2023 Season

[CrimsonCrew]

Sloppy loss, but it may be one of those "blessing in disguise" losses to humble the team a bit. I still think the 49ers are a top three 3-4 team. Right side of the o-line has to be addressed, though.

It was actually the left side that rated worse in PFF score this past week. Chalk some of that up to Trent's injury, but still.

[Samurai]

Sloppy loss, but it may be one of those "blessing in disguise" losses to humble the team a bit. I still think the 49ers are a top three 3-4 team. Right side of the o-line has to be addressed, though.

It was actually the left side that rated worse in PFF score this past week. Chalk some of that up to Trent's injury, but still.

The three lowest graded players on offense were Purdy (49.4), LG Aaron Banks (49.0), and LT Trent Williams (50.6). The rest of the line weren't much better: Brendel (56.6 overall, 45.7 pass blocking with 3 hurries), Burford (50.9 overall, 48.0 pass blocking with 3 hurries) and McKivitz surprisingly was the highest graded O-lineman at 60.9 overall and 69.2 pass blocking and only one hurry. I think it is safe to assume that Trent's bad game was due to his injury as this was his lowest graded game since 2018 and his 4 pressures allowed matched his total over the previous 5 games.

Still a very crap game for the O-line as this meant Purdy was getting pressured on at least13 of his 27 pass attempts. And while CMC only gained 47 yards rushing before leaving with his injury, a whopping 46 of those yards came after contact. Thus CMC was getting hit on average 0.27 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Not exactly an indication that the line was opening up gaping holes for him. So basically our O-line sucked in both pass protection and run blocking.

[wco81]

Well Williams was matched up against Garrett and we didn't hear Garrett's name being called much.

So it was other Browns who caused the pressure.

It seemed like 49ers OL couldn't even get to the second level because you often saw Browns second level defenders coming downhill, often on the 49ers side of the LOS, so basically they were daring the 49ers to throw over the LBs and over the middle.

Purdy had success doing that in previous games but even then he often made WRs reach back for the ball.

Aiyuk does great if the ball is at chest level or lower but I can't recall when he attacked a higher pass.

This is the element missing from the 49ers, WRs who high-point the ball, have wide catch radius. Of course it's better to hit WRs in the chest and give them a chance to collect YAC but it doesn't hurt to be able to win some contested or closely-covered matchups sometimes.

[arich35]

Sloppy loss, but it may be one of those "blessing in disguise" losses to humble the team a bit. I still think the 49ers are a top three 3-4 team. Right side of the o-line has to be addressed, though.

It was actually the left side that rated worse in PFF score this past week. Chalk some of that up to Trent's injury, but still.

Plus Banks not playing at 100% with his injury last week

[Samurai]

This is the element missing from the 49ers, WRs who high-point the ball, have wide catch radius. Of course it's better to hit WRs in the chest and give them a chance to collect YAC but it doesn't hurt to be able to win some contested or closely-covered matchups sometimes.

Jennings has a wide catch radius and both the hand strength and tenacity to pull in high throws; he had a nice overhead grab on a 31-yard pass this season against the Rams. But Aiyuk, Kittle, McCloud and Deebo all seem better at chest/body catches than snatching high passes over defenders.

[thesack12]

Yeah, the receivers don't really have a habit of attacking the football. More often than not, they'll wait for it to come to them and a lot of times they won't come up with the catch if it requires less than ideal body positioning. Maybe some of that has to do with how they are coached, and Kyle wanting to utilize and rely heavily on YAC. So maybe he doesn't want the receivers to lose their base at the catch point, which would diminish the YAC potential after the catch.

The DB's certainly don't attack the football. Hell most times they don't even try to find or play the ball. Granted, most of the DB's the 9ers have had over the last several years don't possess great ball skills. Having said that, it almost seems like this regime doesn't place a high value on ball skills when it comes to their DB's.

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

None of this is surprising. Good thing 9ers play Monday night this week. That extra day could be the difference of having or not having some of these guys available to play.

[CrimsonCrew]

Panthers have agreed to let Terrace Marshall test the market. Could be a guy worth a look. Late second-rounder with good physical measurements, he's shown flashes but has disappointed overall. We have some coaches and players who are familiar with him. Probably not a great fit as more of a contested catch guy, but he's big and fast and might be worth kicking the tires on as a Jennings replacement next year.

[Samurai]

The WR room will get a bit cramped once Danny Gray returns. Would make more sense to me to see if there is a OL or CB that could help us. I would have said another Edge but Randy Gregory showed enough to keep me intrigued for now. Of course, Drake Jackson had a great first game this season and then disappeared....

Speaking of CB's, is there any update on how Womack is doing and when can we expect to see him back on the field?

[wco81]

In general, how much impact do in-season trades have in the NFL?

Obviously CMC has made a big impact on the 49ers but he seems more the exception than the rule because players who haven't gone through the off-season programs may not be able to contribute a lot for several weeks.

Also another exception would be players who come from similar systems, as coaches change teams and take similar systems and terminology to other teams.

But it seems you get more impact from in-season trades in the NBA and MLB than in the NFL.

