Daily Madden: 49ers Win With Running, Defense And Ball Control

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SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — Sunday's game between the 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs went back and forth for most of the afternoon, but the difference was the playmaking ability of the 49ers and ball control. With the game close in the fourth, the 49ers defense and running game took over, giving the 49ers 22-17 victory.

The 49ers kept running the ball and pounding out the yards—it was classic John Madden-style football.

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"That's when they're the best. They can get in that five receivers and no running back and put the stress the on quarterback and the offensive line—and that's not them—that's not the 49ers. That's not what they do; that's not what you do when you have a back like Frank Gore and an offensive line that kind of thrives on the running game," Madden said. "If you say you want to play physical, you better have a back in there or two to do it."

While there were many amazing moments throughout the game, one stand-out was 33-year-old Brandon Lloyd's acrobatic 29-yard sideline catch in the fourth quarter, in which he was able to disentangle the arm the defensive back, who was trying to pin to hisside, in mid-leap.

Madden said there has many catches similar to that this season. He attributes it to more practice and their hands that are bigger and stronger.

"That's one of the keys. We always talk about maybe being able to jump or being a big body of being this or that, but having big, strong hands I think is a bigger thing in that now and those guys who can do that," he said. "You see more ball control with one hand and one- handed catches—you know more than we've ever seen."

So was Madden surprised, early in the fourth quarter, by the fake punt that led to the go-ahead field goal?

"They were both killers for Kansas City. I think that, to be honest, you can't say you kind of thought the 49ers would do that if you didn't think it before. You can't watch it, see it be successful and think that was a good move— they should do it—because to be honest, I didn't think of a fake punt in that situation," Madden said.

What about Kansas City having too many men on the field, which led to the insurance field goal?

"Having 12 men on the field, there's no excuse for that. We've been playing football too long to have that happen. You know, it's not the first preseason game and that's when those types of things happen. When you get to this point in the season, they've played enough that there's no way that that should happen," Madden said.