I like the thread title, it reminds me of an old Yorkshire saying "where there's muck, there's brass" and there was certainly a lot of muck especially in the first half, but plenty to spare in the second as well.
Muck 1
Ball security: I hope they have Ridley and Vereen in early this week to practice and learn. I would add Hernandez to that list - not so much on carrying the rock, but committing to the ball; on the second interception he looked hesitant almost fearful on reaching out for the ball resulting in the 49ers takeaway. Good time to focus on a key aspect of the game (see RB Brown of the Eagles).
Muck 2
Tackling: another early practice request, this game reminded me of our return from the bye week when we faced Buffalo. This is week 15 and we looked porous on D, ST and even O - I hate seeing TB as the last line of protection on a turnover (but having said that - appreciate the effort).
Muck 3
Over Confidence: I really think that the young'uns and a few of the vets got ahead of themselves after the win over the Texans. The first half was a wake up call announcing that very little separates teams in the NFL and you can be down multiple scores in the blink of an eye (49ers learned that one too). I am almost glad they lost, as this lesson will sink in further than if they had won the game. Approaching the playoffs with this loss still reverberating should help stem any recurrence.
Muck 4
Third Down Conversions: 2/15 is embarrassing for this O. The brass in this one is that we managed 5/6 4th down conversions, which is hard to believe. This is tempered by the incomplete 4th down attempt in the 4th quarter, as that as much as the KO return killed the game by allowing the 49ers to kick an easy FG and put the game up almost out of reach (up 2 scores) with only 2 minutes left. I guess McD rolled the dice on that one after 3 consecutive successful 4th down conversions. I wish they would indicate drops on the box scores as I would like to know the effect of dropped passes on the conversion rate. It does send a message to the rest of the league however that 4th and whatever is not a unbeatable challenge for this O.
As a postscript - on this one 33% of those 3rd down attempts were to Lloyd and all of those thrown to him were incomplete, which tempers a little his 190 yds receiving. Some of those were on Brady though, but TB knows the team as a whole needs better execution.
Muck 5
QB Passer Rating: 68.9 passer rating and 55.9 QBR and a very good case study for why it doesn't matter - contrast that with 83.9 and 96.9 achieved by one QB yesterday, who was not the reason his team won. It may knock TB's chances of MVP, but I don't care a fig for that award. He was gutsy, inspiring and relentless and I'll take that in my QB any day, especially in December with the playoffs looming.
Edit: might have to rephrase my comment on Ponder (for it was he with the superior rating), as apparently he had one key play on 4th and 1 that resulted in him scoring. So he was one of the reasons for the win, though it still doesn't explain such high QBR.