The San Francisco 49ers started their season with back-to-back victories for the second time in three seasons thanks to a tough 17-11 win over the Eagles on Sunday.
Let’s take a look at a few of the top points of discussion that have come out of Sunday’s game.
1. Jimmy Garoppolo is maddening.
Watching Jimmy Garoppolo takes something that is in short supply these days, patience. A lot of patience. The perfect example of this was his performance on Sunday when the offense was held without a first down in the opening quarter of a game for the first time since Chip Kelly was the head coach.
During the offensive futility in the first quarter, Garoppolo missed a number of throws that could have extended the possessions. There were errant throws on simple screenplays to Kyle Juszczyk and Deebo Samuel, along with passes down the field that sailed over the head of Brandon Aiyuk and Mohamed Sanu.
Garoppolo would eventually get it together and lead the 49ers’ offense on a 97-yard scoring drive to give the 49ers a 7-3 lead at the half. While there were a number of throws on the drive, many of them were screens or underneath throws until Garoppolo hit Deebo Samuel over the middle for a 40-yard completion to put the offense on the Philadelphia 11-yard line. Garoppolo would end the drive on the next play, finding Jauan Jennings open on the left side for the touchdown.
In the second half Garoppolo would again lead the offense on a long touchdown drive, this time it would go 92 yards and end with Garoppolo scoring on a quarterback sneak.
This was the first time that San Francisco had two touchdown drives that started inside their own 10-yard line in the same game since a victory over the Miami Dolphins on December 6, 1992.
Garoppolo’s ability to adjust throughout the game is a big reason why he is 24-8 as the 49ers starting quarterback and why Kyle Shanahan has stuck with him even though the team used three first-round draft picks on his future replacement.
2. Run defense struggles again.
San Francisco’s defense is going to give up a lot of yards this year if they can’t start to play the run better. Through the first two weeks of the season the defense has allowed the 19th most yards and the primary reason is they are allowing five yards per rushing attempt; fifth-worst in the NFL.
As bad as those numbers sound, the 49ers’ defense has allowed the 10th fewest points. And therein lies the rub. The defensive philosophy through the first two weeks has been to bend but not break. The defense has allowed opponents to chew up yards in the middle of the field, but once they get down into scoring territory they step up and shut the door.
This occurred throughout the early portion of both victories to start the season. Against Detroit, the defense came up with a stop on fourth down, then held for a field goal attempt which the Lions could not convert. In Philadelphia, the defense was able to come up with a stop after a long Philadelphia drive and Javon Kinlaw would then block a field goal attempt, then after allowing 91-yard completion from Jalen Hurts the defense would mount a goal-line stand to keep the Eagles from scoring.
The next three weeks is going to provide a better idea of where this defense stands. Shutting down Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts is one thing, doing that to Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray is a different monster.
3. San Francisco weathered the storm.
Facing a difficult defense with a raucous crowd on hand for the Eagles home opener, San Francisco needed to weather the storm to stay in the game early. The 49ers running game couldn’t get going, Jimmy Garoppolo was missing throws left and right and the defense was struggling the get off the field. When the first quarter ended the 49ers had been outgained 117-14, but they were down only 3-0.
After going three and out on their first three offensive possessions, the 49ers offense would start to get their feet underneath them on their first possession of the second quarter, and although they would not score any points the 11-play drive would allow the defense to finally catch its breath. San Francisco would then score on three of their next four possessions to take a 17-3 lead and put the game away.
There was nothing fancy about the two touchdown drives, they were simply pictures of consistency. The ability to control the ball for 12 and 16 plays and finish off drives in the endzone is not something that happens often in the NFL.
4. Defense saved the day
While the offense struggled, the defense made big play after big play to keep the 49ers in the game.
On the first play of the second quarter with Philadelphia facing third and one at the 49ers’ 27-yard line, defensive tackle D.J. Jones stepped up to close off the middle of the defense and drop Eagles running back Miles Sanders for a loss of two. Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw would block Jake Elliot’s 47-yard field goal on the next play to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard. All of this occurred after a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Reagor was wiped away due to the wide receiver being forced out of bounds by 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir while the ball was in the air.
