Despite Alex Smith having a great debut last week the Niners will likely run the ball a lot this week in a attempt to keep the ball away from the Colts.  Frank Gore will take dead aim at a Colts’ D that is allowing 111.8 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry.  The 49ers will then run a lot of play action passes to slow the Colts’ pass rush a little bit as Dwight Freeney (7 sacks) and Robert Mathis (4 sacks) bring the heat from the outside while the Niners are having issues at OT.  With that in mind the Niners will likely keep the passes shorter than they did last week to Vernon Davis, Josh Morgan, Michael Crabtree and Isaac Bruce. 

The Colts have the best pass blocking offensive line in all of football as Peyton Manning has only been sacked two times this season.  With that in mind the Niners might be better off using more zone coverages and using extra DBs on the field.  The Colts might be without Reggie Wayne who has a groin issue.  If he doesn’t play then Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon and Dallas Clark will do the heavy lifting against a Niners’ D that is allowing 236.0 yards passing per game this season.  The Niners are very solid against the run so don’t look for Joseph Addai to have a good game on Sunday.

PREDICTION:  COLTS 27, 49ERS 23

Josh Morgan has been helping rookie WR Michael Crabtree cram the playbook despite the fact that he will likely bump him into being the #3 WR on the Niners.  Morgan has caught 17 passes for 264 yards (15.5 avg) with 1 TD grab this season.  He has also carried the ball 1 time for six yards this season.  Morgan is a good football player and he and Michael Crabtree could be both starting at some point this season and down the road so it was smart of him to be a team player.  Michael Crabtree caught 5 passes for 56 yards (11.2 avg) in his season debut last week.

The 49ers have lost veteran right tackle Tony Pashos for the season due to a fractured scapula.  He played in 5 games (1 start) for the Niners this season who had just inserted him into the starting lineup.  He replaced Adam Snyder who will again be the starting right tackle for the Niners and that is not a good thing.

The Niners have released 28-year old linebacker Marques Harris.  Harris played in 4 games for the 49ers this season and he made 6 tackles.  To replace Harris on the roster the 49ers have promoted 23-year old linebacker Diyral Briggs from the practice squad.  Briggs will likely provide depth at linebacker but most of his work will likely come on special teams.

The San Francisco 49ers have replaced Shaun Hill as the starting QB as they will go with Alex Smith for the time being.  Smith played in his first game of the season last week against the Texans and he completed 15 of 22 passes (68.2%) for 206 yards with 3 TD passes and 1 INT (118.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 2 times for 16 yards (8.0 ypc) last week.  This will be an interesting move as Shaun Hill was not playing that poorly this season.  Hill started the first six games of the season for the 49ers and he completed 87 of 155 passes (56.1%) for 943 yards with 5 TD passes and 2 INTs (79.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 8 times for 70 yards (8.8 ypc) this season.  Smith has a stronger arm than Hill and this is the best talent he has ever had around him so he will have no excuses for failure this time around as the starting QB.