49ers go to ‘dark place’ in romp of Patriots as running game takes a star turn
Sunday was supposed to be about 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s return to play the team that drafted him. The Patriots let him marinate behind Tom Brady and traded him before he could become Brady’s replacement.
Yet Garoppolo’s performance Sunday in New England was a mere bullet point in the 49ers’ dominant victory over Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
San Francisco’s 33-6 thumping in Foxborough, Mass., came by way of a dominant rushing attack and strong defensive play, similar to the formula that got the team to the Super Bowl last season. The difference, of course, is all the new faces making contributions while injuries have ravaged the team. At 4-3, the 49ers remain very much alive in the competitive NFC playoff picture.
Said head coach Kyle Shanahan: “I’m just very impressed with the character of our guys individually, which adds up collectively. Those guys play like it’s their last play every down. When you can do that for an entire game, you play smart, don’t turn it over, usually good things happen.”
Belichick had a different reaction.
“We were clearly out-coached, outplayed. Just out-everything,” he said.
The 49ers matched last week’s victory over the Rams with 37 rushing attempts. The team improved from 122 rushing yards to a season-high 197, largely behind the effort of surprise starter Jeff Wilson Jr., who put together a stirring, 112-yard performance before exiting in the third quarter after his third touchdown. All four of San Francisco’s scores came on the ground. Wilson’s first touchdown came on the opening drive, marking the first time the Patriots allowed an opening drive score on their home field since 2016.
It was an outcome few could have predicted. Wilson this season had just 51 yards entering the weekend. He hadn’t started a game since the 2018 regular season finale. He was listed as questionable to play on Friday after missing last week’s game with a calf injury during the week of practice.
49ers missing Mostert?
And Sunday was the 49ers’ first game since placing top running back Raheem Mostert on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain. A concern entering the game was how they would replicate Mostert’s ability to create space on the field, whether it be with his potent outside runs or being used as a decoy for play-action passes. But Mostert’s absence proved inconsequential because the offense Sunday was able to run no matter who was in the game.
“Our offense doesn’t go unless you run the ball. It is something that is very important to us and we work a ton at it,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “In the last few weeks we have been hitting our grove.”
Mostert, like most of the team’s halfbacks, is known for his speed. But Wilson is as an exception as the lone power back on the roster.
The source of that power to break tackles and run through defenders?
“Jeff Wilson goes to a dark place before every single game,” All-Pro tight end George Kittle said. “It is different than it is in practice. You can tell he is angry. He attacks it. He wants contact, he deals contact. He delivers pain. It is awesome. You can just see it in his eyes. He is a totally different person, the way he runs. It is crazy. I love being on the field with Jeff Wilson. The way he carries the football, the way he makes people look at him after he is tackled. He is an absolute monster.”
The 49ers were dominant in the first half, leading to a second half without much drama. They out-gained New England, 301-59, ran more plays, 40-16, and dominated with 18 first downs to just four for the home team.
49ers defense dominates
The defense also recorded four interceptions for the first time since Eli Manning threw five against the 49ers in November of 2014. Linebacker Fred Warner and Emmanuel Moseley had picks, while slot cornerback Jamar Taylor had his second-career two-interception game.
Not surprisingly, the defense picked things up over the last two weeks while the offense has combined to run the ball 74 times and control time of possession 76:18 of 120 minutes.
“We’re on the sideline and you’ve got guys like Jeff Wilson, who I can’t say enough good things about, just his mindset, the way he runs the ball,” Warner said, “... As a defense, we for sure feed off of that and we get a little bit of extra rest so we can go out there and fly around like we do. I love watching them get after it.”
There was some bad news, which has accompanied just about every game San Francisco has played this season.
Wilson went down with a dreaded high ankle sprain on his 7-yard score in the third quarter. There’s a chance he misses multiple weeks because of it, meaning three of the running backs that made the Week 1 roster are dealing with injuries, including Tevin Coleman, who could be back over the next weeks after he sustained a knee sprain last month. Wilson limped off the field following his touchdown and was later carted to the locker room for X-rays, which came out negative, ESPN reported.
Receiver Deebo Samuel, left the game was a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter. For the second straight game, Samuel had been pivotal in the rushing attack, getting a handful of touches behind the line of scrimmage, including the play in which he hurt himself.
Garoppolo efficient in easy win
Back to Garoppolo, who had one of his most efficient games of the season that saw far more downfield passing than last week. The 49ers quarterback has continued to distance himself from his high-ankle sprain that zapped his ability to push off his back leg during the embarrassing performance against the Dolphins two weeks ago.
Garoppolo on Sunday completed 20 of 25 passes for 277 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown pass and he was intercepted twice, though one came in a desperation heave to rookie Brandon Aiyuk at the goal line at the end of the first half.
Garoppolo during the week downplayed the opportunity to go against his former team. But the emotions changed a little bit Sunday when San Francisco’s buses arrived at Gillette Stadium, where Garoppolo suited up for home games during his first three and a half seasons in the NFL.
“It was a cool week,” Garoppolo said. “Just a lot of emotions, a lot of memories. Especially coming back here, seeing the same stadium, hearing the same songs they used to play, a lot of memories came back. A lot of emotions out there. But it was a fun night.”
Garoppolo’s favorite target was Aiyuk, who had the first 100-yard game of his career. He finished with six catches on seven targets for 115 yards and nearly had a walk-in touchdown before Wilson’s third score. Garoppolo’s deep throw led him a touch too far toward the right sideline on the 35-yard completion.
Kittle, who popularized Sunday’s unofficial holiday, National Tight End Day, had a strong performance in the running game while adding five catches for 55 yards in his 50th career game. His 3,380 yards through his first 50 games are the third-most by a tight end in NFL history behind Mike Ditka (3,436) and Kellen Winslow Sr. (3,420).
Kittle is known for his tenacity as a blocker and his ferociousness as a ball carrier leading to breaking tackles. He said after the game Shanahan has spoken recently about reaching the “dark place” that Wilson seemed to find Sunday.
“Football’s a violent sport and if you don’t go to that dark place and be violent and be physical, you’re not going to last very long,” Kittle said. “The longer I’ve been here, and the more Kyle talks about it, the more just everybody kind of goes to that dark place. It’s fun to be part of a team with a bunch of psychopaths because I fit in really well here.”
The next chance for Kittle and his “psychopaths” to find that dark place comes Sunday when the 49ers travel to play the first-place Seattle Seahawks, who dropped an overtime thriller Sunday night in Arizona.
