SAN FRANCISCO – This could be fun.
If you're into a whole lot of action with little to nothing to show for it.
Sure, J.T. O'Sullivan demonstrated an acumen rarely seen from a guy making his debut as an NFL starting quarterback. And no doubt the Pride of UC Davis and Jesuit High School showed flashes of his nimble escapability and play-making ability.
But those traits, so important for a quarterback to possess to have any modicum of success, were not enough Sunday.
It wasn't that O'Sullivan was O'Terrible in the 49ers' 23-13 loss to Arizona. It's just that he was O'So-Ordinary.
And for a team that just handed you the keys to the franchise, that just isn't going to cut it.
Ask O'Sullivan.
"I wasn't good enough," he admitted. "We lost.
"My individual performance is tied to this team. My expectations were to win and score points."
The 49ers did neither, despite moving the ball at relative will in the first half and O'Sullivan looking like a tenured vet rather than a guy with his eighth team since joining the league in 2002.
At halftime, he had completed 10 of 14 passes for 141 yards in new offensive coordinator Mike Martz's high-powered system. Five different players had caught a pass and the game was tied 10-10.
Then came the second half and visions of Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk and Martz's Greatest Show on Turf quickly dissolved. Just as well, since Warner plays for the Cardinals, Bruce did not have a ball thrown his way by O'Sullivan, Faulk is retired and the 49ers play on grass.
To pin the loss on O'Sullivan would be wrong. To say he's a star-in-waiting would be just as irresponsible.
Especially since he was irrelevant after halftime with Arizona hogging the ball for 22 minutes, 38 seconds to the 49ers' 7:22. The 49ers had the ball in the second half for only one series plus two additional plays.
Few quarterbacks are going to make up for that huge a discrepancy, which is how O'Sullivan finished with 195 yards on 14-of-20 passing and an 80.2 rating.
Then there were the turnovers.
Late in the first quarter, with the 49ers facing third-and-three, O'Sullivan was back to pass when the pocket collapsed. He could have easily run for the first down but instead forced a throw to Arnaz Battle. Wrong read. Adrian Wilson intercepted him.
"It's a good example of not throwing the ball late down the middle … there is a fine line (between) playing football with seeing things and making plays," he said.
O'Sullivan also lost two fumbles on sacks, making him directly responsible for three of the 49ers' five turnovers.
A work in progress?
"When he got in a bind, he got out of it OK," sniffed coach Mike Nolan, referencing big gains on broken plays in which O'Sullivan found Vernon Davis and Frank Gore. "There was an awareness of where he was. He didn't disappoint me."
Not exactly a stirring vote of confidence for O'Sullivan, one of six quarterbacks without an NFL victory to start a game this week.
None of that should matter to impatient 49ers fans. Nor to the refreshing realist that is O'Sullivan.
"Moving the ball," he said, "is not enough."
Oh yeah, this definitely could be fun.
Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556.
