The 49ers offense came to a screeching halt, their defense allowed too many yards, and the feel-good start to the season ended. Niner Noise hands out grades from the contest.
The San Francisco 49ers were riding roughshod over the rest of the NFL, dominating games and putting up points with ease.
But the Cleveland Browns had the No. 1 defense in the NFL, and their defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, has head coach Kyle Shanahan's number.
With all that said, the Browns were playing their third-string quarterback in P.J. Walker and had multiple key injuries along their offensive line. It was a game the 49ers should have dominated.
Dominate, they did not. The game started off well enough, with a Christian McCaffrey touchdown and then a Fred Warner interception. But, with the game already in the balance as early as the first quarter, the 49ers offense went backward, and then Jake Moody missed a 54-yard field goal. The Browns defense held, and that would be true for the rest of the game.
The rest of the game was an ugly array of botched passes, mediocre runs, and offensive inefficiency. The Browns, on the other hand, were able to move the ball effectively, but key penalties and missed plays capped their offense.
Everything came to a head in the third quarter. San Francisco's offense, still scuffling, had its first major misstep. Brock Purdy sailed a pass that was intercepted by Martin Emerson. The Browns kicked a field goal and took a 13-10 lead.
The 49ers offense continued to struggle, but an interception by Deommodore Lenoir gave them a short field they scored on. The Browns kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 17-16, and following a San Francisco 3-and-out, they had the ball driving with a chance to take the lead.
The 49ers defense got the Browns to fourth down, but a personal foul was called on Tashaun Gipson Sr., a bad call that gave Ceveland life. The Browns scored another field goal, giving the 49ers one final chance to take the lead.
Purdy drove the 49ers down the field, but Jake Moody pushed his 41-yard field-goal attempt wide right, and the Niners lost their first game of the year, 19-17.
It was an ugly, ugly game from all sides. Here are the grades.
49ers Offensive Grades
49ers Passing Offense
The 49ers passed the ball 27 times for a grand total of 125 yards. Brock Purdy completed under 50 percent of his passes, He finished with a QB rating of 55.3. He threw one interception and probably should have thrown three more.
It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the worst game of his young NFL career.
The Browns pass rush was as advertised, especially on the interior, with Dalvin Tomlinson absolutely wrecking the 49ers pass actions. The Browns secondary played extremely well, keeping Brandon Aiyuk under wraps and covering the 49ers receivers tightly.
But Purdy did not play particularly well. He missed many open receivers, tended to throw passes long, and was completely off-kilter.
His final drive was a silver lining, proof that he can handle the big moments. But other than that, it was not very good.
Grade: D
49ers Rushing Offense
The 49ers had 108 yards on the ground: Christian McCaffrey with 43 on 11 carriers before he got hurt, Deebo Samuel with 11 yards on two carries before he got hurt, and 27 from Jordan Mason, 23 from Ray-Ray McCloud, 7 from Brock Purdy, and minus-2 from Elijah Mitchell.
Again, on the first drive, everything came easy, but the Browns completely shut the faucet on the line, and San Francisco could not get anything going on the ground.
The 49ers barely eked over 100 yards, and it was never easy.
Grade: D-
49ers Defensive Grades
49ers Rushing Defense
The 49ers rushing defense was mediocre, per the box score: 160 net rushing yards from the Browns is a non-starter, but it took them 34 carries, and removing an end-around from Marquise Goodwin, that average yards per carry drops substantially.
But watching the game, the Niners allowed yards at a semi-consistent clip. Efficiency metrics sometimes look good when offenses mix explosive plays with minimal gains, but the Browns were able to get 3 yards a carry almost always. it allowed their offense to stay ahead of the chains and took the edge off the 49ers pass rush.
The stats got inflated on the Browns' final drive, but up until then, they were still running the ball with ease.
Grade: D+
49ers Passing Defense
The 49ers should not have allowed 174 net passing yards to P.J. Walker and the Cleveland offense. That alone is unacceptable from a defense that had, just a week ago, thoroughly shut down the Dallas Cowboys offense.
Amari Cooper provided a big-play element for the Browns, and they screened the 49ers to death with an array of quick hitters that gained good yardage.
With all that said, though, the Niners passing defense played decently. Fred Warner's interception was textbook play by the middle linebacker, and Deommodore Lenoir's interception in the fourth quarter gave the 49ers the gasp of breath they needed.
Walker had to throw the ball 34 times for 192 yards, and he had a couple of lucky passes that could have been intercepted. Of course, his incompletion to Elijah Moore on 3rd-and-10, which was wiped away because of a penalty on Tashaun Gipson, would have almost ended the game.
But at the end of the day, the Browns made the plays the 49ers could not.
Grade: C-
49ers Special Teams Grades
49ers Special Teams
Ray-Ray McCloud did not have a good day returning the ball, the 49ers punt coverage team had multiple penalties against it, and they were unable to get any real pressure on punts or kicks. That was all bad.
But that, although it played a role, did not lose the game.
Rookie third-round pick Jake Moody was selected by San Francisco to make big kicks. That was the only potential justification to take a kicker in the third round.
Well... he missed two field goals: a 53-yard field goal in the first quarter, following an interception that could have cemented the Niners early in the game, and of course, the game-winning 41-yard field-goal try.
Kicking is hard, and there is a lot that goes through it. But there are no excuses for an NFL player to miss a 41-yard field goal to win the game.
If Moody makes that kick, this game is a valuable lesson on resiliency.
Now, it's just a loss.
Grade: F