The 49ers badly needed a win coming off their bye week. They not only got a victory Sunday in Jacksonville, they appeared to get all the way back on track by throttling the Jaguars 34-3 in a game that was never particularly close.
San Francisco won the turnover battle decisively and outgained the Jags by 216 yards. It was a win reminiscent of the first five weeks, and not the club we saw in the three games before the bye week where they lost and looked out of sorts on both sides of the ball. The opposite was true Sunday.
Here are eight takeaways from the game:
Pass rush gets home
The 49ers struggled to sack the quarterback in the three weeks before the bye. That was partly due to some coverage issues, but those were cleaned up in Jacksonville and the defensive line responded with 5.0 sacks. Nick Bosa and Javon Hargrave had 1.5 sacks each. Clelin Ferrrell added 1.0, with Chase Young and Arik Armstead each notching 0.5 apiece. They also racked up 10 QB hits against a QB in Trevor Lawrence who typically gets the ball out quickly. If San Francisco’s defensive front is going to look like this every week moving forward, they’ll be very tough to beat.
Health is helpful
It turns out playing offense without Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel is hard. San Francisco’s offense looked far more dynamic with both players on the field, and the improved rushing attack helped make life easier on QB Brock Purdy. Samuel contributed three carries for 29 yards and a touchdown, along with four catches on four targets for 30 yards.
A secondary adjustment
Turnover turnaround
Red zone issue
The 49ers posted 34 points so it isn’t a huge deal, but they went only one-for-four in the red zone. That makes them 4-for-10 in their last three games. Scoring touchdowns in the red zone is essential so figuring out how to more frequently turn those trips into six points will be paramount if they want to make a real playoff run.
Brock's bounce back
Purdy bounced back in a big way Sunday after struggling with some late turnovers in previous games. He completed 19-of-26 throws for 296 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers. There were some dynamite throws down the field and some creativity outside of structure that has helped him raise the offense’s ceiling. It wasn’t a perfect outing and his decisiveness looked shaky at points, but ultimately Purdy looked like the player the 49ers were accustomed to seeing the first few weeks.
Getting others involved
Christian McCaffrey's streak ends
The 49ers tried hard, but couldn’t get McCaffrey a touchdown and his streak of 17 consecutive games with a touchdown came to an end. Had he gotten one to make it 18-straight it would have broken an NFL record set by Lenny Moore. Instead McCaffrey stayed tied with Moore even though he re-entered in garbage time to try and steal a TD. Despite not scoring, McCaffrey had a really effective game with 142 yards on 22 touches.
