San Francisco, CA - It was a record breaking Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers did something they have never done before. Alex Smith lead the offense and put up 621 yards. That was never accomplished under Hall of Famers Joe Montana nor Steve Young.
The Niners defeated the Buffalo Bills 45-3 leaving no room for a comeback. Smith threw for a season-high 303 yards which included three touchdowns. Despite their slow start in the first quarter San Francisco found their groove by the second quarter.
"Quarterback was near perfect," coach Jim Harbaugh said.
After the Bills tied the game 3-3 with a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter. The Niners responded quickly with Alex finding Kyle Williams for a 43-yard touchdown. That drive took two plays, 74 yards and 52 seconds. Even though the offense was successful they still had a few struggles along the way.
Back-up quarterback Colin Kaepernick fumbled the ball and the Bills recover with 49 seconds remaining in the first half. Then Scott Chandler fumbled the ball and San Francisco recovered on their own 30 yard line with 29 seconds in the half.
Alex went deep to Michael Crabtree for a 28-yard touchdown. That drive was one play, 28 yards and 5 seconds. Buffalo had no defense to stop the surging Niner offense. Ryan Fizpatrick threw for 126 yards and an interception. The Bills rushed for 89 yards unable to reach the red zone at all.
"They flat out dominated the game end to end," said Fitzpatrick. "We just got beat bad by a better team today. There was no fancy stuff, they are who they are and they just played better."
Six different players scored touchdowns for San Francisco. Frank Gore rushed for 106 yards and scored a 1-yard touchdown to start the third quarter. Smith completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham, Kaepernick ran 16 yards to score and Anthony Dixon was the final touchdown of the day.
"We've got so many weapons and we work good together," Gore said. "We're just growing and having fun out there. I hope it keeps going like this."
What more can one ask for from a stellar ball game. Both the offense and defense played great forcing turnovers. The Niners are already looking ahead to next weeks match-up against the New York Giants. But before that preparation begins, the team set a franchise record and became the first team in NFL history with 300 yards in passing and 300 yards in rushing.
"Everything about today was just amazing," Crabtree said. "The big test will be next week. We did good today but we're looking forward to next week."