If you want to be a playoff team, you must win the games you are supposed to win. On Sunday the San Francisco 49ers (3-2) took it to the Carolina Panthers (1-4) to come out on top 37-12.
The win keeps San Francisco atop the NFC West as the only team over .500 and marks their first back-to-back victories of the 2022 season.
Here are the answers to the five questions I asked yesterday.
1.) Will the 49ers offense score over 17 points? YES
For only the second time in the first five weeks, the 49ers offense put up more than 17 points.
It was a solid effort throughout for San Francisco. The offense averaged 6.8 yards per play and converted on seven of twelve third downs.
For one of the few times this season, the offense showed the ability to string together plays. This resulted in the offense managing three touchdown drives of 75 yards.
2.) Can the 49ers get their run game going? YES
The 49ers run game had been struggling with consistency since Jimmy Garoppolo took over for Trey Lance.
That wasn’t the case on Sunday. Led by Jeff Wilson Jr the 49ers ran the ball 29 times for 153 yards, their most since week two.
Wilson’s performance on Sunday was his best since 2020. The veteran finished with 120 yards on 17 carries, including a 41-yard burst on San Francisco’s opening possession. He also scored a touchdown on a one yard run in the fourth quarter.
Tevin Coleman saw extended playing time as well, carrying the ball eight times for 23 yards and a touchdown.
3.) Will the 49ers move the ball through the air? YES
After a rough outing in his first start against Denver, Jimmy Garoppolo has put together a pair of solid starts.
Against Carolina, Garoppolo completed 18 of 30 attempts for 244 yards and two touchdowns.
Garoppolo came out firing on Sunday, hitting George Kittle deep down the left sideline on the 49ers opening possession. He would go deep down the left side to Tevin Coleman as well for a gain of 30 a couple possessions later.
Garoppolo was especially good on third down. He completed eight of nine passes on the money down, with six of the 49ers seven third down conversions coming through the air. Garoppolo’s touchdown to Deebo Samuel also came on third down.
4.) Can the 49ers defense keep delivering? YES
The San Francisco defense suffered a number of setbacks throughout the game, as several 49ers defenders were lost to injury.
After missing the first four weeks, Jimmie Ward returned to action and started but was knocked out of the game early due to a broken hand.
Nick Bosa missed most of the second half due to tightness in his groin.
Emmanuel Moseley went down with a knee injury in the late moments of the fourth quarter. The 49ers fear he tore his ACL. He is undergoing tests and the team will likely make an announcement tomorrow.
Despite the injuries, the defense held Carolina to only 15 points. They held Carolina to only 4.7 yards per play and recorded six quarterback sacks.
Prior to his injury, Moseley made the biggest play of the game.
With the offense sputtering late in the first half, Moseley was in position catch a Baker Mayfield overthrow and take it 41-yards the other way for a San Francisco touchdown. The score put the 49ers up 17-3 and took the air out of Carolina.
5.) Which team best protects the ball? San Francisco
The 49ers improved to 14-3 since the start of 2021 in games they’ve either tied or won the turnover battle.
Both teams recorded a turnover on Sunday, but Baker Mayfield’s pick-six proved to be a back breaker.
San Francisco’s lone turnover came on their second possession. George Kittle took a pass from Jimmy Garoppolo but fumbled when he was hit.
Carolina drove down to the 49ers 23, but the Panthers came up empty handed when Eddy Pineiro’s 41-yard field goal sailed wide left.
Prediction:
49ers 17 Panthers 12
Was off on this one. The Emmanuel Moseley pick-six and a failed fourth down attempt inside their own five yard line led to 14 of the 49ers 37 points.
Kyle Shanahan is a bust. Plain and simple. Did you ever see this number of injuries under Walsh? Seifert? Harbaugh? Hell no! Hapless Kyle’s a bust, I tell you. A bust. And the Niners will never win a Super Bowl while he’s coach. Period. Over and Out. Bring on Sean Payton and Vic Fangio.
I mean, why was Jimmy Ward even on the field today? Against Carolina? Such a silly, unnecessary move on the part of the “brilliant” Shanahan and his coaches.
Idiotic
Shanahan needs to break his old crystal ball and get one that lets him know well in advance when a player will get injured, lol.
These guys!
Just curious 49ersunderksRAbust, but are you 49Reasons / Anonymous / Jaxson16?
Probably not, Geep. That rant wasn’t 10,000 words long.
More like Darrin5000? from a few years back. Every rant was about the York’s owning the team and they should be forced to sell it so the Niners could be SB winners again.
Drivel
Garbage
The success of this team now hinges on the health of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jason Verrett.
We shouldn’t forget that JG had shoulder surgery and did not practice in TC. It takes time to recover from a surgery on the part of your body that you use for throwing.
He has been improving with each game and some teams are kicking themselves now for not picking him up cheap.
