2-0..But Pressure Building On The "O"

The 49ers are 2-0 for the first time in nine years, and, even more improbably, they lead the NFC West by a game. For the second consecutive week, the 49ers were dominated statistically, failing to reach 200 yards and making enough seemingly critical errors to doom them as the Rams are currently doomed.The 49ers are still a careful, conservative team offensively, hesitant in stressful times to do anything more creative than give the ball to Gore. True, it worked well enough on Gore's two touchdowns, especially the 4th-and-1 in the third quarter that Gore turned into a 43-yard, four-tackle-breaker touchdown.

Still, this is a team that has been playing with one arm tied behind their backs, with a defense that is asked to bend but not break, and an inefficient offense that needed to jump on ever error the Rams offered the 49ers to win by a point. This is a legitimate point of concern for them and their growing bandwagon, because they have played two bad teams, and now face two good ones. Pittsburgh and Seattle are the next two opponents, and luck won't be enough.

So make that all the necessary votes for staying a conservative course - because it is Nolan's comfort level with this offense at this point. Mike Nolan, who makes it increasingly clear with every week that when push comes to shove, he will error on the side of caution with the play calling. The proof Sunday is the seven consecutive run calls (including a play nullified by penalty) on the final two meaningful possessions, all with backup guard David Baas as an extra blocker. But even he must know that this isn't going to continue to fly. The Rams held the 49ers to 186 yards with an injury-riddled defense, six days after the traditionally soft-spined Arizona defense held them to 194. Either Nolan isn't secure enough in his offense to challenge down field, or he has built the offense to do nothing fancy until it's time to play catch up.

Clearly, the 49ers see Alex Smith as a "game manager" and Nolan appears more and more to be following a Baltimore blueprint from his days as a coordinator there. Don't get me wrong, the glass IS half full. This team is 2-0 and has beaten the 2 teams that have been put in front of them so far. It just feels like there is a wake-up call headed their way in the form of a blow-out remainisant of last year, when the defense won't be able to keep their fingers in the dam long enough for Smith and co. to "get their fingers out", so to speak. Nolan seems to want to do this with smoke and mirrors, not wanting to expose Smith to the possibility that he may not be "the guy". Well, so far, so good, but at some point, Alex Smith will have to lead this team through the air, the way his predecessors have and put the ball up 35-40 times for them to win. I just hope that he gets that experience sooner than later to get through the trial and error of it all. It would be really disappointing if it had to come later when the Niners playoff chances were to hang in the balance and the band wagon was at full capacity. I don't know, maybe the internal, unspoken plan is to put a bandaid on the offense until next year's draft and go offense with their picks.

Get Smith his throws now! This "J.V." offense is not going to get you to a Super Bowl, Mike.