I Can't Take This - 49ers 17, Rams 16

All that matters is we won a division game on the road. But this team is going to kill me. Both games have come down to the wire. The "yes-no-yes-no" roller coaster is too much. Grab a drink and/or a smoke to steady your nerves and look for a link dump later this evening.

Let's move on to some notes from today's squeaker:
**Awesome to see 3 sacks on the first drive and 6 for the game. Bulger was getting smacked around with the pressure coming from everywhere - corner blitzes, up the gut, overload from each side. Truly a thing of beauty.
**Secondary continues to play like it's possessed. The confidence the group is playing with hasn't been seen since the days of Merton Hanks' Crazy Chicken Dance. If they keep this up, the paper thrown at Clements and Lewis is going to look like a bargain.
**Special teams were huge today. On a day that the offense looked absolutely pathetic (8 first downs?!!), our best weapon may have been this all-league unit.
**Frank Gore outplayed the Busta Rhymes lookalike on a day when his mind had to have been elsewhere. The third quarter TD run on 4th-and-1 was one for the ages. Breaking tackles, cutting back, and turning on the burners. Start compiling that '07 highlight reel with that jaunt.

This win was for Mama Gore

No one can deny that there are some serious problems with this team, mainly on the offensive side (i.e. play-calling, blocking, play-calling, Alex Smith, play-calling, and play-calling). But I'll push the more unpleasant critical analysis off to tomorrow. For now, enjoy the fact that the Niners are 2-0 for the first time since 1998 and (thanks to the Cards) alone atop the NFC West. This team has taken two division games that it probably would have folded and lost last year. And in-division games are extremely important for tie-breakers in what is sure to be a close division race when December rolls around. Hopefully we can keep collecting the Ws and stay in the thick of it. Now on to Three Rivers and a showdown of unbeatens. (Man, that sounds weird...)

Game Balls: Andy Lee and Nate Clements
Field position was critical all day in this scrappy defensive game. Lee helped make life miserable for the Lambs with his booming punts that pinned Bulger & Co. deep in their own territory. Clements led the secondary to another stellar game (despite all the yards given up) and may have saved the game with his forced fumble/touchback.