Make California Post a Preferred Source SANTA CLARA — Mike Evans? Who needs him?
Brock Purdy, with Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle and a bunch of spare parts, sure didn’t. He racked up the lion’s share of his season-best 297 passing yards after Evans exited with a rib or oblique injury in the first half of Sunday’s 36-30 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
A half dozen defensive lineman, on the other hand? Now, that’s a problem.
“Our D-line is hurting right now,” tight end George Kittle said afterward. ”It’s obvious.”
A battered-down San Francisco 49ers defense made a valiant early effort against Jacoby Brissett and the Cardinals. But the math began to catch up to them as the game wore on.
Six injured defensive linemen. Three signed or elevated from their practice squad, one more from another team. Eighty-one snaps over almost 39 minutes of game action.
“Everyone knows the big challenge for the D-Line,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.
And it would have fully caught up to the Niners and potentially cost them a winnable game against the one soft spot in their division if not for two assets that kept them afloat.
And, since these injuries don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, will need to keep it up.
That’s Purdy slinging the pigskin and Shanahan calling the plays.
As long as those two keep doing what they’ve been doing, the 49ers offense sure seems like it can withstand whatever other attrition comes its way. On the flip side, the defense surrendered touchdowns on three of five second-half drives and seemed to reach its breaking point.
Fred Warner was flying all over the field and finished with 17 tackles, a career-high. But every tackle made by a linebacker is one not made by a defensive lineman. Is it any coincidence that a defensive back, Renardo Green, also recorded a career-high with 11 tackles?
It was all too easy for the Cardinals to keep marching down the field. Four of their drives lasted 12 or more plays and they converted four first downs on another. Despite the 49ers outgaining Arizona by nearly a hundred yards, they converted four fewer first downs (27 to 23).
Before halftime, the 49ers were still able to bend without breaking. But that didn’t last.
“I definitely can’t blame it on the injuries,” Warner said. “Whether it’s a leaky run here or we just didn’t get off on third down there, or they converted on fourth down — all those little plays, they add up. … We know we have to be better getting off the field, especially in that second half.”
If Brissett and Jeremiyah Love are able to wear down the 49ers undermanned defense, imagine what an offense led by Bo Nix or featuring Jaxon Smith-Njiba will do the next two weeks.
That’s why it’s essential that they listen to Kittle.
When the injuries had piled up late last season even worse than they have now, Kittle pledged that the 49ers offense would lead the way. Do you see that? It’s the Brock signal again.
“With our offense, with Coach Shanahan and Brock Purdy at the helm, we need to put up points,” the tight end reiterated Sunday. “We have enough guys regardless of who’s out there on the field to score points, especially with Brock throwing the ball.”
Both parties were at their best against the Cardinals, even without any of the five receivers who would have topped the depth chart at the beginning of training camp after the loss of Evans.
If anything, the 49ers were too efficient for the good of their defense. They averaged an eye-popping 8.4 yards per play, and two of their touchdown drives took less than 90 seconds off the clock.
Kittle stood in as Purdy’s top target, and Jordan Watkins appeared out of thin air to haul in two crucial passes for 60 yards, more than double his career receiving yards before Sunday.
The trenches may be a mess on one side of the ball, but their offensive line has yet to allow a sack, the first group to make it three games into a season with a clean slate since the 2014 Bengals.
The 49ers’ ultimate weapon, though, is Purdy’s command of Shanahan’s offensive system.
The head coach said he’s only trusted two previous QBs like he does Purdy — and has for four years now — both former Falcons: Matt Ryan and … Matt Schaub (notably omitting a certain former 49ers signal caller he worked with for six seasons prior to Purdy).
Purdy gushed about the play calls coming in over the headset, a hook and ladder for an 82-yard score to Deebo Samuel at one moment and another, a bootleg pass to a wide-open Kittle.
Leading by 2 late in the fourth, Shanahan put the game in Purdy’s hands rather than try to run the clock out. He was rewarded with Purdy’s fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon.
Take it as a metaphor for where the season is headed.
There’s a good chance he’s gonna make something happen.
