49ers 31, Jets 13
![Athleticism and hands? Check. Ball security? TBD [Sarah Stier]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e40f3a094d5fa3ebbbedb09/1600652767846-G3U9BSTATWW8YQ7ANVLJ/reed+jets.jpg)
Athleticism and hands? Check. Ball security? TBD [Sarah Stier]
Boring games? Lots of backups? Devastating injuries out of nowhere? And they said there wasn’t gonna be a preseason this year.
But in all seriousness, when you’re comfortable pulling your starting quarterback and running back at halftime despite being up “only” 18 points, you know this one’s a snoozer. That being said, it was a chance for lots of young guys to get a bunch of snaps and gave us a much-needed win—even if it didn’t feel like one given the massive injuries we sustained in the process.
Hello darkness my old friend... We are just two weeks into the season and—by the start of the second half—we were down nine starters, three of them All-Pro talents. We know as much as we can about the PUP and IR guys; as of now it seems like they’re on schedule. George Kittle could likely play this week? Although given the Niners’ outspoken thoughts about the turf at MetLife Stadium, perhaps he’s held out one more week. That turf is likely to dictate decisions on Raheem Mostert and Jimmy Garoppolo as well. Mostert will be in Ohio this week for the birth of his next child. While his injury doesn’t seem severe, the Niners are deep at running back and may not to rush him back on a short week of practice (he probably wouldn’t be practicing anyways) onto the same turf that led to so many injuries this weekend. Jimmy G has the dreaded high-ankle sprain, but—depending on its severity—that’s something that he might be able to play on given his position. I’d expect the Niners to hold him out at least this week, but with a Sunday night matchup looming with an underachieving but very talented Eagles squad, how fast he’s back may in part be based on how well Nick Mullens performs in his stead.
The news seems more dire for Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas, who both—as of this writing—are suspected of having torn ACLs. While Solly wasn’t an elite player along our defensive line, he was named the starter at the three-tech for a reason. Without him, rookie Javon Kinlaw will be forced into a starting role and more snaps—to his credit, Kinlaw has played well thus far—while finally healthy (knock on wood) Kentavius Street and second-year player Kevin Givens will need to take on larger roles. UDFA rookie Darrion Daniels, currently developing on the practice squad, may even get a promotion for depth. Jullian Taylor will come off the PUP list eventually and provide much-needed reinforcements, but as we learned from last year, our defense is greatly affected when it loses rotational pieces along the DL.
As for Bosa, there’s really no replacing the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year, elite edge rusher, and preseason favorite for DPOTY. His blend of speed and power is rare, and—when you add in his technical mastery at such a young age—pretty much unheard of across the league. There’s a reason that Bosa, in just his second season, was named the third-best edge rusher in the NFL by a group of execs, coaches, and players. Bosa is likely our best player on defense. Even with a next-man-up philosophy, the Niners will surely have to adjust schematically to generate more pressure, and that’s not something they’ve liked doing in the past. Ronald Blair will return from the PUP list in a matter of weeks, but until then it’s likely that Dion Jordan will see a practice squad promotion or two (if not a full role on the active roster). I’d also expect the Niners to kick the tires on Ezekiel Ansah—who they’ve brought in multiple times this off-season—and potentially Damontre Moore. Expect at least one of them to be signed within the next few days.
OFFENSE
The Jets defense was pretty much as expected. Stout against the run but with questions about their edge speed—a question that we answered pretty clearly on the first play of the game. Other than the 80-yard opener and 55-yard run on third-and-31 (lol), the rest of our carries totaled 47 yards on 27 carries at a paltry 1.7 YPC clip. The passing game was needed in this one, and we were hugely efficient in that regard.
The pee wee football special: The lead toss was amazing in this one, springing Mostert for an 80-yard TD on this opening play.
Our alignment (twins away from tight end) forces the Jets to set their “true” strong safety (Marcus Maye) to the passing strength. Motion towards the closed tight end makes us “even” again with the goal being to target the three DBs highlighted above in the run game with angles and size advantages.
#30 Bradley McDougald may be lined up as a linebacker but he’s the safety the Jets got from the Seahawks as part of the Jamal Adams trade. He’s got decent size at 6-2 215 pounds, but he’s still a defensive back. In the box. Against our 21 personnel.
I am still amazed every time teams try to start the game like this.
This is our stretch blocking scheme, with two key blocks highlighted in blue.
On the edge, Ross Dwelley is chipping with a mandatory outside release—giving McGlinchey help on the edge defender—as this is the key block to the play. If you miss the hook this play often turns into a tackle for loss before it can even get started.
On the inside Ben Garland made his presence felt early. While our backup center, he’s an excellent athlete and has performed incredibly well for us in the run game. Here he’s tasked with working up to the second level and erasing the mike linebacker as he flows play-side.
At this point, the play-side blocks have been engaged, creating this gigantic running lane for Mostert. They may not know it yet, but the Jets are already screwed.
This is a better look at exactly how screwed the Jets are. It’s also a better look at the extent to which Garland dominated his man.
Since Mostert is Mostert, he was able to burst through the hole before any defenders could adjust or slide off their blocks. Since he is still Mostert, the angles of the two defenders three and five yards down field from him will be roasted in short order. While we’ve got a lot of speed in our backfield, Mostert’s speed is something else. He is unquestionably the biggest homerun threat at running back in the league right now.
Mostert could have had—with no exaggeration—230 yards and three scores on just lead tosses in this game. The 67-yard score called back on an unnecessary hold was a lead toss, as was McKinnon’s third-and-31 conversion (again, lol), which Mostert likely would have housed. Eventually, the Jets did adjust, having their second-line sell hard play-side to penetrate whenever they saw Ross Dwelley in-line and Juice in the backfield. But by then the damage was done.
