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Pressure on 49ers' Secondary Rises With Dee Ford Ruled Out Against Jets

The San Francisco 49ers have officially ruled pass rusher Dee Ford OUT for their week 2 matchup with the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

The San Francisco 49ers have officially ruled pass rusher Dee Ford OUT for their week 2 matchup with the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

Ford has been dealing with neck spasms and was held out of practice all week to give him a chance to play on Sunday. 

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said at his presser on Friday in regards to Ford's status "that we’re just trying to play it slow here and see how it goes for the next two days.”

Clearly, his neck is still ailing him to the point where he cannot suit up and the 49ers are taking precautions to avoid further injury.

With Ford ruled out against the Jets, the pressure on the 49ers' secondary now rises.

They will not have the luxury of having a fully effective pass rush with Ford on the shelf. It was proven time and time again last season that the 49ers' pass rush took a massive drop off whenever Ford was out. Not to mention that the defense would give up 25.8 points per game when Ford played fewer than five snaps. 

And without Richard Sherman in the fold, the secondary becomes more suspect with Ahkello Witherspoon stepping in for him. Witherspoon was going to have the benefit of errant throws thanks to the pass rush. I fully expected the pass rush to have field day against the Jets of at least five sacks. 

Now I am not so sure as there are questions that need to be answered Sunday.

Yes, the Jets are not a good football team and will be down their best wide receiver in Jamison Crowder. The 49ers should be able to win this game, but now it looks as if it will be closer than originally thought.

Given the way the 49ers showed up against the Cardinals, I would not be too keen on chalking week 2 up as a win without so many key players. 

What is also going to increase the difficulty of the game is the travel to the east coast. It always puts a west coast team at a disadvantage because of the three hour time shift on the players' body clocks. It may seem like a small change, but these players adhere to strict regiments and scheduling. Those three hours do play a major impact. 

Take all of that into account and the 49ers are in a shaky position, especially the secondary.

They are going to have to hold their own on Sunday and make their own plays. There will be no "get out of jail" free card from the pass rush for the secondary when they get beat on a route. 

Playing without Ford is becoming routine now. It is never a matter of IF he will get injured, but WHEN. This is just game one of multiple games I would expect him to miss for the season.