The next Philadelphia possession would start with a 91-yard completion from Jalen Hurts to Quez Watkins that would have been a touchdown if not for Jaquiski Tartt chasing the receiver down and grabbing the back of his jersey to keep him out of the endzone.
A few plays after Tartt’s heroics, the 49ers’ defense found themselves backed up on the one-yard line following a pass interference call. After an incomplete pass to Zach Ertz, linebacker Fred Warner would drop Sanders for a loss of three. Jimmie Ward would follow up Warner’s play by chasing Hurts out of bounds to force fourth and goal. The Eagles would try to get tricky on fourth down and the defense would finish off the stand. From this point on it was all 49ers.
Notes:
The 49ers signed running back Jacques Patrick off the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad. Patrick played collegiately at Florida State and joined the Bengals after a stint in the XFL. At 6’2”, 234 pounds Patrick is built similar to Alfred Morris who had a lot of success under Kyle Shanahan. The Bengals run a variation of Shanahan’s offensive scheme which should help him get up to speed quickly.
Yes, Jimmy got off to another slow start. I think some of this is due to the defense presenting a scheme they were not expecting. Jimmy was wide eyed those first couple of possessions . He wasn’t seeing what he expected.
As for the run defense I thought they were pretty good against the running backs. Over half their yards came from Hurts. They still need to figure out these speedy QBs. Quite a few of Hurts yards game at the end of the game when the Niners were in prevent.
Certainly not perfect but Philadelphia has a very good defense. I enjoyed that game and was on the edge of my seat for most of it.
Patrick quite a bit bigger than Morris, how about Le’Veon Bell? 🙂 Similar 40 times to Morris though. Should be very interesting to see how Shannie handles him.
This game didn’t go how I expected it to at all.
I did think that Philly was a bad matchup for SF due to the fact their strengths directly counted SF’s weaknesses ( Interior DL vs SF’s interior OL, Strong running game vs a D struggling with Gap integrity, Blazing fast db’s vs slow cb’s). Ryans managed this game incredibly well given what all he had to work with. Additionally, while I think Shanahan’s play calling left a bit to be desired early on, I think he adjusted well and deserves credit for that.
Jack, is 100% correct on Jimmy in this game.
– If you don’t like him it was easy to see why.
– If you do like him it was easy to see why.
In this game he had his normal bad decisions or poorly placed balls but he also made big plays in high leverage moments.
Sometimes I wonder if this offense is just a bad marriage for his skill set and if he would be better suited to a more wide open spread you out offense where he can just make quick decisions, throws… for example what would he look like in a New Orleans style offense? We will likely never know, but man is he hard to figure out.
I bet on a low-scoring game based on two excellent D lines playing early in the season with offenses still figuring things out, especially for the Niners with their #1 RB lost for the season, and the #1 receiver MIA.
Shoup, while I expected the W I underestimated the Eagles and especially their front 4. While there were match up issues as you pointed out in your pregame analysis, the end result proved why Philly is expected to be in the league bottom 1/4 and the Niners title contenders. These next 4 games will tell us how seriously in contention.
As far as Jimmy and the QB saga, forget the Trey package or significant playing time. The biggest asset he has to the team right now is leading the athletic QB scout team in prep for Wilson and Murray. From the looks of last Sunday, either he’s not been used for that or did that job poorly.
Lance can play the mobile QB for the scout team as well as possible, but he cannot instill edge containment discipline in the DEs. That’s Kocurek’s job.
I saw Bosa get fooled once on the zone read; he reacted too late. However, Ford, doesn’t react at all as it looks like he simply pins his ears back and attacks the QB assuming he will stay in or around the pocket.
The wide 9 has some huge gaps and it must be hard for the front four to manage those gaps. Maybe most of the blame (if any is to be assigned) should be put on the LBs. But if the offensive play calling is designed to freeze LBs or make them indecisive, then that is a problem. Maybe the 49ers could tighten up the wide 9 into a wide 7.
