Sometimes the low-hanging fruit is the sweetest
The offense isn’t supposed to be this hard for a team loaded with talent and coached by a great play-caller. Yet somehow, against all odds, the 49ers have scored just over 15 points per game this season. Fortunately, all of their problems can be easily fixed by doing one very simple thing.
Quite simply, the 49ers are not getting the ball to their playmakers enough. Look at the most recent example on Sunday night.
In the first half Sunday night, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle combined for 15 touches for 141 yards and a touchdown.
In second half: 2 touches for 5 yards
Analysis: Yikes.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) September 26, 2022
Brandon Aiyuk’s lack of touches is understandable because he was often matched up against Patrick Surtain II, who is one of the best cornerbacks in the entire NFL. One of the benefits of having so many weapons on offense, however, is that you’re supposed to still be able to function when one part of the offense is taken away.
In the second half, that clearly did not happen. The entire third quarter elapsed without anyone from the Deebo Samuel, Aiyuk, and George Kittle trio getting a single touch. In the fourth quarter of a one-score game, Deebo was stopped on a run for no gain, and Kittle caught one pass for five yards.
In Week 1, Deebo notched ten total touches, while Aiyuk had just three. Granted, the second half of the fourth quarter was pretty much a wash (had to do it) thanks to all the rain.
Against Seattle in Week 2, the offense righted itself. Deebo and Aiyuk combined for 14 touches, while Brandon also drew multiple pass interference penalties that pushed the offense down the field and helped set up scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, as we saw last week, that trend died off after halftime.
The 49ers have more offensive talent than a lot of teams around the NFL. They’ll never get to flex that advantage, however, if they don’t put the ball in the hands of those players on a regular basis. Players like Jauan Jennings and Kyle Juszczyk are nice and definitely have something to contribute, but the majority of the heavy lifting needs to be done by the Big Three.
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