Smith, 49ers Begin 11-Day Trip Against Carolina
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Maybe this 11-day, eight-time zone, two-continent trip is a good thing for Alex Smith and the San Francisco 49ers.
Smith gets a reprieve from the booing fans back home upset with his struggles and the 49ers' poor start. And the first opponent in this trans-Atlantic tour can serve as a confidence boost for Smith.
Quarterbacks can play much worse than Smith has this season.
Just ask Carolina.
While the Panthers (0-5) again turn to Matt Moore three games after he was benched because rookie Jimmy Clausen was no better, the 49ers (1-5) hope to pounce against the NFL's lowest-scoring team Sunday and win their second straight before flying directly to London for next week's game against Denver.
"I think there is potential for positive things," Smith said of the trip, chuckling but not answering if it's good to get away from San Francisco.
Smith's difficult season seemed to hit a low point in the first half last week, when the calls for backup David Carr were loud as the winless 49ers trailed Oakland 6-0 and Smith was 2 of 11 passing.
But Smith recovered with two second-half touchdown passes, went without a turnover for the first time this season, and the consensus pick to win the NFC West beat the Raiders 17-9 to leave only Carolina and Buffalo in the NFL's winless club.
"I just feel even when he is home with the boos he has to work through it just like he did last week," 49ers coach Mike Singletary said. "I think it makes him better and I think the fans are seeing him mature right before their eyes and they're seeing good things."
The Panthers know about home boos, too. Moore was the target of fans in a 20-7 home loss to Tampa Bay that got him benched. But Clausen couldn't spark an offense averaging 10.4 points a game—Carolina's 52 points are 28 fewer than any other team in the league -- and coach John Fox elevated Moore to the starting job again on Monday following their bye week.
Moore, who was 4-1 as a starter last season, gets another chance to overcome his eight turnovers and 33.3 passer rating and try to stop the Panthers' worst start since they were 0-7 in 1998.
"For me personally it's huge, it's important," Moore said. "I know I can play this game. I think people here know I can play this game. Now it's just a matter of showing it."
Quarterback play is not all that ails Carolina. While the Panthers are expected to get top receiver Steve Smith (ankle) back Sunday, he's been slowed by constant double teams because opponents don't respect the three rookies and two recent waiver claims that make up the rest of the receiving unit.
That's also allowed teams to stack the line of scrimmage with eight defenders to stop Carolina's once-feared running game. It's added up to the Panthers averaging a league-worst 236 yards a game.
"We're going to keep seeing that until we can make them respect us a little bit more in the passing game," center Ryan Kalil said of the eight-man fronts.
The 49ers likely won't stray from that script, and the defense was impressive last week, holding the Raiders to 179 yards. But if San Francisco is ever going to improve on its minus-8 turnover margin and its league-low seven takeaways, it's against Carolina. The Panthers have an NFL-high 16 turnovers.
"It's something that we continue to work toward," Singletary said. "Finding that balance between guys not just focusing on turnovers but doing their jobs and understanding that turnovers will come."
Moore's miscues have been puzzling. He's completed just 42 percent of his passes and was missing badly on deep balls before he was benched. He quickly threw two interceptions when he replaced Clausen late in the fourth quarter of Carolina's last game, a 23-6 loss to Chicago on Oct. 10.
He's also lost two fumbles and hasn't looked to be in command of an overhauled offense searching for a leader.
"Being good on first and second down early, and then hitting the shorter passes when we need them," Moore said of the plan to get out of his funk. "Get the run game going. And when a ball is there down the field we have, just have, to hit it."
Moore's six picks in parts of three games is less than Alex Smith's NFL-high nine. It would help if Smith on Sunday can again rely on Frank Gore, who rushed for 149 yards last week.
The 49ers had a busy week. After packing for 11 days and many different climates, Friday's flight to Charlotte began a nearly 12,000-mile excursion that won't bring them back to the Bay Area until Nov. 1.
Maybe by then they'll have a couple more wins and a friendlier home crowd.
"It's going to make for an interesting week here," Smith said. "I think it's important for us to focus on Carolina and we can't look past it and clump the two games together. When London comes we will deal with it then."
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