o. >> andrea: al and cris were talking earlier, five offensive coordinators in five seasons. what is the significance to you of finally having some continuity with a coordinator two seasons in a row. >> really it's the foundation that's in place. when you've had that foundation over the last year and now we're able to start building on top of it. in the past you'd build that foundation and never get a chance to do anything with it. so this off season was one of the best off seasons i've been a part of. we were able to get a lot done and take it into camp as well. >> andrea: all right, thank you for your time, we appreciate it. >> al: thank you, and rea. the vikings have spent their last time-out and this is michael robinson taking the ball to the 39 yard line and the 49ers can take that clock down to about a minute. so the 49ers, again, cris, no winning season since '02. two really phenomenal decades, obviously, the '80s with walsh and seifert came in and mariucci

did a pretty good job. they won the five super bowls between '81 and '95. >> cris: i know, i played in two of those, on the other side of those. >> al: you book-ended your career against the 49ers. what do you see from them this year? >> cris: well, it's going to be interesting. alex smith played awfully well tonight. my big question, and i think san francisco's big question is going to be how soon can this young offensive line come together. you know, mike iupati, anthony davis, eric heitmann has been out, and as good as they can look at times now, al, you know as well as i do, when you get to be the regular season, it goes beyond graduate school. i mean you're over at oxford studying at that point. and now can these young guys, and they made some mistakes out there tonight. i mean we watched them pretty closely. and just trying to figure it out. it's not that physically they can't get it done, but if those two guys and this young offensive line and alex smith

can find a way to get their protection going, because that was a major issue for them a season ago, not get alex hit so much, they have a chance because their defensive running game will be rock solid. >> al: defense very good. if they can live up to what they did last year, that's great for them. again, you've got a premiere running back in gore, you've got a great tight end in vernon davis. you've got an emerging wide receiver in crabtree. you've got a running back, a tight end, a number one wideout and, you know, again, it comes back very much to alex smith. how is he going to play. >> cris: it really does. when you look at him defensively, they tie for third in the nfl for sacks and nobody had more than six and a half on the team, which is unbelievable to me. which means that they're bringing pressure from everywhere, and everybody is athletic enough to make plays. as a quarterback, that's tough to battle. when you've got that young man right there as your leader, you're always going to have a chance. >> al: nine seconds to play. again, with the 49ers, they're a

team -- a guy like gore and a guy like willis don't get the acclaim, the notice that they would if they were playing with a team that was a little bit better and playing in lots of second half doubleheader games and primetime games. the 49ers are on our sunday night schedule for the first time since we had this package on october 10th against the philadelphia eagles back here at candlestick park. >> cris: and the reason they are is because they got better last year. i think a lot of people have picked them to be the winner of the west. >> al: so webb, and webb is going to try to avoid getting sacked in the end zone and he can't. and that's going to create a safety. and that's going to end the game. you know why i'm laughing, don't you? >> cris: yeah. >> al: of course you do. >> cris: there are some people happy, some not so happy. >> al: there are some going i can't believe what just happened. >> cris: to me. >> al: to me. or for me. we hear it, folks.

a three-point game just became a five-point game at the end of the game. san francisco wins it by a score of 15-10. september the 9th the regular season kicks off. the saints against the vikings and the cowboys take on the redskins on sunday night the 12th. except on the west coast, coming up next your late local news, starting at midnight eastern, dateline nbc. for now it's al michaels, cris collinsworth, and dreerea creamer saying good night from candlestick park in san francisco.

people! look at you! texting...blogging... all this technology, but you're still banking like pilgrims! it's time for new school banking, bubbie. interest plus savings at capitalone.com. why earn bupkis when your savings can earn three times the national average!! three times the national average!!! new school banking at capital one bank. with interest plus savings, go to capitalone.com!!!!!

what's in your wallet? somebody help me down.

