Alex Smith outplays Rodgers in 49ers win

In the marquee matchup of the day, the San Francisco 49ers came into Lambeau Field and left with a 30-22 win over the Green Bay Packers. The 49ers defense harassed MVP Aaron Rodgers all day long, sacking him three times (a fourth came passed the line of scrimmage), and picked him off once (a second one dropped). The Packers had no ground game at all, and after a season where they only trailed for a combined 3 minutes, they were behind in the score the entire game.

But it was the 49ers defense that really shined, holding the NFL’s best offense to only 7 points after three quarters. The Packers offense only came away with two plays over 20 yards. And with the game on the line the Niners D came up big, sacking Rodgers and knocking away two passes to seal the win.

Alex Smith and the 49ers offense played mistake-free and really controlled the game. Smith hit Randy Moss in the endzone for Moss’ 14th career touchdown against the Packers to make it 10-0 San Fran early in the second quarter. And then right before halftime, David Akers kicked a record-tying 63 yard field goal, his 3rd of the day, to make it a 16-7 game at the break. The ball actually hit the crossbar and bounced over and Akers couldn’t believe it went through.

It looked like Randall Cobb shifted the momentum in the 4th quarter with a big 75 yard punt return for a touchdown. It was the second year in a row that Cobb returned a kick back in the first week. Cobb also had 9 catches in this game. The two-point conversion made it an 8 point difference, but the 49ers responded with a strong drive, capped off by a 23 yard touchdown run for Frank Gore.

The Packers were last in passing defense last year. Today, not only did Alex Smith pick part the defense (77% completion rate), but they Packers couldn’t slow down the run either, giving up 186 yards rushing. Frank Gore led the way with 112 yards on 16 carries for an average of 7 yards.

Watching the game was very frustrating; there were lots of penalties and other bad calls by the officials. The most frustrating thing was the lateness of the flags. Nearly all of the 18 penalty flags that were thrown came out well after the incident. And there was at least one more that should have been called on the Cobb punt return. The flag was picked up and the play resulted in a Packers touchdown.

The win was the 49ers first in Green Bay since 1990. Both teams play in prime time next: the Packers host the Bears on Thursday and the 49ers host the Lions on Sunday Night Football.