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Niners ground and pound their way past Packers

The San Francisco 49ers struggled mightily in the red zone last season.

Randy Moss was wrestled out of the wilderness to remedy this, and the old veteran receiver delivered early in Sunday's 30-22 win over the Green Bay Packers. In his first action since 2010, Moss pulled in a 14-yard, second-quarter scoring strike from quarterback Alex Smith for the 10-0 lead. The 49ers never looked back.

» History wasn't broken -- but it was tied -- when David Akers knocked home a 63-yard field goal as the first half expired.

» Let's not panic after one game, but Green Bay's ground attack has issues. Different story for San Francisco's two-headed backfield beast of Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, who wore down the Packers' defense to the tune of 186 yards.

» Replays on Randall Cobb's 75-yard punt return clearly showed Green Bay's Terrell Manning throw a block in the back of San Francisco's Anthony Dixon. Replacement officials threw a flag on the play, then announced there was no penalty. Instant eight-point swing (after the Packers nailed the two-point conversion). It was the game's most overt gaffe by the fill-in zebras.

» Green Bay's Clay Matthews dropped from 13½ sacks in 2010 to just six last season. He's back on track, racking up 2½ sacks on Sunday, overshadowing a solid effort by 49ers left tackle Joe Staley.

Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.

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