San Francisco 49ers: Offensive Line Issues Could Be Troublesome

The San Francisco 49ers entered its second preseason game against the Houston Texans hoping to build on the rushing attack success it had in its first preseason game. They lost 20-9.

Apparently, the offensive line did not get the memo.

Running back Frank Gore made his first appearance of the season, though he only carried the ball twice for 12 yards. The other backs had decent nights for a preseason game with the exception of Brandon Jacobs, who suffered a knee injury at the end of the second quarter.

It’s preseason, so stats don’t really tell the story as to how the game went. However, the Niners do have a cause for concern when it comes to pass protection for QB Alex Smith. In his limited time during the first preseason game, he was pressured quite often. Saturday night, however, there isn’t even a word to describe the pressure he felt. Maybe, “a lot” works.

Smith was on the run or ducking defensive linemen the entire time he was in the game, which was about a quarter and a half, even taking a nasty hit to the chin.

There are certain things the football world knows about the Niners. San Francisco will have a great running game, even if Jacobs is lost for a significant amount of time, its defense will be stout and Smith needs to remain upright in the pocket to accomplish the same consistent game management he had last year when he led them to the NFC Championship game.

While Smith is a very underrated scrambling QB, his accuracy drops significantly when he is forced to move out of the pocket and throw on the run.

It’s hard to imagine San Fran running the ball even more than last year, but if the line doesn’t fix its pass protection, that’s exactly what the team will be forced to do to relieve the pressure on Smith.

If that’s the case, then the free agent signings of wide recivers Randy Moss and Mario Manningham and the drafting of receiver AJ Jenkins will become moot. Those three were brought in specifically to stretch the field, and by doing so, open up the middle for the running game. If defensive secondaries don’t have to worry about the passing game, rivals can stack the box.

Again, this is the preseason; and the second game of the preseason at that. Even still, the pass protection issue certainly can’t have head coach Jim Harbaugh sleeping well at night (though, it’s hard to imagine that guy EVER sleeping).

It will be a challenge to equal or improve on the success of the team from last season, and this pass protection issue certainly won’t help that.

It’s funny, Smith’s ability to be consistent has been questioned his entire career. Now, when it seems he has finally proven his critics wrong, his offensive line may hold the key to the Niners success.

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