The SF 49ers came into the Super Dome heavy underdogs and put up a decent effort before succumbing to the Saints 27-13. Niner Noise hands out grades.
After a bad bad loss to the Green Bay Packers last Thursday night, albeit one marred by Covid-19 concerns and practically the practice-squad of the SF 49ers on the field, there wasn’t much to expect from this Week 10 game against the New Orleans Saints which turned into a 27-13 defeat to put San Francisco at 4-6 on the season.
After all, last year, the SF 49ers barely squeaked out a win in a thriller with a Herculean effort by tight end George Kittle. This year, the Niners were without practically every player who made a meaningful impact last year.
Despite that, San Francisco played quite well, especially early on. A strong drive consisting of ball control and complementary play resulted in an opening touchdown pass. Following some good defense and a bad offensive drive, the 49ers caught a break on a muffed punt but could only muster a field goal.
From there, things started to fall apart in the most disappointing of ways. The defense still played well, but some bad offensive trips began to stall the momentum, and then, a fair catch was muffed, causing a short field for the Saints. A questionable (read inexcusable) roughing the passer call gave the Saints life, and from there, it was the start of a slow sad afternoon.
From a baffling interception to special-teams miscues along with questionable play-calling, this was a game that, despite the several injuries, the SF 49ers should have pulled away with had they executed.
But they didn’t, so here we are, picking up the pieces. Let’s start the grades.
SF 49ers offensive grades
The offensive performance was ugly, capped off by two positions that seemingly sunk the SF 49ers before anything could get going.
Quarterback: C-
There isn’t much to blame Nick Mullens on, who put up a very mediocre stat line with 247 yards, a touchdown, and two baffling interceptions. I could spend a lot of time dissecting the intricacies of Mullens’ play, but frankly, there isn’t much to say that isn’t already known.
By no fault of Mullens, he simply isn’t much more than a backup quarterback. A backup playing in a hostile road environment will put up these type of numbers. He struggled under the pressure, made a couple of decent throws, was generally off with several of his attempts, and played slightly below average.
Just to dive in a little further, just take a look at the first interception Mullens threw, albeit from a non-optimal broadcast angle:
https://twitter.com/Saints/status/1328116676932538368
Simply put, Mullens completely misread the coverage. Saints defensive back Malcolm Jenkins lined up at the line fainting a blitz before dropping back as a robber in the intermediate middle of the field, and Mullens didn’t recognize him. Jenkins not there, that’s an easy pitch and catch to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk cutting across the field.
But with Jenkins there, there’s no way Mullens should make that throw.
Though Mullens did have two boneheaded plays, he played average. Made good plays, made bad plays, didn’t do much overall. Not much more to say.
Running Backs: F
The SF 49ers, the team that made it to the Super Bowl with its quarterback throwing less than 20 passes because of a dominant rushing attack, averaged 2.0 yards per carry. Jerick McKinnon was fed a whopping 18 carriers and compiled a grand total of 33 yards. In the pass game, the efficiency was slightly better, though it’s not hard to be better than 2 yards a play.
JaMycal Hasty suffered a broken collarbone, too, adding the injury to insult.
The rushing attack wasn’t just terrible because of the running backs (more on that later), but with this type of performance, no way they get a passing grade.
Wide Receivers: A-
The emergence of Aiyuk into a bona fide WR1 and a legitimate threat has been not only fun to watch, it’s been rapid. With a playbook with a substantial learning curve, Aiyuk wasn’t expected to perform so well, but he amassed 75 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions, and more importantly, he was getting open.
In the last three games he played, Aiyuk is averaging seven receptions for 94 yards. That’s legit production.
Kendrick Bourne had some tough catches, and Richie James made some plays on offense. Despite the struggles by the offense overall, the wide receiver corps made good on their talent and had a great game, all things considered.
Tight Ends: B+
It’s hard to really explain the tight end game because of the overall offensive flow, but Jordan Reed looked good as always, prompting several sighs of what could have been with him and Kittle in two-TE sets. Dwelley had a good catch.
