Niners Nation
That was the kind of complementary football that Kyle Shanahan always references. The offense ran the ball 39 times. The defense held the opposition to under 300 yards. And Eddy Pineiro was 2-for-2, and good from 55. There were plenty of performances that stood out on Sunday Night Football. Let’s talk about them.
McCaffrey produced 13 first downs, including the game-sealing reception on third down to ice the game. He forced seven missed tackles, and that number is higher since some sites only count those when contact is made. McCaffrey didn’t just have a season high in 10+ yards against Atlanta. Coming into Week 7, he had six rushes of 10+ yards on the season. On Sunday night, McCaffrey had seven.
McCaffrey had as many first downs (5) as every other pass catcher on the roster. His 72 receiving yards were nearly as many as everyone else (80), too. The 49ers needed a herculean effort from their best player, and they got it.
Ten tackles for Bethune, with four of those being run stops. And that still doesn’t paint the picture for how much he impacted the game. Bethune had a couple of late blitzes, one where he ran over Bijan Robinson for a quarterback hit, which forced errant passes. Michael Penix doesn’t target the middle of the field, which helped Bethune in coverage, but he flew around all night and gave his best Fred Warner impression.
Bijan Robinson only had 40 yards with a 28.6 success rate, which was his second-lowest mark of his career. He only had three rushes of five or more yards. The defensive line gets a ton of credit for that, but it felt like Bethune was the chief reason for the Falcons’ struggles on the ground.
Robert Saleh didn’t enter this game thinking he’d play Lucas exclusively. The rotations initially were between Luke Gifford, Lucas, and Jason Pinnock. Eventually, Saleh scrapped that decision to use big nickel or base packages and rolled with Lucas. That paid decision paid off instantly.
Lucas had the defensive play of the game after he undercut a Drake London route on fourth down. He had a QB hit on 2nd & 9 that eventually led to a punt. Lucas looked like the same player he did in the preseason.
Whenever you can still function on offense when you lose your center, you’re doing something right. Jake Brendel potentially has a pulled hamstring, yet the offense didn’t miss a beat with Hennessy. During the offseason, I wondered why Hennessy never got looks at guard. His number was called against the Falcons, and to the naked eye, there weren’t any obvious mistakes. That’s not easy coming in cold off the bench.
How can a player who didn’t record a single catch be a winner? I’m glad you asked. On McCaffrey’s final touchdown, the replay showed Kittle blocking a defensive lineman to the ground. The...
