Wow. That game aged the shit out of me. In a game very reminiscent of the 2021 divisional game that the Niners won despite playing bad, the 49ers yesterday played terrible on offense, on defense, special teams, and coaching.
Purdy came out looking like a rusty rookie, and the game-saving play of the game may have been the drop by Darnell Savage in the 1st quarter that would have been a pick 6. Purdy spent most of the game not going deep, and missing his check-downs on the way to a mediocre 86.7 rating and many missed opportunities.
The defense got little pressure, slipped and fell all over the place, left guys wide open, gave up huge pass plays, got hit with penalties, and offered little resistance but for the big 4th down stop in the 2nd quarter.
Special teams? Well, after spending the entire 1st half trying and finally catching Green Bay, the Packers blocked a field goal attempt that looked like Moody would have shanked anyway.
The second half was more of the same. A 3-and-out was followed by a 10 play-all pass drive by GB to take the lead. The offense finally kicked into gear and scored quickly on a 35 yard swing pass and run for Kittle and a 40 yard run by CMC.
Special teams reared their head again, giving up a 75 yard KO return to give GB an easy score and a 7 point lead.
Then, shit started to change. Dre Greenlaw picked off a tipped pass from Love, Nick Moody kicked a 52 yard FG, Green Bay’s own rookie kicker hooked his 41 yard kick, Purdy went 5-6 (Kittle dropped a 1st down pass), and CMC scored on a 9 yard run to take the lead.
Dre Greenlaw sealed the deal with his 2nd pick on a very ill-advised Love pass to close it out.
There you have it. Pretty much outplayed on all sides, but still managed to pull this out. On to next Sunday against the improbable Lions.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
Rewatched the game again today and confirmed my gut feelings yesterday about Shanny wasting the final minutes of the 1st half to simply play for the FG. (And fail)
He can’t help himself apparently when it comes to big games.
Sure hope he catches a Dan Campbell parasite real soon and learns to play balls to the wall before next weekend.
Campbell doesn’t give away any downs and that inspires team confidence even when it fails.
Playing conservative annoys the sh!+ out of me.
I was furious at the time. Playing not to lose. In the 1st fucking half.
Yeah for all his accolades it looks to me that Shanny plays scared much of the time. It seems like the only time he goes for the juggler is when we already have it anyway.
I thought Shanny played it perfectly. If it were dry weather, I would’ve wanted to be more aggressive, but Purdy had two many errant throws. I was very impressed with the way Shanny played the clock. And BTW, he did call deep chunk plays. They were covered and Brock checked down. It really didn’t matter, we were burning clock as it was.
If any game is a wakeup call the GB game was and the way we finished was classic. I believe we had to be reminded of who we are and that was certainly accomplished.
Very good news. Lions lost starting guard Jonah Jackson. His replacement socks and our DT’s can feast.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell said, “It doesn’t look real good for next week” for starting guard Jonah Jackson. That’s the real news here. Jackson suffered a knee injury against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, limiting him to 27 snaps. On 18 passing plays before getting injured, Jackson didn’t allow a single pressure.
Jackson’s backup, Kayode Awosiki, allowed a team-high seven pressures on 28 pass-blocking snaps, a 25 percent pressure rate. Vita Vea got the best of Awoski, generating four pressures in five matchups, per Next Gen Stats.
I still expect a very tough game from both sides of the ball. Teams have shown our defense has some serious breakdowns at times. And also that our offense can be predictable, that is where Shanny’s play calling comes in. He has to do some stuff rarely if ever seen. Because there are times when I can see what he’s gonna do so I know they can see it too.
X-rays negative on Deebo’s shoulder. He’s 50/50 to play as of now.
What is challenge if he’s less than normal self or doesn’t take as many snaps? Was his absence during most of the game partly responsible for Purdy struggles? That’s narrative I’ve read, that minus Deebo the Niners in trouble. Anything to that?
I really think 75% of it was the conditions. Sure, the offense is different without Deebo, but Purdy was just flat missing passes everywhere.
We didn’t really do a good job of giving Purdy time in the pocket either. I thought we should have been running more. Much more.
He was under pressure within 3 seconds just about every pass. I noticed a few times we brought Kittle into the backfield to give Purdy more time.
What really pisses me off is Shanahan comes out of the gate very aggressive. Throwing ALL the time. Until we need to march down and score to close out the 1st half. THEN he turtles up and plays it ultra safe. Fucking infuriating.
In the 2 for 1 situation, the 49ers scored ZERO points.
All that being said, winning this game goes a long way to giving the team some confidence in winning a sloppy game. We’ve heard (from me a LOT) that Shanahan can’t come from behind. All year we heard that the team hasn’t won a sloppy gritty game.
