49ers REACTION: SF defense STIFLES Panthers, Brock Purdy bizarre 3-INT stretch | CMC revenge

49ers REACTION: SF defense STIFLES Panthers, Brock Purdy bizarre 3-INT stretch | CMC revenge

Welcome to the engineering room here at Levi Stadium. The 49ers come through. It wasn’t pretty. 20-9. I have to say that was one of the more bizarre games I’ve ever covered because San Francisco opened this game executing the formula that needed to be executed. They hog the ball. 15play first drive. Brock Pury playing within himself. Everything good. touchdown to Jawan Jennings who just ended up throwing a I can’t call it a punch because the guy had his helmet on, but Jennings might hear from the league. I think that he was upset about a blow below the belt or earlier in the game. We’re going to have to watch some of the tape of that. But anyway, Jennings scores the first touchdown. 49ers go up 7 nothing. All is good. They hog the ball. 15play drive. Brock Pury threw interceptions on three straight possessions in that first half and it didn’t make any sense to me because the disciplined short passing take the profit mentality of that first drive. Perie completely abandoned it on those three picks. And we can go through all three of those uh in a little bit. But the key is here that coming out of halftime, he got right back to what worked in that first drive and the 49ers put up scoring drives of 13 plays and 10 plays and that essentially put Carolina away because San Francisco’s defense grew up in a huge huge way today. I Robert Saul has promised incremental improvement from this defensive unit and they delivered it today. Gaier Brown. Remember that Gyar Brown had 10 interceptions over his final two seasons at Penn State. He was an interception machine. Just somebody who had a nose for the football. Great instincts. I know that he’s doesn’t have plus speed for the NFL level. That was the drawback drafting him in the third round, but he still has those instincts and they show up especially well in the red zone. And Brock Pery’s first interception came deep in his own territory. So Carolina got the ball driving toward a tie. They were right there and on a first down play, Bryce Young made a throw that was even worse than Brock Brock Peries on first down and Gyer Brown split off, made sure to hop in front of the tight end for the pick. Mike, do you still hear me? Lombardi herself tried to call me. We needed I tried to warn her, don’t call me during these instant reactions. I’m not like George KD. I’m not gonna apologize for not picking up the phone because we are doing a big time instant reaction here of the 49ers win. So big big interception for Jier Brown stabilized things and then he had essentially the game-sealing interception later. That was the 49ers defense growing up in front of our eyes today. I thought that the pass rush was excellent. Only one sack that came from Cleveland Ferrell, but I saw Keon White knock down a pass. I saw Keon White harassing Bryce Young in this game. I saw Bryce Huff winning a ton against left tackle. That’s where Cleveland Ferrell ended up winning. If you want to look at this in the big picture, the 49ers, they’re now seven and four. They’re favored to win this game by seven and a half. They won this game by 11 points. They are heading to Cleveland next week to face a much much better defense, but I would say a worse offense with Shadur Sanders at the helm. They’re favored by about a touchdown. Uh for for the 49ers, they’re 8-4. Sorry, did I say seven-4? The 49ers are 8-4. 9-4 is well within reach for San Francisco next week. They’re favored to reach that 9-4 point. Then, uh they should go 10-4. If they can win that game against Cleveland and also win the game against the Tennessee Titans, which comes up after the by-week, they’re going to be heavy heavy favorites over the Titans. But they need to take this, and Brock Perie especially needs to take this as a major growth moment. Realize how talented and how good this offense is with all the weapons that the 49ers have and make sure that you continue playing point guard. Distribute the football. The best NFL quarterbacks of all time have been point guards. you distribute the ball within the context of what the defense is allowing and within the context of the game plan. Now, I’m gonna have to go to the locker room and talk to Kyle Shanahan and and talk to the 49ers about today’s game plan, but I I sense that hogging the ball was high up on their list of priorities when I saw such a beautifully contained 15play drive to open this game. It took nearly nine minutes off the clock that first drive. The best way to make your defense look good is to shield it from exposure. And I think that that first drive put the 