Purdy had a bad game (so did Aiyuk) on a rainy day after travelling to almost the east coast on a 1 ET start time against one of the best defenses in the league. I would say Purdy was getting a little overrated after the Dallas game, he's not in the Mahomes/Allen/Herbert category. But, after getting the ball at his own 25 with under 2 minutes to play and only 1 TO, he drove the team into pretty easy field goal range. They should have won the game.View: https://twitter.com/LombardiHimself/status/1713669746791477644?s=20
“Behind the sticks” was indeed the theme in the 49ers’ locker room. They didn’t execute well enough on early downs and this game played into the wheelhouse of the No. 1 Cleveland defense. Despite all that and Deebo/CMC injures and some notable run defense struggles and the tough penalty vs Gipson, the 49ers still needed just a 41-yard FG to potentially beat a Browns team coming off a bye. Moral of the story: It’s going to take a lot going wrong for the 49ers to lose this season. And a lot went wrong today
The arguments on whether Brock Purdy truly is elite or simply a good QB sorrounded by amazing talent can start today. First off, Cleveland (which has an elite defense) shut down the running game. CMC did not do much of anything while he was in the game (although he ran a good shovel pass in for a TD) and then it was Jordan Mason after the 9ers got the ball on an INT in the Red Zone. Second, Deebo Samuel left the game and that took another weapon. Third, he kept overshooting his receivers (gave me some Jimmy G flashbacks at some point) plus Ayiuk dropped a couple.
And finally, 34 seconds and a TO, why not get closer? It's a road game, a rainy game and the kicker is a rookie. You can try to get a better distance and still have time to kick the FG. Or even better, get close, try once for the end zone and the kick. Sometimes Shanahan overthinks. This one hurts becuase it was winnable despite all that did go wrong.
Oh, and allowing 19 points to a Cleveland offense that had the backup QB and has already lost their all world RB?
Shanahan had a terrible game in my opinion. But, much like Rex Ryan always had BB's number for some reason, Kyle has never figured out how to really beat a Jim Schwartz defense. He's definitely Kyle's white whale. And it culminated in Kyle being too timid to keep going for more yards and get in better FG range. I'm not sure if he didn't trust Mason not to fumble (though Mason does not have fumbling issues) or what, but I agree that you run a couple more gap plays and wind up with a 34 yarder instead of 41 for your rookie kicker.
All in all, they were a missed FG from another win though, I'm not going to take this loss too hard as long as they show up and put on a much better display on Monday night.
My biggest worry isn't CMC or Deebo, I think SF can win games for a short period of time without them, but if Trent Williams is out for an extended period, the whole offense might fall apart. He's that important to this team. Fingers crossed that it's just a regular ankle sprain and he's back soon.