49ers top Ravens 25-20 to snap skid at 4
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin took it to the team they helped win the Super Bowl nearly three years ago. Shareece Wright’s embarrassing outing sure helped out his former San Francisco 49ers on a day Baltimore missed chances in every phase.
Colin Kaepernick completed a 76-yard touchdown pass to Smith, Joe Flacco threw two interceptions and the Niners beat Baltimore 25-20 on Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak.
Phil Dawson kicked four field goals, including a 53-yarder, in the first win since Week 1 for San Francisco (2-4). Boldin – a Super Bowl star for the Ravens against San Francisco – had a late 51-yard catch that set up Quinton Patton’s 21-yard reception for the first touchdown of his career.
Flacco’s desperation pass to the end zone on the final play went incomplete to Steve Smith, and the quarterback wound up 33 of 53 for 343 yards. Smith dropped two balls in the end zone before catching one.
Kaepernick went 16 of 27 for 340 yards, and Boldin made five catches for 102 yards.
The rematch of the Super Bowl three seasons ago featured a pair of last-place teams trying to turn around their seasons, and it showed in some sloppy play.
Steve Smith caught a 34-yard TD pass from Flacco in the third, but the Ravens (1-5) are reeling through the worst start in franchise history. Tough weekend for the Harbaugh brothers after Baltimore coach John Harbaugh’s little brother Jim’s Michigan team lost Saturday to Michigan State on a botched punt.
The 49ers won for the first time since Sept. 14 against Minnesota.
Now San Francisco must prepare in a hurry for a short week with rival Seattle coming to town Thursday night. The Seahawks have won five of the last six meetings, including the playoffs.
Baltimore’s previous four losses featured second-half collapses. This time, the collapse all but began from the opening kickoff.
Baltimore appeared a step behind all day. The Ravens’ problems came in pairs, too: Steve Smith’s two end-zone drops, two drops by the defense on would-be interceptions and Flacco’s two picks.
Wright, released by the 49ers on Oct. 10 without playing a game, then signed by the Ravens last week, was flagged for holding Boldin in the first quarter to set up Dawson’s second field goal. Torrey Smith burned the cornerback on his career-long TD, capping a 49-second, two-play drive that made it 13-3.
Wright yielded a 26-yard gain to Boldin on another drive that ended with a field goal by Dawson, and then fell down on Patton’s TD catch.
Early in the third with no intended receiver in sight, Flacco threw right to 49ers cornerback Kenneth Acker, who returned the interception 45 yards.
Baltimore, making its second Bay Area trip in less than a month after a loss at Oakland on Sept. 20, had won four straight against San Francisco, including that 34-31 Super Bowl victory at the Superdome.
Kaepernick had first-and-goal from the 5 and threw three straight incomplete passes intended for Michael Crabtree, and left tackle Joe Staley acknowledged this week the offense prematurely spoke in the huddle of having a championship victory parade.
Kamar Aiken added a 2-yard touchdown catch for the Ravens, who had won six in a row against NFC teams and dropped to 19-10 vs. the NFC under Harbaugh.
Ravens safety Kendrick Lewis left with 9:41 remaining in the third because of a knee injury.
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