Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do to bad teams?
The 49ers soundly thumped the hapless Patriots and their offense on the back of a Fred Warner pick-six, a fantastic George Kittle touchdown grab, and more stellar play for Brock Purdy. Following their loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers plummeted in some power rankings across the internet, while some rankings placed the 49ers in the top five and attributed the slow start to injuries and self-inflicted wounds. How will the media rank the 49ers heading into Week 5?
Eric Edholm of NFL.com has placed Tampa Bay and Washington in the top ten, but the 49ers didn’t budge from number 12. Here’s Edholm’s reasoning: “Soundly beating the Patriots was a step in the right direction, but the injuries and self-inflicted mistakes are too plentiful to sustain. Fred Warner made the first big play of the game with his thrilling pick-six, but he left the game with an ankle injury and didn’t return. George Kittle returned from injury this week, along with Deebo Samuel, but even Kittle left the game for a spell before returning. Kittle scored late in the second quarter to make it 20-0, but the Niners had two touchdowns called back by penalty on the drive. They also coughed up a fumble on a kickoff that led to the Patriots’ only TD, and Brock Purdy kept the door open with a fourth-quarter interception in a two-score game. The 49ers played with fire on Sunday and got away with it against a lesser team. Cleaning things up during this next four-game span — and getting better injury luck — will be absolutely critical to getting back to where they want to be.”
Nick Wagoner points to the 49ers third-down defense as their biggest issue and says: “The 49ers did a much better job of getting off the field on third down against New England, but they are going to see much better offenses and have to find a way to get stops consistently. The Niners rank 26th in the NFL in third-down conversions allowed (46%). What’s worse is that they’re last in third-and-long (7-plus yards) conversions yielded (50%).”
Pro Football Talk – 49ers climb three spots to #8
Mike Florio isn’t exactly a 49ers sympathizer, but he did compliment the 49ers while pushing them from number 11 to eight. Silver wrote: “They’re still one of the best teams in the league, when healthy. (They’re pretty damn good when not healthy.)”
USA Today – 49ers return to the top ten
Nate Davis points to the favorable travel schedule and injury state of upcoming opponents as a reason for optimism.
“WR Brandon Aiyuk still seems to be in preseason mode, currently on pace for a 700-yard season. Yet Sunday was a good “get right” game anyway for a team that still won’t be quite right until its reinforcements arrive. DE Nick Bosa had a season-best seven pressures, and LB Fred Warner managed his first pick-six in five years. At least the Niners are in a stretch where they only travel once in six weeks, their next two contests of the divisional variety (Arizona, Seattle) followed by two against hobbled 2023 division winners (K.C., Dallas).”
The 49ers have two consecutive divisional opponents with a chance to climb into first place in the NFC West. Reinforcements have returned, and more are on the way.