SANTA CLARA — The 49ers bounced back with their win in Jacksonville last week.
Sunday, they did something even harder — they didn’t fade.
The Niners’ 27-14 home win over the Buccaneers wasn’t always pretty, but it was a strong performance on both offense and defense against a team with enough talent to keep things frisky late.
Call Sunday’s victory professional, and it sends the Niners into a critical three-game stretch (at Seattle, at Philadelphia, vs. Seattle) with serious confidence that the ship has been righted.
Here are the top three studs — and duds — from Sunday’s game:
💪 Studs
Brock Purdy
It was as fine a game quarterbacking as one could imagine.
The 49ers punted on their first drive. They scored on their next five, with Purdy leading the way.
He finished the game with the first perfect quarterback rating in 49ers history (20-plus pass attempts) — 21 of 25, 333 yards and three touchdowns.
And, most importantly, zero interceptions.
He didn’t even sniff a turnover.
Purdy’s passes were on the money all day.
But none was prettier than his touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk. It went forty-five yards in the air, hit Aiyuk in stride, and capped a three-play, 98-yard drive.
Purdy faded a bit after that, but the die was cast. Sunday, he provided elite stuff.
Brandon Aiyuk
His 76-yard touchdown was merely part of his outstanding game.
Without that touchdown, Aiyuk was good for four catches and 89 yards. That’s a really strong performance.
Add in the touchdown pass, though, and you had a monster game: five catches for 156 yards and a score.
His chemistry with Purdy is next-level right now.
George Kittle
The steady hand of the 49ers’ offense. He’s coming alive as of late.
Kittle had one catch for one yard against Cleveland in Week 6.
In the four games since, he has 25 catches for 432 yards. That’s 17 yards per catch and 108 yards per game.
His 3-yard touchdown catch Sunday was perhaps the easiest play he made all day.
But his re-emergence in this offense has pushed the Niners’ unit to a new level.
👎 Duds
Talanoa Hufanga
I hate to do this to someone now injured — I really do — but Hufanga’s performance before his injury was worthy of a demotion.
It’s not all Hufanga’s fault: The Niners continue to play him as a safety. He’s a linebacker. An excellent linebacker. But by putting him in the open field, the Niners were asking opposing offenses to attack him.
Hufanga injured his knee after being juked out of his shoes by Tampa Bay running back Rashaad White in the middle of the third quarter.
Ja’Ayir Brown will replace Huf. That should have happened before the injury — his insertion allows the Niners to play two high safeties.
Brown subsequently broke up two touchdown catches in the fourth quarter and intercepted a pass in the end zone.
Nick Bosa
He had a couple of impact plays, including an early half-sack that brought about a lost fumble from nemesis Baker Mayfield.
But most of the day, Bosa was wiped off the board by Tampa Bay left tackle Tristin Wirfs.
(My, what could have been in the 2020 NFL Draft. The Niners traded the pick to Tampa Bay that they used to select Wirfs. The Niners selected Javon Kinlaw a pick later.)
Note that when Wirfs left the game with an injury, Bosa arrived on the stat sheet again, picking up a late half-sack.
Perhaps the dud should be given to his fellow pass rushers, but Bosa has not been an elite player this year — no matter what Pro Football Focus says.
Mitch Wishnowsky
A bad punt with less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter set up a 59-yard return that added unnecessary drama to the game.
Source: www.mercurynews.com