QUARTERBACK: B
Brock Purdy was excellent in the first half as he completed 17 of 22 passes and posted a passer rating of 122.2. Then, Mike Evans suffered an aggravated Achilles tendon injury. And suddenly Purdy collapsed. In the second half, he completed only 4 of 7 passes and took two sacks. Without Evans, he didn’t look like the MVP. To be fair, his remaining receivers were Brandon Cooks, Jordan Watkins, and Jacob Cowing. But Purdy still had Hall of Famers at tight end, a running back, a left tackle and maybe a signal caller, and finished the game with three straight three-and-outs. Meanwhile, Jayden Daniels dominated Purdy while working with Stefon Diggs, Rachaad White, Treylon Burks and a 31-year-old rookie offensive coordinator. Suddenly it looks like the 49ers’ MVP is Evans, not Purdy. More on Evans in a minute.
RUNNING BACK:B
Christian McCaffrey scored two touchdowns, but also lost a fumble and averaged 4.0 yards per carry and just 5.9 yards per catch. He’s still a solid player, but he’s not an important player anymore. His longest catch of the game was for 13 yards and his longest carry was for 9. Frankly, he looked better last week when Kyle Juszczyk was out. This week, Juszczyk returned and McCaffrey’s productivity suffered. Odd.
TIGHT ENDS: B
George Kittle was great in the first half when the Commanders defense focused on stopping Mike Evans. Then Evans went down and Kittle made a nice 35-yard catch while he was wide open on the first drive of the third quarter, then he never caught another pass. With Evans out of the game, the Commanders were able to shut down Kittle and force Purdy to look elsewhere, leading to Purdy taking painful sacks. Kittle is great, but he can’t carry this attack alone. He needs help from the wide receivers.
WIDE RECEIVERS: D
Mike Evans had three catches for 94 yards in less than two full quarters of action – he’s such a good player when healthy. Unfortunately for the 49ers, he aggravated his Achilles tendinitis and left the game before halftime. And without him, the offense collapsed. Brandon Cooks and Jordan Watkins each caught only one pass, and Jacob Cowing caught none. Without Evans, the 49ers might have the worst receiving corps in the league. They need to trade one immediately. They can’t count on Evans to be healthy and stay healthy this season. He has been playing despite injuries since the beginning of August.
OFFENSIVE LINE PLAYERS: B
The 49ers handled the ball OK, but allowed two sacks. However, the offensive line was not the problem.
DEFENSIVE LINES: A-MINUS
They sacked Jayden Daniels four times and limited Commanders to just 3.1 yards per carry. Certainly, the Commanders were missing their starting running back. Still, the 49ers defensive line played exceptionally well without their highest-paid player, Nick Bosa. But in the second half, the pass rush grew tired as the offense continued to three-point range, which is understandable. This group needs help from the offense.
LINEBACKERS: A
Rookie Jaden Dugger had a team-high 11 tackles, replacing the suspended Dre Greenlaw, and Fred Warner had 8 tackles. I thought Greenlaw’s absence would hurt the defense, but that’s not the case. Dugger was a revelation.
DEFENSIVE: C
The cornerbacks were not good. Renardo Green was exposed and harassed, Deommodore Lenoir gave up a touchdown to a running back, Upton Stout gave up a touchdown to Stefon Diggs then left the game with a shoulder injury, Ashtyn Davis replaced him and was the worst player on the field. Fortunately for the 49ers, safety Malik Mustapha was one of the best players on the field, and he helped seal the victory with several big plays late in the fourth quarter. To think the 49ers had him on the bench until Marques Sigle got hurt.
SPECIAL TEAMS: D
Eddy Pineiro missed another extra point. He misses a kick almost every week. If he keeps this up, he’s going to cost the 49ers a game when it really counts. He’d better understand. And the 49ers would be better off replacing Jacob Cowing at punt returner. He fielded a punt to his own four-yard line – a major no-no –, muffed it, then recovered it himself. Please get him off the field.
COACHES: B-MINUS
Raheem Morris deserves credit for holding the Commanders to just 17 points, but he couldn’t do much to stop Jayden Daniels, who completed 73 percent of his passes and posted a quarterback rating of 110.4. Daniels is the first quarterback the 49ers have faced this season who can run and throw equally well, and they have struggled against him. This is something to keep in mind if they go to the Super Bowl and have to face Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson.
On offense, Kyle Shanahan made things look easy in the first half until Evans went down. After that, he didn’t seem as creative. He continued to call long play-action passes on first and second down that resulted in sacks. Considering he had a 20-point lead in the second half, he should have called some quick, sure runs and passes, but this is Shanahan we’re talking about. He specializes in passing when he should be running while leading late in games – that’s how he lost all three Super Bowls. Tonight, he almost blew a 23-3 lead. Only he can do it.
Additionally, Shanahan let Evans play through Achilles tendinitis, and he made the situation worse. Now, Evans could miss time that he might not have missed if Shanahan simply hadn’t faced Evans in this match. Instead, Shanahan let Evans decide whether to play, so of course Evans made the wrong decision. Can you blame him? He is a professional athlete and competitor. It’s not going to close. That’s the head coach’s job. Hopefully this coaching mistake doesn’t cost Evans multiple games, because the 49ers are clearly struggling without him.
Add us as your favorite source on GoogleFollow
Gn sports