Well, this was the definition of a sloppy gritty game. Until the missed field goal, I thought we were gonna lose. We hadn’t really stopped GB, they were getting big plays easily on our defense, and were winning at the line of scrimmage. The x factor in all this was of course CMC. His runs provided the winning margin, and unlikely hero Chris Conley caught the best pass of the day on the game-winning drive. Honorable mention goes to the 32 yard TD to Kittle on the scramble to the right.
BUT, Wilks needs to show a lot more in the pass rush. The base 4 man rush did little to slow down Jordan love. The LBs were a little deeper than I liked, and they just underneathed us the whole game, ran fairly effectively, and hit their big passes for the most part.
If we know one thing about Jared Goff, given him time and he can hit passes. He is ALWAYS good for an errant pass or 3 so we have to be ready. We also need to dial up the pressure.
Blitz.
It looked to me like the Niners were playing a prevent defense to start the game.
Mm thanks. Last time GB played Lions they got 3 sacks and fumble recovery off him, one for TD, in relatively easy W. Got ahead early and weren’t really threatened.
Yeah on KNBR this morning they think Wilkes should go to the 5 man front, I don’t remember what game he used that in but it worked really well
I see Detroit picked up Ertz today.
He’s got a few days to knock the rust off but he’s familiar with us from his time in AZ.
Ragnow is another important factor in the Detroit scheme. He’s being held together with duct tape and grit.
One thing I think we can accomplish is rattling Goff. Pressure and force turnovers.
Agree with the consensus that we should have lost to GB given our sloppy execution in all phases.
Campbell rallies his troops and plays with attitude. Shanny better take notice.
This is why I would LOVE to see the game open with Wilks just sending everything and the sink to get to Goff early. Rattle him and he’s a basket case.
Let him get warm and confident and it just makes it worse.
At some point they need to turn the hounds loose. Sick of this lay back and wait defense. Obviously the pas rush is good, but it isn’t having the impact it should.
At least the weather report says it’s gonna be sunny both days so if it holds that is a plus. I only saw the second half of the Lions/Bucs game but I noticed the Lions offense were knocking the crap out of the Bucs defense. They play a tough game of football.
Ertz is old and slow. Not sure what he can bring to the game at this point. Just hoping against hope Deebo is good to go.
And we ALWAYS seen to start games playing vanilla on defense and letting teams march down the field on us. Watching the DeMeco Ryans led Packers playof game in 2021 and Ryans was sending blitzers all the time. We kept Rodgers off balance the entire game.
I guess I must have been living in a bubble because I never heard of these guy and they’ve been around for awhile. Anyway at the moment they are my favorite new band.
They do a really good job doing Dead music.
After a night of rest and lacking in emotional rants, teams don’t get this far if they are a crap team, I expect to see GB in a lot of playoff games, they have a good team. Let’s just hope the Niners continue to beat them.
2 things, why does Purdy struggle in bad weather, and what is the defense going to do to be better at stopping the run?
Yeah, the thing I noticed right off the bat is how far back the LBs were playing early. Which makes it harder to stop the run and cut off the short passes. It slows down the deeper passing game, but the biggest issue to me was the lack of pressure on Love. We cannot simply pray the defensive line gets pressure out of the base 4 as even with our rotations, we weren’t getting consistent pressure.
Yeah, Green Bay is the real deal. They are one of, if not the, youngest team in the league. I was 99.999% sure that Green bay was going to handle Dallas easily. Dallas is all style, no substance. They beat a LOT of shitty teams and got very full of themselves. Dak continues to be a great QB when things are going fine, but he turns to shit when the pressure is on.
The Dallas defense is great when playing with a lead, and playing the likes of the Giants, Jets, and Pats, but teams can run on them, and balanced teams like GB and us can eploit them. The AZ game was a prime example. The Niners beat AZ fairly easily but they ran on us hard. I figured, they do that to Dallas, they win.
As far as Purdy goes, I don’t know. He must have small hands. He was off target all night. but for the TD to Kittle and th last drive. Kittle could very well have lost the season with that drop.
I’ve been telling you guys that Purdy has small hands and struggles in the rain since the week of the Cleveland game. I guess nobody reads my comments or you would already have your answer.
What is his hand measure?
I forget, but it was relatively small compared to others.
Winder, Billy Strings plays with them sometimes.
This is cool.
Yeah, I like that.
Fifty/Fifty cool Zappa song from Overnite Sensation. Tom Fowler, George Duke, Jean Luc Ponty et al.
Just tried to download that one but the url is way to long and I forget how to shorten it. Definitely Zappa
Ha, thanks for trying, Winder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ThICK0Fbw&ab_channel=Rockin%27Hits
One of my favorite Zappa albums.
