49ers 34, Jaguars 3: Grades
The 49ers just blew out the hottest team in football, the Jacksonville Jaguars, on the road by a score of 34-3. What a statement. Here are the 49ers' grades for this performance.
BROCK PURDY: A
He's so good and difficult to beat when he gets an early lead. The past three weeks, he played from behind and struggled. Today, he never trailed, and he cruised. Passed for 296 yards and 3 touchdowns. Posted a passer rating of 148.9. Made it all look so easy, even though he took some chances. His first two touchdown passes were extremely risky. On the first one, he rolled to his left, threw back across the middle of the field into a sea of hands -- a big no-no -- and came away with a touchdown. On his second one, he heaved the ball downfield while taking a hit and George Kittle caught the ball while the defender covering him fell down. The last few weeks, those passes would have gotten intercepted -- that's how bad Purdy's luck was. Today, luck was on his side. I guess these things even out.
RUNNING BACKS: A-PLUS
Christian McCaffrey didn't score a touchdown, but he broke a ton of tackles, averaged 5.9 yards per carry, gained 142 yards from scrimmage and carried the 49ers offense. When he plays this well, the 49ers are tough to stop. Plus Kyle Juszczyk caught a 22-yard touchdown pass.
WIDE RECEIVERS: A
Deebo Samuel had a 23-yard touchdown run and 59 yards from scrimmage, and Brandon Aiyuk had a 13-yard touchdown catch and 55 receiving yards. These two are hard to stop when they're on the field together.
TIGHT ENDS: A
George Kittle had 3 catches for 116 yards and 1 touchdown. He has been close to unstoppable the past few games. The 49ers need to keep him healthy for the playoffs.
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: B
They gave up two sacks and Trent Williams committed a holding penalty, but their run blocking was excellent, and Jon Feliciano did a terrific job filling in for injured left guard Aaron Banks.
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: A-PLUS
The Jaguars awful offensive line couldn't block the 49ers outstanding defensive line, and that was the difference of the game. The addition of Chase Young gives the 49ers four legitimate pass rushers on the field at all times, and as a result the 49ers sacked Trevor Lawrence five times. Nick Bosa also stripped the ball from Lawrence and recovered it. Finally, this looks like the defensive line that dominated the NFL for the past few years.
LINEBACKERS: A
Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw combined to record 15 tackles, and helped limit the Jaguars to just 3.5 yards per carry. Warner also intercepted Lawrence.
DEFENSIVE BACKS: A-MINUS
Talanoa Hufanga intercepted a tipped pass, and Ambry Thomas stripped the ball away from Christian Kirk and recovered it. The cornerbacks played much more press-man coverage than they had the first half of the season, which gave the defensive line the time it needed to take over the game. As a result of the press coverage, Charvarius Ward committed two penalties and Ambry Thomas committed one -- not ideal. But the 49ers will live with those penalties if the tight coverage enables the defensive line to sack the quarterback five times in a game.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A
Jake Moody made two field goals, and the punt coverage team pinned the Jaguars at their 1-yard line.
COACHES: A
This was a huge game for Steve Wilks, who was scapegoated for the three-game losing streak. He had to move from the coach's booth to the sideline this week, and the next move for him would have been out the door if the defense continued to struggle. But it won the game. Gave up just three points and took the ball away from Jacksonville four times. Check mate. And the reason the defense played so well had nothing to do with Wilks calling plays from the sideline, and everything to do with a schematic adjustment he made. Instead of calling soft zone coverage all game, he called lots of press man coverage, which forced Lawrence to hold the ball longer than he'd like to, which allowed the 49ers pass rush to win the game. Wilks had to live with a few pass interference and illegal contact penalties as a result of the aggressive coverage, but the trade off worked in the 49ers' favor. Good bye-week adjustment by Wilks. Kyle Shanahan also made an excellent adjustment. Instead of handing the ball off to McCaffrey as much as possible, which is what the 49ers have done all season, they reduced his carries and threw him more passes -- 10 to be exact. And he took over the game for the first time since Week 4. Using McCaffrey more as a receiver is smart, because he will take fewer hits, and he will be tougher to stop. The 49ers have the weapons and the quarterback to throw the ball much more than they typically do, as today reminded everyone. Now the 49ers are 6-3, they'll beat the Buccaneers next week and be 7-3 when they go to Philadelphia to play the Eagles. It feels like the season is just beginning.