I thought Sunday’s victory in Philadelphia was very impressive, even inspiring under the circumstances. However, despite the challenges of back-to-back road games in the eastern time zone, the challenges that Philly presented the Niners will pale in comparison to a large number of teams who are on their schedule moving forward. The 49ers are a commendable 2-0, but I’ve also seen some red flags, and I have some serious concerns about this team right now.
Let’s start with the defense: The 49ers defense is not playing anywhere near the level they were in 2019. It starts in the middle upfront, where Kinlaw’s gimpy knee is preventing him from taking that next step in his development, and the plan was for him to replace DeFo without much of a drop off by year 2. Unless, or until Kinlaw’s knee gets much better, he’s not going to be anywhere near the impact player as the guy he was drafted to replace. Even though on paper, the Niners do have depth on the interior of the DL, a downgrade like Kinlaw (compared to DeFo) is a real problem, IMO. Another problem is Al Shaair. He graded out as the worst player on the 49ers defense this last week. I believe the 49ers made a serious miscalculation in trading away their most talented backup ILB – Jonas Griffith, who was an absolute revelation during training camp. Grifith is a rare specimen. He’s big, rangy, and insticntive. If the 49ers weren’t set at both the MIKE and WILL, Griffith would never have been traded. My issue is that, in this league, whenever you find a talent like Grifith (who was also a standout on special teams), you hold onto him, even if he’s only a primary backup, unless of course a team makes an offer you simply cannot refuse. Trading away a player with his potential, for a future 6th round pick, isn’t nearly enough. I understand that the 49ers are trying to replenish their draft assets, but they need to learn that, even though they have had success with late round picks, you hold onto players like Griffith when you ate lucky enough to find them, because they are a known quantity, while 6th round picks are usually more miss than hit. And lastly, the CB’s position is dicey right now, and I suspect the 49ers are going to regret not making this position a top priority this offseason, even though it seemed clear and obvious to everyone who follows this team.
All of these things can overcome with a prolific 49ers offense, and I’ll have more on that later.
i am sure you will
RIb,
I think part of the problem is early in the year we know who the top teams in the league will and maybe who the terrible teams will be, but that’s it. So basically we have a good idea in regards to about 6 to 8 teams. Every other team can fluctuate massively and we need a few games to see just how good they are.
The eagles might well end up winning their division and be a solid, tough out at the end of the year. They have a lot of talent on that squad. The could also be an injury away from being a seller dweller.
Agree with all of this. Jimmy G can be very frustrating to watch. His footwork is maddening to me. Many times he doesn’t reset his base to ensure accurate throws. He just flings the ball with his feet completely planted the wrong way. Sometimes I think that quick release works against him. Don’t understand how he could spend those years with Brady watching his great footwork and none of that actually rubbing off.
The defenses performance is also bizarre to me. I expected the run D to be great but some possible pass defense issues. Run D hasn’t been very good. I’m wondering how much of that is Demeco Ryan’s settling into his role as a d coordinator. With a shortened preseason we’re probably looking at Week 5 for the team to gel. Demeco probably needs at least that long to get into his groove calling the defense.
Hey Jack, not sure if you’ve done any run defense video breakdown on your YouTube channel but I’ll be checking for it. I specifically watched the LBer run fits in the Eagles game. My first impression is Al Shaair is a significant liability in the run game. He took false steps regularly that allowed the center to reach block and wall him off even on run plays to Al Shaairs side. That should never happen to an NFL LBer. It looks like he’s lost out there and just guessing. Then when he’s blocked – give it up. He can’t get off a block to save his life. I was not impressed in the least with his play but maybe I only caught the lowlights and not the highlights. Curious how PFF graded him.