Hot Rats / Waka Jawaka being another. Apostrophe as well. Shit, Zoot Alllures, Sheik Yerbouti . . .
I got to record on the same mixing board that Hot Rats was recorded on. It was at ABC recording studios in LA. One of the great analog boards. IIRC, it was an API console. I also got to record at the same studio that Tusk by Fleetwood Mac was recorded. That was a new digital Harrison console. This was circa 1980.
When I take the RV out camping, I always take this CD. I keep meaning to get more of their CDs. They do some great covers.
Brock Purdy Combine bio –
Prospect Info
COLLEGE
Iowa State
HOMETOWN
CLASS
Gilbert, AZ
Senior
HEIGHT
6’ 1’’
WEIGHT
212 lbs
ARM
29’’
HAND
9 1/4’’
https://www.nfl.com/prospects/brock-purdy/32005055-5224-3289-b108-8aab5e23b748
Since it has been a topic of discussion – There’s this….
How big is Joe Burrow’s hands?
9-inch
Burrow’s 9-inch hand measurement was one of the smallest amongst first-round passers since 2008.
The average hand size for the 39 QBs taken in the first round from 2008 to 2020 is 9.7 inches, according to ESPN Stats & Information. If you consider only the starting quarterbacks from the 2022 NFL season, the average hand size for starting QBs measured at the NFL Combine was 9.53 inches
Alex Smith you ask?
9-3/8″
Jared Goff – 9″
😀
What are nfl.gloves made out of, latex. He took his off early in game
I’d guess something like silicone or latex?
He didn’t wear it for long so I’ll assume it didn’t pass muster for him.
Burrows doesn’t seem bothered in rain with his passing numbers. This needs to get fixed. Burrows OC just got hired as HC for Titans. Will Levis is 6′ 3″ 230 and probably not in the small hands competition.
After I found the hand size comparison between Purdy and Goff I figured we’d have the tiny hands championship clash on Sunday.
Goff plays in a dome. I ever remember weather being a problem for him, but I never paid any attention to it. I do remember that Alex Smith had less than average sized hands. I also remember it cost him a few fumbles. Steve Young had issues in the rain.
And then there’s the age old Dad joke I used on my kids growing up…
Why do gorilla’s have big nostrils?
Tic tic tic…
They have big fingers 😜
Thanks for all the research guys, interesting. Purdy will just have to adapt if we are to play our game.
Berger, thanks for the sounds, I love seeing that the spirit is still alive in some bands.
I guess I could be an NFL QB. 9.5″ hand size.
Kyle is locked into the idea of going on D first, scoring right before halftime and scoring again at the start the second. I’m fine with that, it provides 2 unanswered scores, great. At the end of the half against GB he ran down the clock to such an extent that it didn’t provide enough time to score if his playcalls didn’t work out and in this instance they didnt. My question is, if he trusts the D to do its job at the start of the game, why doesn’t he trust them to hold an opponent with a little time left on the clock to end the half? IMO he needs to adjust that a little to make sure the 9ers have enough time to score even if it leaves some time for the opponent. He played it to tight.
Purdy hasn’t played well in any rain game for the 9ers. He needs to practice a lot with a wet ball. Maybe it’s hand size or maybe it’s mental or both, he needs to work hard on it. Hopefully it won’t matter again this year but they can’t just have a poor showing because it’s raining.
Bosa is a beast of a DE, but he hasn’t had many splash, game changing type plays this year. Perhaps the long holdout set him back? In any event, it’s playoffs, it’s time he showed his value as the highest paid D player in the league. Show up like a Reggie White for instance, who changed outcomes in the biggest games. Time to shine Bosa.
Chase Young started out well but faded once Armstead got hurt. Armstead played last week and did a decent job but obviously was at a minimum a little rusty. Both should play better next week.
Losing Deebo has a big impact no doubt, but with or without him there are enough talented players left on O to operate at a very high level. Kyle has had difficulty making adjustments without Deebo in the mix on a number of occasions. It seems to throw off the playcalling rythym entirely. That’s a head scratcher for me. The same mantra of “next man up” applies to Kyle, find another gear.
Well, my biggest problem with the defensive philosophy is that we start out very vanilla. We haven’t been creating much havoc early in games. As aggressive as Shanny is on offense, we are just praying the D line gets in. It hasn’t been very effective.
Like you said, as much money as we are paying this line, the pass rush is doing little. No sacks vs GB, 2 against the backup Rams, 1 against the woeful Commies, and 2 vs the Ravens.
Wilks needs to dial up more pressure. Watching the base D do nothing will be very bad against Goff. Give him time and he can hit shit. Rattle him early and he flails.
I’m gonna be pissed if we play our prevent defense early.
New thread is up.