49ers bash Bills in historic beatdown

CANDLESTICK PARK —  The 49ers are firing on all cylinders. With whose foot on the gas pedal? Quarterback Alex Smith’s.

Smith threw a couple of deep passes for touchdowns as the 49ers opened up a 14-point halftime lead en route to a 45-3 annihilation of the Buffalo Bills.

Other than their one loss at Minnesota, the 49ers are playing like a team that capitalizes on all opportunities.

Midway through the second quarter, Bills tight end Stephen Chandler caught a pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick but then was leveled by Patrick Willis causing a fumble. The ball was recovered by Dashawn Goldson.  That would be the turning point of the game.

The next play was a 28-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith to Michael Crabtree.  That was the beginning of the end for the Buffalo Bills, who looked more like buffalo wings.

Audio: 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree

Sunday’s game ended up turning into a record outing for the 49ers who set the franchise record for total offense with a whopping 621 net yards.

The 49ers also became the first team in NFL history to have 300 yards rushing and 300 yards receiving in the same game.

Smith had 303 yards passing, the first time in his career he has won a game when passing the 300 yard plateau:

Audio: 49ers quarterback Alex Smith

“This is a great team victory. The defense holding them to 3 points is great. We only gave up 3 points in two weeks, that’s incredible. Offensively, it could have been even better. The crazy thing, is in the first half, we had a lot of penalty yards. Had some big plays called back, that’s the scary thing, it could have been even worse.”

The Bills have been woeful to say the least.  Last week they were destroyed by the Patriots 52-28.  They allowed New England to outscore them 45-7 after they led by two touchdowns in the third quarter.

This game added insult to injury for the Bills. After they tied the game 3-3 on a 31-yard Rian Lindell field goal, Buffalo never scored again. The 49ers scored 42 straight points.

Audio: 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick

It was simply an embarrassing loss for Buffalo, who have been outscored 97-10 since the second half of last week’s loss to New England.

Bills coach Chan Gailey shouldered the responsibility for the team’s struggles:

“Obviously something I’m not doing correctly with this football team in the second half. … Because we’ve been in two games in a row at halftime and have played extremely poorly and that’s as nice as you can put it. Obviously, the turnover right before the half really hurt and we’re not playing physical like we should and not doing the things that we need to do.”