The only saving grace was Gabbert’s 43-yard touchdown pass to tight end Vance McDonald, which was as much a result of poor tackling and effort than a good play by the 49ers. On the other side of the coin was a pair of fumbles, one of which was scooped up and returned for a touchdown while the other occurred inside Houston’s 5-yard line.
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He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in a 24-13 victory over the eventual NFC champions. Kaepernick couldn’t be thrown out there for his first live action of the preseason.
Kubiak started Sanchez in the preseason opener last week at Chicago but has not announced whether Sanchez or Siemian will start the preseason game this week against San Francisco. Gabbert had split first-team reps with Kaepernick through the first nine practices. In that year, both Marshawn Lynch and Alfred Morris saw their respective career high’s in yards per carry, and while Frank Gore’s wasn’t a career mark, he went from averaging 4.2 and 4.3 in the two previous seasons to almost five yards per carry in 2012. San Francisco had 409 yards of total offense while running Kelly’s quick-paced, no-huddle attack, but totaled just 107 in the second half. The Texans only had two kickoff returns and they average just over 20 yards a return, and in the punt return game, Ervin put the ball on the ground (recovered by the Texans) and Fuller made a decision to field a one hop punt that nearly got him murdered by overzealous 49er coverage team members. Week 7? I think that’s Kelly’s idea right now, anyway. “It’s nothing that’s a long-term thing”. In terms of tempo, I thought we did well.
The Raiders then cut Ponder as their backup, choosing Matt McGloin instead. Yeah, it’s really fun. Sometimes I don’t know where to start anymore. “It was just fun to get out there and let loose and wear the defense down”. Maybe he can argue he needs a few more possessions to get into a better rhythm.
Lewis was with the Eagles last season and is the only quarterback on the current roster with experience in Kelly’s offense. We’ll see a different defense, different coverages. “Made a lot of throws, especially coming back from three surgeries, so want to make sure that we’re staying ahead of things”. “But we are running downhill like you saw today”.
That being said, Gabbert’s 2-of-6 showing on Tuesday was far from impressive in what was also a sloppy session.
“It was fun to get out there and get our feet wet in this system”.
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And in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gabbert is put in bubble wrap after Saturday’s game-because what happens if HE gets hurt?
