San Francisco 49ers should relax. It's just the preseason.

The NFL preseason acts sort of like a month-long pregame show for the regular season ; it can get you excited for the upcoming football season but it ;s still tough to get an accurate assessment of where a team is and how for it can go. Basically, although the 49ers had the bright spots and Steelers 36 Bettis Jersey
some question marks in their 17-16 win against the Denver Broncos in the preseason opener for both teams, it ;s important not to get too up or too down about any aspect of the 2009 San Francisco 49ers. In fact, this should be the same for the entire preseason. The NFL preseason is a tough book to read because it ;s hard to find out what it all means. If a team has a strong preseason and it carries over to the regular season, ;It showed it could play and had the potential to win early on. ; But if that team that did well in the preseason goes on to struggle the rest of the way, ;The preseason meant absolutely nothing. ; Although the standout statistics from Friday night ;s win are the three interceptions by the 49ers ; secondary, San Francisco also didn ;t get one sack against the Broncos. After sacking the quarterback 30 times in 2008 (good for 16th in the NFL), the 49ers need get pressure this season. The Niners showed what their defensive backs can do behind players like Nate Clements and Dre ; Bly, imagine how effective the secondary will be if the front seven can put consistent heat on an opposing quarterback. But, like I said, it ;s the preseason and just because the 49ers couldn ;t get to the quarterback against the Broncos, a greater sample size is needed to judge whether this will be a problem in 2009. In the preseason, the starters don ;t play a lot and the 49ers ; coaching staff doesn ;t want to through the kitchen sink at a team during the preseason. On offense, the much anticipated quarterback competition between Shawn Hill and Alex Smith didn ;t spark any fireworks or great talking points. Although Smith got some reps with the first team, Hill played as if he already had the job. Hill came in, threw two pass (both completed to Vernon Davis), didn ;t try to force anything and led a drive that ended in a field goal. Even though Smith didn ;t play bad and head coach Mike Singletary said neither quarterback really separated himself from the other, it looks at this point that it ;s Hill ;s job to lose. Frank Gore and Isaac Bruce didn ;t play and I don ;t imagine both players getting too much playing time before game one of the regular season, so we probably won ;t find out the true potential of 4 Brett Favre Purple jersey
the offense during the next three games. Plus, that guy the Niners drafted in the first round hasn ;t even signed yet. His name is Crab ;something or other. But it looks as if the 49ers might have a solid running back to give Gore a rest from time to time in Glen Coffee.