Double tight incoming: With so many weapons out, some second-line dudes had a chance to shine. Obviously the biggest standout was Jordan Reed, who looked smooth, caught the ball very well, and looked fresh and athletic in space. Given his injury history, the Niners would like to do a “load management” kind of situation with Reed, but whenever they do decide to employ double tight looks with Kittle and Reed, they’ll have some serious matchup advantages in the passing game.
Aiyuk sighting: Aiyuk was far from a difference-maker in this one but—while his first catch was on a very rookie-like snag on a pass that was likely intended to someone else—he flashed some serious athleticism and YAC ability with the ball in his hands. Something to look forward to for later. Hopefully not too much later. Or just soon.
Jimmy G rebound: Despite suffering what is likely a high-ankle sprain, Garoppolo played incredibly well in this one, completing 14-of-16 for 131 yards and two scores, grading out at an astronomical 99.6 QBR (out of 100), and guiding the Niners to a 21-3 lead entering halftime. It’s a nice bounce back game for Garoppolo—even if it wasn’t against the most intimidating of opponents—so it was a bummer to see him knocked out of the game (even if it gave us a Nick Mullens sighting). We need Jimmy G to get as many reps and as much rhythm going as possible. Despite an uneven performance in week one, the fact still remains that Garoppolo will need to take a step forward this year if we’re to accomplish our goals—especially with a front that is down DeFo and Bosa.
DEFENSE
I get Jets CEO Chris Thompson publicly backing Adam Gase after media concern following the Jets’ opener. After all, no one benefits from going all Jerry Jones and blasting your coach when he’s still your coach. But calling Gase an “offensive genius” is borderline insulting. It’s like when Comcast advertises their incredible service. It’s such a lie and so clearly targets a product’s known weakness as a strength that it almost seems like a troll job aimed at your own fans.
Quick game: Offensive game plans will certainly adjust now that teams don’t have to account for Bosa, but the Jets did exactly what was expected in this one. They committed to the run game despite average returns and threw almost entirely out of the quick game.
Initially the Jets had some “success” with this game plan. In the first half, Darnold was 9-of-11 for 65 yards, converted a third-down scramble, only suffered a single sack, and—due in part to the Niners blitzing more after losing Bosa and Thomas on near back-to-back plays—was able to find open space underneath while leading the Jets on 11- and 13-play drives into Niners territory. Even though those drives netted just a single field goal and the Jets’ 3.93 YPP in the first half would have been worst in the league over all of last year—0.7 YPP less than the worst offense in 2019, which was... (checks notes) also the Jets—you could at least see how they hoped to stay in this one just by making the game as short and boring as possible.
But the quick game can only take you so far, and in the second half Saleh and the defense adjusted despite being down to only six defensive linemen. The safeties crept up on their man and curl/flat responsibilities—rightfully disregarding the Jets’ deep threat as anything more than theoretical—and Saleh dialed up a few blitz looks that were setup specifically to take away the quick game outside the hashes.
The Niners crowd the LOS here, trying to get a free rusher due to OL confusion. Each of the seven guys on the line will take at least one first step downhill like they’re rushing—in hopes of pulling the attention of a blocker—before the non-rushers peel off into coverage responsibilities.
We’re allowed to show this kind of an aggressive look because (A) it’s third-and-nine so we’re not worried about any underneath stuff as long as long as it’s not chunk plays, (B) the offense has been attacking short game outside the hashes all game, and (C) we’re playing the Jets.
The Jets have dialed up a designed one-man quick out that’s meant to look like a stick route. They’re likely looking at numbers outside (a 3-2 advantage) and believing that two blocks will give their wideout tons of room to run before our high safety can come down and tackle him.
Now, you might be thinking: why are the Jets running a two-yard out on third-and-nine?
As mentioned above, they are the Jets.
Armstead and Warner are the peel-off defenders in this situation. Warner bails to the trips side—potentially in man coverage on the third receiver (kind of hard to tell for sure the coverage given how fast the pass is out, but it looks like man across the board).
Meanwhile, Armstead widens along the line of scrimmage, sliding outside with the goal of reading Darnold’s eyes and feet to get into the passing lane. If the Jets were running a pass concept down the field, Armstead would quickly become useless in this position, but since the Jets have been leaning so heavily on quick game outside the hashes, Saleh has the confidence to call this play and he’s rewarded.
It’s pretty much impossible to see Armstead batting down this pass from this shot, but trust me, it happened. This is the benefit of having a 6-7 former college basketball player on your defensive line.
In response to us keying the short game, Adam Gase—as he is wont to do—didn’t really adjust at all. If you exclude the garbage touchdown drive against our backups, the Jets ran 22 plays for 93 yards in the second half. It was a horrendous showing.
Kerry Hyder’s emergence: In back-to-back games and—in this one at least—major snaps, Kerry Hyder has really come on as our first defensive end off the bench… although with Bosa out the rest of the year, Hyder won’t be off the bench anymore. For more than a few reasons, it’s a shame that Bosa went down in the fashion that he did. If he (and the Niners as a whole) had better luck, the emergence of Hyder and the impending PUP return of Ronald Blair would have given us a five-deep edge rotation of talented rushers. That kind of depth would have netted a monstrous advantage down the stretch. Alas.
As it stands now, the Niners are down nine starters, at least three of them All-Pros, and while some players are close to returning and reinforcements may be on the horizon, this certainly takes the damper out of such a resounding win.
That is all.
Go Niners 👍🏈