Will he be perfect? ->No, but he doesn’t get rattled by his mistakes.
Kittle and Deebo fumbled today, nobody wants to get rid of those two!
With this defense and a Jimmy on the mend we have a future in January!
I agree. Only imbeciles would think otherwise.
Absolutely true…not one player on this team, especially one that handles the ball, is mistake free…not one of us on this blog capable of suiting up, and doing what they do on Sunday’s…..if my team wins, it’s been a good day…practice and film sessions are where mistakes are brought to attention, and are ironed out..not media blogs
I am not a Baker Mayfield fan. Don’t think he’s a good football player and his act, especially in college, was unsporstmanlike in my opinion. I know nowadays it seems like disrespect is the norm but it doesn’t mean I need to like the norm. Even I almost felt bad for Baker. That offense is terrible and he is a big part of the problem. It looks to me like Matt Ruhle will be back in college football next year. No way can he actually finish the year without the Panthers firing him.
My big takeaway from this game is I feel terrible for Moseley. He has worked his way into being one of the better CBs in the NFL. To see him go down with what is likely a season ending ACL injury was devastating. I hope he fully recovers and is able to get a contract extension. My recollection is he got a 2 year deal with $8M guaranteed that covers this season and next season. Hopefully he can come back next year and earn another good contract.
Coaches often take the hit even if they aren’t the problem. Maybe the GM who made the decision on Baker should be sweating. Baker was not good with many throws in the dirt.
And now they’ve fired him.
The Panther job is actually a very attractive job. They have some talent on that roster and will likely have a top 5 pick. Owner worth $20bn who seems ready to spend. A division that is ripe for the taking with TB, the Saints, and Atlanta all on the downswing. Hire Sean Payton and solve the QB position and you’ve got a playoff team next year.
Felix,
+1. If Baker can’t get right, he may go the way of Johnny Manziel. Manziel looked like a chump when he got drafted. Coming on stage snapping his fingers with hands raised to indicate it was about the money.
Hopefully he has some of left.
NYT:
Charvarius Ward has made the 49ers’ defense elite.
The first priority of the San Francisco 49ers’ defense this season was getting better play out of its cornerbacks. Last year, a young group on relatively cheap contracts was quickly hampered by injuries, so much so that the 33-year-old Josh Norman was signed in free agency to start 14 games. The 49ers had to get better at the position and did when they signed Charvarius Ward from Kansas City in the off-season.
Ward has been almost perfect for the 49ers: In Sunday’s 37-15 win over the Panthers, he allowed just one catch. According to Next Gen Stats, Ward has forced the highest tight window target rate (36.7 percent) since entering the N.F.L. in 2018.
Though not quite among the Jalen Ramsey or Patrick Surtain II realm of elite corners, he’s a long presence at the line of scrimmage who never concedes ground without a fight, and who knows how to find the ball in the air when covering receivers on sideline routes.
Ward’s style can yield volatile returns in the wrong defense, but with the 49ers’ ability to generate pressure with just four pass rushers, he has been able to lock up opposing receivers. According to Next Gen Stats, Ward was targeted five other times and knocked away two of those passes with clear pass breakups, one in the end zone against Robbie Anderson. Moreover, Ward allowed an average of 1.0 yards of separation, giving Baker Mayfield very tight throwing windows to work with all game long.
Ward’s excellent coverage has pushed the 49ers’ defense from great to elite, even as the secondary’s injury woes struck again with Emmanuel Moseley (torn anterior cruciate ligament) and Jimmie Ward (broken hand) out.
Praying that E-man can recover fully. It was terrible timing in so many ways for his injury to have happened. I also love Verrett but I am not sure if he is ready. Ambrey Thomson has been such a disappointment.
Jack: are they bringing in kickers to try out at the Greenbriar today?
Premature question: Ryans is almost assuredly going to be offered a head coach job for next season. Is there anyone on the current 49er coaching staff able to fill Ryans’ spot as he was able to do in place of Saleh?
Oldtime,
Vic Fangio has been hanging around Santa Clara this year. I believe he will replace DR. He has been a 3-4 guy his whole career but I think he can make the adjustment. He could mix in a little 3-4 just to give opposing OC’s more to prepare for. Also his style of 3-4 is close to a 4-3 alignment.
How many injuries can one team have? I tell you it is the curse of Santa Clara, there is no other reason. If the injuries don’t stop immediately and those that are injured don’t start returning soon this winning streak we are on is going to stop and we are going to go back to losing. I believe Lenior will replace Mosley and Womack will take over at nickle. Thomas will back up on the outside and maybe Verrett will be ready to step in by Dec.
In a bit of good news regarding injuries, Elijah Mitchell is due to come off the injured list on Oct. 16.
He will likely need some time after his return to get football ready. Hopefully sometime close to Thanksgiving or early December he makes it back on the field.