49ers slip, slide their way to 6-0 with a win against Redskins

It was a wet, sloppy and unspectacular. The weather was bad, too. Still, the San Francisco 49ers slid away with a 9-0 win over the Washington Redskins in Week 7 to remain undefeated.

It doesn’t seem like anyone saw this coming. The San Francisco 49ers started on defense to a slow, sloppy start in their Week 7 road contest against the one-win Washington Redskins.

On the Redskins’ opening drive, the 49ers allowed aging running back Adrian Peterson to march down the field to set up the team for a would-be field goal.

Flat out, the Niners defense got trampled on the ground as Washington held the ball for over eight minutes.

When 49ers finally took the field on their opening drive, things didn’t look any better. The Redskins emphasized stopping the run, stud tight end George Kittle saved the day for a first down, only to pick up 3 yards and went 3-and-out on the following drive.

All this resulted in a 45-yard missed field goal by Robbie Gould.

Both teams focused on stopping the run on their respective drives and there was nothing to watch, except for possible turning points that resulted in frustration, rather than fruition.

The turning points that fizzled

The 49ers’ defensive front stopped the Redskins on 4th-and-inches, allowing a takeover on downs on their own territory. This culminated in a punt.

Later on in the second quarter, the Niners sacked Redskins quarterback Case Keenum and forced the Redskins to punt from their own 9-yard line.

Again, this resulted in a Niners’ punt.

At the half

Scoreless and boring.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo completed three of 10 passes for 10 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions for a pedestrian passer rating of 39.8. He accumulated twice as many yards on the ground on four runs for 20 yards.

The 49ers had seven first downs for a measly 68 yards, compared to the Redskins’ 118 yards on the ground.

Turning points in the second half

San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan opted for a pass play on 4th-and-5 on their 44-yard line, and Garoppolo was intercepted by safety Troy Apke who returned it to Washington’s own 47-yard line:

Defensive tackle Arik Armstead responded with a big sack, forcing a Redskins punt to get the ball back for the offense:

That drive would end with the first points on the board, a 28-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.

One of the biggest turning points in the whole game was when linebacker Kwon Alexander forced a Peterson fumble, which was recovered and returned a distance by depth defensive tackle Jullian Taylor:

That turnover led to the 49ers’ first trip to the red zone early into the fourth quarter, but ultimately ended in another Gould field goal, this time from 22 yards, to give the Niners a 6-0 lead.

In the end

The 49ers would go on to score another Gould field goal from 29 yards to seal the Redskins’ fate and preserve their own undefeated streak.

The Niners’ elite EDGE, Nick Bosa, made a game-killing sack to put this puppy to rest and the defense catapulted the 49ers to 6-0 on the season, coming away with a 9-0 win:

Shanahan walked away from the swamp redeemed, and all is as it should. The craziest stat: The 49ers almost covered the 10-point spread, courtesy of Action Network, in an otherwise lackluster, single-digit-scoring game!

Now, let’s dry off and set our sights on the top-10 Carolina Panthers next week.