49ers slip from fast track to derailment
The 49ers opened the season like a freight train barreling toward Super Bowl LVIII, with five straight wins, the No. 2ranked scoring offense, and the No. 1ranked scoring defense.
But 5-0 has now become 5-3 following a 31-17 defeat to the Bengals Sunday. Everything right about the first month-plus of the season has become an issue the last three weeks as the Niners head into their Week 9 bye.
“We’ve gotten away with a number of stuff on our win streak, and we haven’t in these last three weeks,” Shanahan said after Sunday’s loss.
The struggling Niners are where we begin the Week 8 review.
■ It’s not one area holding the 49ers back. They have scored only 17 points in three straight games after hitting 30 in each of their first five. Brock Purdy is suddenly a turnover machine, throwing five interceptions in the three losses after throwing none in the five wins.
The injury bug has hit hard, with AllPro receiver Deebo Samuel and left tackle Trent Williams missing multiple games. And the defense suddenly can’t get a stop, getting shredded by Kirk Cousins and Joe Burrow in consecutive weeks.
The 49ers don’t need to panic, as Samuel and Williams should return soon after the bye. But Shanahan needs to figure out how to get Purdy and his team back on track.
“I think our guys need to be pissed off a little bit,” Shanahan said. “I think we need to come back with a little better focus because it hasn’t been enough, and we haven’t been getting it done.”
Shanahan deserves scrutiny for playing Purdy just six days after he suffered a concussion against the Vikings. Purdy supposedly cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol Saturday, making him one of the quickest to return in the league this season, but the Niners probably should have used more caution and started Sam Darnold against the Bengals.
Sure enough, Purdy slammed the back of his head on the ground at the end of Sunday’s loss. The Niners and the NFL had better pray that Purdy doesn’t develop delayed concussion symptoms again or they are going to have a major mess on their hands.
■ The Giants-Jets game set football back about 80 years. In the Jets’ 13-10 victory, the teams combined for 445 total net yards of offense (184 passing) and 1,078 yards on 24 punts. It marked just the third game since the 1970 merger with fewer than 450 yards of offense and more than 1,000 yards of punts, joining a 2017 Dolphins-Titans game and a 1998 ChargersRaiders game.
The 4-3 Jets, winners of three straight, have nothing to apologize for and should celebrate every win they get with Zach Wilson at quarterback, no matter how ugly. But their offensive line continues to get decimated, with center Connor McGovern (dislocated kneecap) and backup Wes Schweitzer (leg) getting injured, joining guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (Achilles’ tendon).
The Giants, meanwhile, had one of the most putrid offensive performances in
NFL history, with Tyrod Taylor leaving early with injured ribs and coach Brian Daboll refusing to take the training wheels off undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito, who completed just 2 of 7 passes for minus-1 yard. The Giants’ minus-9 net passing yards were the 18th fewest in a game since the merger, and the fewest ever in an overtime game.
■ Quarterback injuries are piling up. Seven starters didn’t play Sunday: Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson, Ryan Tannehill, Justin Fields, Anthony Richardson, Daniel Jones, and Kyler Murray. Then Cousins, Kenny Pickett, Matthew Stafford, and Taylor all got hurt and couldn’t finish their games, with Cousins lost for the season. It’s a shame for Cousins, who fought back to turn an 0-3 start into 4-4 and was playing really well before suffering the first injury of his 12-year career.
As many as 10 backups could start next week. That doesn’t include Justin Herbert playing with a broken finger and Jalen Hurts playing through a knee injury that curiously hasn’t appeared on the injury report. Seven rookie quarterbacks have started a game this season, the most through Week 8 since the merger.
Quick hits
■ Apparently the best way to ensure a win in 2023 is to wear your throwback uniforms. Teams went 3-0 in their retro threads this weekend (Seahawks, Dolphins, and Titans) and are 8-4 overall this year. The Patriots lost their throwback game against the Dolphins in Week 2.
■ The Achilles’ tear unfortunately is becoming the defining injury of 2023. Jets nose tackle Al Woods became the third player on his team to suffer one, joining Rodgers and Vera-Tucker. Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White also suffered one this month.
■ The Cardinals are showing the rest of the NFL how to tank properly. Jonathan Gannon’s team once again fought hard and gave the Ravens a tougher game than they were anticipating. But the result again was a Cardinals loss, because they don’t have enough talent to keep up with other teams for 60 minutes.
Young players are developing, culture is building, but at 1-7, the Cardinals now own the No. 1 draft pick. That’s how you do it.
■ It’s truly amazing that the Titans traded wide receiver A.J. Brown, who scored two more touchdowns for the Eagles and has gone for at least 127 yards in six straight games. No amount of first-round picks and salary-cap flexibility can make up for one of the three most dangerous players in the NFL.
■ The Browns fought hard behind backup QB P.J. Walker to erase an early 14-0 deficit in Seattle, and almost pulled off the upset if not for an errant bounce off Jamal Adams’s helmet late in the fourth quarter. Imagine how good the 4-3 Browns would be if Watson provided even a fraction of what he was supposed to?
■ The Panthers should have drafted C.J. Stroud with the No. 1 pick, but it had to feel good for Bryce Young to finally get his first win of the season, especially against Stroud. With the Panthers getting their first win, do the 2008 Lions and 2017 Browns pop the champagne?
■ Falcons coach Arthur Smith said quarterback Desmond Ridder was benched for his concussion evaluation (which came back negative) and not for performance, but it’s time to switch to Taylor Heinicke, who threw for 175 yards and a touchdown in relief. The 4-4 Falcons are talented, and the Ridder experiment has gone on long enough.
■ Titans receiver DeAndre Hopkins had four catches for 128 yards and three touchdowns against the Falcons. Maybe he only does well when wearing a Houston uniform.
■ The Chiefs’ 24-9 loss at Denver snapped a streak of 40 straight games without losing by 5 or more points, the longest in NFL history.
■ Watch out, AFC: Burrow and the Bengals are back. Burrow completed 28 of 32 passes against the 49ers, and the Bengals converted 29 first downs, needing only eight third-down attempts.
■ The Cardinals became the first team to recover an onside kick this season; teams are 1 for 19 (5.3 percent). The recovery rate was as high as 21.4 percent as recently as 2017.