Plenty of problems for offense to fix

BALTIMORE -- Quarterback Alex Smith was under constant pressure, and the 49ers had no answers for the Baltimore Ravens' defense.Smith was sacked a career-high nine times Thursday night in a 16-6 loss to the Ravens, as they were unable to neutralize the Ravens' onslaught. He was also called for one intentional grounding to avoid a 10th sack.
"We definitely expected some pressure," Smith said. "There were times I felt they were a step ahead of us. They have a very good defense, and it seemed like we were in third-and-long all night."I don't want to take anything away from them. They have a good front. They're a physical group and they feed off the crowd. As a quarterback, you have to be cold-blooded and keep coming back against a team like that."
Other than Michael Crabtree, who caught six passes for 54 yards, the 49ers got virtually no production from their wideouts. Crabtree said afterward there are positives that can come out of a losing performance.So what kind of positives can from from a game such as this?"Play-calling, I mean, just pointed at the play-calling, but you know how it is," Crabtree told CSNBayArea.com.When asked to explain, Crabtree said, "Different situations we were in, we didn't capitalize on. It always shows up on film. You can always go back . . . It's good to be in these situations to learn from it. You know what I'm saying? If it's third and so-and-so and you don't convert, you can always go back and see what play could've worked. What would be easier? You can always get better."Where there plays to made Thursday against the Ravens?"There are always things," Crabtree said. "You always leave something on the field, win or loss. Even if you win, you still leave some on the field. I felt we did that last week. It's a loss, man. It's a loss."It could be a good thing. It's always good when you can fix something that's going wrong. It's a loss. Those guys came out and played hard against us. We couldn't really stop the blitz. Alex was under a lot. He couldn't really do too much. All I can do is make plays when the ball comes to me."That was the theme in the losing locker room, as the 49ers said this will force the team to do some self-examining to fix the many problems that occurred Thursday night."I think this will benefit us in the long run," left tackle Joe Staley said. "It will make us tougher. We will take this, correct our mistakes and improve. This team has plenty of character and will take advantage of this to get better."When asked about the short week of preparation, Staley said the club would not use that as an excuse."We felt good coming into this game," Staley said. "It was a night game, that that was a little bit of extra time. We just didn't play well. Obviously, we didn't give Alex enough time in the pocket, but they did a great job covering down the field. That was part of the problem."Wide receiver Ted Ginn caught two passes for 21 yards, and Braylon Edwards had one catch for 5 yards. Edwards and Smith also had a key miscommunication at the end of the first half that resulted in an interception in the end zone."I left the ball inside and he went outside," Smith said of the pass in which cornerback Lardarius Webb intercepted.
The loss snapped an eight-game win streak. And this loss felt a lot different than defeats of previous seasons, Smith said."We've haven't felt like this in a long time," Smith said. "But we are 9-2. This was a very tough game. Every guy in the locker room is hurting. No one is OK with this. That's a big difference from previous years. We invested in each other so much and that's why we are winning. This has left a bad taste in our mouths."