Here are seven more observations from the Green Bay Packers’ disheartening and deflating loss in San Francisco:
1. Interior OL struggles: Alex Light had major issues after taking over for Bryan Bulaga at right tackle, but the interior of the offensive line wasn’t good enough for the Packers to compete on a down-to-down basis. Center Corey Linsley struggled from start to finish and was even having a hard time delivering an accurate snap in the shotgun. He was responsible for several negative runs and pressures. And while Elgton Jenkins has been great as a rookie, the 49ers took him to the woodshed on Sunday night. He was no match for DeForest Buckner or Arik Armstead. A simple theme is emerging: In all three losses this season, the Packers offensive line played poorly.
2. Unafraid: The 49ers didn’t fear the Packers’ vertical passing game and wisely committed to defending the short passing game, knowing their pass rush would eliminate any long-developing plays down the field. At the short to intermediate level, no receiver could get open. The 49ers played mostly zone, kept all eyes on the quarterback and squatted on everything underneath. That allowed the linebackers and safeties to come crashing down against quick passes and make easy tackles after short gains. Jimmie Ward was especially effective reading the game in front of him. The Packers didn’t have a secondary receiving option capable of creating for himself in the middle of the field, or the pass protection to let guys wiggle free in scramble situations.
3. Warner dominates: The 49ers controlled the game with their pass rush, but inside linebacker Fred Warner might have been the best player on the field Sunday night. No. 54 was everywhere, playing downhill against the run and sideline to sideline in coverage. He gobbled up everything the Packers tried to dial up schematically, especially in the short passing game. Oh, and he had the strip-sack of Aaron Rodgers on the first series, setting up a touchdown. The Packers defense could sure use a difference-making inside linebacker like him.
4. Defense folds: The offense deserves the majority of the criticism for Sunday night’s outcome, but the defense’s performance to end the first half was simply unacceptable. With under two minutes to go, Mike Pettine put seven defensive backs on the field to prevent against a big play and the group still got gashed, first for 42 yards and a touchdown by Deebo Samuel and later for 22 yards by George Kittle, setting up a field goal. It didn’t make a difference in the final outcome, but those 10 points were huge. At 23-0, the game was effectively over.
5. More negative plays: The Packers have talked all season and again this past week about eliminating negative plays on offense. Well, they had 13 plays gaining zero yards (not including incompletions) or losing yards on Sunday night, including four completions that lost yards. As a result, 12 of the Packers’ 15 third downs needed to gain at least eight yards.
6. Big issues on long touchdown: After re-watching George Kittle’s 61-yard touchdown in the third quarter, it appears as if several cascading errors were to blame. For starters, the 49ers had the perfect call against the coverage. It probably would have really stressed the call even if everyone played it right. But a couple things went wrong right away. First, safety Darnell Savage bought the run fake and was immediately out of position in his coverage against the crossing tight end (No. 82). That led to Adrian Amos crashing down to help cover the crosser. However, that turned what looked like a three-deep zone on the backend into a two-deep zone, with the middle player completely vacated. It put Kevin King in a no-win spot. He appeared responsible for the deep third toward the sideline, so he backtracked into his zone, but that left Kittle to run free down the middle of the field when he turned his corner route into a post. A great call by the offense combined with bad execution by the defense equals a game-sealing touchdown.
7. San Francisco stunts: Pass-rushing stunts from the 49ers gave the Packers a lot of problems. Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner are big interior rushers who can really move in confined areas, which really stresses an offensive line that’s already worried about getting beat around the edge. The 49ers also took advantage of a few uncalled defensive holding penalties on the stunts. Several times, the edge rusher crashed down and held the tackle in place so the stunting interior rusher could get around the corner and to the quarterback. The Packers must have pointed that out during halftime because officials eventually flagged the 49ers for holding in the second half.
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