Monday night was an incredible football game between two rival teams with plenty ramifications for later in the season. Unfortunately, the 49ers came up on the short end and suffered their first loss of the year at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers came in with several key injuries and had several more during the game that hindered the team, but they still had plenty of chances to keep their undefeated season alive.
There was a lot to unpack following the 27-24 overtime loss that dropped the 49ers to 8-1. Here are the studs and duds from a back-and-forth Monday night contest:
Dud: QB Jimmy Garoppolo
With all the circumstances around the game tonight, Garoppolo had a chance to put himself in the top tier of quarterbacks. Without tight end George Kittle entering the game, and losing wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders during the . contest, made things hard on the quarterback, but he could have taken the opportunity to step up and make plays. He unfortunately couldn’t do it.
There were too many mistakes from him Monday night, including several bad throws and two costly fumbles that led to two Seattle touchdowns. His 66.2 passer rating Monday night was the third-lowest number for Garoppolo as a 49er. Tonight shouldn’t call into question about Garoppolo’s viability as a starting quarterback, but it could lead to questions about his ceiling.
Stud: WR Deebo Samuel
Monday night was the best game of Samuel’s young career. He was the most targeted receiver with 11, and turned them into eight receptions for a career-high 112 yards. He was the only receiver to catch more than half of the passes thrown to him. Samuel was such a trusted receiver tonight that he was targeted on a deep attempt late in overtime on a third down, but the pass was broken up after the rookie got a couple steps on his defender. Samuel was possibly the lone bright spot on an offense that didn’t have much going the entire game.
Duds: LT Joe Staley and RT Mike McGlinchey
If it felt like Jadeveon Clowney lived in the backfield, it’s because he did. Clowney recorded just one sack, but had five tackles and five quarterback hits. His sack was also a forced fumble that led to a Seattle score. He also recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown. Staley and McGlinchey just couldn’t keep Clowney from creating an impact off the edge and it had a negative impact on Garoppolo and the entire offense.
Dud: WR Kendrick Bourne
Bourne was targeted eight times for four receptions and had multiple crucial drops. It wasn’t all bad for the third-year receiver. He did score the lone offensive touchdown, but his hands were wildly inconsistent Monday night. He had two drops, one that nearly led to an interception, but the Seahawks couldn’t corral the ball to secure the takeaway. Bourne was also the intended receiver on Garoppolo’s interception. The quarterback delivered high, but it was a catchable ball that bounced off Bourne’s hands and into the hands of Quandre Diggs. When the 49ers are short weapons in the passing game like they were Monday night, a game like Bourne had doesn’t help anything.
Stud: LB Fred Warner
What a phenomenal game from the second-year linebacker. He stuffed the stat sheet Monday night with 10 tackles, two sacks, a pass deflection, and a forced fumble that led to a defensive touchdown. The two sacks were the first of Warner’s career, and both came on a third down to end drives. His pass deflection came on a third-down play as well, and he was responsible for three third down stops. The 49ers needed Warner to up his game with Kwon Alexander out, and he did in a big way.
Stud: S Jaquiski Tartt
Tartt gets a nod for making one of the best individual defensive plays of the year. The momentum-changing play came late in the first half when quarterback Russell Wilson connected with wide receiver DK Metcalf, who turned up field and made several 49ers miss en route to the end zone. Tartt made a fantastic play to stick his hands in and grab the ball, then stripping Metcalf and recovering the fumble prior to Metcalf getting into the end zone. The play was huge because had Metcalf scored, Seattle would have likely gone into the half with the lead and getting the ball to start the second half.
Stud: LB Dre Greenlaw
Greenlaw made a terrific individual play as well that turned out to be the play of the game for the 49ers, and could’ve been the play of the season had the hung on to win. On Seattle’s first drive in overtime, they moved the ball with ease, driving 61 yards in nine plays to get into the red zone. Wilson tried to float a touchdown pass over Greenlaw’s head to tight end Jacob Hollister, but Greenlaw was able to get high enough to intercept the pass and return it 47 yards to put the offense at midfield.
Greenlaw was solid all game with eight tackles and a pass deflection in place of the injured Alexander.
Stud, then dud: K Chase McLaughlin
Being an NFL kicker isn’t an easy job, especially when the kicker is an undrafted free agent replacing one of the best veteran kickers in the league. McLaughin was on the Chargers just two weeks ago, and was brought in to replace Robbie Gould, who missed Monday’s game with a quad injury. McLaughlin looked solid on his first attempt of the night, a 43-yard make that gave the 49ers a 3-0 lead. He wouldn’t have another attempt until the fourth quarter when he tied the game at 21 with 6:17 remaining. Then came the biggest kick of his career. McLaughlin was called upon for a 47-yard attempt and came through to make it a 24-24 game with one second remaining to send it to overtime.
Greenlaw made his interception, and Garoppolo and the offense did enough to get into field goal range. That gave McGlaughlin a 47-yard attempt to keep the 49ers undefeated and it never stood a chance. McLaughlin hooked (saying hooked is being polite) it left and Seattle got the ball back. He deserves credit for his two field goals in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime, but overtime curveball is the kick that will be remembered.
