By Daisy Barringer

Congratulations to the San Francisco 49ers. Not only did you completely destroy the Buffalo Bills in a 45-3 victory, you became the first team in the history of the NFL to post 300-or-more yards passing (310) and rushing (311) in the same game. Not too shabby, my friends. Not too shabby…

But enough about the game! In case you missed it last week, Jed York announced his pick for "one of the MOST faithful 49ers fans on the planet." Who took the honor? Me! Bam. My reward? Going on the field before the game to watch the players warm-up. Ha. I'm not gonna lie; I was legitimately more excited to have my rabid fandom acknowledged than I was to go on the field. Sure, my mother sees my love of football as excessive and pointless, but whatever mom: The president of the 49ers disagrees. Whose opinion do you think matters more? Exactly.


So, yeah, I was bizarrely not that excited to go on the field because apparently I am the biggest brat in all of the land. When we got to the game, however, and I went to collect the passes (“What account are they under?” the guy asked. “Oh,” I said, “Jed York left them for me.” no big deal.) Just then, I realized what a treat this was. As I walked onto the field, I couldn't stop smiling. "It smells so good," I said of the freshly shorn grass. "Oh look! There's David Akers! And Andy Lee! AND OHMYGOSH, Harbaugh."

Making the experience even more entertaining was the fact that it was my friend's first NFL game, ever. In between giddily snapping pictures of Frank Gore and Patrick Willis, I was like, "So, see those white lines on the field? Each one of those measures a yard. They have to go ten of those to get another set of downs. Oh downs? There are four…” and so on. But hey, if someone's going to learn about football for the very first time, what better place to do it than on the actual field?

Also, I realized I'm totally one of those people who likes to feel special. And even though there are a surprising amount of randoms on the field before the game, nothing screams "I'm more special than you are” than being in a place most people aren't allowed to go. And I love that feeling. I'm mature like that. So, thank you, Jed York. It was an amazing experience and one that, of course, I will never forget.

Anyway, enough about me (never), let's talk about that football game.

Alex Smith: 303 yards. Three touchdowns. A perfect 158.3 passer rating in the first half when he threw for 237 yards. A 53-yard pass to Davis. A 43-yard TD pass to Kyle Williams. A pass to Crabtree for 36 yards. Everyone’s been asking where the 49ers long ball is? Well, kids, we finally saw what we wanted. And it looked pretty. Oh so pretty.

Much of the credit goes to offensive coordinator Greg Roman, for sure. His play calling yesterday was genius (or “evil genius” as the players like to call it). Roman

knew the Bills defense was lacking and he took advantage. But Alex Smith was on fire and came out looking like never before. I hope that’s a sign of more things like that to come. But either way, the doubters will at least have to shut their mouths for the rest of the week (even though they won’t) because no one looked better than Smith on Sunday. No one.

Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis: TWO 100-yard receivers in one game? Sure as hell didn’t look like the 49ers we’ve all grown accustomed to, but whatever: we'll take it. They were both electric.

Kyle Williams: His touchdown, the first of the game, was just… SO GOOD. And when he fell on his knees and pointed to the sky, my friend and I both got a little teary. “It was for my grandmother,” Williams said. She died from breast cancer in 2005. “I was just saying hello. She was my rock.” (I mean, basically, I am crying again right now.)

Frank Gore: Outstanding performance. 106 yards rushing on 14 carries. It was a thing of beauty to watch.

Kaepernick: I was wrong. We used him and we used him well and I’m all about it. (Except that turnover, but all is forgiven.) This anecdote that came via Mindi Bach who spoke to Vernon Davis after the game is pretty priceless: Apparently every time Kaepernick entered the game, the Bills defense yelled, “Tebow package! Tebow package!” And Davis was offended because, c’mon: Kaepernick is way better than\ Tebow. Gotta love that.

The entire offense: I am not going to name every single player, but truly it was mesmerizing to watch everyone come together in this bizarre ballet dance of near perfection. Again, yes, it was the Bills, but nonetheless, incredible to watch. I mean, the score says it all. Six touchdowns. SIX.

Speaking of the score. The fact that the Bills only managed to score three points? That’s thanks to our defense who were, in theory, overshadowed by the 600+ yards of offense, but who had an amazing game that no one’s really talking about. Sure, they could have applied a little more pressure on Fitzpatrick, but whatever. Patrick Willis stripping the ball from Scott Chandler at the end of the first half? A total momentum-changer. I’m not going to say I was nervous that we were only up 10-3 as the half wound down, but fine: I was nervous. But that play set up a 28-yard TD to Crabtree so that we ended the half up 17-3. More than that though, our defense
played hard and they never stopped. AND I LOVE THEM.

Mostly, it was just fun to sit in the (so hot) sun on a Sunday at home and watch the Niners kick some serious tail. There were a few rowdy Bills fan in our section who seemed to be confused and horribly upset by what was happening on the field. And I almost felt sorry for them. But seriously? It’s really hard to feel sorry for people who are just completely delusional. I mean, did they READ the newspaper this last week? Do they HAVE the Internet? No one expected the Bills to come out and win this one.

I mean, even the woman in blue and red next to me was falling asleep (literally and on my shoulder) and her grandson is a starting player for the Bills. She did wake up after every touchdown just to tell me how much the Bills stink and how great the Niners are though, so I went ahead and let her drool on me. It was the least I could do.

Because the San Francisco 49ers are 4-1. And I don’t want to brag (yes, I do), but thus far we’ve won every game this season that I’ve attended. And though I’ll be at every home game going forward, the Niners are now on their own for the road games. Unless I marry rich between now and then, of course. (Which, if you love the Niners and have a sizable bank account, you’ll really think about because the SUPER BOWL is on the line. You have three weeks to make it happen.)

That being said, even though I’ll be there, next week against the NY Giants is going to be a tough one. There are a lot of people from NY who like to move to SF for a few years to "have a California experience" and we all know they're willing to throw down some serious cash for football games. So do everyone a favor: don't sell your tickets to them; go to the game, wear red, and be loud.

Thank you for all that you do. The fans, the management, the coaching staff, and mostly the 49ers players.

What a day.