Highlighting studs, duds from 49ers’ Week 6 loss to Falcons

A lot went wrong for the 49ers during their Week 6 loss to the Falcons, so let’s take a look at the studs and duds from the game to help understand it more.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo might have had the best comment about what happened and what went wrong during the Niners’ 28-14 Week 6 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons:

"I thought we had opportunities all day. We just didn’t take advantage of them. Self-inflicted wounds, really. Guys made mistakes and it wasn’t just one guy or one position, it starts with myself and I think one after the other mistakes were made."

On paper, this was supposed to be a tough matchup for San Francisco but one it should win fairly convincingly. The Falcons wanted to run the ball early and often, yet the 49ers were bringing in their top-ranked defense that was allowing only 3 yards per carry entering the game.

Meanwhile, even if the Niners’ own offense has been inconsistent this season, Atlanta’s defense isn’t exactly a top-notch unit.

Nothing played out that way, however.

Granted, San Francisco was awfully shorthanded, particularly on defense where it was missing six starters. And there were more injuries that happened during the game, too.

Give credit to the Falcons for the way they played.

Nevertheless, let’s take a look at some of the 49ers’ studs and duds from the game to see if what happened in Week 6 was more of an anomaly or a trend of things to come.

49ers dud: Safety George Odum

The Niners briefly lost starting safety Talanoa Hufanga early in the game, which opened up the door for reserve defensive back George Odum to hold the line until Hufanga could return.

As he should have done, Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota targeted tight end MyCole Pruitt for Atlanta’s first touchdown of the game on that opening drive:

Odum did not look good in coverage.

San Francisco had given Odum the chance to earn a starting job during training camp before Hufanga soundly beat him out.

Plays like this one will probably help ensure the 49ers relegate Odum solely to special teams duties where he excels and not on the defensive side of the ball whenever possible.