Baltimore was behind much of the day, so they were passing at a high frequency.
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It was Hayne’s third fumble in his six regular-season National Football League games and he expects his coaches to drill him about it. “I was obviously devastated with the fumble”, Hayne told reporters after the 49ers staved off the Ravens to score a 25-20 victory on Sunday on their home field, Levi’s Stadium.
Smith, who signed a five-year, $40 million contract with the 49ers in the offseason, scored on a 76-yard go-route from Colin Kaepernick on precisely the kind of play he was expected to provide. That 52-yarder was a career-long for Miller, who finished with three catches for 89 yards.
49ERS DEFENSE: NaVorro Bowman had 15 tackles and Michael Wilhoite had another 13, and these two have begun to find a defensive flow leading a unit that lost stars Patrick Willis, Justin Smith and Chris Borland to retirement during the offseason and pass-rusher Aldon Smith, now with the Raiders. He’s shown some breakaway speed the past few weeks and could be the next guy up for the 49ers, particularly if teams start locking down on Smith and Boldin.
The 49ers needed to win Sunday with no collateral damage to their confidence by, say, eking out a lucky win despite a bad game plan or inconsistent playmaking.
“We talked about it and were laughing about it”, Brown said. “We aren’t in any position to even think about doing that with our record”. Three plays before his touchdown pass, Kaepernick fired a 51-yard pass to Boldin, giving the 49ers a first down at the Baltimore 28.
“Definitely I feel the team looks to me as one of the guys that needs to make a play, to step up, ” Boldin said. “We have a tough defense coming in here Thursday, so we have to get our mind right for that one”. “We wanted to get the ball out of Kap’s hands and take advantage of plays one-on-one”, said Boldin, who made a 51-catch created by Kaepernick outside the pocket. We weren’t able to do that. “That’s fine, but at the end of the day we have to believe in ourselves and as a team we’ve got to know what we’re worth”.
The 49ers snapped their four-game losing streak Sunday and in the process, might have snapped back to life. “You understand what’s at stake”, wide receiver Torrey Smith said.
Hayne was also at fault for not blocking a pass rusher when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was sacked in the second quarter.
Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco was flummoxed through most of the game by the 49ers’ coverages. Since throwing four interceptions in a 47-7 loss to Arizona, Kaepernick was picked off just once in the past three games. The 49ers quarterback passed for 340 yards on 16 passes for two touchdowns against zero interceptions. It was their longest connection of the season, albeit just a yard longer than a Week 2 hookup at Pittsburgh. The deep passing game made up for it in this one, as four receivers averaged at least 19 yards per catch. He wasn’t intercepted, and he posted a 128.2 passer rating, another season best.
By the standards of 2013, Sunday’s 25-20 49er victory over Baltimore would have left the audience flat.
“To be honest, my expectation of playing is very low”, Smith Sr. said Friday, via the Baltimore Ravens’ Twitter account. Do realize his work was achieved against a depleted Ravens secondary that was forced to start the recently cut 49er, Shareece Wright, at cornerback.
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“There’s no excuse”, Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith said. “I don’t see him bearing any weight”.
