San Francisco Giants fans probably remember the exact feeling they had on May 25th, 2011, when Scott Cousins ran through Giants franchise cornerstone Buster Posey, breaking the catcher’s leg and dislocating
his ankle. The play ended Posey’s season and effectively ended the Giants’ season, who missed the playoffs later that year.
Unfortunately, for the San Francisco 49ers, that same feeling returned when Fred Warner went down in the first quarter in Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was later revealed that Warner broke and dislocated his ankle, ending his season just like Posey.
While the 49ers still have 11 games to play, it’s such a brutal injury, and it’s easy to feel like hope has been lost for the rest of the season.
Starting with Warner’s injury, let’s see what we learned from the 30-19 loss in Tampa Bay:
The injuries are too much
When the 49ers lost Nick Bosa for the season against the Cardinals back in Week 3, I noted that the injuries might have become too much. While the loss of Bosa was devastating, I always believed the defense would be fine as long as Fred Warner was there.
Well, the worst-case scenario happened on Sunday when Warner went down with a season-ending ankle injury.
Now, I am not going to try to tell you that the 49ers’ season is over with Warner’s injury. The 49ers have given themselves some room for error with the 4-2 start, but things aren’t going to get any easier from here with the state the defense is in.
When Bosa was lost, a name like Trey Hendrickson was thrown around as a potential fix to the pass-rush issue. And while Hendrickson isn’t a one-for-one replacement for Bosa, he’s talented enough to be a quick fix for the 49ers’ lacking pass-rush.
There is no quick fix for the emotional leader of the 49ers. Warner’s role was just as important as it’s ever been, with a defense that saw plenty of turnover in the offseason. That leader is now gone, with nobody relatively close to step in. The next closest player to Warner would be Deommodore Lenoir, but he hasn’t been around long enough to be in the realm of Warner in terms of a leader.
Warner’s impact will be felt in terms of talent, that’s for sure, but his loss for the season is much more than just his physical talents. The 49ers will have a Warner-sized hole to fill the rest of the season, and that could prove to be too much to overcome.
The 49ers suddenly have a Jauan Jennings problem
As emotional as the loss of Warner was, things got just as weird with Jauan Jennings right before the half.
Tweets flooded the timeline during the 49ers’ two-minute drive at the end of the second quarter that the receiver and Kyle Shanahan got into some sort of spat. The two had to be separated, and Trent Williams was seen talking to Jennings as the team walked off the field.
Jennings’ day didn’t get much better from there, finishing his day with more penalties (2) than receptions (1). After the game, Jennings told the media that he was playing through several injuries, including five broken ribs. Williams responded to Jennings’ comments, mentioning that everybody is playing through something, specifically naming Mac Jones and the injuries he’s been dealing with.
There hasn’t been much to come out about the Jennings/Shanahan argument since it was initially reported, but it’s definitely one of the notable things to come out of Tampa Bay on Sunday. It will, however, be something to bookmark as the next few games go by and see if anything comes out of the situation.
The parts of the offensive line that felt sure before the season aren’t so sure anymore
The 49ers’ offensive line has been one of the more heavily criticized position groups on the team in recent years. That concern didn’t go away entering this season, specifically with Colton McKivitz (who has since been extended), Jake Brendel, and whoever was going to be the starting left guard.
Despite those concerns, there was some hope with Trent Williams’ veteran presence at left tackle and the exciting progression of Dominick Puni’s solid rookie campaign. Well, through six games, Williams and Puni have been among the issues of the offensive line.
Now, there may be reasons for their struggles, like Williams playing in his 15th season and the possibility that Puni is still dealing with a knee injury that almost threatened the start of his season. Nonetheless, both have been struggling this season, and Sunday in Tampa Bay was no different.
Puni allowed a team-high six pressures on the team’s 47 dropbacks while also allowing Jones to be hurried on each of those pressures. Williams didn’t do much better, allowing four pressures himself, and was responsible for two of the six sacks allowed by the 49ers.
Williams even embarrassed himself a bit later in the game, getting flagged for a personal foul. He and Buccaneers’ second-year safety Tykee Smith got into a slight scuffle after Jones’ fourth-quarter interception that drew the flag. Williams tried to drag Smith to the ground, but stumbled in the action, finding himself underneath Smith.
The 49ers’ offensive line has been shaky at times this season, but they stand no chance if Williams and Puni don’t return to form.