>> hello. welcome to sports sunday. prime time. we're coming live from our bay area studio. i'm raj mathai. we like football season even if it's the preseason. here's the plan. a good 30 minutes coming we'll go live to the locker room for mike singletary's news conference. because of the favre factor

this is the most talked about preseason game in the nfl. bright spots for the 49ers not sure if you watched the whole game. if you did and are a 9ers fan you are probably smiling. for the 40-year-old favre, we'll venture inside the vikings locker room favre and toby garheart hanging out at candle stick and lots to be lost in the shuffle with nate davis. thinking maybe nate davis could be the backup. right now the third string, maybe the second or the quarterback of the future. so we have a lot coming. let's start off right away with the highlights of the game. 49ers and vikings, big crowd at candle stick. sunday night football. wouldn't you know. the crew picked the right thing, maybe they knew that brett favre would come back. hello to mike singletary and brett favre, four days after he rejoined the vikings. first series of the game the

49ers march right down the field. alex smith very impressive. 5 of 6, converts here. ziegler is the third receiver. he looked sharp and has. the long drive capped off by the sweet misdirection pitch to anthony dixon. having huge numbers in the preseason because gore and westbrook did not play. 7-0, 49ers on top. that's how it remained for a while. first quarter, favre in his first and only series gets buried. patrick willis gets credit for the sac. favre had four plays in the series. third quarter, toby garrett stuffed right there by the free agent from oregon. then it got interesting. nate davis, the arm. remember only one team went to scout him out, during his college time in ohio i believe. one team. that was the indianapolis colts, excuse me in indiana.

the colts went to scout him out. davis now with the 49ers hooks up there, a 60-yard connection. there were some slop points at the end of this game but final score and bottom line the 49ers, 2-0 in the preseason, beat the vikings, 15-10. some 49ers notes, the first drive impressive. alex smith led the team down the field, 70 yards and 12 plays ending with the touchdown by anthony dixon. alex smith, three third down conversions and they converted on all three third down possessions. did not play, frank gore vernon davis, crabtree and even westbrook. so 49ers have a lot of star players. maybe more precaution that did not play. next saturday at the oakland coliseum, bay area rivalry, 49ers and raiders. the niners and the raiders will also play in the regular season. the raiders also looking pretty

sharp. when we return we're going to take a break, we go to the locker room for our live coverage of the players getting off the field. we have laura standing by and two reporters on site. we'll check in with brett favre. not quite what he was expecting including that sac by patrick willis. a hello to our guest cameraman, alex smith. really? running camera two. remarkable how he can change so quickly. we're just now getting started. [ woman on tv ] if you won't let me in you can't really love me. i know about gayle. i don't know what you're talking about. if you just tell me what happened... [ ding ] [ man ] 35th and archer.

next stop hamilton. [ brakes hiss ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] now you can watch hit tv shows on your iphone when you get at&t u-verse tv. at&t. rethink possible.

welcome back to sports sunday prime time. the 49ers beating the vikings tonight, 15-10. late safety and a late score but 15-10 among the big plays nate davis a lot of playing time. it went alex smith and nate davis. david carr did not play. a 60-yard pass connection davis opening some eyes electrifying

young player. we'll see if he can jump up ahead of carr backing up alex smith. as promised let's head live back over to candlestick park with laura behnke. it's preseason, i know but a lot different than last weekend in indianapolis and the sense that the starting players, alex smith and patrick willis look pretty sharp. >> definitely. we're outside of the locker room. we hope to get somebody quickly. patrick willis will join us in a moment so i'll try to fill some time. this was his first preseason action. he sat out game one. don't want to get anyone injured. tonight made his presence felt. something that the niners were excited to see, not something that brett favre was excited to see. but there were a lot of interesting things going on tonight. as promised here comes t. will coming over to join us.

