San Francisco 49ers - Niners play well, lose to Colts, 18 to 14

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The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Indianapolis Colts 18 to 14 in a game that can be defined by one play: a halfback option pass from Colts running back Joseph Addai to Wide Receiver Reggie Wayne in the fourth quarter.



The play exemplified how well the Niners defense played, as they shut down the Colts running game and controlled the Peyton Manning-led passing game for much of the contest, leading 14 to 9 to the half and holding their opponents away from the end zone. Trickery was one answer to overcome the excellent performance of the squad for much of the game.

I give 49ers Defensive Coordinator Greg Manusky credit for crafting a very creative game plan. The Niners used two-down lineman formations, sets with all the defenders standing up, standard three-down lineman alignments, and four and five man fronts. In short, they threw the "kitchen sink" at the Colts.

But give Peyton Manning, who is now the most successful active quarterback according to CBS sports, credit for studying what the 49ers were doing and finding a weakness. The Colts strategy was evident in one play in the third quarter when Manning baited the Niners cornerbacks into press coverage with a fake audible call, then successfully threw a fade pattern to Pierre Garcon.

Manning worked to force the Niners to play man coverage, thus pitting the secondary against their fleet set of rookie wideouts.

Manning finished the game with 347 yards and in the process went over 4,000 completions for his career.

Niners QB Alex Smith played well, throwing 32 times and completing 19 passes for 198 yards. First round rookie Michael Crabtree showed that he's again better than many believed, with six receptions for 81 yards. In just two games he has more catches than his Oakland Raiders rookie rival Darrius Hayward-Bey who had just 4 coming into the San Diego Chargers game today, and caught just one more pass; Crabtree has 11 receptions in two straight games.

The San Francisco 49ers now have a three game losing streak but seem to have found an identity: Alex Smith allows the offensive to call a wider variety of passes and out of more formations. He's a textbook, fearless thrower.

But the problem offensively is the "run-to-set-up-the-pass" approach. It's backward.

With a defense as talented as the Niners have, and Smith's adept passing talent, the organization should use the pass to set up the run and work to establish a big lead, then use Running Back Frank Gore to eat yardage and run out the clock.

But to do that, the Gold and Scarlet needs a more diverse passing attack.

More on that later this week.