Falcons vs. 49ers: Has San Francisco Found Its Cordarrelle Patterson?

The San Francisco 49ers caught fire once they started copying Cordarrelle Patterson and the Atlanta Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Atlanta opened as a 9.5-point underdog, and if the Falcons want to pull off the upset in San Francisco, they'll need to contain wide receiver Deebo Samuel. … who looks rather familiar …

The third-year player out of South Carolina is already over 1,000 yards on the season and has five receiving touchdowns. He's also been more involved out of the backfield the last few weeks. In his last four games he has 27 carries and four touchdowns.

The way the 49ers are using him reminds Falcons head coach Arthur Smith of a certain x-factor on the Falcons who leads the team in rushing and receiving touchdowns.

"They’ve started using him similar in the last couple of weeks like [Cordarrelle] Patterson. They’re not the same player, but he's in the backfield more. They did run the ball with him early on gadgets. Now he’s kind of is taken a little bit more of a CP roll and run a little bit inside the tackles."

"He's a really good football player and they put the ball in his hands and he usually makes things happen. … He can be a problem and somebody you've got to account for."

Samuel only had six carries for 22 yards in the first nine weeks of the season as the 49ers compiled a 3-5 record. Since Samuel started getting five or more touches as a running back, the 49ers have won four out of five games.

The one game they lost? 

The one game Samuel missed, a 30-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago. 

Samuel's receptions have fallen off in that stretch. He's only had three in his last three games, but he's finding the end zone more often.

The good news for Atlanta is they'll have a good idea how to scout and try to contain an x-factor like Samuel, because they face one in practice every day in Patterson.

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