Receivers’ performance fuels Gordon speculation
SANTA CLARA >> Not long after coach Kyle Shanahan critiqued 49ers receivers’ inability to break free from the Detroit Lions’ coverage, he defended that unit when asked whether it needs a boost from Josh Gordon, the Cleveland Browns impending castoff.
“I love our whole team and the guys that we have,” Shanahan said after Sunday’s 30-27 win. “We can win with the people we have . ... But we will look into every situation to always try to upgrade our team no matter what the case is.”
Regardless of whether the 49ers make a play for Gordon — Shanahan didn’t rule it out — their current cast struggled in Sunday’s home opener while No. 1 wide receiver Marquise Goodwin sat out because of a bruised quadriceps.
Pierre Garçon caught all four of his targets for 57 yards, Dante Pettis had a 35-yard catch in his first career start and Kendrick Bourne’s lone catch (4 yards) paid off for his first touchdown. Slot receiver Trent Taylor did not catch two passes that came his way.
“We’ve got to get open. We’ve got to beat man coverage,” Shanahan said.
Jimmy Garoppolo completed 18 of 26 passes for 206 yards and got sacked six times, which he took accountability for by admittedly holding the ball too long too often.
Gordon reportedly wants to join the 49ers now that his troubled but talented career is ending with the Browns. And the 49ers may have interest. General manager John Lynch told reporters before Sunday’s home opener that the 49ers have made a call inquiring about Gordon.
Gordon was inactive for the Browns game Sunday, and even though the Browns have said they’ll release him today, he could get traded. His preferred destinations: the 49ers or Dallas Cowboys, ESPN and NFL Network reported.
• Linebacker Reuben Foster completed a two-game suspension. His replacement Sunday, Elijah Lee, forced a second-quarter fumble when he sideswiped a scrambling Matthew Stafford, but Lee missed tackles, got bowled over and got caught out of position before his first career start ended.
With Brock Coyle going on injured reserve last week and with Malcolm Smith still out with a hamstring injury, the 49ers lacked a spark at the heart of their defense, no disrespect to rookie Fred Warner and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who excelled for a second straight week.
Garoppolo said of Foster: “He’s an exciting guy to be around, always smiling, always having a good time. It’ll be good to have him back.”
Poor tackling by Lee proved costly on the Lions’ first touchdown drive, especially when Theo Riddick stiff-armed Lee on a third-down conversion catch. In the fourth quarter, Lee shoved Stafford out of bounds, and LeGarrette Blount responded by coming off the sideline to floor Lee. Blount was ejected.
• The 49ers converted 2 of 4 red-zone drives into touchdowns, after going 1 for 4 last week.
On their first series after halftime, and set up by D.J. Reed’s 90-yard kickoff return, the 49ers took a 20-10 lead as Garoppolo faked a handoff, turned his back to the defense, spun and threw an 11-yard scoring strike to Garrett Celek, who took three Lions defenders with him over the goal line.
The 49ers’ first touchdown also came on nifty play calls. That 13-play drive was capped by Garoppolo’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Bourne, who benefitted with the Lions focusing instead on Pettis in the slot. “We’ve been working on that play, and we got a good result out of it,” Garoppolo said of Bourne, who blew a route last week and that led to a pick-six.
Two snaps before Bourne’s touchdown, Garoppolo faked a thirdand-2 handoff to Pettis and instead shoveled a pass to Breida for an 8-yard gain to the 4.
• Robbie Gould owns the franchise record by making 29 consecutive field-goal attempts, including all three attempts Sunday (45, 42 and 36 yards). Phil Dawson held the previous mark of 27 in a row in 2013.
• Matt Breida’s 12.5yard average per carry (138 yards, 11 carries) ranked third-best in 49ers history (minimum 10 carries). He trailed only Joe Perry (13.4 ypc, 1958 vs. Lions) and Frank Gore (12.9 ypc, 2009 vs. Seahawks). Breida’s 66-yard touchdown run was the 49ers’ longest since 2014 by Colin Kaepernick (90 yards, against the Chargers).
• Buckner had a sack to give him 3 1/2 this season. Only Jeff Stover (1986) and Bryant Young (2007) had more through two games (with four sacks apiece) since 1982.
• Strong safety Jaquiski Tartt left with a shoulder injury on the Lions’ final drive.
• The Lions’ most significant injury saw All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay leave with a concussion in the third quarter after a helmet-to-helmet hit with fullback Kyle Juszczyk.