The NFL is such a brutal war of attrition. The New York Giants almost gave us a solid but they couldn’t really ever get going once their quarterback went down with a knee injury, early in the first quarter. The Giants and the Arizona Cardinals seem to be in this same class of team, where they should never ever beat you if you treat them like a good team. But if you treat them like the bad teams that they actually are, you might get in trouble. Jeremiyah Love and Trey McBride can still win enough
match-ups on offense to cause issues. I’m not worried about the Cardinals but I also hope the 49ers keep up this incredible focus and determination. It’ll serve them well against the big match-ups the following two weeks.
Kyle Shanahan shares 49ers updates one day after Week 2 win vs. Dolphins
“Yeah, that’s actually why I made that slip-up there, what’s on my mind right now. As soon as I’m done with you guys, I get to move on to Arizona. So, it’s lunch here and then we’ll start.”
8 winners that helped the 49ers beat up on the Dolphins: There are no losers when you win by 22
“Stout was a bit confused about the touchdown he gave up, but less than three minutes remained in a 35-6 game at that point. I’m going to forgive the second-year pro for not being focused at that point in the game.
Stout topped 20 miles per hour on the GPS, which was the second-fastest time on the team this week. That speed, paired with his intuition, is how you end up with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup in the same game.
Aside from the touchdown, Stout allowed 39 yards in coverage on six targets. He has a lot on his plate, and it’s not slowing Stout down, literally or figuratively. He’s a keeper who hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling….You don’t want to make any grand proclamations after eight quarters of the season. But Mykel’s return should shore up some of the run-defense issues. The offense’s exceptional production feels like an outlier, but it’s really not. They’re loaded with great players at every position.
This is a team that is supposed to play like they’re destined for the NFC Championship. That’s what it looks like after two weeks.”
49ers vs. Dolphins PFF grades: Best and worst from the game, plus snap counts
“Cornerback Renardo Green earned a 75.1 coverage grade, the best of the game, despite not being targeted.
The next-highest coverage grades belonged to San Francisco’s linebacker duo of Dre Greenlaw at 73.4 and Fred Warner at 72.8.
Cornerback Upton Stout earned the 49ers’ lowest coverage grade at 31.6. He was targeted seven times, allowing five catches for 116 yards and a passer rating of 153.3.”
Exactly 1 takeaway from 49ers-Dolphins (paywall)
“Brock Purdy is playing at an elite level. Nick Bosa is consistently creating pressure, even if he’s not finishing it. Fred Warner’s still the best linebacker in football and Dre Greenlaw, if nothing else, fills a gap and hits extremely hard (so does Marques Sigle, with increasingly regularity).
There are potential issues defensively, as there always are. The run game was a concern, even with five-man fronts (which makes sense in some ways as there’s actually one less person at the second level).
Left guard is still not fully “solved,” and Connor Colby’s weaknesses could be exposed against a team like Seattle (I’ll keep saying it even if no one else will).
But San Francisco is a well-oiled machine. This was an exercise in the institution of Kyle Shanahan. It was experience and talent plus scheme against an opposition that is still trying to figure out what it wants to be other than an MLM operation with De’Von Achane at the top.”
How Brock Purdy throttled the Dolphins — and jet lag — for a near-perfect game (paywall)
“Teammates said Purdy, who’s never lacked confidence, seems to have reached a new level of poise this season and that the third-quarter throw to Evans was a prime example.
“He rolls out, pump-fakes a guy and keeps his eyes downfield,” Kittle said. “Quarterbacks who don’t have confidence don’t make that pass. He says, ‘Oh, Mike Evans is down there. He has a step on the guy. I can make that throw.’ And he was doing that all day.”
Even Purdy’s seemingly bad passes turned out to be good ones.
Juszczyk thought that might have been the case when Purdy threw in his direction in the middle of the third quarter. What the fullback forgot, however, is that when Evans is pressed at the line of scrimmage, Juszczyk is supposed to alter his route so that he and Evans don’t end up in the same area. He didn’t, and he thought for a moment the ball heading his way had been misfired and was too high. Then he saw Evans snatch it for a 17-yard gain.
“I thought Brock just overthrew me,” Juszczyk said. “So the wave of emotions — I see the ball going past, of being upset that I missed my opportunity and then seeing it land in Mike’s hands and being so excited we got a big play.”
49ers minutia minute: Romello Height improved in Week 2 but needs surgery on broken hand (paywall)
“The 49ers allowed no sacks for the second consecutive week. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the first time San Francisco has surrendered no sacks in its first two games since sacks became an official stat in 1982.
Williams and Brendel, the oldest members of the offensive line, essentially played two-thirds of a normal outing. Lowe took over for Williams at left tackle in the fourth quarter and Patterson filled in for Brendel at center….
…Height played with a broken hand in the second half and will have surgery Tuesday, Shanahan said. Still, the coach said there’s an “outside chance” Height can suit up in Week 3, and he praised the rookie for his performance against the Dolphins…..
The 49ers began the game with a five-man defensive line — Height, Halton, West, Odighizuwa and Bosa — and used it through the first quarter. It wasn’t very effective, with the Dolphins successfully attacking it with quick throws and dump-offs, like on an 18-yard catch-and-run by fullback DJ Herman on the second snap of the game. The 49ers largely went back to a more traditional four-lineman, three-linebacker look in the second quarter and onward.
Though Bosa is looking for his first sack of the season, he was the catalyst on two of the team’s four sacks. He flushed Malik Willis out of the pocket deep in the red zone in the second quarter, allowing Height to escort the quarterback out of bounds for the third-round rookie’s first NFL sack. Bosa later steered Willis toward safety Marques Sigle for a sack, also the first of Sigle’s career, in the third quarter.
Though Mykel Williams is eligible to begin practicing this week, Shanahan said the plan is for that to happen next week. Williams can come off of the physically unable to perform list as early as the Week 5 game in Seattle.”
Why Brock Purdy has his 49ers teammates in awe: ‘We’re starting to witness Brock’s prime’ (paywall)
“Afterwards, Purdy explained how he has improved. He said he and quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi pored over film in the offseason and identified ways in which Purdy could be more surgical. Efficient. Purdy said he too often hung too long in the pocket, hunting for a big play.
“It’s like, if I’m hanging on a guy in a progression — how can I find an outlet (pass) or check down and stay ahead of the chains?” Purdy said. “It’s OK to be in 3rd-and-medium rather than forcing a ball and being in 3rd-and-long.”
It sounds a bit boring when spoken from a podium. But it was anything but on the field Sunday.
In the first quarter, on 3rd-and-5 from the Dolphins’ 32-yard line, Purdy looked dead shortly after the snap: Unblocked defensive end Zeek Biggers was bearing down on his blindside. But Purdy lost Biggers with a pirouette to the sideline, did a rope-a-dope to elude linebacker Jordyn Brooks and planted his feet to fire a 10-yard strike to Evans to extend the first of five straight game-opening touchdown drives.”