[CrimsonCrew]

In general, how much impact do in-season trades have in the NFL?

Obviously CMC has made a big impact on the 49ers but he seems more the exception than the rule because players who haven't gone through the off-season programs may not be able to contribute a lot for several weeks.

Also another exception would be players who come from similar systems, as coaches change teams and take similar systems and terminology to other teams.

But it seems you get more impact from in-season trades in the NBA and MLB than in the NFL.

Major impacts are rare, though you rarely see impact players moved in-season. I would say the Niners got some very real contributions from the Sanders and Omenihu trades, though. Particularly Sanders, as he really contributed to the offense during our SB run that year.

[CrimsonCrew]

The WR room will get a bit cramped once Danny Gray returns. Would make more sense to me to see if there is a OL or CB that could help us. I would have said another Edge but Randy Gregory showed enough to keep me intrigued for now. Of course, Drake Jackson had a great first game this season and then disappeared....

Speaking of CB's, is there any update on how Womack is doing and when can we expect to see him back on the field?

Yeah, I can't see us making a move for Marshall. Just noting that he's an interesting guy. I don't have very high hopes for Danny Gray at this point, but we'll see. It would be awesome to have a guy with some legit speed in this offense...

[arich35]

I have no clue if Deebo, CMC, Williams or Greenlaw will play Monday. Greenlaw was the only one who practiced today (limited)
Monday Night Football on the road is tough no matter what but without 3 our of best offensive guys it will be even more difficult

[arich35]

Williams and Deebo both out today at practice. CMC was practicing
I am not feeling too great about this game

[CrimsonCrew]

For some reason I only just realized that Maurice Hurst was part of that Cleveland DL that beat up on us on Sunday. That one stings. I loved it when we brought him in on the cheap, and he lost two full seasons to injury. Playing well for the Browns. 88.5 PFF grade on 39% of Cleveland defensive snaps.

[thesack12]

Williams and Deebo both out today at practice. CMC was practicing
I am not feeling too great about this game

Trent got listed as doubtful. O-line play could get ugly Monday night without him out there.
Deebo is out, and chatter is he might not be back until after the bye. In that case he'd miss 2 games.
CMC is questionable.

In stark contrast to the past handful of years, 9ers have been pretty fortunate with injuries this season up until last week. Was just a matter of time until the injury bug came back into town. Unfortunately its decided to bite a couple of the most vital players at the same time.

[CrimsonCrew]

Williams and Deebo both out today at practice. CMC was practicing
I am not feeling too great about this game

Trent got listed as doubtful. O-line play could get ugly Monday night without him out there.
Deebo is out, and chatter is he might not be back until after the bye. In that case he'd miss 2 games.
CMC is questionable.

In stark contrast to the past handful of years, 9ers have been pretty fortunate with injuries this season up until last week. Was just a matter of time until the injury bug came back into town. Unfortunately its decided to bite a couple of the most vital players at the same time.

This team needs to learn to deal with adversity, and this is a great time for it. The Vikings are a bad team missing their best player. We need to be able to beat them even without Trent, CMC, and Deebo.

[thesack12]

For some reason I only just realized that Maurice Hurst was part of that Cleveland DL that beat up on us on Sunday. That one stings. I loved it when we brought him in on the cheap, and he lost two full seasons to injury. Playing well for the Browns. 88.5 PFF grade on 39% of Cleveland defensive snaps.

Similar sentiment on Jerrick McKinnon, although he didn't come cheap like Hurst did. I think Kyle envisioned utilizing Jet in some of the ways he's using CMC, at least when it comes to the passing game. Granted CMC is a truly special talent and there isn't anybody on his level of versatility and ability to transform an offensive attack. Still, I'm thinking Kyle had big plans for Jet, he just couldn't get on the field in SF.

Another "what if" guy is Jason Verrett. I'm not sure there has ever been a guy as snakebit with injuries as that guy has had to endure. Dude is immensely talented, unfortunately his body didn't allow him to have the career he deserved.

[thesack12]

Williams and Deebo both out today at practice. CMC was practicing
I am not feeling too great about this game

Trent got listed as doubtful. O-line play could get ugly Monday night without him out there.
Deebo is out, and chatter is he might not be back until after the bye. In that case he'd miss 2 games.
CMC is questionable.

In stark contrast to the past handful of years, 9ers have been pretty fortunate with injuries this season up until last week. Was just a matter of time until the injury bug came back into town. Unfortunately its decided to bite a couple of the most vital players at the same time.

This team needs to learn to deal with adversity, and this is a great time for it. The Vikings are a bad team missing their best player. We need to be able to beat them even without Trent, CMC, and Deebo.

I mean sure, I agree.

Still, that needing to face adversity mantra didn't work out very well last week. And that was with them having a guy freshly signed off the practice squad, playing QB for them.

Definitely can't look past Minnesota, even without Jefferson. Vikings are going to amped up to play a top tier team at home for Monday Night Football. I can also certainly see a scenario of Danielle Hunter murdering McKivitz and/or Moore on a consistent basis.

[wco81]

Hunter is their RDE?