I was watching some of the Seattle-Washington game today, trying to get a sense of how the Commanders managed to beat the defending champs.
One factor was Sonny Styles. He dominated from the linebacker position, making game-changing plays in pass coverage. You could tell he played high-level basketball, this wasn’t just “good coverage for a linebacker”. He intercepted JSN, got a PBU against Jadarian Price, and forced a fumble.
If the 49ers beat the Seahawks this week, Fred Warner will need to play
a major role. He’s one of the few players in the NFL that could cover JSN just as well as any running back or tight end.
That factor feels repeatable. Another factor was that Seattle was down several defensive backs against Washington, against a healthy Terry McLaurin and Stefon Diggs. Julian Love came back last week and Ty Okada was borderline, so the 49ers will face a healthier Seattle secondary with a more injured receiving corps. That factor feels a bit less repeatable.
The real x-factor, in my opinion, will be the Seattle run offense against the 49ers run defense. The 49ers, to their credit, seemed to tighten things up against Denver. Fans should be locked in on any Mykel Williams news, he could matter a lot.
Sunday can’t come any sooner!
49ers’ game review: How Brock Purdy is making his offensive line look great (paywall)
“But it wasn’t just his scrambles. On Purdy’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel in the third quarter, Colby, at left guard, was knocked backward by defensive tackle Eyioma Uwazurike, forcing Purdy to drift left to buy extra time before making his flip to Samuel.
Three plays before the touchdown, the Broncos quickly collapsed the pocket and Purdy didn’t hesitate to give up on a passing play, sprinting 11 yards around left end on 2nd-and-11 from Denver’s 18-yard line.
In the fourth quarter, Purdy was chased to the left sideline by All-Pro defensive end Zach Allen. Just before he ran out of real estate, Purdy slammed on the brakes, backpedaled to get distance from the 6-foot-5 Allen and fired a 16-yard completion off his back foot to fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
The 49ers entered Sunday as one of four teams in the Super Bowl era to start a season 3-0 without allowing a sack. The group includes Manning and the 2005 Colts, along with the 1984 Dolphins and Dan Marino, whose lightning-quick release explains how he once went an NFL-record 19 straight games without being sacked.
The point: Great QBs can help make their offensive linemen look statistically great.”
49ers’ George Kittle is not only back to full speed. He looks like he did in 2018 (paywall)
“Kittle said he felt off during the Week 1 game in Australia, his first game since tearing his Achilles in January. From that point on, however, he’s felt like the Kittle of old.
“I trained, and in July I was hitting 20 miles an hour,” he said. “I knew that if I could just do it consistently — I think the biggest part was, like, the acceleration, getting that back. From Week 2 on, I had so much confidence in it and haven’t looked back since.”
49ers minutia minute: Deebo Samuel’s YAC is back — just ask Talanoa Hufanga (paywall)
“If Kittle was going nearly 20 mph, how fast was left guard Colby moving? His GPS readout registered 18.5 mph on the play, which checks out considering he appeared to be keeping pace with Kittle and his pursuer, Hufanga, as they raced downfield.”
49ers vs. Broncos PFF grades: Best and worst from the game, plus snap counts
“Despite playing through a rib injury, wide receiver Mike Evans earned the game’s highest overall grade with an 88.9 offensive grade.”
49ers grades: Raheem Morris colt-pletely shuts down Bo Nix and the Broncos
“Jacob Cowing’s reverse did not go as planned. He is still running too many Senior Bowl routes that may work in practice, but it’s taking too long to get open within the offense’s structure and timing.
Brandin Cooks found out that the 49ers motions aren’t as easy as they look. He was flagged for an illegal shift, and also had a target go through his hands. On that same play, Cooks drifted on his route.
Jordan Watkins regressed as a blocker. He also strictly ran “clear out” routes. On one play, Watkins didn’t hustle to dig out safety Talanoa Hufanga, and Hufanga made a play at the line of scrimmage. That explains why Watkins only ran nine routes.
….This was the best Romello Height has looked this season.
As you can see from those clips, Keion White flashed quite a bit, too.
I thought the defensive line was even better on the rewatch.
Denver couldn’t accomplish anything on the ground. J.K. Dobbins had a 27.3% success rate. R.J. Harvey had a 28.6% success rate. Naquan Jones and Sebastian Valdez have been pleasant surprises. Gracen Halton and Osa Odighzuwa have been better than expected against the run, and the latter two continue to generate pressure.
Matt Judon only played 14 snaps. Khalid Kareem was in for 19 snaps. In a dream world, that’s Mykel Williams’ workload next week. But the fact that the Niners didn’t get pushed against the run and won when Denver dropped back should be encouraging since they were without Nick Bosa.”