>> keep stretching and get willis in there and we're fine. >> this is live television. here he is patrick willis thank you for joining us. your first time out there this preseason how did everything feel? >> it felt good to be out there. it was a blessing. for the first time live. >> the body feel good? feeling health sne >> yeah. i'm feeling great. i felt wonderful. i want to go out there. i'm ready to get some snaps so they let me go a bit. >> also ready to get after brett favre. that must have felt good welcoming him back. >> it did. people have been jumping on me on him blocking me and so tonight was my opportunity to get a hit back on him. you know it was a good hit. >> a little payback for sure. adrian peterson not getting a lot of room. you seem to have him locked down tonight. >> adrian peterson is a phenomenal running back. you got to know where he is. you get to him, he broke some of my tackles so we got to improve in that area. for the most part we got after

him. >> how are you feeling would you say as a defense? one of the strengths heading into the season halfway through the preseason how do you feel? >> i feel like we're in good position for something great. we got to come out each week and practice hard do the small things well. then i think the rest will take care of itself. >> you getting excited for this team? you got a lot of guys you like what you see? >> i am. we look really well. we come in we watch practice and everything. looks well. then you go out and see just the way when i heard today and played, just gives you hope. >> all right. well next week is the big one, or the third preseason game. you get the most sort of action. you ready for that? >> it will be a warm-up. we'll be going against oakland. we got to play them during the regular season. we'll go out and give them a little bit. >> we'll be watching. thanks a lot, patrick willis.

raj, back to you while we draw others out of the locker room. >> laura along with patrick willis who did not play in week one of the preseason but did play tonight and sacked brett favre. may be payback for last season that last second touchdown in minneapolis. okay. from patrick willis let's go to another standout linebacker the head coach. >> you can't run the ball you're going to have problems. i thought we did a pretty decent job even though we could run the ball being efficient in getting first downs. our first and 10 i think may be the first four or five first and 10 we were awful. we just did not do very well. for the first time in a long time i thought on third down we did pretty well. the end of the game i was disappointed in terms of how we finished. i thought we put ourselves in

difficult situation that we really did not have to be. there's no way in the world, no reason that we needed to be in that situation where we got an onside kick at the end of the game. defensively, i thought travis la boy for his first time back i thought he did a decent job of applying some pressure and i'm sure they felt his presence out there. darryl briggs for the second week i thought did a nice job. he was tired but he told me to suck it up and get in and play. overall i thought it was a decent win for us. we got a lot of work to do a lot of work to do. i told our young guys before we played this game that we're playing against the number one ranked team against the run, in the past maybe four or five years. and i'm sure they'll take my word after playing this game.

so a lot of things to learn from this game. a lot of just film to look at and really evaluate where we are as an offense and a defense. i thought adrian peterson got some good runs outside, kind of bounced him outside. and we just have to do a better job and make sure that everything stays inside. and we have someone supporting our side. other than that i will take whatever questions you might have. >> your running game is any of the struggles attributable -- >> very nice. mike singletary the head coach wrapping things up live right now aside the 49ers locker room. overall he was impressed. almost an inverse of last weekend's game against the colts in indianapolis or the starting units didn't look as good. tonight it was the starting units that were solid.

i think singletary is happy but is not going to smile about it. the 49ers do win. on the other side of the field, our old friend toby gerhart is back. here now with nbc's lawrence scott. >> raj, thank you so much. as you would expect on the vikings side of the field, two men of the hour brett favre who ran straight off but we caught wake-up toby in a scrum. here's what he had to say. >> it's fun. i got to see him a little bit last night. about 50 of them up in the stands, so get out on the west coast and play my second home in the bay area. >> how about the opportunity to play with an idol like yours, brett favre? >> it's been great. it's only one week you know i was looking forward to working with him getting a good relationship. >> what's the biggest adjustment between stanford and playing in the nfl with the vikings? >> a little bit of the tempo, the scheme the blitz. starting to get the hang of it and get rolling.

