Garcia praises defensive effort in win over Chiefs.
SAN FRANCISCO – This week, the defense was on the field when the game was on the line. This week, it was Jeff Garcia’s turn to look to his teammates, the defensive unit, to finish off a victory.
One week after handling the football on the game’s final 30 plays from scrimmage in the Forty Niners’ 23-20 overtime win over the Oakland Raiders, Garcia watched as the defense thwarted a two-minute Kansas City Chiefs offense that was turned back on downs at the San Francisco 37.
Garcia directed the 49ers to a 7-2 record, a three-game bulge on both the Arizona Cardinals and St. Louis Rams (4-5). San Francisco visits the San Diego Chargers next Sunday.
San Francisco built a 17-10 lead by halftime as Garcia covered 135 yards on a 17-of-24 passing effort. As the 49ers protected the lead over the final 30 minutes of play, Garcia added 40 yards on 8-of-11 in the second half.
“I’d like to thank my defense for playing so well,” Garcia said. “We were controlling the tempo in the first half until that last series. The second-half adjustments that Kansas City made, putting more pressure with blitzing, trying to create a big play, made it difficult to establish any sort of rhythm in the second half.”
“That series” referred to by Garcia was a drive begun by San Francisco from the Chiefs 45 with 1:53 to play in the second quarter. Garcia’s 17-yard pass to Terrell Owens put the 49ers into field goal territory. With 21 seconds left, Garrison Hearst’s one-yard run earned a first down at the 13-yard line. By the time Garcia brought the team up to the line to spike the football to stop the clock, only seven seconds remained. A pass play was called, but by the time Garcia was flushed out of the pocket and directed a pass to the near pylon toward Tai Streets, the clock showed zeroes. Eric Warfield made the interception, only the fifth pick of a Garcia pass this season.
“I don’t remember the last time I threw an interception in the red zone,” said Garcia. “That was a bad decision that I normally don’t make. That’s not typical of me. They just weren’t going to allow a quick strike. That was me being competititive. I stepped out of my train of thought. I took away a potential three points. The whole halftime I was fuming.”
Linebacker Jeff Ulbrich, like Garcia a Gavilan College product, relished the chance that the defense had to coMpete against the high-powered Kansas City offense.
“They are the number one scoring offense and the number one rushing offense, so for us that’s a huge challenge. This was a chance for us to play against the vert best. A lot of credit goes to our offense, because that kept us off the field a lot of the game.” San Francisco finished with 38:34 in time of possession.
“We’ll make corrections,” said Garcia. “It’s just one of those games where you just have to be happy with the win. That’s the stat that matters.”
