The San Francisco 49ers looked like they had finally taken their first lead of the game over the Baltimore Ravens when Alex Smith went deep for Ted Ginn, Jr and connected with him for what looked like a 75 yard touchdown score. But there was a ticky-tack officiating call when a Ravens pass rusher was chopped by Frank Gore and pushed from behind by Chilio Rachal, earning the chop block penalty. The 49ers were forced into a long yardage situation and eventually had to punt the ball away.
The Ravens had a nice looking punt return wiped out with an illegal block in the back, and Joe Flacco came up a yard short on 3rd down to force another punt. After the 49ers got the ball back and Kendall Hunter was forced to give the ball up. But Alex Smith was sacked once, there was a dead ball false start, and Frank Gore was stuffed a few occasions to force San Francisco back and had to concede the ball again.
When Baltimore got it back, Joe Flacco aired it out for Torrey Smith. 49ers CB Tarell Brown went up for the football and managed the pick, but the officials called Brown for pass interference and set up the Ravens in the red zone. A few Ray Rice runs and Baltimore had second and goal at the one.
But San Francisco stiffened on defense. C.J. Spillman caught Rice running to the outside for a three yard loss, and Flacco could find no receivers on 3rd down and rushed up the middle to get tackled by Justin Smith. Billy Cundiff had to kick another field goal, but another red zone stop by the Niners could be critical in what figures to be a low-scoring defensive battle.
To discuss the game with 49ers fans, head on over to Niners Nation. To talk with Ravens fans, check out Baltimore Beatdown.