>> toby gerhart the stanford star back with the vikings, grew up idolizing brett favre. trying to back up adrian peterson. 49ers win, week two of the preseason, 15-10. when we return we go back out to candle stick, check in the 49ers' locker room.

welcome back. we're coming to you live from the nbc bay area studios following this 49ers' victory over the vikings, 15-10. mike singletary said there was a lot of positives but not completely happy. he's the head coach, he has to say that. one of the standouts, 49er fans will be buzzing about the play of backup quarterback -- let's just get to laura and let her do it. laura, take it away. i was going to give you a full introduction.

you have the man with you. >> right. i have one of the backup running back anthony dixon joining us. you got your name called right away, you got out on the first play. how was with it the first team offense? >> it felt good to get that experience and get more comfortable in the offense. i was happy with that. >> you knew you were going to get a lot of opportunities, ride see what you could do against some of the better defenses. >> coach kind of told me i was going to be starting. i was trying to focus on my technique and put out a good performance. >> how would you assess your performance? >> it was okay but it was inconsistent at times. sometimes i didn't take what they gave me. i wanted to make a big play. got to learn sometimes you got to take three, four get the big one. >> when you look at the running back situation here you have frank gore then brian westbrook. where do you see yourself? >> right in the middle beside all of them. they have some great seasons.

with all them guys be a sponge and listen and learn. they been there where i'm wanting to go. i listen when they talk. i'm glad they are here. i'm going to sit and back them up. >> nothing is set in stone at this point. frank is going to be the starter but brian learning the offense you feel you could be frank's backup? maybe jump westbrook? >> i can. i wait on my number to get called. coach want me to back up frank, that's what i'm going to do. i'm going to fill my role. i know he want me to play for this team, get out and be productive. i'm going to focus on that. >> we got a see a lot from nate davis. how do you feel the two of you are developing? >> definitely. the more playing time the more comfortable you get. so i think the more playing time we get, we're getting better. we get more confidence and eventually we'll be i guess pro bowl like.

>> you heard it here first. got to ask him before i let you go you were part of that first drive that resulted in the touchdown. how did that feel to get into a rhythm? >> it felt good you know. the minnesota vikings one of the best in the nfl. just to put numbers up early, it was confidence booster for the offense, made us feel like we knew we could play with them but made us feel like we could dominate them putting up points that early. we got a little inconsistent. that's why preseason. get it right and come out stronger. >> stuff to work on. future pro bowler anthony dixon. appreciate it. raj, back to you. >> it's preseason for me so forget i said anything about nate davis coming out to join you. >> it's forgotten. >> a contagious mob. his numbers against the colts, 100 yards rushing on 20 carries an tonight, 20 carries again for 51 yards rushing, the sweet

misdirection play in the first quarter for the touchdown. i was thinking ahead, laura behnke. let me see, nate davis with you now? a wild guess. >> you can see into the future raj. that's what this is about. nate thanks for joining us. you got a lot of opportunities, the whole second half you got to play. how did you feel? >> i felt good getting the reps, the feel of the game, getting the pace going, that was the biggest thing, going out and having fun. >> you knew going in that your number might get called earlier than you had seen in the previous game. did you feel like you needed to show what you could do? >> of course. you know i think every time i get a chance to show what i got i got to put it out there. i got to prepare every game like i did, like today, i prepare the same way every game. >> you had a nice 60-yard hookup. maybe one of the more exciting plays of the game. >> yes.

coach had pressure and i saw him running wide open. i had to get into it. >> i was asking anthony the same thing. where do you feel you fit in in this quarterback competition? >> the thing is wherever they like me at. i got to keep on working, getting it down and then we'll go from there. >> what's it like in the quarterback room with those two? theth of you help each other? >> yes. that's a lot of experience between those guys. they help me so much and i learn so much. we keep on working every day. >> you were on the sideline at the beginning but how nice to see alex and the first teamers get into that rhythm. >> that gave us a big boost, gave me saying that you know keep it ongoing. >> all right. thank you very much nate davis. raj, back to you. i have no idea who is next. >> i'll figure something out. we'll guess. laura along with nate davis. one of the pleasant surprises in the game. you get the feeling the 49ers said go for it. see what you can do