49ers Rewind: Defense shines while Garoppolo shakes off rough start

The San Francisco 49ers started their season with back-to-back victories for the second time in three seasons thanks to a tough 17-11 win over the Eagles on Sunday.

Let’s take a look at a few of the top points of discussion that have come out of Sunday’s game.

1. Jimmy Garoppolo is maddening.

Watching Jimmy Garoppolo takes something that is in short supply these days, patience. A lot of patience. The perfect example of this was his performance on Sunday when the offense was held without a first down in the opening quarter of a game for the first time since Chip Kelly was the head coach.

During the offensive futility in the first quarter, Garoppolo missed a number of throws that could have extended the possessions. There were errant throws on simple screenplays to Kyle Juszczyk and Deebo Samuel, along with passes down the field that sailed over the head of Brandon Aiyuk and Mohamed Sanu.

Garoppolo would eventually get it together and lead the 49ers’ offense on a 97-yard scoring drive to give the 49ers a 7-3 lead at the half. While there were a number of throws on the drive, many of them were screens or underneath throws until Garoppolo hit Deebo Samuel over the middle for a 40-yard completion to put the offense on the Philadelphia 11-yard line. Garoppolo would end the drive on the next play, finding Jauan Jennings open on the left side for the touchdown.

In the second half Garoppolo would again lead the offense on a long touchdown drive, this time it would go 92 yards and end with Garoppolo scoring on a quarterback sneak.

This was the first time that San Francisco had two touchdown drives that started inside their own 10-yard line in the same game since a victory over the Miami Dolphins on December 6, 1992.

Garoppolo’s ability to adjust throughout the game is a big reason why he is 24-8 as the 49ers starting quarterback and why Kyle Shanahan has stuck with him even though the team used three first-round draft picks on his future replacement.

2. Run defense struggles again.

San Francisco’s defense is going to give up a lot of yards this year if they can’t start to play the run better. Through the first two weeks of the season the defense has allowed the 19th most yards and the primary reason is they are allowing five yards per rushing attempt; fifth-worst in the NFL.

As bad as those numbers sound, the 49ers’ defense has allowed the 10th fewest points. And therein lies the rub. The defensive philosophy through the first two weeks has been to bend but not break. The defense has allowed opponents to chew up yards in the middle of the field, but once they get down into scoring territory they step up and shut the door.

This occurred throughout the early portion of both victories to start the season. Against Detroit, the defense came up with a stop on fourth down, then held for a field goal attempt which the Lions could not convert. In Philadelphia, the defense was able to come up with a stop after a long Philadelphia drive and Javon Kinlaw would then block a field goal attempt, then after allowing 91-yard completion from Jalen Hurts the defense would mount a goal-line stand to keep the Eagles from scoring.

The next three weeks is going to provide a better idea of where this defense stands. Shutting down Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts is one thing, doing that to Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray is a different monster.

3. San Francisco weathered the storm.

Facing a difficult defense with a raucous crowd on hand for the Eagles home opener, San Francisco needed to weather the storm to stay in the game early. The 49ers running game couldn’t get going, Jimmy Garoppolo was missing throws left and right and the defense was struggling the get off the field. When the first quarter ended the 49ers had been outgained 117-14, but they were down only 3-0.

After going three and out on their first three offensive possessions, the 49ers offense would start to get their feet underneath them on their first possession of the second quarter, and although they would not score any points the 11-play drive would allow the defense to finally catch its breath. San Francisco would then score on three of their next four possessions to take a 17-3 lead and put the game away.

There was nothing fancy about the two touchdown drives, they were simply pictures of consistency. The ability to control the ball for 12 and 16 plays and finish off drives in the endzone is not something that happens often in the NFL.

4. Defense saved the day

While the offense struggled, the defense made big play after big play to keep the 49ers in the game.
On the first play of the second quarter with Philadelphia facing third and one at the 49ers’ 27-yard line, defensive tackle D.J. Jones stepped up to close off the middle of the defense and drop Eagles running back Miles Sanders for a loss of two. Defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw would block Jake Elliot’s 47-yard field goal on the next play to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard. All of this occurred after a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Reagor was wiped away due to the wide receiver being forced out of bounds by 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir while the ball was in the air.
The next Philadelphia possession would start with a 91-yard completion from Jalen Hurts to Quez Watkins that would have been a touchdown if not for Jaquiski Tartt chasing the receiver down and grabbing the back of his jersey to keep him out of the endzone.

A few plays after Tartt’s heroics, the 49ers’ defense found themselves backed up on the one-yard line following a pass interference call. After an incomplete pass to Zach Ertz, linebacker Fred Warner would drop Sanders for a loss of three. Jimmie Ward would follow up Warner’s play by chasing Hurts out of bounds to force fourth and goal. The Eagles would try to get tricky on fourth down and the defense would finish off the stand. From this point on it was all 49ers.

Notes:

The 49ers signed running back Jacques Patrick off the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad. Patrick played collegiately at Florida State and joined the Bengals after a stint in the XFL. At 6’2”, 234 pounds Patrick is built similar to Alfred Morris who had a lot of success under Kyle Shanahan. The Bengals run a variation of Shanahan’s offensive scheme which should help him get up to speed quickly.