This game was very reminiscent of the good old Bill Walsh days of beating Cincinnati. I mean, who can forget Bill Walsh and Roger Craig skipping off the field arm in arm after a last-second victory in Cincy that harkened back even further to the Alley Oop days of YA Tittle and RC Owens?
Cincinnati always seems to be our foil whether it be regular season games, or Super Bowls. Yesterday was simply a methodical stomping of what appeared to be a vastly inferior team. Cincinnati was coming off a hard-fought loss on the road in Seattle. A game that gave them hope that their new coach had the team on a new path. A game that the Bengals had an outside shot of winning but for a terrible fumble call late in the game.
Yet the 49ers came in and imposed their will on Cincy’s turf (a vastly empty stadium) and on Cincy’s O line from the first play, a sack by Arik Armstead. The sack gave SF great field position, and on our 4th play from scrimmage, Goodwin lined up at the TE spot, and was left uncovered for a 39 yard strike. Cincy quickly struck back when we busted a coverage of our own, and gave Cincy a 47 yard chunk play, but after that, it was all 49ers.
Offensively, it was reminiscent of Bill Walsh. 313 in the air, 259 on the ground. Garoppolo threw for 297 (1 sack), 3 TDs and 1 pick. Brieda and Mostert combined for 204 yards rushing, and Jeff Wilson went from the practice squad to 2 rushing touchdowns in 2 days. Deebo Samuel had 5 catches for 87 and a TD, and Goodwin 3 for 77 and a TD. George Kittle even got into the act with 3 for 56 yards.
Defensively, the Niners pressured Ginger all day and forced a lot of quick and inaccurate throws. Dalton’s numbers weren’t terrible, but Cincy was fighting an uphill battle as our 24-10 half time lead quickly jumped to a 41-10 lead. The run defense, which tired badly in the Tampa game gave up an astounding 17 yards to Joe Mixon on 11 carries. 1.54 yards per carry. Ahkello Witherspoon continues his resurgence as a lockdown corner. K’Waun Williams though, not so much. He was toasted early, but seemed to settle in as the game went on. Our LB play was stellar as Kwon Alexander and Fred Warner combined for 13 tackles. Even more impressive was the defensive line. Our base D, with Nick Bosa cycling in and out got 4 sacks, and innumerable hurries. Shit, even Solly Thomas got into the act.
Next week is our home opener, and should be a solid test against what appears to be a beat-up Steeler team. Goodly or badly, Rothliesberger is out for the rest of the season with a fucked up elbow. He was sucking pretty badly anyway, so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing for us.
Forty Niners Forever 
Not a big fan of Jalen Hurd, just think he’s average at best..My Pick in that the draft the 49ers should of taken over Hurd is on my fantasy team and killin it!! It’s Redskins ..Scary Terry McLaurin from Ohio St! Kid was 4 year starter there and is a baller now,4.35 40 speed,with solid hands, in on 62-65 plays Skins ran the 1st week( that’s 90% of snaps) close to that in week 2.Skins even dumped receiver Doctson after seeing how good he is..
Hurd was a complete head-scratcher to me AK – and I do a LOT of Draft analysis.
So call me curious to see what they have in him. I will tip my cap to Shanny and his ability to find PnP RBs for his system. Just thought Hurd went too high, as I also thought of Pettis.
Deebo was my prime target this year and looks like a keeper so far.
McLaurin was a no brainer for DC and Haskins so….there’s that.
The Draft is ALWAYS a crap-shoot and, the odds are against hitting on many gems.
So far, I will say Kittle, Breida, Mostert and Blair might be the best kept secrets to come into the SF locker room by way of Lynch/Shanny & FO Crew.
Not bad in the grand scheme of things so far.
I think Hurd will be solid to great. Haven’t heard a thing about him lately though.
I told you not to hype me up or else I’d quit on the team. I don’t play hard for suckers with big ol’ beer bellies.
Just foe sh!ts and giggles, I looked at the top number of games played in the NFL, as we know the League is attempting to celebrate (Market) the 100 year anniversary.
See what (if any) bearing, comes along, with respect to the ‘history’ and finale of this years’ seeding….
Most games played…
Chicago Bears 1,386
Arizona Cardinals 1,346
Green Bay Packers 1,352
New York Giants 1,321
Detroit Lions 1,249
Washington Redskins 1,218
Pittsburgh Steelers 1,208
Philadelphia Eagles 1,204
Los Angeles Rams 1,151
San Francisco 49ers 1,018
It would be nice to recoup the 2nd we gave up for Dee somehow.
Pettis or CJ might be capable of that value, (with the right timing).
Philly might be a good place to shop Pettis?
But….Anyone willing to ante up is fine with me. 😀
Dee Ford tweaked his knee in the Cincy game. Not clear what his status is. Today’s a day off anyway, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow. He was apparently ready to go back in, but with thee game in hand, it wasn’t necessary. The good news is Nick Bosa played 31 out of 70 snaps in the game and came out feeling fine.
D line played a monster game. I haven’t seen a sustained pass rush like that from the base defense since the Justin/Aldon Smith days.
The good thing about our pass rush on the edge this year is that NOT ONLY do we have Bosa and Ford, we have Blair to back them up. He’s pretty solid for the third guy there. And the inside is deep too. And our starting LBS are solid with the emergence of Greenlaw and picking up Kwon. Mark Nzeocha is not terrible in reserve, and the 49ers are quietly excited about Al-Shaair in the long term. This defense is capable of taking a lot of pressure off our offense, which is good, because with our issues pass blocking on the line we’ll need that. Keep Breida, Kittle, and Garoppolo healthy and we might even give the Rams a real run for their money in the division this year.
New thread is up.