National Football League

Smith, Niners rally past Broncos 24-16 in London

Published Nov. 1, 2010 6:41 a.m. ET

foxsports

While Brett Favre was extending his consecutive starts record, 49ers backup Troy Smith was making only the third of his career.

There are already some comparisons between the two quarterbacks.

Smith's scrambling 38-yard pass into double coverage set up a game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter of San Francisco's 24-16 win over the Denver Broncos in the NFL's fourth regular-season game in London.

''To compare myself to Brett is doing Brett a disservice,'' Smith said of the Minnesota Vikings quarterback, who started his 292nd straight game against the New England Patriots. ''I've got a long way to go to even come close to being mentioned in any type of same sentence with him.''

That didn't stop Niners head coach Mike Singletary from doing just that.

''It's kind of like watching Brett Favre,'' Singletary said of the 38-yard completion to Delanie Walker. ''I don't want to put him in the same light, but it's kind of like watching a Brett Favre pass.''

Smith engineered the fourth-quarter comeback, completing three long passes to get the offense working in his first start as a 49er. Trailing 10-3 and struggling all day, Smith tied the score by rushing for a 1-yard touchdown after back-to-back completions to Walker, the first for 27 yards and the second following the Favre-like scramble.

Less than 5 minutes later, Smith tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with 7:23 left to put San Francisco (2-6) ahead 17-10. Frank Gore scored another TD with 3:47 to go, running in from the 3.

''Even though we missed some things early on, I think the rhythm was put in place to make some plays later on,'' said Smith, who was starting in the place of injured Alex Smith. ''You have to be able to keep your head down and keep even-keeled as a quarterback.''

Smith, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State, found out only a few days earlier he was going to start at Wembley because Smith was diagnosed with a separated shoulder. And he struggled in the first half, completing 4 of 9 passes for 37 yards.

He finished with 196 yards on 12-of-19 passing, but the highlight was the toss to Walker that set up the game-tying touchdown after scrambling right to avoid a sack.

''If there's a slight, tight hole that you can put the ball in, I trust that my guy is going to come down with the ball,'' Smith said.

Walker had a much more simple explanation for the completion.

''The game was on the line and I had to make the catch,'' Walker said.

Singletary, however, wouldn't say whether Smith won the starting job with his performance.

''We're going into the bye week, and as far as Alex Smith is concerned, it's a week-to-week deal,'' Singletary said. ''I'll wait and talk to our doctors, trainers, whatever. But we'll make those decisions as we need to.''

The win keeps the Niners alive for a spot in the playoffs despite starting the season 0-5. Linebacker Takeo Spikes certainly thinks it's all still possible.

''Absolutely,'' Spikes said. ''Can a woodchuck chuck wood?''

The Broncos (2-6) got their first touchdown in the third quarter when Tim Tebow ran in from a yard after Kyle Orton connected with Brandon Lloyd for 71 yards. Lloyd later caught a 1-yard TD pass from Orton, who completed 28 of 40 passes for 369 yards - the fifth time this season he has thrown for more than 300 yards.

But Orton also had the only two turnovers of the game. Manny Lawson swatted the ball out of his hand in the fourth quarter, setting up Gore's TD run. Then he threw an interception to Shawntae Spencer as time was winding down.

Lawson also drilled Orton in the third quarter, knocking him to the ground on a third-down pass attempt. Orton was back in for the next possession.

''I know it hurt,'' Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. ''He showed great grit and toughness for us today as a leader and a captain of staying in the game even though I know every time he threw it after that, there was a lot of soreness.''

The Broncos twice had touchdowns called back. The second would have put them in position to try to tie the game with a 2-point conversion with less than 2 minutes remaining, but an illegal block nullified Eddie Royal's 78-yard punt return.

In the third quarter, Orton handed off to Knowshon Moreno, who pitched back to Orton for a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney. But it was called back for a chop block penalty by Moreno.

''You can't blame the officials, because we put ourselves in those positions,'' said Lloyd, who finished with seven catches for 169 yards. ''It's really tough to point the finger when we have so many opportunities to do well.''