When rolling, the San Francisco 49ers seem like they’re by no means going to lose once more. Till Monday evening’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Niners had been undefeated this season when Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffery, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are wholesome. And it seemed as if that pattern would possibly proceed — a minimum of for a second — as a result of Lamar Jackson/a again decide made the primary mistake, and Kyle Shanahan’s offense totaled 126 yards on 15 performs over their first two possessions.
The preliminary drive was capped with a Purdy interception within the Raven’s finish zone, however the second led to a few factors, and it’s not as if the Niners couldn’t transfer the ball. They had been sunk by turnovers and Murphy’s Legislation, the latter of which has confirmed tough to beat for Shanahan.
A telling stat was proven through the MNF broadcast, and I’m positive you noticed it as a result of ESPN tends to beat viewers over the top with their stats and data division. Since 2017, San Francisco is now 0-38 when trailing by eight or extra factors within the fourth quarter. That’s somewhat deceptive as a result of usually in the event you’re trailing by eight or extra after 45 minutes, it’s since you’re outmatched, or can’t hold from stepping in it.
That’s what Purdy did Monday, tossing 4 interceptions. Whereas it may very well be argued two or three picks weren’t his fault, credit score the Ravens’ for harassing the QB all evening, making performs and capitalizing on errors. I can’t say if Purdy was outmatched, or simply mistake susceptible — it was possible a mix of the 2 — however there’s a sure gear that no quarterback throughout Shanahan’s tenure has been in a position to attain.
My speculation on why Niner GM John Lynch and his head coach had been so enamoured with Trey Lance is as a result of he has bodily instruments past Jimmy Garapolo. The group sees a coach and workforce so deep in expertise that having a recreation supervisor beneath heart is a criminal offense. Whereas Purdy is greater than a system quarterback, he doesn’t have a Get Out of Jail Free arm or Go-Go Gadget legs.
He can improvise a bit, and his timing and really feel for the place is spectacular; there was a botched display screen play within the second half that Purdy nonetheless accomplished to McCaffery. The operating again made a again minimize on the d-lineman who sniffed out the display screen, and Purdy hit him with a cross that oozed NFL anticipation.
Nevertheless, Jackson escaped the cross rush greater than his counterpart and made off-script performs look as in the event that they had been practiced. Seems, Baltimore does observe these performs, however I’d have an interest to see what number of scramble drills the 49ers run through the week. Clearly, it’s unfair to match any quarterback to one of the vital elusive QBs to ever do it.
On the similar time, that’s what pundits had been doing heading into the sport. There have been two races closely hyped for the Christmas finale: The primary for a one seed within the groups’ respective conferences, and the second for league MVP. (There was technically a 3rd race — the Can-Niner corgi dash on the half — which, sadly, I cannot contact on.)
Coming into Monday, Purdy was one of many contenders in that MVP race. Then he shared a discipline with Jackson, and anybody who watched may let you know one quarterback will not be like the opposite. (Aspect be aware: If the NFL nonetheless provides MVPs to operating backs, McCaffery continues to be alive.)
A lot of what San Francisco does works that they hardly ever must press the problem. Like his father Mike, Kyle has a knack for playcalling. It’s a kind of expertise that may’t be taught. Sure coaches simply have a really feel for it and there’s no arguing towards the heaps of tape popping out of the Bay Space.
The rub is you may’t script all 4 quarters. Execution goes to get screwed up or the protection will guess proper, and towards the perfect groups, the quarterback is chargeable for constructing the puzzle on the fly. What units Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jackson and different elite QBs aside from the tier under is they’ll discover a approach when issues aren’t working.
A coach can solely accomplish that a lot, and for the Niners, they want Brock Purdy to downside remedy when Shanahan’s play-calling can’t.
