Daily Madden: No Such Thing As An Ugly Win
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The 49ers gained only 226 yards and scored only 13 points in scratching out a 13-8 victory over the Bengals Sunday. John Madden told the KCBS morning crew coach Jim Harbaugh and his team deserve nothing but praise for their 2-1 start.
"I have too much respect for the game to believe that you can put in a new system, have limited practices, have four pre-season games and then go play regular season NFL football and have precision," Madden said. "I don't know how the expectations got high enough to have any disappointment."
Madden said the team's record is a major accomplishment for a new coach installing a new playbook without the benefit of a regular pre-season training camp.
"If you were to tell me that they're going to be 2 and 1 after the first three games, I'd say he did a heck of a job... When you're in Jim Harbaugh's shoes or the 49ers' shoes or anyone's shoes, believe me there's no such thing as an ugly win," said the former coach.
Madden said coach Hue Jackson and the Oakland Raiders deserve a lot of credit as well, coming from behind to beat the New York Jets 34-24 at the Coliseum Sunday. Darren McFadden ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns.
"They did it against a good team," Madden said. "You always say that going into a game -- 'we're going to have to be able to run against these guys.' But you don't imagine you're going to run against them like that. That was a big day for the Raiders." (7:50)
(Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.)
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