Packers 34, Niners 17
![54.6% of our total offense [Jed Jacobsohn/AP Photo]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e40f3a094d5fa3ebbbedb09/1604897925390-SUIF3VYOFU7N1K88U9EN/richie+james.jpg)
54.6% of our total offense [Jed Jacobsohn/AP Photo]
Eh.
I guess that’s what we should have expected.
Late in the first quarter, this was still a game. After a leaky start, our defense settled in and held the Packers to two quick punts sandwiching an 11-play, 76-yard, should-have-been-touchdown drive that was foiled by the inexperienced hands of practice squadder River Cracraft.
On our next possession a bad hold on second down set up a third-and-long, our last-second replacement at left tackle opened the gate for Preston Smith, and Nick Mullens—as he is want to do when he gets pressure in his face—tossed the ball up for grabs.
Despite the interception and good field position, our defense held strong once again, but—when it looked like we had held the Packers to a field goal—a horrendous third down PI on Jason Verrett set the Pack up for an easy touchdown. From there, our already depleted tank was tapped out, and it was off to the races.
Yes, it was only three plays, and yes, we were highly likely to lose this game regardless. But this team, in this state of health, with this jumbled week of preparation, couldn’t really afford any bad breaks. And when they came, we hurried this game along to its inevitable end as quickly as possible.
For anyone who watched it all the way through, that wasn’t nearly quick enough.
OFFENSE
Unimpressive? Yes. Unexpected? Only a little bit.
While we moved the ball well to start, our offense fizzled out after we got out of our initial script. Considering that script had to be entirely rearranged in the eleventh hour after Kendrick Bourne, Brandon Aiyuk, and Trent Williams were made inactive the afternoon before kickoff, and that their replacements—two practice squadders and a mostly-special teams receiver coming off an ankle injury—had zero in-person practice reps due to the shutdown of the Niners facility on Wednesday, that probably shouldn’t have been surprising. FWIW, it was confirmed on Friday that KB’s COVID test was actually a false positive, meaning all three of our top offensive players shouldn’t have had to sit out the game.
2020. Le sigh.
The circumstances were rough, but it was an equally rough performance from Nick Mullens, who needs to show out to cement the backup position for next year and/or audition for other teams in free agency. To be fair, he was thrown into a losing situation. Whether it was due to drops, miscommunications, lack of reps, inaccuracy, or all of the above, a lot of balls hit the grass in this one, and—while some were clearly more Mullens’ fault than others—you’re just not gonna have a lot of success throwing to dudes on gameday who you haven’t even thrown to in practice. River Cracraft for example was likely a true practice squadder during this week’s practices, emulating the opposition’s playbook as—through Tuesday night at least—KB, Aiyuk, James, Taylor, and Kevin White were all expected to play. How many passes has Mullens thrown to Cracraft within the Niners’ offense? How many has he thrown outside of training camp? Does the number rhyme with “hero”?
It was a bummer for Mullens, who did nothing to assuage our concerns of another Eagles game down the pipe. It was a bummer for Justin Skule, who was a turnstile all night and directly led to both Mullens turnovers. It was a bummer for JaMycal Hasty, who saw his star drop as he ceded touches to McKinnon and who fumbled (even if it didn’t count this time) for the second week in a row. It was a bummer for River Cracraft, who entered this game with a single catch over the past three years and who may never have a chance at a touchdown again. And boy ever was it a bummer to watch.
Stock Up: Richie James
Sure, he had one ugly drive-killing drop, but he also exploded for 9 catches, 184 yards, and a score (and only half of that came in garbage time). James was the only guy all night who looked like a threat further than five yards down the field, finding spots behind the Packers’ shallow zones and showing nice juice after the catch.
James, who totaled more receiving yards this game than he had in either of his past two seasons, missed weeks 2-5 but finally seems to be rounding into (fingers crossed) decent health. After seeing only 33 offensive snaps to Trent Taylor’s 164 leading up to this game, James’ performance on Thursday should at least provide a strong pitch for evening out that disparity moving forward.
Stock Up: Daniel Brunskill
For the first time this season, Daniel Brunskill got the start at center, a move that is likely as much about the future as it is about Hronis Grassu’s major struggles last week. Brunskill was solid in his first start, seemingly communicating and moving well throughout the game, with his only real knock that he’d sometimes lose ground off the snap to bull rushes from Kenny Clark.
Brunskill, whose listed weight varies from 256 to 300 pounds, is not the biggest dude—nor is he the most freakishly athletic—but he’s smart, plays good positional football, and could be the heir apparent at center. Ben Garland is thirty-two, Weston Richburg is due a massive salary next year that we are highly unlikely to pay, and—while Tom Compton started Thursday at guard—the Niners could be spending the back end of this season trying out a Tomlinson/Brunskill/McKivitz interior line for 2021 and beyond. If that trio can hold their own and show some upside moving forward, that could be a good place to save some much-needed money this off-season.
