-Both starting cornerbacks, Jimmy Williams and Shawntae Spencer are not playing in this game due to injury. Dwaine Carpenter and Joselio Hanson will start in their place.
-Williams and Spencer were playing for Mike Rumph and Ahmmed Plummer, who are also out with injuries.
-Essentially, the 5th Cornerback and the 3rd safety are starting at cornerback.
-Interesting that Terry Jackson and Maurice Hicks are playing in the early parts of the game; Jackson on third down, and Hicks on second down at various parts of the opening drive.
-Might this be the coaching staff's way of getting a look at the roster?
-If that's the case, the season is officially over.
-Brandon Lloyd made another acrobatic catch, laying out and catching
-Barlow's opening drive score is sure to placate some Fantasy Football owners.
-Unless they benched him.
-The 49ers opened the game with an impressive 11-play, 71-yard, 5 minute 59 second drive for a score.
-Those Leon commercials are funny.
-FINALLY, A TURNOVER! Winborn hammered Kerry Colbert forcing a fumble. This brings the turnover difference to -12 at this point.
-Boy, the whole play-action-pass thing really works when you can run the ball.
-So far the 49ers had the ball twice, producing points on each drive.
-A minute and 45 seconds into the second quarter the 49ers had 11 first downs, Carolina had 1.
-Then Tim Rattay threw and Interception.
-Eric Johnson + 3rd down = First Down.
-Is the Carolina defensive line THAT bad?
-Was anyone else as confused as me on that Kerry Colbert reception/fumble/no call/coach's replay under two minutes/incomplete pass at the end of the second half?
-The crowd at Candelst...er...I mean Monster Park is as loud as I have heard it this season.
-It seems like the 49ers have to be winning on order for fans to care.
-Arnaz Battle makes another huge play with 1:08 left in the second half returning a punt to the Carolina 42 breaking through two solid tackles
-Too bad he tweaked his left hamstring doing it. The Red Sox had the curse of the Bambino, the 49ers have the Curse of the Injurino.
-Shawntae Spencer played in the waning moments of the first half, indicating that his injury may not be that bad.
-So why didn't he start?
-Welcome back Andre Carter: one game back, one sack.
-In the first half Carolina possessed the ball for 7:12. San Francisco had the ball for 22:48.
-The Panthers finally got smart and started throwing against the young and vulnerable 49ers' secondary in the third quarter. The result? 14 points and 190 yards of offense.
-The red-zone stand in the third quarter was huge, forcing Carolina to settle for three instead of giving up a touchdown and letting Carolina back in the game.
-Once again, turnovers kill the 49ers chances to build on a lead and take the opposing team out of it.
-What happened to the running game?
-Perhaps Erickson just doesn't get that the reason the passing game worked so well was because the running game was clicking.
-Without even trying to establish the run, the passing game will not be nearly as effective.
-On the series after Carolina's touchdown the 49ers' series went like this: Rush-1yd, Pass-5yd, Pass-Incomplete. Both passes, Rattay had someone in his face.
-Maurice Hicks just flat out looks more explosive than Barlow.
-How does Brandon Lloyd keep making those catches? This time he takes a sure interception by Carolina and turns it into a touchdown.
-Once again, turnovers killed the 49ers today. They recovered one fumble but lost one fumble and threw three interceptions.
-The Panthers scored 34 points in the second half alone. They scored 124 points in all of the previous 8 games.
-The meltdown in the second half is highlighted by Jake Delhomme's second half performance: 11 for 20 for 234-yards and 3 TDs.
