Defensive coordiantor Raheem Morris would've loved nothing more than to have his San Francisco 49ers defense wholly shut down quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and the Atlanta Falcons in Week 7—a grudge match, of sorts, after the Falcons fired Morris as head coach at the conclusion of last season.
Instead, Morris and the Niners defense ultimately surrendered in a big way, losing 29-20 in San Francisco's first loss of the season.
True, in some regards, Morris' defense did an amicable job. The 49ers held the Falcons to just 295 total yards and only two touchdowns in five appearances within the red zone. And the Niners outgained Atlanta 6.2 yards per play to just 4.7.
It also didn't help that San Francisco's offense regularly turned the ball over either, four giveaways (two lost fumbles and two interceptions tossed by quarterback Brock Purdy) ultimately handing the Falcons more offensive opportunities.
Still, Morris has plenty of reasons to be disappointed.
Raheem Morris' grudge match vs. Falcons didn't go according to plan
One of the narratives a week ago was how the 49ers didn't need star defensive end Nick Bosa, who's been out since Week 2 with a calf injury. Against the Washington Commanders in Week 6, Morris' defense registered four sacks, including a game-sealer against quarterback Jayden Daniels in the final seconds.
Thanks to defensive ends Romello Height and Keion White, the outside pass rush looked just fine.
Week 7 was a different story, though, and not just because of defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa's encroachment leap on an obvious Penix attempt to get the Niners to jump.
Not only did San Francisco fail to sack Penix, it also couldn't get to him whatsoever, picking up precisely zero quarterback hits over the course of the game. As a result, the Falcons signal-caller completed 73.5 percent of his pass attempts for three touchdowns, dishing out receptions to nine different pass catchers.
Morris has a reputation for getting creative with his pass-rush packages, but it's clear none of those were working on Sunday. Instead, even when the 49ers managed some pressure, Penix was easily able to evade it.
And the Niners defensive backs weren't exactly equal to the task, thanks either to too many blown coverages or costly penalties.
Fortunately, Morris has shown a knack for adjusting, and the defensive problems from Week 7 are only a portion of everything that went wrong for San Francisco in a true trap-game setting right before its bye week.
One can hope this was more of an abomination and not a sign of things to come.
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