Stock Down: Justin Skule
Just two years into his career, our 2019 sixth-round swing tackle has had quite the whirlwind of a career in San Francisco. After a rough training camp last year, I gave him the Greg Mabin/Dontae Johnson Award (hence renamed the Brian Allen Memorial Award) as the player I was most terrified to see play meaningful snaps. Then he started eight games(!) at left tackle(!!), and we went 13-3.
Granted there were hiccups—like a game where he was dinged up and got worked by (yup) the Packers as well as the Steelers contest where he, by himself, gave up a whopping -40 marginal penalty yards in the fourth quarter—but he was a sixth-round rookie starting major snaps for the NFC Champions. Throw in a 2020 training camp where he was being lauded as much improved, and the arrow was clearly pointing up.
But then, as a last second sub for the COVID-adjacent Trent Williams, he got worked. According to PFF, he allowed six pressures, three hurries, two QB hits, one sack, and had the lowest individual grade of any player on the Niners. He was also directly connected to both of Nick Mullens’ turnovers. After this performance, it’s hard to have a ton of faith in him as a swing tackle, much less a potential replacement for Williams if he leaves.
DEFENSE
Not the best performance from our defense, which folded rather quickly despite being much closer to full-strength than it’s been since the early season. As discussed above, we had a string of good drives early, but the touchdown set up by the Verrett penalty and the ensuing Tartt injury that set up the deep score to Marquez Valdez-Scantling effectively put this game out of reach.
Tartt apparently has turf toe, which means he could be back in time to play the Saints or he could miss weeks. I think we know which one is likely to happen… Meanwhile, K’Waun Williams also left the game early. He has—wait for it… a high-ankle sprain. Whoever guessed that gets absolutely nothing as it was certainly the heavy Vegas favorite and casinos can’t risk taking bets on such a sure thing while being heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Until proven otherwise the story on the Packers remains as follows: if you have a disruptive pass rush you can give them fits; if you don’t, it’s hard to keep them in check. Considering star left tackle Erik Bakhtiari was out with injury, it was disappointing that we couldn’t create more pressure on Rodgers, who we only hit once all game.
It is not without reason to think that part of why we looked relatively flat was the whirlwind of a week that started with locker room-favorite Kwon Alexander getting traded on Monday and ended with COVID shutdown madness on Wednesday, but at this point it seems pretty clear: we have a good defense that can perform like a very good one as long as we’re playing complementary football. It goes without saying that wasn’t the case on Thursday night.
Stock Up: Jordan Willis
While the healthy return of Nick Bosa and Dee Ford in 2021 is still the most direct solution to the majority of our pass rush woes, how our Bravo (second team) unit shapes up will be an intriguing subplot this off-season.
Kerry Hyder may have played so well and gotten so many snaps that we’ll get priced out of his services, but he’d obviously be someone we’d love to lead our second-line. Ronald Blair, assuming he comes back healthy at some point this year or in the off-season, would make a lot of sense as well. Since his rehab has been stalled, it’s unlikely he gets so healthy so quickly that he can leverage this year into a bigger deal, and—lest we forget—the dude is a very talented pass rusher. If both the guys above plus Bosa and Ford come back we are obliterating offensive lines next year, but even if they do, this year has made it clear how important it is to stockpile edge rush depth.
Jordan Willis, who is really only getting by on hustle and glimpses of athleticism at this point, recorded the only sack in this game for the Niners, chasing down Rodgers for an eleven yard loss right before the half. Time will tell if he’s long-term, second-line material, but what makes him extra intriguing is the fact that if he comes back for the Niners next year he may have a glow up.
As discussed earlier, Jordan Willis blew up the 2017 NFL combine, putting up Myles Garrett-esque numbers. However, he actually did so well in athletic testing that both the Bengals and the Jets both moved him to linebacker—an edge linebacker, not a traditional stand-up one, but a linebacker nonetheless—and tasked him with adding weight. While Willis was 255 when he played in college and tested at the combine, he now plays at 270. With Bosa at 266 and Ford at 252, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Niners work on finding a weight that actually works best for optimizing Willis’ physical ability.
I am completely guessing here, but I don’t think Dee Ford comes back this season. But even if he does, Willis will have plenty of opportunities to prove that he belongs in our DL rotation moving forward.
Stock Down: Marcell Harris
And just when it looked like he was fixing some of his issues in deep coverage…
Granted, Harris was put in a tough position on the touchdown he allowed to MVS—showing box play before bailing deep into quarters coverage against a skinny post. But that’s also the kind of play that a healthy Tartt has the agility and athleticism to at least force a contested throw.
Harris delivered at least one of his trademark big hits in the second half, and there’s a chance—I admittedly wasn’t paying much attention once we were down big—that he was doing well in coverage on most other snaps. That’s usually the case with him, mostly solid play, but when he’s on the bad end of a play it sticks out. That’s a hard line to tow at safety.
The Niners will have 10 days rest before facing a Saints team that just beat the ever-loving-shit out of one of the NFC’s many would-be front runners, then we’ll head into a much-needed bye. While the severity of many of our key injuries is great enough that the bye isn’t going to solve our woes, it will give us time to regroup, heal up, and get our remaining players on the same page.
Go Niners 👍🏈