When the band gets back together and faces a weaker opponent, the outcome is 41 points. The San Francisco 49ers looked like an upper-echelon offense with Brock Purdy under center. Things came easily for everyone involved, including George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. Kyle Shanahan had the offense on cruise control, despite only one reception from Ricky Pearsall.
Here are Week 11’s Winners and Losers.
Winners
George Kittle
Kittle caught all six of his targets for 67 yards and a touchdown. Twenty-seven of those came after the catch, and both of Kittle’s touchdowns were on downfield throws. It’s the second time Kittle has had multiple touchdowns of 10+ air yards in his career. Six targets for Kittle should be the floor moving forward. Kittle is a winner because he only had to pass block for three snaps.
Brock Purdy
The wild child, sandlot, grip, and rip quarterback was back in action, and everybody benefited because of it. Kittle’s ability to get passes down the field is a product of the quarterback. Purdy attempted four passes of at least 20 yards. Mac Jones went three games during the past couple of months without attempting any passes over 20 yards. The offense just feels different with Purdy under center, as it should.
The difference between quarterbacks is apparent on multiple fronts. Against the blitz, Purdy was 8-for-10 for 74 yards and two touchdowns. He also picked up five first downs. Brock is most comfortable at the intermediate level, and he thrived there against the Cardinals, completing all four of his passes for 44 yards.
Outside of a couple of head-scratching throws, Purdy looked like…Purdy. Half of his throws went for a first down. That’s a good sign for an offense that will need to get north of 30 to win games.
Christian McCaffrey
“The team does well when the best players exceed expectations. More at 11.”
It was another ho-hum outing for Christian McCaffrey, who had three 10+ rushes. Of his 81 yards on the ground, 56 came after contact. No running back had a higher rushing EPA this week than McCaffrey, who finished with a 69.5 percent success rate.
McCaffrey caught all five of his targets for 40 yards. He picked up three first downs and a touchdown, and also had a nice contested catch on a comeback. That’s a route the 49ers will need McCaffrey to win on against the better teams they face.
The offensive line
A big part of the reason why Purdy excelled against the blitz was that the offensive line picked up whatever the Cardinals sent their way. He was sacked once and only under pressure 25 percent of the time. In the other two starts this season, Purdy was under pressure on 32.5 and 60.5 percent of his dropbacks.
On the ten blitzes Purdy faced, he still had an average of 3.39 seconds to throw. Part of that is due to Purdy’s mobility, but there were plenty of plays where the offensive line gave him time. It was a team effort.
Not having Connor Colby in the lineup has done wonders for the ground game. McCaffrey’s 20-yard run happened between the center and the left guard. Colton McKivitz continues to have a sneaky good year as a run blocker, while the early-season struggles from Trent Williams are a thing of the past.
The further Dominick Puni gets from an early-season injury, the more he looks like the player from a season ago. Despite rotating left guards, the 49ers’ offensive line is figuring things out at the right time.
Losers
Injuries
The 49ers lost Tatum Bethune to an ankle injury after 24 snaps. Bethune has been a fantastic run defender after filling in for Fred Warner. Curtis Robinson was forced into action after Bethune went down. Robinson and Luke Gifford left briefly after being evaluated for possible concussions.
Eddy Pineiro left with a hamstring injury that was bad enough to prevent him from kicking extra points or kickoffs. The last thing the 49ers want to do is go through the process of finding another kicker.
Jason Pinnock
You can pre-write Pinnock in this spot at this point. What is the affinity here? Rip the band-aid off and play your third round linebacker against teams like the Cardinals, Panthers, Browns, and Titans. What better time is there for him to make mistakes? Now is the time to find out whether Nick Martin has anything to contribute as a rookie.
Pinnock puts the 49ers at a schematic disadvanatge. He played a bunch of “big nickel” snaps, aka linebacker. There are ways for him to look good in this scheme; he had three run stops, but that’s mainly as a run-and-chase player. More often than not, teams will run at him or run away from him, where he’s out of the run fit, and now it’s a math game.
Pinnock was targeted five times, giving up 43 yards, including a 12-yarder, a 17-yarder, a first down, and a touchdown. He’s fast, but coverage is not Pinonck’s strong suit. I’d be terrified playing him against a team like the Colts a month from now.
Tackling
There were still plenty of issues on the defensive side of the ball. Tackling is the primary concern. Eight different players missed a tackle. There are times when missed tackles don’t lead to yards after the catch. That was not the case on Sunday. Upton Stout allowed 35 yards after the catch, primarily from one miss. Pinnock allowed 18, Chase Lucas 15, and Malik Mustapha 18. Overall, Arizona had 205 yards after the catch. It’s worth noting that some of these are empty yards when you’re playing prevent defense, but not all of them.
Pass Rush
Jacoby Brissett was pressured on 24.6 percent of his dropbacks. In four other starts this season, no team pressured him fewer than 37.8 percent of the time. It was also the first start where Brissett wasn’t sacked. Fourteen pressures sounds good on the surface until you realize there were 57 passing attempts.
Per Next Gen Stats, Bryce Huff had eight of those, including three “quick” pressures. Sam Okayuinonu and Kalia Davis had three. Keion White and Jordan Elliott had two, while Alfred Collins had one. Sam O had a pressure that led to a turnover, which should be acknowledged. But not sacking Brissett based on what other teams have done is a major red flag for a team that already is among the worst pass rushes in the league.
Best of luck moving forward, Mr. Saleh.
Winners
Deommodore Lenoir
Lenoir went from allowing a big play to intercepting a pass and nearly taking it to the house. He added a pair of run stops and was one of the few players to keep the YAC to a minimum without missing a tackle. I would not be surprised to see Saleh shift his defense toward forcing teams to throw more Lenoir’s way down the stretch.
Bryce Huff
Only Micah Parsons had more pressures this past week than Huff, who had a similar time to pressure as Parsons did this week. Huff is on an island on the defensive line, but that’s not preventing him from getting into the backfield. He just doesn’t have any help. But the production is there, and the trade for him looks better and better every time Huff steps onto the field.
Skyy Moore
A player man fans would have cut has given the team big plays multiple weeks now in the return game. A 98-yard kickoff return to open the game set the tone. It’s hyperbole to say, but that felt like ballgame after Moore nearly scored to begin the game. Brian Robinson should probably be included in here as well, but the returns are giving the offense a head start. It’s becoming consistent, which will come in handy during the final three games of the season against quality opponents.