49ers defense in really good position. If they would have kept on doing that, if Sam if Perie would have kept on playing within himself and the 49ers would have kept on just churning through what I think was an overmatched Panthers defense. They’re ranked number 24 in this league coming into this game. I think the 49ers probably go up 28 to three and then there’s absolutely no drama at the end. It’s not like the Panthers had a a hugely legitimate shot to come back and win this game, but still it was closer than it had to be because of that three interception stretch. And also, you know, Christian McAffrey, that was weird, too. He fumbled Colton McKibbitz with the elite fumble recovery. That’s tough for an offensive lineman charging downfield, 20 yards downfield. he fell on the football and uh that that that kept the 49ers going for a little bit longer, but unfortunately uh that was JC Horn’s second pick that ended that drive. Maybe the best thing that happens to this 49ers offense though is ends up being the first half of this game because you know every single week those of you who follow me on X I I have my hashtag hog the ball that goes all the way back to the week five game against the Rams because I understand the limitations of this 49ers defense and I understand that the 49ers have to just possess the football. they have to focus on taking profits and and making sure that their defense stays on the sideline. Maybe that uh first half bizarre three drive stretch of of just hero balling it, trying to force the ball too far downfield, not taking what was right there. Maybe that is what snaps Brock Pury and this 49ers offense into perpetual hog the ball mode moving forward. And another thing that might snap them into that mode is a game against a really good Cleveland Browns defense and Miles Garrett who is going to essentially force you to take the profit. If you sit back and try to dance around and try to do crazy stuff pushing the ball downfield with Miles Garrett chasing you around in the Cleveland sleet, it’s probably not going to be good weather over in Cleveland. Things will not end up breaking your way. I I can almost guarantee that. So, the 49ers have to be on schedule next week against Cleveland. Some crazy trivia for you, you know, just as perspective here. Joe Montana threw four interceptions. That was a careerhigh for him in a game. So, so one more than Brock Birdie threw today. But back in 1984, Joe Montana in a November game at home at Candlestick threw four picks against the Cincinnati Bengals. The very next week, the 49ers went to Cleveland just like they’re going this next week. And they dropped 41 points on the Browns and they won 41-7. The context is here because quarterbacks throw interceptions, quarterbacks have weird games. And you know that this one for Brock Pury was probably the weirdest I’ve seen because even that Ravens game in 2023, there were some tipped picks and that was a really good defense and and the 49ers got behind in that game and then things snowball. This one they were ahead and the game plan double dictated patience at the time and that’s still when those overly aggressive three interceptions happened. That’s why this one was so weird and that’s why I consider this to be an extremely valuable growth moment for the 49ers. But I got to talk about San Francisco’s defense. Jier Brown, those two picks, we talk about his time at Penn State. We talk about the discipline that he poured it from college to this NFL field today. I mean, both of those interceptions were instinctive picks. The first one especially in the red zone. What a huge play for the 49ers. That second interception from Jaier Brown, the 49ers wrapped Bryce Huff in on a little game action. Robert Salah got creative with some of the pressure packages late in this game and they led directly to some interception opportunities for the 49ers defense. Upton Stout almost almost had one, right? That was really good coverage. Uh I believe that was against Tedoa McMillan who caught the Panthers one touchdown in this game when he got by Renardo Green. But the the 49ers rush and the coverage was more tied together today than they have been at any point since the big guns went down, since they lost Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. And that is massive, massive incremental improvement for the 49ers. Remember that Bryce Young threw for 448 yards just a week ago against the Falcons. He was coming off a career-high effort. He had probably just seen Jacobe Brassette throw for a ton of yards against the 49ers. And he probably told himself entering this game, you know, if I just take care of the football, there should be yardage opportunities against the 49ers. Well, a, he didn’t take care of the football. Jer Brown was there to prey on two of his passes and and b the yardage opportunities just weren’t there. The 49ers tightened up a lot of that leakiness that they saw last week in Arizona. 