And getting back to Jordan Reed, he made this beauty of a grab:
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1328099746708414464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1328099746708414464%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F247sports.com%2Fcollege%2Fflorida%2FArticle%2FFlorida-Gators-football-former-TE-Jordan-Reed-makes-ridiculous-1-handed-catch-in-New-Orleans-Saints-game–154845493%2F
That’s pretty sweet.
Offensive Line: F– (can I give them a lower grade?)
Oh boy. I’m not an offensive line expert, so I won’t comment on the particulars of the performance, but all I’ll say is this was some of the worst line play I’ve seen from San Francisco.
Beyond getting negative push in the run game, the Sf 49ers were constantly bombarded with pressure from simple blitzes the line failed to pick up to just four-man rushes that broke down the pocket.
I mean, it was ugly, and from that failure stemmed a majority of the failures the entire game.
SF 49ers defensive grades
The SF 49ers defense played surprisingly well against a vaunted Saints offense, though short fields and sudden changes made the box score look much worse than the effort was.
Defensive Line: B
First things first. Javon Kinlaw got his first sack in the NFL, and it was a good sign for the rookie who had been always a step too late to finish the play. Had to feel good for him.
Overall, the SF 49ers had a good game on the line. Kamara never broke a run free, and although at the end the rushing stats began to flip in favor of the Saints, the Niners did a good job when the game was in the balance.
On the pass-rush side of things, Kentavius Street had an outstanding move to sack Saints quarterback Drew Brees, only for an asinine roughing the passer to be called, negating the would-be sack. The hit, though, injured Brees, knocking him out of the game in the second half. When Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill took the lead, the Niners pass rush started to click more, finishing with three sacks.
It was a fine performance for the defensive line, if not prolific.
Linebackers: C+
Fred Warner played his usual dominating All-Pro game, although he had a facemask penalty that couldn’t really be avoided. It didn’t cause much harm, but it is a negative, if there has to be one for him.
Dre Greenlaw, on the other hand, was picked on by the Saints, especially when matched up with Kamara. Although Kamara isn’t a good matchup for most linebackers, Greenlaw’s high tackle number comes as a result of chasing down Kamara.
His performance pushes the Niners linebackers down to a C-level, though overall the unit was adequate.
Secondary: B+
The secondary did its job against Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas. Though partly because of the short fields and partly because of the Brees injury, the secondary wasn’t really tested either.
When Kamara is the leading receiver for the Saints, things worked out well for the secondary.
I want to highlight safety Tarvarius Moore, a player who got his chance following Jaquiski Tartt’s injury. Those of you who have read a few of my pieces know my affinity for Moore, and his start opposite Jimmie Ward was a perfect sign why. His speed is game-changing in the back-end, and he always goes for the ball. He forced a fumble on the Saints’ Taysom Hill on the late game, a sign of his talent and nose for the ball.
SF 49ers special teams and coaching grades
Oh boy, when special teams gets talked about extensively, it’s not a good sign.
Special Teams: F
The good: Niners recovered a muffed punt, and Robbie Gould was good on his two field goals.
The bad: literally everything else.
San Francisco 49ers
From a big return given up to two botched fair catches, it was bad. Game-changingly bad. Basically ended the game bad. It was abysmal.
Coaching: C+
Robert Saleh deserves a ton of credit for his play-calling through three quarters against the Saints. The fourth quarter was essentially working against a four-minute offense with a gassed defense, so there isn’t much to discern from there, but the first three quarters, Saleh essentially kept the Niners in the game. He hit all the right buttons to stop the Saints on traditional drives. However, even he couldn’t take care of the short fields, and the stats paint a far worse picture than what transpired.
On the flip side, Kyle Shanahan had a good beginning script, but it seemed as his team let chance slip away, he too began to slip. He had two bad decisions on 4th-and-1, first choosing not to go for it and then choosing a shotgun run with a running back that had no burst and an offensive line that had no push. He fed a run game that was non-existent and didn’t begin to deviate from it.
Overall, it was not a great situation for Shanahan. Though the offense did click at times, he wasn’t exactly lights out.
The SF 49eres weren’t expected to win, and they didn’t win, though they played closer than expected and probably should have pulled this game out. Now they get a bye to relax and recuperate before a stretch run to either an unlikely playoff spot or an offseason of many questions.