Punt, punt, field goal, punt, punt.
That’s how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ first five possessions ended Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers were very much in control of the game in the third quarter and seemed primed to step on the accelerator the way they did when they were coming out of their bye in Jacksonville last year.
A muffed punt in the third quarter, however, gave the 49ers’ opponent life the way a blocked punt did in Minnesota and a fake punt did in Los Angeles. The Buccaneers’ next five possessions: touchdown, touchdown, punt, punt, field goal.
Still, the 49ers mostly controlled the clock, rolling up 413 yards of offense to 213 for Tampa Bay and winning the time-of-possession battle by nearly four minutes. They ran 64 offensive plays to 61 by the Buccaneers. Here’s how the individual snaps were divided …
Quarterback: Brock Purdy 64
Purdy took more than eight seconds to throw while directing traffic on his 11-yard touchdown pass to George Kittle in the fourth quarter. Otherwise, it was largely a quick-release day for Purdy. Next Gen Stats had his time to throw at 2.73 seconds, which was in the middle of the pack for Week 10 quarterbacks and well below his 3.04-second mark (fourth highest among quarterbacks) for the season.
Purdy threw for 353 yards, the second time he has passed the 300-yard mark this season.
Brock Purdy held onto the ball for 8.62 seconds before finding George Kittle in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown, the 3rd-longest time to throw on a TD.
Purdy is currently 7-of-10 for 88 yards and TD passing under pressure today (+17.7% CPOE).#SFvsTB | #FTTB pic.twitter.com/7c3l4B8Bug
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 10, 2024
Running back: Christian McCaffrey 56, Kyle Juszczyk (fullback) 25, Jordan Mason 3, Isaac Guerendo 3, Kittle 3, Deebo Samuel Sr. 2
So much for easing McCaffrey into the mix. To put his 56 snaps in perspective, he played more snaps than that only four times during the 2023 regular season.
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Meanwhile, Purdy targeted him seven times in the passing game after targeting Mason just 12 times all season. The best completion came on a broken protection when Purdy, seeing that McCaffrey was being covered by a linebacker, hoisted a ball downfield and trusted that McCaffrey would find it and catch it. He did, for 30 yards.
“It was a great throw,” McCaffrey said. “He had pressure in his face, I guess. It (was) a perfectly thrown ball — that’s not easy to put touch on it to understand where I am on the field and to be able to put that there. And, you know, that was a big play.”
It’s CMC. That’s the tweet.
📺 #SFvsTB on FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/8rFg7KSLcO— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) November 10, 2024
Wide receiver: Jauan Jennings 58, Samuel 48, Ricky Pearsall 41, Ronnie Bell 10, Jacob Cowing 3
After the game, coach Kyle Shanahan said that, from this point forward, Jennings will be playing the high-profile X-receiver position that Brandon Aiyuk manned before his season-ending knee injury. Jennings responded with a team-high 93 receiving yards, including 36 yards after the catch. His 13-yard catch-and-run at the end of the game set up the game-winning field goal.
Pearsall, meanwhile, finished second on the team with 73 receiving yards, including two grabs on the final drive.
Best shot of the day? It might have come from the pylon cam on Ricky Pearsall’s first-ever NFL touchdown… pic.twitter.com/WQyzEI1Rqg
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 11, 2024
Tight end: Kittle 54, Eric Saubert 12, Jake Tonges 2
Kittle had just three catches, but each was significant. His first, on third-and-6 in the first quarter, came when Purdy seemed to be sailing his passes. Kittle, however, went up high to gather it in for a first down.
George Kittle’s 11-yard TD in the fourth quarter was huge. He also bailed out Brock Purdy on third down early in the game when Purdy’s throws were going high. pic.twitter.com/78gWz2JdrS
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 11, 2024
He picked up 34 yards after the catch on his second catch. And his third was the 11-yard snag in the far corner of the end zone in the fourth quarter. That gave him his seventh touchdown of the season. Only Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase has more (10).
Shanahan said Kittle emerged from the game with “hamstring irritation” that will be monitored throughout the week.
Offensive line: Trent Williams 64, Aaron Banks 64, Jake Brendel 64, Dominick Puni 64, Colton McKivitz 64
As has often been the case this year, the three sacks on Purdy either were coverage sacks or cases where the 49ers didn’t have enough blockers to pick up blitzes or overloaded fronts. The 49ers have given up 19 sacks so far, the fifth fewest in the NFL.