18 to 29 for Bryce Young for only 169 yards, a rating of 60.8. So whereas Pertie obviously wasn’t good with those three interceptions, Bryce Young was even less efficient in this football game, throwing interceptions of his own, and the 49ers defense grew up in a big way today. That is a huge, huge step in the right direction for this football team. I predicted the 49ers would win this game by 11. They won by 11, but I didn’t predict 20-9. I thought it was going to be 34 to 23. I I I did not expect that that little mini meltdown for the 49ers and Brock Perie in the second quarter in that first half. Really, it stretched three drives. And I didn’t expect the 49ers defense to play as well as it did. But the more that you can flex your muscles as a team, the more that you could show, okay, the defense can win this week, the special teams can win this week, a combination of all three can win on any given week, that that’s when you know that that you’re rounding into playoff form. That’s complimentary football. And I think that, you know, we saw the offense just go crazy for the 49ers last week, but it was a complimentary game, too, with some interceptions for the defense with special teams. This week though, the defense needed to carry more of the weight. Dare I say they might have needed to be the locomotive to pull the train, but I think that it ended up being a fairly complimentary team win for the 49ers entering Cleveland. And again, they are eight and four. I apologize for misstating the record earlier. Not seven-4. Eight and four the 49ers are heading into Cleveland. uh the initial touchdown from Jawan Jennings, the first thing I thought about was, you know, we’ve been discussing Brandon Iayuk over the course of the past few days. If the 49ers end up moving on for Brandon Iayuk and therefore freeing up a ton of money, then I think that somebody like Jawan Jennings will be making a very strong case to get at least some of that money because he’s going to be a free agent after this season. Now, I know that we had the extracurricular incident after the game. We’ll have to see exactly what happened there and how that is going to be adjudicated. But Jawan Jennings, I never see him run out of bounds. He always catches the ball and bowls through traffic. He brings such a toughness to this team. Kyle Shanahan just said that all three of Brock Party’s interceptions were good decisions. He was just behind the wide receivers. I cannot disagree more. I think that the and maybe Kyle Shanahan is just is just trying to protect the 49ers strategy here and and and he’s not trying to divulge too much. He’s talking about this in the press conference right now and Mike is sending this to me. I thought that there was a clear delineation between what the 49ers were doing from an aggressiveness standpoint, between drive one and then those three interception drives and then what they did in the second half. I thought they started really well then and the offense and you know maybe Shanahan was part of this when he called that play action with San Francisco backed up you know inside their own 10 yard line. That was the first pick to JC Horn. I didn’t think that made much sense at all. And I said, “Okay, well, maybe they they thought they had softened uh the defense up for for a big play and maybe they they thought they could attack.” But then they just kept on doing it. I mean, Perie had room in front of him for a first down run on the second pick that Mike Jackson picked off in the end zone, but he tried to pull up for an extremely high degree of difficulty throw to Ricky Pieraw and and that too was intercepted. You know, it was the breadand butter stuff that won the 49ers this game that possessed the football. As soon as it got crazy, as soon as it got, okay, let’s try to make layered feathered throws and, you know, over 15 yards down the field, over two levels of coverage, that’s when the 49ers got in trouble. That’s when most quarterbacks in this league are going to get in trouble. That kind of stuff opens up if you just keep on chopping wood, chopping wood, chopping wood with the breadand butter stuff and then the defense gets tired and the defense has to come in and stop some of the shorter passes. I would have very much liked to see the 49ers play with that patience for at least two drives to begin the game, but they did so only for one and then Perie started throwing those picks and I think it’s just a good growth moment for San Francisco. It’s going to be interesting