JaMarcus Russell played better than Brett Favre, which may not be saying much. Favre looked like someone who’d returned for an old-timers’ game. He was slow and he had a crummy passer rating — 47.8. Russell, on the other hand, finished with an 88.6 rating.

Look, I am not saying he’s as good as Favre used to be. Of course not. But I’m saying people have gotten on Russell’s case and, really, he’s like a rookie and he has terrific tools. He throws hard and long but he also has touch. The Raiders do not ask that much of him yet. The Niners didn’t ask much of Joe Montana at first, either. But at the end of the game, in OT, Russell hit two beautiful passes in a row to set up the winning field goal — passes of 16 and 27 yards.

So, you praise him and say he’s developing and might very well turn out to be a very good NFL QB. The Niners should be so lucky.

— Lowell