Well, here we are at 10-4. Still in the 6 spot despite our 4 game winning streak. We almost got help from Deetroit and Indy, both were losing yesterday while our game was going on, but alas, no such luck. It weould be nice to jump either Seattle or LA, but not sure we get any help. Sea is our best shot with the last game of the season.
The game yesterday was cool to watch, and pretty damn cold to boot. Watching Pearsall get open pretty much at will was great to see, despite the 2 times he hobbled off the field. His presence is a big need for the offense going forward. He opens up thiings for Kittle mid-range and even CMC for the checkdowns as they can’t roll extra guys up close on Kittle and CMC. Purdy missed him a couple times on big plays, and the one thing that you just don’t see on TV is how the secondary is playing these deep shots. The deep crosser that Purdy hit him on was s thing of beauty, and just watching his break on the ball was textbook perfect and the ball was delivered on a dime. The deep shoit he missed was SO wide open as to be insane. The deep shot Ward missed on was the same. Easy to tell that he was wide open, and that Ward totally missed the shot when he threw it.
Other than that. the 49ers played 3 perfect quarters of football, and got sloppy in the 4th. Tenn is 2-12, but they have a pretty solid O line and Pollard is a stud RB. They are beyond injured in the defensive backfield, and we killed them in that regard, but they look like a young team that should improve.
I’ll say one thing that I’ve seen in the games that Purdy is back. We are converting 3rd downs a lot more, and we are scoring TDs in the red zone. Fun game if only to see the offense rolling like it should. The pas rush was again missing, and the run D got very soft by the 4th quarter, but Purdy’s fumble wasn’t a fumble.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
The lowest-graded offensive lineman in the game was center Jake Brendel (50.7), who also earned the lowest run-blocking grade (50.8).
Left guard Spencer Burford posted the worst pass-blocking grade of the game (40.6), allowing a game-high four pressures and one sack.
In total, the 49ers’ offensive line surrendered 10 pressures.Pressures allowed among O-line:
We are what we are on the line. They may not be great, but they did enough at the right time. And Purdy’s mobility helps a lot. Jeffrey Simmons is like top 3 in interior defensive linemen and the 49ers did a pretty good job keeping him in check. And Trent Williams seems to have shaken off the early season jitters and played very well.
I’m more worried about the lack of pressures by our D line. Like Bergs said, we are last in sacks, yet still playing fairly well on defense.
With all the young guys and so many different players out there, we are going (IMO) too much with the soft zone. We did get some pressure on Ward, but the run defense was awful. Especially late.
Some of that was simpy garbage time, but these next 3 games are against opponents that aren’t as soft as these last 3.
And even with Indy’s record being what it is, they are struggling wildly. They’ve gone from 8-2 to 8-6. And if we can’t move Philip Rivers off his spot, we are in for a long night. 44 or not.
22 days ago, Indy was 8-2, and the 49ers were 6-4.
They are now 8-6, and we are 10-4.
Like the trend, but we HAVE to keep winning and getting players back.
As I’ve said since Purdy came back, I’m not worried about the offense.
None of these upcoming games are gonna be easy. We just gotta play good ball and limit mistakes. I just hope the Refs don’t dictate the outcome.
Bethune returning to practice is big. Linebackers sucked Sunday. Not once did they stop a screen pass.
Yup. Run D, especially late, was terrible. We were not setting the edge at all. We did stop a lot of dump off passes early. Shit just went to hell in the 4th quarter after the fumble.
Niners opened the practice window for rookie QB Rourke a week ago and then this week brought back QB Martinez after the JETS cut him. What to make of the team keeping 4 QB’s on the 53/PS this late in the season just as they push for playoff seeding?
I would have thought another reserve front 7 D player would have been a bigger priority.
Not many teams keep 4 QB’s and especially not playoff teams looking for any small advantage.
Headscratcher.
Makes me think Rourke is not really getting better. Either physically, or quarterbackly.
After tonight Rams last 2 are following Monday @ATL (10 days rest) and AZ.
How does everyone feel about Pearsall. Kick out his rookie year when he got shot, has he played a full season? Does anyone think he is injury prone. Just curious
So far? Yeah. But he’s only in his 2nd year. 6 this season and 7 last year. Pearsall didn’t miss any games in college, so what do you make of that? This game is brutal and it isn’t getting any easier.
I’m sure with a 17 game season now, injuries are creeping up across just about all the teams.
The kind of annoying thing is the league said they would crack down on hip-drop tackles, and that’s exactly how Pearsall hurt his ankle on the Niners first offensive play of the game. No flag.
Yeah, there are too many flags in the game, but why say anything about it and then ignore it? Like helmet-to-helmet calls simply vanishing, they give a ton of lip service to be safer but they keep adding games to the schedule and adding Thursday games for all teams.
Best case scenario is Seattle wins, and we can pass them by winning that last game of the year.
We are behind the Rams unfortunately, so even if they win, it may just give us the 5 seed rather than the 6.
Stafford carving them up so far but Rams held to FGs. Meanwhile Seachickens with 3 and outs.
After early TD. 7-6 early 2nd but this doesn’t look good.
2 Seaettle drops helped.
Their offense is pretty meh.
New thread is up.