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San Francisco 49ers 30, New England Patriots 13: Numbers
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San Francisco 49ers 30, New England Patriots 13: Numbers

SANTA CLARA – The San Francisco 49ers just defeated the New England Patriots 30-13. Here are the 49ers’ numbers for this play.

BROCK PURDY: B.

He was good, but not great. He completed two deep passes that were nice and he threw a beautiful touchdown pass to George Kittle, who was triple covered in the back left corner of the end zone. These were Purdy’s best plays. Keep in mind, he faced one of the worst pass defenses in the league. New England came into the game having allowed a passer rating of 103.6. And late in this game, while winning by several scores, Purdy forced a pass to Brandon Aiyuk, who was double-covered in the end zone and was intercepted. Purdy currently ranks sixth in the NFL in passer rating, which is good, but not as good as last season when he led the league in passer rating. The loss of Christian McCaffrey has clearly hurt the entire offense.

RUNNING BACKS: A-MINUS.

Jordan Mason averaged 5.1 yards per carry, gained 160 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown. He is the fastest runner in the NFL. He also fumbled twice, which is disturbing, but he recovered them both. He’s having a Pro Bowl season. Unfortunately for the 49ers, they don’t have a backup for him. And their fullback, Kyle Juszczyk, caught one pass as usual.

WIDE RECIPIENTS: C.

They only caught 8 of 18 targets. Each of the top three wide receivers caught a long pass, but none were consistently dominant. And Purdy’s passer rating when targeting Aiyuk in this game was 35.8. In one month, Aiyuk has become the most expensive No. 3 wide receiver in NFL history. His contract extension will go down as one of the worst ever.

TIGHT END: A.

George Kittle had 45 yards and 1 touchdown catch, plus he blocked extremely well in the run game. The 49ers appear to average at least a full yard more per carry with Kittle on the field than when he is not on the field.

OFFENSIVE LINE MAN: A.

They gave up just one sack and paved the way for 148 yards on the ground. Granted, the Patriots have a terrible pass rush, but their run defense is good and the 49ers still won the battle in the trenches.

DEFENSIVE LINE MAN: A-PLUS.

They dominated in the run game and the pass game for the first time all season. This group didn’t perform well last week, which means they had a lot to prove today, especially considering Javon Hargrave is out for the season with a triceps injury. And the 49ers were better without him today. Hargrave is a good pass rusher, but he doesn’t play the whistle or chase ball carriers from sideline to sideline, which is why he wasn’t particularly productive for the 49ers. His replacement, Kevin Givens, had 2.5 sacks in the first half alone. Upgrade.

LINEBACKERS: A.

Fred Warner actually won the game with an incredible pick-six in the first half. He is clearly the best player on the team. The other two linebackers – De’Vondre Campbell and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles – both struggled. Dee Winters is better than both.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: B.

They faced an offense with no weapons and a glorified backup quarterback and shut them down. They haven’t really been tested.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D.

Isaac Guerendo fumbled a kickoff return and the Patriots recovered it, and Jacob Cowing injured his shoulder returning a punt. Special teams have been a major problem for three games in a row.

COACHES: A.

Nick Sorensen saved his job with an excellent performance against a terrible offense. He had to show he can run a pass rush and that’s exactly what he did. He also needs to show that he can stop a good offense and not just a terrible one. Meanwhile, Kyle Shanahan is still trying to establish an identity for the offense without Christian McCaffrey. They still move the ball down the field with ease without him, but they struggle to score touchdowns in the red zone. Today the 49ers didn’t have to do much as the Patriots beat themselves early in the game. But the schedule will become much tougher in the coming weeks and the 49ers will have to play better football to win. Today was a step in the right direction.

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