Holding off Packers:
QB throws for 412 yards against Pack
Colin Kaepernick, above, throws for 412 yards and three TDs as the 49ers top Green Bay 34-28.
Perhaps the Packers also should have enrolled in a Defending the Drop-back Quarterback tutorial in the offseason.
Eight months after Colin Kaepernick left tire tracks on Green Bay’s defense with his legs, he undid the Packers with his arm Sunday.
In the 49ers’ season-opening 34-28 win at Candlestick Park, Kaepernick threw for a careerhigh 412 yards and three touchdowns and led a gamewinning, fourth-quarter drive capped by Frank Gore’s 1-yard run with just less than six minutes left.
What about his running out of the read-option? That was non-existent. Instead, Kaepernick scrambled for 22 yards, 159 fewer than he collected last season in a 45-31 divisional-playoff win that inspired the Packers’ defensive staff to take an offseason trip to
Texas A&M for a read-option primer.
The lesson hammered home in Sunday’s exam? Pick your poison. This man is a migraine.
“You can’t characterize him,” fullback Bruce Miller said. “He’s not a runner. He’s not a sit-in-the-pocket passer. He’s his own monster.”
Despite the loss, the Packers’ trip to College Station, Texas, appeared to be worthwhile. After Green Bay surrendered 323 rushing yards and 7.5 yards a carry in January, the 49ers managed 90 yards and 2.6 yards a rush Sunday.
The Packers’ commitment came with a cost. In his 11th career start, Kaepernick’s passing yards ranked 11th in franchise history and his 129.7 passer rating was the secondbest mark of his career. His arm also helped wide receiver Anquan Boldin enter the record books in his debut with the 49ers. Boldin had 13 catches (tied for fourth in franchise history), 208 yards (eighth) and a touchdown.
For the Packers, the 49ers’ offense looked different, but the results were frustratingly similar. In its past two games against San Francisco, Green Bay has allowed 79 points, 1,073 yards and 7.2 yards per play.
“I think we did a good job of showing that we’re not a readoption team,” 49ers tackle Joe Staley said. “It’s a wrinkle in our offense. We have various ways that we can move the ball. You put up (494) yards of offense, teams are going to have to notice that. You want to focus on stopping the run and all that? We can move the ball up and down the field other ways.”
In the days leading to the game, the Packers’ eagerness to hit Kaepernick became a major story line. Noting a rule that allows defenders to tackle quarterbacks when they fake read-option handoffs, linebacker Clay Matthews said the Packers planned to make the 49ers reconsider using that package of plays: “You have to take your shots on the quarterback,” he said.
On Sunday, Kaepernick didn’t run out of the read-option — and he wasn’t hit after a handoff — but Matthews got a memorable shot on him. At the end of second-quarter scramble, Matthews belted Kaepernick when he was few feet out of bounds, drawing a personal-foul penalty. Staley retaliated by grabbing Matthews and a spirited scrum ensued, with Staley also getting flagged.
“The comments that he made kind of registered in my mind when I saw that hit,” Staley said. “So I wanted to go over here and tell him that wasn’t going to happen today.”
Actually, Staley’s message in support of his quarterback was a bit more colorful: “It was something like ‘Expletive. Expletive. Expletive. Thank you,’ ” Staley said, laughing.
After the pushing subsided, the 49ers replayed the down. And Kaepernick forcefully answered Matthews’ late shot with his arm: On 3rd-and-6 from Green Bay’s 10-yard line, he found Boldin streaking across the middle for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
During the mild melee, Staley noted Kaepernick, who didn’t retaliate, “had a lot more composure than his left tackle.” And that was clear throughout the game as the Packers routinely chirped at Kaepernick after plays.
The quarterback’s response? Yawn.
“I’m not worried about what people are saying,” he said. “If intimidation is your game plan, I hope you have a better one.”
Kaepernick’s poise was most obvious late in the fourth quarter.
With the 49ers leading 31-28, they faced 4th-and-2 at Green Bay’s 36-yard line with 3:00 left. Kaepernick rolled right and looked for Boldin, who initially was blanketed. Kaepernick held the ball an extra few beats, Boldin broke free and the duo connected for a 15-yard gain. That play helped set up a field goal with 26 seconds left.
“He could have tried to stick it into Anquan on the break, but kept the play alive, just cool as could be and then made a perfect strike,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “I think that pretty much summed up his whole day.”
Indeed, it was a day in which the record-breaking runner was mostly a drop-back passer.
Entering Sunday’s game, Kaepernick owned the singlegame NFL record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback, had the franchise record for the longest run by a QB and had the longest touchdown run by a QB in Super Bowl history.
But he’s not just a running quarterback. And he’s not merely a pocket passer. On Sunday, he was someone the ultra-studious Packers had no answers for.
“The sky’s the limit for him,” Staley said. “He’s a talent that I don’t think the NFL has seen yet.”