Michael Crabtree picked up his fourth touchdown of the season early in the second quarter, putting the San Francisco 49ers on the board vs. the St. Louis Rams after Sam Bradford and company got off to a 14-point first-quarter run. Crabtree, who has four receptions for 58 yards and the touchdown, carried Alex Smith and company on their first successful drive of the evening, scoring and—as the announcers made clear, over and over—making this his fifth consecutive game against the Rams with a touchdown.
It was a crucial touchdown for the 49ers, who found themselves down 14-0 to a shockingly efficient Rams offense in the first quarter. They were unable to get on the board again before halftime, but with Colin Kaepernick in the game after Alex Smith's concussion, those first seven points could be the difference between an insurmountable deficit and the chance to turn the tables in the third quarter.
Crabtree's four touchdowns match, already, his total from the 2011 season; his career high is six, which he picked up of 44 receptions in 2010. If Kaepernick is going to get the 49ers back into this game, he'll need Michael Crabtree to do it.