49ers Week Five Temperature Check
As the saying goes, a wounded animal is always the most dangerous, and the 49ers were exactly that headed into Thursday night’s battle with the Rams. Let’s see who stood out in the 49ers’ road victory and why.
Hot
Kyle Shanahan
Entering the game relying on a backup quarterback and an island of misfit toys at the receiver position, Shanahan put on a coaching masterclass in the 49ers’ 26-23 victory. The offense came out firing, and he instilled an underdog mentality that was evident from the first whistle.
Mac Jones
Jones continued his perfection in relief of Brock Purdy, improving his record as a starter to 3-0. He was dealing early on, engineering a 72-yard touchdown drive right out of the gate. While throwing for 342 yards and two touchdowns, Jones showed grit as the Rams’ defense was pressuring and hitting him routinely.
Levi’s South
Whose House? Not the Rams. SoFi was covered up in red as the Faithful showed up and showed out to will the 49ers to victory in front of a national audience. The crowd reactions were crystal clear to anyone watching at home as to who really had the home-field advantage.
Alfred Collins
Collins arguably had the biggest play of the night at the biggest of moments. With the Rams offense knocking on the door of a go-ahead touchdown, Collins punched out a fumble on Kyren Williams with just over a minute remaining to maintain a 49ers lead. Collins was also involved in the game-ending 4th and 1 stop.
Eddie Pineiro
Pineiro was again perfect against the Rams, with a long field goal of 59 yards. His highlight would come in overtime as his eventual game-winner from 41 yards out would bank off the left upright.
Heating up
Kendrick Bourne
Last week against Jacksonville, Bourne was nothing short of terrible. He would atone for that performance with an outstanding 10 catch, 142-yard performance that would include several chain-moving receptions. Bourne would have some alignment issues resulting in burned timeouts and illegal formation penalties.
Marques Sigle
The Rams were looking for Sigle in the pass game and targeted him frequently. While he did give up some plays, including a deep shot to Tutu Atwell, it wasn’t all bad. He totaled 13 tackles on the night and was credited with the game-ending stop on 4th and 1.
Cold
Pass Rush
The lack of an effective pass rush continued to be a problem and was evident throughout the game. Bryce Huff did record one sack on the evening, but the 49ers otherwise would struggle getting pressure on Stafford. Saleh did blitz on occasion, but Stafford was effective getting the ball out, leading to several big plays in the second half.
Isaac Guerendo
If not for a very quick whistle, Guerendo may have wound up as the goat for a 49ers loss. His lone kickoff return only went for 18 yards, with him running into a pile of blockers and defenders. Fortunately, the play was blown dead prior to the ball spitting out, and Guerendo avoided what would have been a costly fumble.
Deommodore Lenoir
Lenoir had a rough night in the eyes of the officiating crew, led by Bill Vinovich. He was flagged for three defensive holding calls, two of which extended Rams drives that resulted in touchdowns.
Al Michaels
While one of the highlights of the night was Michaels calling out the Rams’ PA announcer for his attempt to generate crowd noise, Michaels seemed relatively disinterested in what was happening on the field, and at times, was confused. We would be getting any more ‘Miracle on Ice’ calls from Thursday Night Football anytime soon.