Niner Noise breaks down the positions during the SF 49ers Week 1 loss to the visiting Cardinals.
After an offseason of optimism and the attitude of the players that they were on a “revenge tour,” the SF 49ers got a nasty reality check as they were humbled at home by the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 24-20.
After an early 10-0 lead, the Niners offense was stagnant and unable to break through the determined Arizona defense.
While the San Francisco defense was gallant, inevitably gassed late in the game by the lack of its own offensive prowess, the defensive side of the ball was also slightly flattered by the fact Arizona whiffed on two field goals.
Eventually, the SF 49ers were no longer able to properly adjust on defense (more on that later), while the Cardinals holding down on third down, proved to be the difference at the end of the day with a late Niners drive falling short in the end zone.
Time to take a look at the performance from Week 1.
Sometimes, looking at the stats at the end of the game can be awfully misleading as to what effect a player had on the game, and this is true for Jimmy Garoppolo.
In fact, it must be said that he didn’t have a good game whatsoever.
The stat line looks fine. If one looked at the final stats it would read 19 completions from 33 attempts, 259 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
That seems fine, right? You’re not going to be the big story on ESPN, but it’s not exactly a disgrace either.
Unfortunately what this doesn’t show is Garoppolo routinely missing open receivers, and that one of his touchdowns was basically all running back Raheem Mostert blowing by a Cardinals blown coverage.
It also doesn’t show the second touchdown was preceded by a stroke of luck when Garoppolo carelessly threw a pass into triple coverage which was picked off. Luckily, the Cardinals committed blatant pass interference and the ball was given back to San Francisco.
It wasn’t the only time Garoppolo went back into his bad habits either. He was constantly slow to release the ball, and the final drive ended on fourth down in no small part due to Garoppolo not pulling the trigger early.
It wasn’t entirely bad news, though. Garoppolo did well to drive the team down the field twice in the fourth quarter, there was some nice throws, and no preseason games does make it a bit difficult to get into a rhythm and he was down his top two receivers.
But on the day, Garoppolo did not look very good at all.
With Jimmy Garoppolo not performing well under center, the Cardinals focused hard on taking away the running game from the SF 49ers with successful results.
In fact, the team was only able to get 123 yards off 25 carries. Nearly 5 yards a carry sounds good, but they weren’t able to get the running game going for the most part.
The running backs did, however, take up the slack in the running game with the two touchdowns thrown by Jimmy G, going to Raheem Mostert and Jerick McKinnon.
Counting fullbacks into the rotation, 14 of Garoppolo’s 33 targets went to running backs for a combined nine catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns.
It’s hard to be awfully critical of the SF 49ers receivers, given the quarterbacking wasn’t especially potent and the injuries at the position.
But at the end of the day, they just weren’t good enough to break free.
For the tight ends, George Kittle picked up a knock to the leg early in the game and didn’t factor into the game whatsoever afterwards. Jordan Reed was only targeted twice, although it should be said he caught both targets.
The receivers were abysmal. Dante Pettis was invisible. Trent Taylor didn’t look very fast whatsoever, and while Kendrick Bourne was the better performer of the receivers, he still had only two catches for 34 yards.
It should be noted, however, Bourne was the victim of poor reads by Garoppolo, and he could have had a better game otherwise.
Other than Bourne, however, it was a non-factor, and the Niners need their injured stars, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, back fast.
It’s tough with one starter out, Ben Garland, and another starting his first game in over a season, but the protection from the 49ers was left wanting.
Most concerning was the run game, the offensive line was incapable of creating large gaps as the game went on and the Arizona defensive line produced four tackles for loss.
Unfortunately the pass protections was scarcely better, with Jimmy Garoppolo being sacked three times and being rushed on several other occasions.
The team looked incapable of controlling the Arizona defense after the first quarter.
There were periods of decent play, and the fourth quarter mostly went in favor of the blockers, but the blocking didn’t stand up for the most part.
