For a first impression, the 49ers offense looked capable of rectifying its 2011 pitfalls.
It converted on third down, succeeded in short-yardage situations and turned a red-zone opportunity into a touchdown. The 49ers even unveiled another playmaker, albeit their backup quarterback, Colin Kaepernick.
The immediate payoff: a 17-6 victory Friday night in their exhibition opener against the Minnesota Vikings at Candlestick Park.
"Really pleased with how we started," coach Jim Harbaugh said. "Lot of good play out of our starters, and things to work on and things to coach, which is always positive."
Alex Smith engineered a 12-play, 84-yard opening drive and capped it with a 4-yard touchdown pass to a most unlikely target: Brett Swain, a fourth-string receiver.
Smith then ceded his duties to Kaepernick, last year's second-round draft pick who promptly dashed 78 yards for a touchdown on an option keeper.
Two drives, two touchdowns and none of it was a direct byproduct of the 49ers' most anticipated addition, wide receiver Randy Moss.
Moss played a few snaps on the first drive, saw no passes come his way and seemed content with his return from a one-year hiatus. "It wasn't a big difference, but it was all right," Moss said.
Sandwiched between the 49ers' first-half touchdowns was a scary sight: Linebacker Aldon Smith exited with a bruised right hip after pursuing Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder.
49ers beat Minnesota Vikings in exhibition opener
San Jose Mercury News 8/11/2012
Heath Miller does not know the answer to your question. It is the same question he has been asked scores of times since the 15th game last season, the same one a gaggle of media asked him Tuesday.
When will he be ready to play football?
"It's too far away to speculate," said Miller, standing o
Philadelphia Eagles tight end James Casey will undergo arthroscopic surgery to clean out loose cartilage his right knee and will be out of action for the rest of the spring, a team spokesman confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.
The spokesman said Casey should be ready to go by the start of training cam
Jerry Jones: He's in a position to where he can be involved in decision making and should be. He's gotta make them out there on that field. So, he should be, with his experience, be involved in the formation and the formulation of what we're going to be doing gameplanning.
How do you expect that
It seems like a moot point now with Marc Trestman now in charge of the Bears and Lovie Smith gone. But Brian Urlacher said he believes he'd still be playing if Smith was the Bears' head coach. Urlacher announced his retirement Wednesday.
"I do believe that, yes," Urlacher said during an interview
Mark Sanchez is hitting midseason form in May.
The Jets quarterback who has brought you 52 turnovers in the last two years — the most in the NFL by any player — threw three interceptions yesterday in the first practice of the spring the media was permitted to watch.
The turnovers from the
Rokevious Watkins, considered the favorite to start at left guard for the Rams, has been suspended for the first game of the season for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.
The NFL gave no explanation why Watkins did not receive the typical four-game suspension.
A 2012 fifth-round pick
The Ravens' hard luck at inside linebacker hasn't stopped.
Rookie inside linebacker Arthur Brown underwent sports hernia surgery a few weeks ago and is expected to be sidelined for a total of four to six weeks. He's expected to make a full recovery by training camp.
"Arthur had a sports hernia
The 49ers’ season took an unexpected twist when wide receiver Michael Crabtree made a cut during a 7-on-7 drill Tuesday.
As he planted upfield after going in motion, Crabtree sustained a complete tear of right Achilles tendon during the team’s first OTA practice of the spring. He had surgery
As if the New York Giants and Victor Cruz weren't involved in enough of a stare down, fellow wide receiver Hakeem Nicks sent the team a little message by not showing up for practice Wednesday.
Pay day is coming soon for Nicks, too.
That was the unstated goal of Nicks' not attending the Giants' org
Jimmy Haslam, whose purchase of the Browns was unanimously approved in October, apologized to fellow NFL owners for the negative attention an ongoing federal investigation targeting his family business, Pilot Flying J, has brought upon the league, Jarrett Bell of USA Today reported.
Since the FBI
Cutting two games off the preseason -- either by expanding the playoffs or moving to an 18-game schedule -- is still being discussed, commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday at the NFL's spring owners meetings in Boston.
He said all "[options] are on the table."
"As I have said before, I think
The once-distant relationship between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers has seen significant progress over the last three months.
In February, Favre and his predecessor, Aaron Rodgers, handed out the NFL comeback player of the year award together during the NFL honors ceremony.
Last week,
Nobody expected Victor Cruz to show up for the Giants' OTA workout on Wednesday. That Hakeem Nicks also didn't show up, however, was a much larger surprise.
Nicks, who was in Manhattan just a night earlier, was nowhere to be found at the Giants facility on Wednesday, a concerning absence. Cruz i
Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch had a court date this morning for a motion to suppress evidence in Alameda County District Court, stemming from charges filed against him for driving under the influence of alcohol in July of last year.
According to Teresa Drenick, assistant district a
Move over Bill Belichick. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton is now the highest paid coach in America, according to a Forbes article.
Payton, who recently negotiated a new contract with the Saints, will make about $8 million per year. The details were reworked after the NFL voided his existi
New York Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith announced after Wednesday's organized team activities practice he has hired Jay-Z's newly formed Roc Nation Sports as his representation, choosing a relative unknown in Kimberly Miale as his contract agent.
Jay-Z is not certified by the NFL Players Asso
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree suffered a torn Achilles tendon during organized team activities Tuesday and will soon undergo what could be season-ending surgery, a person informed of the injury told USA TODAY Sports.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the 49er
A worker was temporarily trapped Tuesday afternoon when a retaining wall collapsed at the Gwinnett County home of an Atlanta Falcons player.
The man, whose name was not released, was working in a ditch when the wall collapsed around noon, pinning him face down against a concrete wall at the Bufor
Former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher announced his retirement from the NFL via Twitter on Wednesday, three days shy of his 35th birthday.
“After spending a lot of time this spring thinking about my NFL future, I have made a decision to retire,” Urlacher wrote in a statement. “Alth
Joe Namath calls Gang Green’s prized rookie QB Geno Smith a “sensational athlete” with “good size.” And Namath also thinks drafting Smith was unnecessary. “No, I don’t think they needed a quarterback,” Namath said at the United Way’s 20th annual Gridiron Gala at the Waldorf-Astoria
Jets running back Mike Goodson will enter a plea of not guilty to all charges at his arraignment this morning, according to his lawyer.
Goodson, 25, will appear in court in Morristown, N.J., to answer to weapons and drug charges. Goodson was arrested Friday after police found him intoxicated in a
The NFL draft provides football fans with a peek into the exhilaration that comes with entering the league. Far less publicized is a player's exit from the game, which carries its own emotional weight.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at the NFL Spring Meeting in Boston that he had met with le
Defensive back Charles Woodson signed a one-year deal with the Raiders Tuesday night.
And while the fan support surely played a factor so did $4.3 million, which is what Woodson can earn including incentives. That includes a $700,000 signing bonus for a 36-year-old player who had very little inte
The wisdom of Tampa Bay’s trade for cornerback Darrelle Revis ultimately will be determined by the player’s performance in 2013 and beyond. His performance in 2013 hinges on the performance of his surgically-repaired knee.
The good news for Revis and the Bucs (and the bad news for everyone t
One offensive tackle was out the door Tuesday, and another announced he was coming in.
The Chargers waived Kevin Haslam, a three-game starter at left tackle in 2012. On the same day, free agent Max Starks donned a Chargers avatar on his verified Twitter account and announced he was joining the te
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