Rattay’s performance wasn’t stellar, wasn’t game breaking, and wasn’t the start of something great. But what it was, was a confident outing, in which he moved the offense down the field, with great help from the run game, and completed 5 passes out of 9 attempts. Like I said, not ground breaking, but good enough to get it done. Had his pass to Owens on the one yard been caught (as it bounced through Owens hands), his statistics would have been all the more impressive.

Rattay’s performance gave the 49ers a little more confident that if Garcia needed to miss a few games, that Rattay could keep things going. Given a real week of practice time as the starter, he could be the backup the 49ers believed he would be when they drafted him several years ago.

Behind Rattay of course, is Brandon Doman, who was drafted this off-season. I happen to be a big fan of Doman, based on what I saw at BYU, and what I’ve read and seen about the pre-season. Doman, dare I say it, has the potential to follow Jeff Garcia in the line of starting 49ers quarterbacks.

While I wouldn’t want to throw him to the fire, as he clearly still needs refinement in his game; Doman has proven to be accurate, mobile and while his arm isn’t a cannon, it is still quite strong. He’s a smart quarterback, and I truly believe he could turn into be something special.