Niners Nation
Last week, 49ers fans couldn’t have asked for a better week of football. The exact opposite happened this week. Not only did the San Francisco 49ers lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-19, but they also lost arguably their best player (or last remaining elite player) in Fred Warner due to a dislocated and/or broken ankle.
At this point, the loss to the Buccaneers is the least of the 49ers’ concerns. They still remain in first place despite dropping one to the Buccaneers. Losing their best defensive player for the rest of the year is the backbreaker in a season they have been snakebit with injuries.
Can the 49ers make the playoffs? Maybe. Could the 49ers go all the way? The loss of Fred Warner makes it increasingly difficult.
As said, the 49ers remain in first place despite all of their opponents winning Sunday. They are in a three-way tie for first place, but hold the tiebreaker since they are 3-0 in the division. At least the divisional wins make this a bit better to stomach.
The Baltimore Ravens scored three points in the first quarter of their away game against the Rams, making it 3-0. Those were the last points they would score all day.
The Rams proceeded to run the ball down the Ravens’ throat all game, handing them an embarrassing loss. The Ravens were missing Lamar Jackson, and it showed. The Rams had to play at 10:00 AM on the East Coast, and that didn’t seem to bother them one bit.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford had a pedestrian kind of day, going 17-26, 181 yards passing, and a touchdown. Running back Kyren Williams got the other Rams touchdown of the day, and then it was just watching the Ravens do…well, whatever it is the Ravens do without Jackson.
The Ravens also couldn’t figure out who to have on the field. First, it’s Cooper Rush, then it’s Tyler Huntley. Not like it mattered. The Rams were in full control of this game from the start, even if it was 17-3. Meanwhile, the Ravens are searching for that second win of the season, regardless of whether it’s with or without Jackson.
Similar to the Rams/Ravens game, the Jaguars were the first team to score a touchdown with a minute to go in the first quarter. Unlike the Ravens, they got more points in the fourth quarter.
But they still had a long stretch of football where the Seahawks held—and added to—the lead. It didn’t help matters when the Jaguars missed the extra point of their first touchdown.
The Jaguars came back into it at the start of the fourth quarter, managing a touchdown to take the deficit down to eight points. The Seahawks even helped them on the two-point conversion with, like, 13 men on the field. The Jaguars still botched the two-point attempt to keep it within eight points, and they’d never see the endzone again.
Sam Darnold helped...
