The 49ers Taught the Saints the Power of Four
The 49ers shut out the Saints by a score of 13-0 on Sunday.
1) That's the fourth time the 49ers have kept them from scoring even a single point in a game.
23-0 in Week 9, 1997. 31-0 in Week 6, 1998. 38-0 in Week 17, 2001. 0-13 last Sunday at Levi's.
2) The 49ers defense has shut out four straight opponents in the second half.
The Rams. The Chargers. The Cardinals. The Saints.
3) Jimmy Garoppolo hasn't thrown an interception for four straight games.
4) Jauan Jennings had four catches on the 49ers only touchdown scoring drive.
A 13-yard catch down the middle for a first down. A 12-yard catch to the left for a first down. A 12-yard catch to the right for a first down, plus an unnecessary roughness penalty taking the 49ers down to the five yard line. An acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone for a TD, despite the ball being tipped by a leaping Tyrann Mathieu.
It's hardly surprising that the four fours listed above led the 49ers to their fourth win in a row and an overall record of 7-4.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that Elijah Mitchell wasn't able to play in four full games, as he sprained his MCL, which will keep him out for the rest of the regular season and maybe part of the playoffs. Deebo Samuel got a quad contusion. Christian McCaffery has knee irritation.
More bad news is that the offensive line was offensive by allowing 14 pressures. Aaron Banks with seven pressures was very surprising. Mike McGlinchey played poorly and had several penalties called on him, even if one was declined.
Garoppolo was far from perfect, but it's hard to be too critical of his performance given the number of pressures surrendered by his offensive line, as well as the fact that got banged up on some low hits. His overthrow of McCaffery deep down the left side was very frustrating, as was his throwing to a covered Jennings near the goal line, instead of a wide open McCaffrey to the left in end zone. He underthrew Aiyuk, which allowed Paulson Adebo to catch up and break up the pass. There was also the near pick six that was called back due an illegal touching call. Despite all that, Garoppolo completed 70.3% of his passes for half of 444 yards (222) and a touchdown, with zero interceptions.
The defense managed to record a shutout, but got lucky in several ways. A long completion to Chris Olave that would've taken the Saints inside the red zone was overturned. Normally reliable kicker Will Lutz missed what appeared to be a very makeable field goal. Talanoa Hufanga made a great hit on the 1-yard line to knock the ball out of Alvin Kamara's hands. Hassan Ridgeway kept another Saints player from recovering the fumble in the end zone, for what would have been a touchdown. Dre Greenlaw finally recovered the fumble on the 49ers 1-yard line. The Saints mistakes were compounded, as they trailed 10-0 and 13-0. They kept going for touchdowns and eschewing field goal attempts that almost certainly would have made the game much closer.
Overall, it ended up being a respectable win against an opponent that was better than its record would indicate, due to getting several key players, plus several offensive linemen, back last week from being injured.
Maybe the short week and returning from the altitude of Mexico City took a toll on the team. Whatever it was, the 49ers will need to play better when Mike McDaniel and the 8-3 Dolphins visit Levi's this Sunday.