Here is the film review. Both of the LB’s struggled with the run fits at times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaJt_c3HlVU
Hey Jack, this is really good stuff. Haven’t been able to watch the entire breakdown yet but from what I did watch it was outstanding information. I didn’t realize Marcell Harris started either. Never heard his name or noticed him at any time during the game. Also, I thought Hargrave was absolutely destroying Brunskill in the game but he really was jumping the snap count and offsides more than just that first play. And you are right all the LBers struggled with run fits. That’s a little surprising to me. Good news is that’s correctible and the DC is a former LBer so I’m sure he pays a little extra attention to that position group.
On a different note, you don’t need to delete hateful comments aimed at me. I do not care about that stuff one bit. I’ll never respond to that nonsense. Your blog, your call obviously but guys who give that hate without any knowledge about who or what they are yelling at says everything about them and nothing about me. Let them say whatever they want to say. I’ll keep my posts to football.
I really didn’t learn anything from reading it that I didn’t observe from watching the game. I was hoping for more insights from all-22 film.
With regard to the Jimmy G comment, I’d like to know how well the O line was protecting when he made all those errant throws. Were those mostly under pressure or mostly in clean pockets? I recall that his worst throw — the almost pick-six to Deebo was made with defenders in his face. Were his underneath throws with him getting rid of the ball in under 2 seconds a function of scheme or his inability to see deeper receivers (not sure how receivers would develop deep routes in 2 seconds)? I’d expect that the screens were called by Shanny.
I think the run defense comment missed an important point. The big runs in the Detroit game were gashes through the middle. The Niners D held the Eagles RBs to under 70 yards at 3.6 ypc. The run D here was hurt by the mobile QB who accounted for 55% of the yards at 8.2 ypc. The interior was stout with Kinlaw back on the field. What I’d like to know is who were the biggest culprits in not setting the edge on the QB outside runs. Did the runs come pretty much with Ford overshooting? (I heard that Bosa also was responsible). Going into the game, I had heard analysts write that Hurt is not that effective on outside runs. Turned out that it was not the case.
Mood,
Getting the All-22 is not easy with it not being included with Gamepass at the moment. The write up was done prior to getting a copy. Didn’t see much of anything that would change what I wrote.
The Eagles were running through the middle of the 49ers defense at will, until they reached scoring territory after the first possession. The edge setting was on Dee Ford when Hurts scrambled to his right and on Fred Warner when Hurts ran the read to the right early in the game.
The unsung hero of the 9ers D so far has to be E. Armstead. He is 2nd in the league in QB pressures with 15. Armstead set the edge and was the big reason the Eagles trick play on 4th and goal failed. One of Bosa’s sacks was a directly related to Armstead taking on a double team and completely destroying the pocket. As long as Kinlaw stays healthy and continues to improve this D line will just get better and better. With the midseason addition of Hurst and Willis this group can only get better.
Agree that Arik Armstead has played well for the most part. However, I think some of the containment issues on QB runs have been when Armstead gets pushed inside on his pass rush opening gigantic rush lanes for mobile QBs. Jack and Grant Cohn showed 1 play on their film breakdown where Armstead lost his lane assignment which enabled Hurts to scramble for big yards. I do think the 49ers will clean up some of those assignment issues to ultimately have a top rated defense.
1.6 Parrot , you are strong and smartest man. Our Defense must not allow gigantic openings as you say. Our Defense is amongst the best in fewest points allowed but that is beside the main points of the discussions. Furthermore, this Grant person you mention rings the bell with me. I recently browsed Mr. Hammer’s twitter and came across another 49 podcaster , Suneil, in which Hammer was most favored guest. Suneil called out The Grant for tweeting something which seems to pick the cherries of the data and statistics which only serves his needs. This is disingenuous – no ? My 5th senses and woman’s intuition tells me this is not the first time this type of misleading with the information has occurred.
Suneil@SoRealSuneil Sep 20
Lol Grant leaving off Quarters to make a point is why he makes the big bucks!
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Another stupid tweet from Grant Cohen. He also appeared to blame RB injuries on Shanahan. For some reason he hates Shanahan so much that his emotions overwhelm his brain.