San Francisco 49ers look to get back on track as they take on Miami Dolphins – NFL Week 14 Preview
San Francisco 49ers are hoping to get back to winning ways as they host struggling Miami Dolphins in Week 14 on Sunday, December 09, 2012, at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, California.
49ers (8-3-1) are ready to stand up again after getting a miserable 13-16 defeat against St. Louis Rams in Week 13.
Even though second-year quarterback Colin Kaepernick failed to perform well in his first real challenge last week, 49ers will retain him second as starter.
It will be Kaepernick’s fourth consecutive start. The player has given good performance in all the starts this season.
However, the quarterback made crucial mistakes during the last week’s game that led to the team’s overtime loss.
Kaepernick has scored three passing and two rushing touchdowns this season with the passer rating of 97.4.
His consistent performance has led to star quarterback Alex Smith being benched despite recovering from a concussion. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said:
"Just a winning quarterback performance in tough circumstances. In the evaluation, I thought Colin played well, did a lot of really good things, made some good decisions. I thought some real positives to take away from his performance. We've got faith and
trust in Colin in the way he's played. Therefore, (he'll get) another start this week."
49ers running game has struggled recently with running back Frank Gore giving his worst performance of the season last week with the average of 2.5 yards per carry.
However, the defence seems to be in exquisite form as they are ranked second in the league with 279.6 yards allowed per game.
Things are also not looking bright for Dolphins (5-7) who will play without star left tackle Jake Long, who is expected to be out for the rest of the season.
Dolphins will play against a top team for the second consecutive week in a row at a time when they are struggling to keep up in the playoff race.
The offence has been woeful through the season, ranking 28th in the league after putting up an average of 317.6 yards per game.
Running back Reggie Bush must come up with superb play in order to stand any chance against 49ers stiff defence. Giving his opinion about playing against 49ers, Bush said:
"We haven't really hit a consistent stride at any point in the season. We've just kind of got to find a happy medium. We've just kind of got to find a consistency about our team that we can feel good."
Rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill has been going downwards after a good start to the season. There will be no room for error if Dolphins wants end up on top of 49ers.
Tags: