Aubrayo Franklin News

Mike Singletary's band of brothers is in trouble, and it knows it's in trouble. Sunday, you could see Singletary and the 49ers players start to sweat.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando The 49ers will probably need to start becoming more aggressive on offense at some point here against the Colts.

Takeo Spikes picked a good week to come up with a shoulder injury. Even healthy, the inside linebacker wouldn't figure to play much Sunday against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts' pass-first offense.

Mike Singletary has named Alex Smith as the new starting quarterback and hopes that it will change things up for hte 49ers.

They've softened up quite a bit this season. As the featured receiver in coordinator Jimmy Raye 's offense, Davis is having a career year.

"We've been trading phone calls," Alex Smith said Thursday. "He called, twice. When you've torn ligaments in your shoulder, it takes time to heal.

It seems like every week there has been some underlying storyline to the Houston Texans upcoming game.A Last week was a battle between two teams with tendency to take things down to the last second.

Falcons at 49ers * Time: 1:05 p.m. * Line: 49ers by 2 1/2. * Records: 49ers 3-1; Falcons 2-1 * TV: Kenny Albert , Daryl Johnston , Tony Siragusa .

Oh, yeah, there's a game. With all the focus on Michael Crabtree's arrival this week, the intriguing matchup between the 49ers and Falcons has been overlooked.

Aubrayo Franklin's job for the 49ers is to hold point and occupy the center, if not one of the guards as well, so inside linebackers Patrick Willis and Takeo Spikes can make the tackles and get all the credit.

The San Francisco 49ers are playing some of their best defensive football of the past decade, and it's just about the entire unit that's doing it.

Jimmy Raye didn't mince words today when asked about the challenge he and his offensive coaches face in getting newly signed Michael Crabtree up to speed and onto the field.

The San Francisco 49ers might have played the most uninteresting 35-0 blowout in team history.

"Oh, he can be better than me," 49ers head coach Mike Singletary said, as if there could be no doubt.

The sphinx speaks! Gather 'round. Isaac Bruce, a man of few words who stands as a role model to men of few words everywhere, took a few minutes out of his Thursday to talk about his 16th season in the NFL and his third game in two years against his former team, the St.

The 49ers injury situation has cleared up quite a bit in the last 24 hours. Really it's the last few hours since we've had some players who, as expected, practiced after sitting out yesterday.

A 3-yard run salvaged the first play that had begun with a fumbled snap. The second play featured a wide-open receiver and a pass 10 yards beyond his reach.

SEA at own 30 ... Pass to Housh nearly int'd by Bly, inc. ... Pass to TE Carlson for 4 yards ... 3rd and 6 ... Hasselbeck keeps ball, gains seven ... short pass to Forsett, gain seven 2 min.

Justin Smith and Ahmad Brooks were the only 49ers who were held out of Wednesday's practice.

Justin Smith was good to the last snap Sunday. On the Arizona Cardinals' final gasp, Smith sacked Kurt Warner and forced a fumble as the final 8 seconds ticked off the clock in the 49ers' 20-16 victory.