sunday. He was playing so badly that coach Jim Harbaugh put Anthony Dixon on kickoffs instead of Williams. With Mario Manningham coming back and LaMichael James hungry for a chance to play, Kyle Williams’ days as a 49er might be numbered. The 49ers need to make some space on their roster for all of the returning injured players and Williams might find himself out of a job very soon.

Pass Rush

This one is minor since the defense as a whole played great, but the 49ers defensive line could not muster one sack against the Jaguars’ offensive line. Fans shouldn’t panic too much about this, though, because they have been getting good pressure in most of their other games and this seems like an anomaly. But the 49ers should still hope to get Aldon Smith back as soon as possible, because every team could use one of the best pass rushers in the entire league.