to see how that evolves over time. And and I I don’t think that that Kyle Shanahan right now is in his press conference going to divulge the the full extent of the 49ers strategy in this game. I think though it was clear to my eyes that San Francisco went from being in a strategy that was well within themselves to a strategy that was just out of control to uh just something that was again chopping wood, hammering home the victory in the second half. Shanahan said that this felt like Jaier Brown’s best game as a 49er and and I would have to agree with Kyle Shanahan. Jaier was really really good today. Dear Lenor was good against Tedo McMillan whenever he had a chance to cover him today. I mean 448 yards for Bryce Young last week down to 169 today. Solid 49ers held the Panthers to only 69 rushing yards which is a testament to the fact that they took a lead, played complimentary football and played this game downhill as a defense. All in all, this was a good team effort from San Francisco. Special teams got in on it as well. Matt Gay knocked through a couple field goals for the 49ers, filling in for Eddie Pinero. Made his extra points for San Francisco as well. And of course, Christian McCaffrey got his revenge against the Panthers. 89 yards on the ground for Christian, including that 17yd touchdown and 53 yards for Christian McCaffrey through the air. And you know what was one of the biggest plays of the game? The first third down conversion. He ran the out and then he lunged across the first down marker. That was a that was a third and long for Christian McAffrey and he delivered big time for San Francisco. That set up the 15play drive. That’s when the 49ers were playing offense the way that, you know, I would hope that they scripted it before this game. Then it went off the rails. Then it got back to what they need to do and they need to do more of that moving forward as they head to Cleveland with a chance to move to nine and four. Kyle Shanahan said that Christian McCaffry has been durable and productive with all his touches since Pop Warner. I mean, he’s an extremely efficient player. Christian is so fun to watch and I’m sure a lot of Carolina Panthers fans uh could not have had great feelings watching Christian McCaffrey play in a different uniform and be one of the leaders spearheading the way to beat his former team today. All right. So, the 49ers move to eight and four. Next week at Cleveland, they can move to nine and four. They’re going to be favored over the Browns. They’re going to be favored over the Titans. So, what we’re seeing right now is the 49ers are holding serve. Are we seeing them work some of this impatience out of their system? If you’re a 49ers fan, you should probably hope so because again, the offense is still going to have to be the driver of this team. The defense might have taken a massive step forward today, but it’s going to be offensive patience that allows this offense to hog the ball and play the type of complimentary football that allows the defense to consistently do what they did tonight, but even against better offenses moving forward. And then, hey, shout out to the special teams. Sky Moore, another big return for the 49ers. That phase of the game continues to play really, really well, even with Eddie Pinero out. Big win for the Niners, 20 to9 over the Carolina Panthers. It was weird, but then it turned workmanlike. And I’m looking forward to a trip to Cleveland next week. Kyle Shanahan on Oh, there was a below the belt shot against Jawan Jennings early in the game. And Kyle Shanahan just said he’s real proud of Jawan for not losing his mind out there and getting to the sideline. Of course, after the game, I think we saw some retaliation from Jawan Jennings, but I mean, he played a hell of a game blocking wise and then that first touchdown really set the 49ers into motion. that they’re cooking with something really interesting here. And we’re going to turn the page to this next game against the Cleveland Browns as the 49ers have moved to eight and four. Everybody, thanks for watching. Thanks to the guys here in the Levi Stadium engineering room. I’m headed to the locker room. We’ll talk to you soon.

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkDZB2Cy0KiJmvoC-PTfM2A/join

49ers REACTION: SF defense STIFLES Panthers, Brock Purdy bizarre 3-INT stretch

David Lombardi covers the 49ers for The SF Standard.

Become an SF Standard Member to read David’s articles here: https://sfstandard.com/author/david-lombardi/

* X: @LombardiHimself
* Instagram: @lombardihimself

* Subscribe!
* Leave a comment.

#49ers #BrockPurdy #BrandonAiyuk #GeorgeKittle #KyleShanahan #NickBosa #FredWarner #DreGreenlaw #TrentWilliams #SanFrancisco #Sandwiches