The 49ers did a Purdy Good Job of Training the Dolphins to Lose
I decided to do my inaugural live stream on Ted Talks Ball for the Dolphins vs. 49ers game. After a 75-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Trent Sherfield on the first play of the Dolphins opening drive, I started to worry. If Sherfield was able to torch the 49ers secondary so easily, then what were their bona fide star receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle going to be able to do? Luckily, I remembered that the Chargers had also scored on their opening drive, only to not score another touchdown for the rest of the game, as well as no points scored in the second half of that game. I mused that the game couldn't have started much worse, but that I was also still confident that that 49ers defense could adjust and tighten down 0-7. Here's the clip:
The 49ers first drive started off well, but ended in a sack which forced a field goal attempt, that Robbie Gould made from 47 yards out. Little did we know at the time, that Jimmy Garropolo's foot had been injured on the sack, which would keep him from coming back into the game. It wasn't until a Fred Warner PBU caused the Dolphins to go three and out that we were made aware of the injury, by Garoppolo being carted off the field. I was shaken, but far from hopeless, as a field goal made it 3-7. Here's the clip where I searched for silver linings to an awful situation:
Brock Purdy aka "Mr. Irrelevant" had shown promise in the preseason and I knew that some people thought he was the best 49ers quarterback, even when Trey Lance and Garoppolo were both still healthy. It didn't take long to see why. His first throw was a seven yard gain to Christian McCaffrey on third and three. He wasn't spectacular, but Purdy sustained a drive to Dolphins three yard line. On first and goal, he faked a handoff and hit a wide open Kyle Juszczyk in the flat. The 49ers fullback leapt into the air, as he crossed the goal line, just inside the right pylon. It was Purdy's first ever NFL touchdown throw, to make it 10-7! My clip here, complete with a little bit of spice:
On the Dolphins third drive, they went three and out again. I started to believe that the 49ers could win the game, despite losing Garoppolo. Clip of my celebration:
On the ensuing 49ers drive, there was penalty on the kickoff return that advanced the ball to the 28 yard line. It ended up being a five and out, even with a ten yard tripping penalty on the Dolphins. Christian Wilkins got penetration on third and two, allowing him to blow up the McCaffrey run. My clip:
Mitch Wishnowsky pinned the Dolphins inside their 10 yard line, with a punt that went out of bounds with no return. One of my audience members asked me why Jordan Mason wasn't getting more touches. A clip of my answer:
The Dolphins drove more than 70 yards on the following drive. From their own 10 yard line down to the 49ers seventeen yard line, before Nick Bosa sacked Tagovailoa for an eight yard loss on third and one. Here's the clip of me imploring the 49ers defense to come up big to keep the score 10-10:
The 49ers squandered the next drive, as well as 56 yard punt that was returned for 14 yards, when Wishnowsky outkicked his coverage.
Tagovailoa missed Waddle high, when Bosa pressured him on first down. Jeff Wilson Jr. dropped what would've been a big gainer down the left sideline on second and 10. Then a blitz on third down forced an incompletion for the third Dolphins three and out of the game. My clip here:
As the first half was winding down, all I wanted was a touchdown or a field goal to give the 49ers a lead, that could add to when they got the kickoff to begin the second half. Instead a nice drive stalled when Purdy got sacked. Kyle was aggressive to go for it on fourth and four, but Purdy threw a roughly 24 yard interception, which ended up being essentially an arm punt. My clip here:
On the next drive, Tagovailoa hit River Cracraft for an 18 yard completion. Things were starting to look dire, but the drive quickly stalled, when Bosa got his second sack of the game on 3rd & 8. My clip here:
Whether the 49ers scored a touchdown, a field goal or no points, the main thing in with 2:48 remaining before halftime was to keep the Dolphins from getting the ball again. On third and 10 with 1:19 to go, Purdy identified a blitzing defender off the right side. He audibled Kittle into a hot route and stood tall in the pocket, got drilled, but still managed to deliver a strike for a massive first down. My clip here:
Then Purdy hit Jauan Jennings for a 19 yard gain to the Dolphins 27 yard line. Then he hit McCaffrey to the left for an 18 yard gain to the 5 yard line. With 17 seconds, Kyle called a McCaffrey run up the middle for a two yard gain, then called his final time out. Purdy threw a pass to McCaffrey in the end zone, but it was behind his target. Then Purdy went right back to McCaffrey again for a giant touchdown catch to end the half to make it 17-10. My clip here:
After receiving the second half kickoff, the 49ers had a pretty good drive from their own 25 yard line out to the 49 yard line before Purdy ran himself into a sack by Melvin Ingram. Mike McGlinchey actually did a good job pushing his man past Purdy, who spun back instead of climbing the pocket. This is a mistake that is often made by young mobile QBs. My clip here:
On their first drive of the second half, the Dolphins benefitted form a Tarvarius Moore personal foul for 15 yards, a Tyreek Hill catch for 19 yards and a Bosa roughing the passer call for 15 yards. Then a big run by Raheem Mostert to the 14 yard line was negated by a holding penalty caused by an attempted block on Arik Armstead. On first and 25 from the 43 yard line, Tagovailoa threw his first interception of the day to Jimmie Ward, who was covering Jeff Wilson. My clip here:
Despite starting with good field position on their own 40ish yard line and a great contested catch by Samuel, as well as a 9 yard catch by Brandon Aiyuk, with an uncalled facemask, a six yard catch on third and one for Samuel, a six yard run by Jordan Mason, a successful second effort sneak by Purdy on fourth and one and a huge effort by Samuel to avoid a big loss on a failed reverse, the 49ers were only able to score a field goal on the following drive making it 20- 10.
On the first play of the next drive from his own 25, Tagovailoa rolled left and threw left to Tyreek Hill. Hill tipped the ball up and Deommodore Lenoir was there to tally the second interception of the day for the 49ers defense. My clip here:
Despite starting at the Dolphins 25 yard line, the 49ers failed to score a touchdown, or even get a first down. A 36 yard Gould field goal made the score 23-10.
Tua started to look sharper on the following drive, with a seven yard pass to Hill, then a nine yard pass to Waddle, then Hill for 19 yards and then a 45 yard bomb for a touchdown to Hill down the middle, to make it 23-17. Here's my clip:
Despite starting out well with some tough plays from Samuel and others, the 49ers next drive stalled, forcing a Wishnowsky punt to the Dolphins 10 yard line, with 11:10 to go in the fourth quarter.
Then Mostert ran for seven yards on first down, Sherfield had a big catch reversed -- after Jimmie Ward made the pass break up, on fourth and one from their own 19 yard line Mike McDaniel elected to go for it and Tagovailoa converted to Hill. The drive continued steadily until third and two on the 49ers 36 yard line, when Tagovailoa's pass was tipped by Drake Jackson despite uncalled illegal hands to the face by a Dolphins offensive lineman. My clip here:
Not surprisingly, McDaniel went for it again on fourth and two, but this time "Big Play" Dre Greenlaw came up with a pass break up on Mike Gesicki, for what turned out to be the pivotal play of the game. At first we thought that Gesicki had converted the catch. My clip here is when we realized it wasn't a catch, even before it was made official:
The 49ers took over on downs on their own 36 yard line. Purdy led a drive down to the Dolphins 30 yard line, that was highlighted by two Samuel catches for nine yards each, one with epic yards after contact. Gould kicked a 48 yard field goal, to make it 26-17, with just 2:08 to go in the game. Here's a clip from when George Kittle got a big first down, after one of Samuel's nine yard catches and got payback on Cracraft:
On the next drive, the Dolphins began from their own 25. On the first play, Bosa stripped Tagovailoa and Dre Greenlaw scooped up the ball and scored a touchdown to make it 33-17. Here's a clip, but there is an echo on this one:
On the last Dolphins drive, Skylar Thompson replaced Tagovailoa at quarterback and promptly threw an interception to Fred Warner to ice the game.
Kyle Shanahan did a great job using his backup to his backup quarterback to beat an 8-4 Dolphins team that only had 1 loss with Tagovailoa as the starter, especially since he left that game with an injury. The 49ers defense looked like the No. 1 group with Armstead back. The game did turn out to be a Tale of Two Armsteads, as I predicted in my preview article. Sorry this article is so late, but took many hours to compile these 20 short clips. Bucs preview article coming soon!
