49ers report by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–The San Francisco 49ers came off a long tiresome trip from London back on October 27th and then the next week they had a bye and then went to Nashville to play the Titans on November 10th and won that one. The bye week gave them a chance to get readjusted to the time change and not just day light savings time but the nine hour time difference between San Francisco and London.

More importantly the 49ers had a chance to rest and get healthy if you look at this team over the first nine weeks of the season they had a lot of injuries to deal with primarily in the receiving core where the bulk of their injuries occurred and it took a real toll on this team. Anquan Boldin did very little in the first half of the season.

Coming out of the bye week looks like Mario Manningham will return to the 49ers as a healthy wide receiver and just this week Michael Crabtree returned to practice and if he can return by the end of the month or even the beginning of December that’s a real feather in the cap for the 49ers. Nobody was sure if Crabtree would be able to make it back in the regular season.

In the playoffs Crabtree is ahead of schedule to make post season from his Achilles tear and it looks like he might play by next Thanksgiving. You get all these guys back it really starts to round out this squad and they’ve had a lot of injuries on the receiving core with Boldin being the only wideout whose been successful this season. Boldin and Vernon Davis have been the two main components of the passing game.

You could add Manningham and Crabtree to that mix and you will have a potent offense after that. For the last six weeks the 49ers have been relying on a rough and tumble ground games which they’ll continue to do no matter what. Once you get Crabtree and Manningham and Boldin and Davis altogether that’s a much tougher offensive passing team to cover.

That would make that offense that much more dynamic for 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who will have lot more options for the passing game and it gives the 49ers a lot more play calling. They run that pass, they can focus on getting the ball to the receiver, rather than having to focus on new guys. They would have a lot more options and make it difficult for the defense in covering them.

Getting the wins in the last several weeks have been great, the 49ers have a chance now at getting healthy and to get that pass down field advantage hopefully. On the defensive side of the ball you have Glenn Dorsey recovering from an injury, he should be back and healthier. Aldon Smith is coming back from his rehab and he should be able to play this coming week.

The 49ers tangle with the Saints in the Superdome this Sunday.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio