The 49ers welcomed back Brett Favre on Sunday night by giving him a Pat on his back.
It
was Patrick Willis, the 49ers linebacker, who piled onto the Vikings
quarterback for a 10-yard sack during Favre's brief cameo.
Favre
played only one series, and threw only one time: a 13-yard swing pass to
running back Adrian Peterson on the Vikings' first play from scrimmage.
Favre dropped back to throw again, but Willis broke through the line,
eluded a block from Peterson and hauled Favre to the turf.
Favre got up smiling, but Willis swears he didn't say anything.
"I just think he couldn't believe we brought the pressure," Willis said of the defensive play call.
It
was Favre's first appearance for the Vikings since deciding against
retirement last week. He was supposed to stick around for 10 plays but
lasted only four.
"We just rethought where we were at in terms of
the eight-minute mark," Vikings coach Brad Childress said. "We just
wanted (quarterback) Tarvaris Jackson to play behind that first
offensive line."
Willis was one of the few big names to suit up for the 49ers.The first-string offense
was without receiver Michael Crabtree (neck), tight end Vernon Davis
(knee) and running back Frank Gore (healthy scratch.)When a
reporter asked whether it was an extra challenge for quarterback Alex
Smith to play without his best playmakers, coach Mike Singletary was in
no mood for excuses. "If you're a good quarterback, then you have to
make the situation better,'' he said. "At some point in time during the
season he may not have those guys, and what will he do then? I think he
did a good job overall."
Singletary said his biggest
frustration was the 49ers' inability to establish a running game. They
averaged only 2.6 yards on their 31 carries. Running back Anthony Dixon,
starting in place of Gore, had 20 carries for 51 yards and looked
tentative when it came to choosing a running lane.Singletary said the offensive line simply didn't give Dixon much room to run. "There's a reason he had
happy feet,'' he said.
"If there's a hole, he's going to hit it. But what he has to learn is
that even if there's not a hole, sometimes you have to hit it and it
eventually works itself out."
Vikings running back
Toby Gerhart also had a hard time getting going. He managed only 10
yards on his four carries -- and 8 of those came on a single rush.On
the other hand, last year's Heisman runner-up from Stanford showed some
versatility. Gerhart caught two of the three passes thrown his way for
11 yards.
49ers linebacker Travis LaBoy, a Marin
County native who has barely practiced during training camp because of a
concussion, delivered a sack in his preseason debut. He broke through
the line to haul down Jackson for a 9-yard loss in the second quarter.LaBoy had 231/2 sacks from 2004-08 before a foot injury wiped out his '09 season.
"For
his first time back, I thought he did a decent job applying some
pressure,'' Singletary said. "I'm sure they felt his presence out
there."
Willis was also making his preseason debut. He was a healthy scratch for last week's opener against Indianapolis.
"It
felt good to be back out there under the lights where it counts,"
Willis said. "I felt good, man, I felt good. "... When I practice, I
practice game-like speed anyway, so you know when you get out here, it's
just a carryover."