Another week, another hard-fought win for the San Francisco 49ers.
There were multiple moments during Sunday’s 26-21 win
over the New Orleans Saints where it felt like San Francisco was finally imposing their will and pulling away. But either through a defensive mistake or the Saints making a play, the 49ers couldn’t quite get over the hump, and New Orleans had a chance to win the game on its final drive.For the second week in a row, however, the 49ers defense would force a strip sack – this time
compliments of Bryce Huff – to seal San Francisco’s second win of the season.
While Huff made the play to tilt the game San Francisco’s way, it wasn’t enough to earn a spot on this week’s three stars. Here are the three players of the game in the win in New Orleans for the 49ers:
Third star: WR Jauan Jennings
Jennings’ status was up in the air for most of the week, and he even had a scare with the shoulder injury early in the third quarter. But when the 49ers needed Jennings the most, he came through.
The receiver led the 49ers offense with 10 targets for 89 yards, with his five receptions only behind Christian McCaffrey’s six catches. It was his fifth and final reception that earned him a spot on three stars this week.
With the 49ers clinging to a 19-14 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, San Francisco entered plus territory. While facing a third-and-11, Kyle Shanahan had a decision whether to go for the first down or lay up to set up a long Eddy Pineiro field goal attempt to try to go up eight points. He opted for the former, and Mac Jones lasered a pass to an open Jennings, who hauled in the pass and turned upfield to a 42-yard touchdown that proved to be the game-winning score.
Last week, it was Ricky Pearsall, and this week it was Jennings, with a big performance from a 49ers pass-catcher. With Demarcus Robinson returning from suspension in a couple of weeks and George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk returning from injury a few weeks after that, the receiving core of the 49ers is shaping up to be in a good spot come mid-October.
Second star: QB Mac Jones
As 49ers fans have gotten to learn over the past seven seasons, it’s tough to find a backup quarterback with the quality to keep the 49ers offense running. It might only be one start, but Jones showed that quality with his performance against the Saints.
Jones finished Sunday with an impressive three touchdowns with 279 yards on 26-for-39 passing. The game started slowly for Jones, opening the game 0-for-3 on the 49ers’ preliminary drive, resulting in a three-and-out. He would bounce back on the next drive, leading the 49ers on a 14-play drive where he finished 4-for-5, including a 13-yard scramble that proved to be the 49ers’ longest rush of the game. The drive would finish with Jones finding former Jaguar teammate Luke Farrell for the game’s opening score.
Jones’ best drive of the game came right before the half, and it was an important drive. With the 49ers’ defense allowing its first touchdown of the game, the San Francisco offense got the ball back with 1:14 left in the first half with a two-point lead. Jones would complete 7-of-9 pass attempts for 77 yards, hitting Christian McCaffrey with a nice pass in the endzone to extend the lead to nine points.
The lone mark on Jones’ game came on the opening drive of the second half, when he held the ball too long in the pocket, allowing Chris Rumph enough time to be driven into the ground by Colton McKivitz, get up and knock the ball loose for the 49ers’ lone turnover of the game. New Orleans would take the ball and score a touchdown, bringing the 49ers’ lead back down to two. Jones would respond by leading the 49ers on a field goal-scoring drive, followed by his 42-yard dot to Jennings for the game-winning score.
It’s never a comfortable situation when a team enters a game with its backup quarterback, but Jones showed on Sunday why he was a starter for the first three seasons of his career.
First star: LB Fred Warner
Last week, it was a big performance from Dee Winters, and this week it was Warner. That warm and fuzzy feeling the 49ers linebackers gave fans that was lost last season is slowly returning.
Warner led all 49ers defenders with 11 total tackles and nine solo tackles, but it was two plays specifically that earned him the top spot from the 49ers’ win on Sunday.
With the 49ers clenching onto a four-point lead, the Saints had the ball in San Francisco territory. Rattler hit Alvin Kamara on a checkdown pass, but Ji’Ayir Brown met Kamara at the line of scrimmage. Kamara struggled to pull in the pass from Rattler, but he was able to pin it to his helmet to control the pass. Brown’s hit put Kamara in an awkward position, allowing Warner to knock the ball free before the running back was down, and Warner was able to come up with the loose ball as well, giving the ball back to the 49ers. Seven plays later, Jones would hit Jennings for the game-winning 42-yard score.
His next big play wasn’t as impactful as a turnover, but it was just as important. With New Orleans facing a third-and-1 on its final drive, trailing by five, Rattler tried not only to convert the first down but also move the ball into plus-territory, targeting Juwan Johnson with a pass. Warner’s diving attempt in coverage was able to knock the ball away to set up a fourth down with the game on the line. Huff would explode into the backfield for the game-sealing strip sack.
Warner’s no stranger to making the big play en route to a 49ers win, and Sunday was no different for the multi-time all-pro linebacker.
Throughout the season, I will track the three stars of the season, tallying up points for each star award using a complex scoring system: three points for being the first star, two for the second, and one for the third. Through Week 2, the standings are:
T-1. TE Jake Tonges, LB Fred Warner – 3 points
T-2. LB Dee Winters, QB Mac Jones – 2 points
T-3. WR Ricky Pearsall, WR Jauan Jennings- 1 point
