The San Francisco 49ers had quite a game on Sunday when they played the Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick especially had a good game. Kaepernick had a PFF (subscription) rating of 3.7 for the game, the highest offensive grade out of all the 49ers’ players. He consistently went through his progressions throughout the game found the open man.

On their first possession of the game Kaepernick felt the pocket collapsing around him. Last year he likely would’ve brought the ball in and took off running. Instead, he kept his eyes downfield, stepped up into the pocket avoiding the sack, and threw a dart to Anquan Boldin running a post on the right side for a gain of 37 yards. The very next play Kaepernick is pressured again and keeps his eyes downfield again. Even after a defender nips his feet and trips him up he keeps looking downfield and finds Vernon Davis along the right sideline wide open for the touchdown. Both instances he could’ve easily tucked the ball and tried picking up yards with his feet. Instead he keeps his eyes downfield and makes good throws for big gains.

On a drive in the second quarter Kaepernick consistently makes good reads and works through his progressions. On one play in particular he drops back and you can see his head moving through the progressions until he finds Michael Crabtree get open over the middle on a slant pattern for a gain of 12 yards.

All day he was making strong, accurate throws. He was making the right reads and didn’t make any costly mistakes. In the second half the offense slowed down some and he didn’t have as many opportunities to make plays. What really impressed me was his ability to sit back and read the defense. While I realize it was the Cowboys’ defense that was out there, you can at least say the Cowboys’ defense wasn’t the worst part of their performance on Sunday. Also, Kaepernick had a PFF rating of 2.4 when the Cowboys didn’t blitz. This means he did best when there were extra players dropped into coverage.

As far as the running goes, Kaepernick didn’t have too many designed runs and the ones that were called he played it safe on those. When they ran zone read plays he consistently made the right choices and didn’t take any unnecessary hits. Knowing when to slide has never been a problem for him and he showed that once again. This skill is an extremely valuable skill, just ask the Washington Redskins.

Colin Kaepernick had a very good game against the Cowboys. While their Week 2 opponent, the Chicago Bears, certainly have a better defense than the Cowboys, Kaepernick showed that improvements were made in the offseason. It was evident through just one game. He found the open guys, worked through his progressions, and evaded pressure while keeping his eyes downfield. If you watch the most successful quarterbacks in the NFL, none of them tuck the ball and run once they feel pressure. They find little creases in the pocket to step up into avoiding pressure and still looking for the open man. I was expecting big things from Kaepernick already this season, but with such a solid season in Week 1, I expect even more now. Once his new receivers and the rest of the offense can start clicking, this will be an offense that people will have a hard time stopping.