Niners Nation
A 41-year streak came to an end on Sunday, with the San Francisco 49ers picking up their first victory in Cleveland since 1984 with a 26-8 win over the Browns.
Things were a little hairy in the first half, falling behind 8-7 right before halftime, before Brock Purdy led a field goal-scoring drive, giving San Francisco a 10-8 lead at the half. From there, they wouldn’t look back, outscoring Cleveland 16-0 in the second half.
Every win is vital at this point of the season, but this one meant just that much more with Carolina upsetting the Rams, moving the 49ers one game out of the loss column atop the NFC West entering the bye week. But before we can move on to the bye week ourselves, let’s look at Sunday’s three stars:
Third star: PR Skyy Moore
Another week, another big return from Moore, who is slowly becoming a regular in this series.
After a couple of significant kickoff returns in the past two games, including the 98-yard return to open the game against Arizona, Moore again had an early impact on the game on Sunday, this time via punt return.
The San Francisco defense forced Cleveland’s defense off the field in five plays on the Browns’ opening drive, thanks in part to Shedeur Sanders overshooting an open Jerry Jeudy on third down. Corey Bojorquez uncorked the first of his four punts on Sunday, pinning Moore inside the 49ers’ 20-yard line.
That’s when Moore went to work.
Moore used his speed to get through the initial wave of Cleveland defenders, splitting a pair of Browns to get some space. Already at full speed, Moore blew past Blake Whiteheart, and from there, it came down to whether Moore could maintain his speed. After one stiff-arming his way past Bojorquez, Moore seemed to run out of gas, finally caught from behind by Whiteheart.
When it was said and done, it was a 66-yard return by Moore that set the San Francisco offense up at the Cleveland 16-yard line. Six plays later, Christian McCaffrey would break the goal line to give the 49ers their first score of the game.
It’s taken some getting used to, but the 49ers’ special teams have been good this season, and Skyy Moore has been at the front of that charge.
Second star: TE George Kittle
While McCaffrey, Purdy, and Jauan Jennings were the three 49ers to find the endzone, George Kittle had two of the most impactful plays of the game for the San Francisco offense in a windy Cleveland.
The Browns were coming off their only scoring drive of the game at the end of the first half, giving the ball back to the 49ers with 39 seconds left. A touchback on the kickoff started the San Francisco offense at the 35, but a couple of medium-distance receptions to Ricky Pearsall and Jennings moved the offense into plus territory with 15 seconds left.
With not a lot of time left and only one timeout left,...