The defensive line for the 49ers wasn’t awful by any stretch, but it was a step below the quality we come to expect from the team.
Although in fairness, this unit didn’t fare much better last year versus mobile quarterbacks either.
The defensive line isn’t really to blame for Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray having so much time to run, so the grade isn’t adversely affected because of it. While there were times the Cardinals were in control, there were more times the 49ers defensive line did pressure the mobile quarterback.
Even though Murray still rushed for 91 yards and a touchdown.
The 49ers had four tackles for loss and two sacks with one apiece going to Kerry Hyder and D.J. Jones. For a mobile QB and an offense that runs a bit of option, that’s not too bad to say the least.
Truthfully, the defensive line was the most capable of the positional groups.
I was awfully tempted to give the linebackers an F-grade, but truth be told they didn’t play quite that badly.
And to be fair, it wasn’t their fault, but bad defensive playcalling (more on that later) that let them down a lot at times.
The Cardinals were generally held quite well on the ground, and the coverage was good enough that the team forced Kyler Murray to throw underneath the zones a lot, but the linebackers didn’t seem especially potent on defense.
Particularly with linebacker Kwon Alexander ineffectively spying Murray throughout the game.
They were responsible for the defensive play of the day, though, when Dre Greenlaw tipped a pass that led to an interception. It was the sole defensive takeaway for the game for either team.
Emmanuel Moseley had a really tough day at the office trying to contain Arizona wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and, unfortunately, looked totally incapable in doing so.
Other receivers did chip in, but 14 of the 26 completions went to Hopkins and he just abused the secondary of the 49ers all by himself to the tune of 151 yards.
The most damning stat is not a single pass deflection was recorded by the 49ers corners. They just couldn’t make a play.
The best player was Jaquiski Tartt, but even then most of that was feasting off an easy interception thanks to Dre Greenlaw.
This might have been the best positional group of the lost if not for the poor blocking that led to the blocked punt that completely turned the momentum around, ultimately leading to a quick Cardinals touchdown two plays later.
Kicker Robbie Gould kicked everything he needed to, while punter Mitch Wishnowsky kicked long and true with three of his four punts downed inside the opposition’s 20-yard line.
That one blocked punt counted for a lot, though, hence the deduction.
This was bad. This was really, really bad by both head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. In fact, if I was grading Saleh alone, this would be an easy F-grade.
Shanahan didn’t have it easy. The blockers weren’t firing properly and neither was Jimmy Garoppolo, he was down his two best receivers and George Kittle got hurt.
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But it seems Shanahan was second guessing himself all day with inconsistent aggressive play calls. On 4th-and-short early, on he opted for a field goal instead of trying to take the game on early. On 4th-and-1 on the goal line, he went aggressive and got stopped. This was the correct call, but then on a subsequent 4th-and-short, he elected to punt the ball.
Shanahan lacks consistent aggression in these situations, but it could be argued if he had played safe all the way, then they could have added three points onto the tally earlier and then been down 24-23 instead of 24-20 late when a field goal could have sufficed.
Shanahan couldn’t scheme players open consistently, and he seemed in two minds. It was a bad season debut for him.
However, what was bad for Shanahan was downright apocalyptic for Saleh.
It staggers belief Kyler Murray ran 13 times for 91 yards and a touchdown. It staggers absolute belief the SF 49ers did not run a spy to stop him effectively enough.
Murray was not punished the 49ers unduly through the air, and the running game was not working much for Arizona. So many drives were extended, including a 3rd-and-long situation, by Murray opting to run when pressured.
The team also did not adjust for DeAndre Hopkins whatsoever despite catching more than half the passes. Emmanuel Moseley was being burnt constantly and no adjustments were made.
Saleh is a great defensive coordinator, but mobile QBs have always been his weakness. The stubbornness in using a spy was directly responsible for the downfall of San Francisco in Week 1.