Quarterback pressures allowed:
- Brendel 3
- Williams 3
- McKivitz 2
- Puni 2
- Banks 1
- Kittle 1
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Defensive line: Nick Bosa 52, Maliek Collins 44, Leonard Floyd 41, Sam Okuayinonu 36, Jordan Elliott 32, Evan Anderson 15, Kalia Davis 11, Robert Beal Jr. 8, Khalil Davis 5
No, it wasn’t a good look for Bosa when Baker Mayfield big-brothered him on an elongated stiff-arm on Tampa Bay’s final possession. But Bosa had plenty of company in struggling to take Mayfield to the ground. Collins, Floyd and De’Vondre Campbell Sr. also had clean shots at the quarterback on that drive, and none could get him off his feet. Floyd had a team-high three missed tackles. Campbell had two.
Nick Bosa had a hard time corralling Baker Mayfield on this play, but he had company. Three other 49ers had good shots on the QB on the same drive but couldn’t take him down. pic.twitter.com/uTF3r2VEUx
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) November 11, 2024
Bosa obviously was ailing from the hip pointer he suffered in Wednesday’s practice, and cameras caught him rubbing the hip on several occasions. Though he had a sack, he finished with just three pressures, one behind Collins and Floyd, who each had four.
Linebacker: Fred Warner 61, Campbell 61, Dee Winters 15
His missed tackles notwithstanding, Campbell seems to get a little better each week. He finished second to Warner in team tackles Sunday (nine to seven) and also had one stop for a loss and one pass defense.
“I thought Dallas was his best game, and I thought this game was even better,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan said the 49ers probably wouldn’t open up Dre Greenlaw’s practice window this week. The linebacker has been working out on a side field during practices and seems to be inching closer to returning to practice.
Cornerback: Deommodore Lenoir 61, Renardo Green 48, Isaac Yiadom 47, Rock Ya-Sin 12
When Green hurt his foot in the fourth quarter, Ya-Sin entered instead of Darrell Luter Jr. Ya-Sin, a five-year veteran, was the better player throughout training camp, and the 49ers simply trust him more in tight games. Look for the 49ers to give Luter defensive snaps when the outcome isn’t in doubt like it was Sunday.
Shanahan said he has spoken to Charvarius Ward, who was in Texas over the weekend mourning the loss of his daughter, and that there’s a chance he’ll be back this week and will play Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks. Ward missed the earlier matchup in Seattle because of a knee injury.
Safety: Ji’Ayir Brown 61, Malik Mustapha 61
The 49ers elevated newly signed Tashaun Gipson Sr. from the practice squad in case Mustapha, questionable with a calf issue, had to come out. He didn’t, and Gipson was limited to 11 snaps of special teams.
The 49ers like having a veteran safety on the roster, especially considering that starters Brown and Mustapha are in their early 20s. With Gipson back in that role, the team released another 30-something safety, Adrian Amos, from the practice squad Monday.
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Special teams: Saubert 25, George Odum 21, Beal 20, Winters 17, Luter 17, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles 17, Tatum Bethune 17, Guerendo 16, Yiadom 15, Tonges 14, Gipson 13, Jake Moody 11, Mitch Wishnowsky 9, Taybor Pepper 9, McKivitz 8, Spencer Burford 8, Banks 8, Puni 8, Nick Zakelj 8, Jaylon Moore 8, Bell 6, Cowing 6, Ya-Sin 5, Warner 4, Campbell 4, Brown 4, Okuayininu 4, Elliott 4, Lenoir 4, Collins 4, Anderson 4, Samuel 1
Plenty has been written about Moody’s field goal adventures. A plus for him: He was strong on kickoffs, something that has also plagued the 49ers’ special teams this season. All five went into the end zone for touchbacks.
As for the muffed punt, Shanahan said punt-coverage gunners are coached to shove the jammers, the role Luter was in, into the punt returner. He said it was Luter’s responsibility to know where Cowing, the return man, was on the play.
“It’s your job to get out of the way,” he said. “It’s not the returner’s job to look at you.”
Shanahan said no team fines would be issued as a result of the sideline fracas Sunday between Samuel and Pepper, the long snapper. He said that after Moody’s final miss, Samuel approached the kicker and told him to “lock in” and that Pepper “kind of interpreted wrong what Deebo was doing and kind of overreacted a little bit.”
Shanahan said he wasn’t going to address the incident until he saw how much it had been blown up on television and social media.
“We squashed it, and we’re good,” he said.
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Deebo Samuel swipes at 49ers long snapper’s throat after Moody missed FG
(Photo: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
