49ers bust Bills

by Otis Redding

Blogger, San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco 49ers came into the game this week with a solid gameplan. With coach Bob Winuvas only having been on the sideline of his opponent, the Buffalo Bills, a few weeks earlier, this meeting was bittersweet at best.

"Tough facing those guys that went to battle for me only a few weeks ago. Still have love for a lot of guys in that locker room," Coach Winuvas would say during his post-game press conference.

The game would start very quickly for the 49ers, as two plays after the opening kickoff, Colin Kaepernick would find Robert Woods on the outside on a curl route. Woods would break a tackle and scamper 71 yards for a quick 7-0 score.

The quick start for San Francisco would not end there, as on the Bills' second play from scrimmage, quarterback Parker Austin would find 49ers' cornerback Patrick Robinson for an interception. The 49ers would quickly push down the field and punch in a 1 yard Juwan Thompson run for a touchdown and a quick 14-0 lead.

The Bills would muster a good second drive, getting all the way down to the 1 yard line with 2nd and goal to go. The 49ers' defense would stand tall and fast though, and deny the Bills a touchdown. Buffalo would settle for a Dan Carpenter 19 yard field goal early in the second quarter and a 14-3 deficit.

Colin Kaepernick would make his first error of the game, throwing into tight man coverage, and Bills' cornerback Stephon Gilmore would intercept the pass. The 49ers defense would rally around their signal caller, though, and hold the Bills to a 34 yard Dan Carpenter field goal and a 14-6 score.

At the end of the first half, Colin Kaepernick would throw his second interception, this one on a tip drill play started by cornerback Stephon Gilmore and ending in the hands of safety Aaron Williams, who would run a 34 yard return before being tackled and ending the half.

"Thought Aaron (Williams) was taking that to the house, honestly," Coach Winuvas said of the end of half play. "Not Kaep's fault on that interception at all."

The Bills' first drive of the second half would end in a poorly thrown ball by Parker Austin into coverage high. Safety Jimmy Ward would be the recipient of the bad throw, and it would lead to a solid drive ending in a Robbie Gould 34 yard field goal.

The next drive for Buffalo would end similar to the last one, as Parker Austin again would find a 49ers' defender - this time linebacker Navorro Bowman - and end another Bills' drive.

The 49ers' quick strike mentality would hit again, as the second play of scrimmage would see a Branden Oliver toss called perfectly against a middle blitz by the Bills. Oliver would run untouched 37 yards for a 24-6 lead.

The defenses would stiffen up in the 4th quarter, but Buffalo would mount one final drive that would end in a Jerome Felton touchdown from 1 yard out with less than 2 minutes to play. A failed two-point conversion and onside kick, however, would end the rally.

For the 49ers, Colin Kaepernick was erratic at times, going 8 of 17 for only 142 yards and a touchdown to go with 2 interceptions. The running game was adequate, with Juwan Thompson getting 12 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown. Branden Oliver had 3 carries for 40 yards, including the 37 yard touchdown run. Receiver Robert Woods led in yardage for receivers (2/89/1 TD), but Torrey Smith was Kaepernick's favorite target, getting 4 balls for 32 yards. Defensively, linebacker Aaron Lynch had 5 tackles and a sack, while safety Jimmy Ward (3 tackles, INT), cornerback Patrick Robinson (3 tackles, INT), and linebacker Navorro Bowman (2 tackles, INT) also contributed on the score sheet.

For the Bills, Parker Austin had a rough game, going 16 of 28 for 195 yards but 3 interceptions. The run game was non-existent all day, with LeSean McCoy getting 15 carries for only 29 yards. The pass game was was led by receiver Sammy Watkins, who caught 4 passes for 65 yards. Defensively, cornerback Stephon Gilmore (2 tackles, INT) and safety Aaron Williams (tackle, INT) paced the Bills.

"We played solid today, but we need to work on cutting down turnovers, no matter how innocent they seem," Coach Winuvas said. "We'll work with Colin more as we go into the offseason, and hopefully a learning period for our playbook will do him good as we move on."

With the offseason a foregone conclusion, can the 49ers patch things up with a good draft and free agency? Or will the "same old 49ers" come back out next year? If so, it won't bode well for Coach Winuvas' job security.