Dorsey showing improvement in second season Dec. 15, 2004
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Ken Dorsey's second season with the San Francisco 49ers has taken a turn for the better. Now he's determined to keep it moving in that direction.
Dorsey will start his second consecutive game Saturday against the Washington Redskins, and he could finish the season at quarterback in place of regular starter Tim Rattay.
Rattay is out with a foot injury and might not play again this year. In his place, Dorsey had the best game of his career Sunday, leading the 49ers to a 31-28 overtime victory at Arizona.
That win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the 49ers, who are 2-11 and looking to finish strong and salvage something out of a tumultuous season that has featured coaching controversy and plenty of lackluster performances.
"You've kind of got to keep your foot on the pedal, just kind of stay aggressive and just make sure you're on top of the ball the whole game," Dorsey said. "That gave us a lot of opportunities last week."
Dorsey took advantage, winning for the first time in four career starts. He threw three touchdown passes, completing 18 of 34 passes for 191 yards and guiding San Francisco to the winning field goal in overtime.
Dorsey had struggled mightily in his previous two starts in place of an injured Rattay, failing to lead San Francisco's offense to a touchdown in losses to Seattle and Chicago. He entered last week's game with a quarterback rating of 53.9, a figure lower than any NFL quarterback who qualified for those ratings.
Dorsey's previous struggles this year diminished enthusiasm within the organization that the former University of Miami star could be the 49ers' quarterback of the future. But Dorsey's play last week rekindled some hope.
"He did some really good things and made some really good throws," coach Dennis Erickson said. "He's healthier now and he made good decisions. He missed some throws, which you are going to do when you haven't played, but he made some good ones to win it."
Dorsey hit receiver Cedrick Wilson between three defenders for a first down on a third-and-17 play that kept the winning drive alive. Dorsey said it might have been the best throw he has made in the NFL, and it was one he couldn't have made earlier in the year when he was dealing with back, groin and thumb injuries.
Dorsey completed just 16 of 36 passes for 122 yards during an a loss Oct. 31 at Chicago, throwing an interception that was returned for the game-clinching touchdown.
It appeared that horrible showing might be his final chance this year when Rattay returned to the lineup the next week. But Dorsey got healthy and improved each week in practice, Erickson said.
When Rattay was sidelined with an injury for the third time this season, Dorsey was ready.
"It's kind of a relief just to be able to go out and perform and play well again," said Dorsey, who didn't take a snap last year as a rookie after leading Miami to a 38-2 record in four years as a starter. "It's kind of a load off your mind and lets you realize that you can still play this game, have success out there and understand that the hard times aren't always going to be so hard."
It won't get any easier for Dorsey this week when he goes against a Washington defense ranked second in the NFL. But he'll have the home crowd on his side this time.
Dorsey's first four starts were on the road. Dorsey is a native of the San Francisco Bay area, and fans at Monster Park have chanted his name often this year when things have gone wrong for the San Francisco offense.
"It's going to be fun to start at home, to play in front of the home fans, friends and family," Dorsey said.
too bad Sean Taylor wont be on his team this time. nor will Clinton Portis, Philip Buchannon, Ed Reed, Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, Bryant McKinnie, Jerome McDougle, Jon Vilma, DJ Williams, Willis McGahee...
joebagadonuts on IsaneBoost's signature:
-- "I laughed. I cried. Better than Cats"
Yeah, improvement. He went from embarrasing to just terrible.
RIP 21
"Nah, I trust the laws of nature to stay constant. I don't pray that the sun will rise tomorrow, and I don't need to pray that someone will beat the Cowboys in the playoffs." - Irn-Bru
ummm, we won super bowls in the last 15 years. Don't think that qualifies as back quarterback play, not to mention another of our former quartbacks won a super bowl in Tampa. Nice try though.
RIP 21
"Nah, I trust the laws of nature to stay constant. I don't pray that the sun will rise tomorrow, and I don't need to pray that someone will beat the Cowboys in the playoffs." - Irn-Bru
ninerfan1978 wrote:Yeah kinda like every QB the Skins have had for the last 15 years
This is an absolutly BRILLIANT post! How does one gain such great insight?
If anyone knows if there is a system to gain the kind of knowledge this poster has, please let me know. I can't believe I've gone my entire life not seeing all there is to see
No harm ment. Just trying to stir up a little *sh$t*. It actually should be a pretty good game saturday. By the way Champsturf I live about 15 miles down the road from you in New Lexington, don't usually meet anyone that close in these forums.
ninerfan1978 wrote:No harm ment. Just trying to stir up a little *sh$t*. It actually should be a pretty good game saturday. By the way Champsturf I live about 15 miles down the road from you in New Lexington, don't usually meet anyone that close in these forums.
Consider it stirred up.
However, I really don't think that you'll think it's a good game. I actually think that the Skins will take care of business like they did against the Giants. Of course, I thought that about the Cleveland game too. What do I know. I do know that the Niners are having a pretty rough year.
New Lex, huh? Been there on several occasions.
In regards to the game, as lond as there's progress and we win, anything else is just a bonus. I'll be watching for sure.
It will be a better game than you think we have played close games all season just like the skins. In 8 of our losses we have either been winning, tied or down by 7 or less going into the fourth quarter. Of course we have self destructed in every one those games, but that's what you will have with a young team and all of the injuries that we have went through.
Welcome to the site ninersfan! There's an old saying "any given Sunday...." but that should not happen this week.
I have always enjoyed watching your team but this year they have just not seemed to be able to compete. I know we have not exactly been playing well, but this year and especially now we are looking a lot better.
At this stage, IMO, your team is in the bottom 10 and we are at least in the top half and if you think the steelers and iggles are any good we are not far behind.
Right now, there are only a few good teams and quite a few (including the Skins) just behind them. We are now seeing Joe and co. getting back into it, and this week, I think you/we are going to see that the Skins are very close to being a very dominant team. Hopefully, for some time to come.
Welcome to the site and enjoy the game.
Until recently, Snyder & Allen have made a lot of really bad decisions - nobody with any sense believes this franchise will get better under their guidance Snyder's W/L record = 45% (80-96) - Snyder/Allen = 41% (59-84-1)
