49ers' Colin Kaepernick throws first touchdown in a year
Colin Kaepernick re-gained the San Francisco 49ers’ No. 1 quarterback job this past week, and made his first start since Week 8 of last year as the Niners played the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
He got off to a good start: early in the second quarter, Kaepernick found a wide-open Torrey Smith for a deep pass, and Smith ran it in for San Francisco’s first touchdown of the day and a 10-7 lead.
The pass was a little underthrown, but Smith was able to come back for it, then run untouched the final 25 yards into the end zone. All told, it was a 53-yard play.
It was the first touchdown pass in a year for Kaepernick, almost to the day: he last threw a score in Week 6 of last year, on Oct. 18, 2015, in a Niners win against the Ravens.
San Francisco has had a strong rushing game this year, but with Blaine Gabbert, the passing offense was averaging just 170 yards per game.
