Brock Purdy and 49ers must find better answers with Deebo Samuel and George Kittle in spotlight vs. Cowboys
The San Francisco 49ers are entering desperation mode once again. Sitting at 3-4 and suddenly last in the NFC West following the Los Angeles Rams' win over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday, the Niners face a primetime game with the Dallas Cowboys that is about as close to must-win as it can get for a […]
The San Francisco 49ers are entering desperation mode once again.
Sitting at 3-4 and suddenly last in the NFC West following the Los Angeles Rams' win over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday, the Niners face a primetime game with the Dallas Cowboys that is about as close to must-win as it can get for a team everybody expected to contend to return to the Super Bowl this season.
San Francisco can ill-afford to fall into a 3-5 hole entering its Week 9 bye, and a bounce-back game from an offense stifled by the Kansas City Chiefs in last week's Super Bowl rematch will be key to the 49ers getting back on track.
Purdy's search for answers
One play from the 49ers' loss to the Chiefs that attracted a lot of scrutiny was an incomplete pass to Brandon Aiyuk on which quarterback Brock Purdy came under pressure off his right edge from two Chiefs defenders after an excellently designed blitz from Steve Spagnuolo.
Shanahan's answer when asked about that play on Wednesday was succinct.
“Oh, yeah. When people blitz more than you have, you’ve got to throw hot," he said.
But that reply prompts doubts about the design of the play. San Francisco did not have an answer to the hot side and, though, Kyle Juszczyk was open in the flat, it appears Aiyuk was drawn up as the hot read.
"Usually, we just have an answer built into the play. And so, if we do have like an all-out blitz or something, we usually have an answer of where I should be hitting or where I should be going," Purdy said on Thursday.
"And there’s very rare occasions where we walk up to line and we get a look and it’s, ‘Oh shoot, they got us.’ And then I’m supposed to randomly make up an audible. There’s nothing like that. We usually always have an answer for pressures, all-out blitz and things like that. So that’s on me to get to the right guy."
While the 49ers aren't likely to face a blitz as exotic as that second quarter pressure from Spagnuolo from the Cowboys, they need to have better answers against Dallas and going forward, and Purdy needs to do a better job of picking the correct answer when it presents itself.
The 49ers don't want to curb Purdy's tendency to be aggressive, but one of his more questionable decisions against the Chiefs came in the third quarter when the 49ers had a chance to take the lead on the Kansas City 34-yard line. With George Kittle open on an out route that may have netted a first down, Purdy instead decided he bemusingly liked the matchup of veteran Chris Conley against Trent McDuffie, one of the game's best corners, on a go route.
Purdy made a good throw, but the pass was broken up by McDuffie. Purdy was intercepted on the next play.
Said Purdy:
"I think it’s situational football. What’s the matchup? Where are we at in the game? Trying to move the chains, are we trying to get a chunk here on a matchup that we like? It’s handling all those kinds of things. And for me, I like the press matchup against McDuffie with Chris. Chris and I have, we’ve hit a lot of plays like that at practice and we just didn’t connect on it. Looking back on it on film, we had George in the flat to maybe move the chains and get us in third-and-manageable. Those are all decisions and factors that you’ve got to watch the film and be like, ‘Alright, how can I be better next time?’ And so for me, I look at it not going I should have done this or that? But looking at it like, alright, the next time I’m in this situation let’s think about it and am I going to be aggressive or am I going to take this checkdown here and manage it a little bit better? So those are the things that I watch on film."
The 49er offense is moving the ball, but there are often plays where Purdy lacks easy answers, and there are others where he refuses to take them. Against a Cowboys defense that should be very hospitable, he must do a better job of balancing his aggressiveness with smart decision-making and taking the simple solutions that Dallas will likely consistently give him.
Kittle's chance at more history
One of the best all-round tight ends of the modern era, Kittle is on a career trajectory that will see him firmly in the Hall of Fame discussion when all is said and done.
He can improve his resume on Sunday with another impactful performance in a game with a team against whom he scored three touchdowns in last season's 42-10 rout of Dallas.
Kittle has 6,649 receiving yards in his career. With 102 in Week 8, he will surpass Gene Washington and Dwight Clark for the third most in franchise history.
Additionally, Kittle would reach 500 catches if he makes six receptions against Dallas, in what marks his 105th career game. That achievement would see him surpass Jimmy Graham for the fourth-fastest tight end in NFL history.
Kittle, having shaken off a foot sprain this week, is likely to be a focal point in the passing game with Aiyuk out for the year. The question is whether Deebo Samuel will be healthy enough to enjoy similar prominence in the offense having only been discharged from hospital on Tuesday following a bout of pnuemonia.
Regardless of the level of Samuel's role, rookie receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing can expect to see increased involvement with Aiyuk out and Jauan Jennings absent for another week with a hip injury.
Putting things in motion
While there has been a lot of scrutiny on Purdy and the passing game given the 49ers' receiver injuries and their quarterback's worst game of the season, the run game will arguably be more important to the 49ers' success.
The Cowboys have the worst run defense in the NFL by Expected Points Added per play and rank 30th in that area by success rate.
Dallas is very vulnerable to runs with motion, the Cowboys surrendering a first down on 29.8 percent of runs they face that feature any motion, the second-highest rate in the NFL. Additionally, the Cowboys EPA per attempt allowed on those runs is the eighth-highest in the league.
The 49ers, meanwhile, have the most productive run game in the NFL on runs with motion, racking up 951 yards and six touchdowns and averaging 135.9 yards per game on rushes that feature any kind of motion.
As such, look for the 49ers to try to hammer away at that weakness with a view to taking pressure off Purdy while moving the ball. If they can't succeed in this game, their problems may be more serious than first thought.
The persistent problem
Outside of red zone issues and their own struggles stopping the run, the 49ers' most substantial issue has been on special teams, an area in which they rank a dismal 31st in DVOA, having endured huge problems in kick coverage all season.
That could be especially important in this game, as it is one area where the Cowboys clearly excel. Dallas, in stark contrast to San Francisco is first in special teams DVOA.
Asked about the special teams issues on Wednesday, Shanahan pointed to a lack of continuity as the primary problem.
He said:
"Yeah, it’s just continuing to work with all these guys. We’ve had to move a lot of guys around. From our starting gunners at the beginning of the year are now starting on defense. We’ve had to change our PP [punt protection], our wings, I think our right guard, I think we’ve changed about four times. So there’s a bunch of movement on those guys, so you just keep developing them, you keep working with the individual drills. You can’t do all stuff full-speed, especially tackling and things like that. But we’re emphasizing everything and trying to get our group better."
Going against a Dallas defense shorn of its best playmaker in Micah Parsons and with the San Francisco defense playing at a level to suggest it should be able to sufficiently slow down Dak Prescott and Co, the edges in this matchup belong to San Francisco. However, those could be neutralized if the Niners can't find a special teams lineup that works to minimize the damage in an area of the game that has consistently been exposed in 2024.
