MVN - Most Valuable Network

King of the Hill: 49ers defeat Bengals

it’s really fun to see a new guy come out of nowhere to lead a team to victory. In the 49ers’ case, a victory by a “new” quarterback may be a blessing that blows beyond what we could have imagined.

Shaun Hill, who has spent six years in the league, got his first NFL start and was brilliant. Going 21-28 passing, the offense was efficient and had great ball control. Hill was given comfort in the pocket by an established running attack from Frank Gore (which play-by-play announcer Bryant Gumbel referred him to Al Gore… dumbass). Frank Gore really stepped up. I know that he has a great potential to become a great back, and finding his road back to a good run attack may mean something. But more importantly, it helped Shaun Hill adjust.

Hill was amazing. In fact, he gave me a confidence that I had never had in the Niners’ prevoous two qaurterbacks. Hill gave us mobility, something that Dilfer doesn’t have and Smith doesn’t use wisely. Hill scored on a bootleg play, which opened up the offense. The Bengals had to be aware of such running, which allowed an open field for great passes to Darrell Jackson and Vernon Davis. Speaking of Davis, he caught a touchdown in what was a gorgeously thrown ball.

But what made Davis so open? Shaun Hill was precise. His passes were on target and the offense wasn’t as complexed as you would expect it to be. The plays were simple, but against a struggling Bengals defense, why not? Steve Mariucci, Jerry Rice, and Dwight Clark were present at the game, so maybe that rubbed off on the team. But with all that being said and done, I am just glad to see the Niners win a game. But more importantly, I think maybe we have our answer to a quarterback problem that has bothered us all season.

Can one game define Hill? No. But this one game was something that I had not seen from Smith or Dilfer at all. So take it for what it is. Hill is the man. I didn’t know he had this in him, the poise and the accuracy. Everything fell into place for the offense. Great route running, graet running, and just good offense.

And let’s not forget how the defense, especially Nate Clements, shut down the Bengals pass game.

Here are my awards for the game.

MVP of the game: Shaun Hill is the man!.

Key play of the game: The touchdown bootleg set the tone for the Niners. The Niners knew that they can score touchdowns, and they scored first. .

Had something to prove and delivered: Frank Gore struggled all year long, but this was an amazing game. Plus it helped out the passing game. .

Surprise of the game: Shaun Hill again.

A wonderful 20-13 win. Some gutsy play-calling by Nolan at the end. But I’ll take it. Our #2 pick to the Patriots now probably goes to #7. Yes!!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Bengals, 49ers, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.