Honestly, yesterday went basically how I expected. The 49ers are as good as any team in the league, and they made relatively short work of a Patriots team that continues to get more hurt by the week, losing Kyle Dugger, Caedan Wallace, and David Andrews throughout Sunday. Jacoby Brissett continues to face pressure at a league-high rate, Rhamondre Stevenson's fumble issues continue to persist, and despite doing a solid job of keeping the 49ers honest offensively on paper, there was no shortage of bad defensive performances and breakdowns in this one, Joshua Uche against the run being one of the more inexcusable lowlights.
Are there at least some positives you can take out of the Patriots loss? Yes, but this season is starting to slip away from them fast, and with the injuries really taking their toll, it may get worse before it gets better. Let's look at the best and worst from Sunday's loss in Santa Clara.
Roll Players Getting Picked On
Pocket containment was a massive issue in this one, but it did get better as time went on. What was very alarming was some of the snaps Uche had against the run, the rep that resulted in Jordan Mason's TD being by far the most egregious. Here's the endzone All-22 look.
All this is from San Fran is an outside zone run out of a tight split (a Shanahan specialty), and Uche simply blows this. Deatrich Wise, who is lined up directly over Trent Williams, is actually in a good spot here to stop Mason should he have gone to Williams' inside, but Uche blows contain, and the C gap turns into an empty highway. Simply inexcusable stuff here. Obviously, he's not exactly a run-defending specialist, but this is why his snap count before Sunday was what it was, and it's not like he's been lighting it up in the pass rush department so far. Uche needs to pick it up quickly.
Another guy in an expanded role due to injury who San Fran made it a point to go after was Jahlani Tavai, who was not great on Sunday. Brock Purdy was salivating the same way Aaron Rodgers was when he was in pass coverage, and once again, Tavai allowed five catches on five targets in coverage for a whopping 112 yards, nearly 40% of Brock Purdy's production. It should've been a few more yards if not for a bad penalty on George Kittle (that wasn't a hold, in my opinion), and that play was his worst rep in coverage. Take a look at this angle route from Purdy to Mason, but focus on Tavai.
It's fair to assume Tavai was expecting Mason to go into the flat instead of the angle route, and Purdy notices right away that Tavai is way out of position. He doesn't help his cause here by running into Raekwon McMillan and then slowing it down immediately. The 49ers, of course, scored on this drive with a Calvin Johnson-esqe grab by George Kittle (I don't fault a single Patriots defender that was on him at the catch point. However, it appeared Marcus Jones blew his assignment, so do with that what you will), but that's just fundementally bad defense.
But here, I'm reminded of something Bill Belichick said about player evaluations, caring notably more about what a player is good at as opposed to weaknesses. Tavai's at his best when he's operating either downhill or at the LOS. Injuries have forced him into a more prominiet role, but at the end of the day, the expectation should be that he needs to be better for this team, especially in deeper zone and man coverage looks, which isn't his specialty. Hopefully, he can be freed up once the Patriots can get either one of Sione Takitaki or Marte Mapu in the fold, but this is two weeks straight, and he's been an issue. Some guys are just role players, and especially for a guy with Tavai's skillset, that's not a knock. He's been far more bad than good these last two calander years.
So-So for Brissett
While I don't want to kick Brissett while he's down because he continues to get hit at a league-high rate, his decision-making was a bit shoddy on Sunday, and the most prominent case of that came on the Fred Warner Pick-Six.
Two things can be true here. Fred Warner is an absolute freakshow of a linebacker, and this is an unreal play. At the same time, that's a brutal place to put that ball if you're Jacoby. This is actually a great play call by Alex Van Pelt. Little trips concept with all three recievers working right against a bluff blitz Tampa-2. Hunter Henry, off the chip, does a great job drawing the middle three defenders here to him, and there's a wide open window to get Ja'Lynn Polk or even Pop Douglas here (he's probably taking a hit, so that would've been a risk, too). Instead, Brissett stares down Thornton, and you can see Fred Warner read it the entire way.
The other play I can point to off-hand was Polk's fourth-down non-catch (an ungodly effort by him, by the way). You'll see he had Antonio Gibson wide open and with a lot of green grass to work with on a drag.
The second Brissett sees Ji'Aiyr Brown (single high safety) rotate to his right to help out Renardo Green on Polk, that throw should've been Persona non grata. Split second decisions here, but that's the game when you're an NFL quarterback. I definitely feel a bit bad doing this, since he's in a rough spot otherwise, but this was definitely the first game where I can say Brissett could've been better. Definitely some other lowlights on the day, but those two were crucial ones.
Great Day for Gonzo
Do not let the PFF CB grades fool you, Christian Gonzalez has been fantastic in coverage four games in, and he was all over the place in this one. Mainly traveling with Brandon Aiyuk (and nearly blanking him), he only allowed two grabs (one to him and another to Deebo Samuel) on five targets, and I wouldn't even call either of those bad reps on Gonzo's part. The Aiyuk setup off the line and the eventual grab were as legit as it gets, and we'll hit on the other momentariliy, but Greg Olsen's praise throughout this one was warented.
Brock Purdy was definitely feeling himself with the long ball, but went 0-2 when he was on Gonzalez in this game. Here's those two reps, one on Chris Conley, and the other on Aiyuk.
The Conley rep (first) is definitely the more impressive of the two, and Purdy is very lucky he got enough under the throw that Gonzalez didn't pluck it out of the air. The contact with Conley appears to be incedental tripping, and Gonzo boxing him out isn't PI on it's own. He has every right to that ball that he does, and simply out plays him here.
One of Gonzo's best reps of the day, believe it or not, was on one of the two catches he gave up, being the one down by the goalline on Deebo, which there's a glimpse of on that twitter vid.
Physicality and hits like this weren't exactly his game at either Colorado or Oregon, so to see him save a touchdown with a hit like that on a dangerous after the catch guy in Deebo is awesome to see. He and Jonathan Jones also do a phenomenal job of passing off Brandon Aiyuk on this play as well while we're on the subject. Honestly, if he had picked off that Conley deep shot, I could argue this was the best game of his career over that Week 3 Jets game last season, that's how good he was on the whole. Hopefully what he's doing isn't lost on Patriots fans even though things are how they are right now.
The Captain
Not anything super in-depth, but I saw Greg Bedard post this and fel like this was worth including. This is a pro Jabrill Peppers program, it'll always be a pro Jabrill Peppers program, and the Patriots as an orginazation are very fortunate he fell into their laps back in 2022. Barely missed out on the three stars you see below, but he was PFF's highest graded Patriot this weekend.
Final Score: San Francisco 49ers 30, New England Patriots 13
Gaffney's Three Stars from Patriots-49ers
3rd Star - Nick Leverett (Clean Pass Pro Sheet in Reserve of David Andrews)
2nd Star - Joey Slye (2/2 FG, 1/1 XP, Set Patriots Franchise Record with a 63 Yard Field Goal)
1st Star - Christian Gonzalez (Held Brandon Aiyuk to 1 Reception for 10 Yards on 13 Coverage Snaps, Only Allowed 2 Receptions for 12 Yards on 29 Total Coverage Snaps)
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