SANTA CLARA, Calif. _ No, the quarterback play wasn't good Sunday night against the Eagles. But that's not the only issue facing the 49ers' offense while they await the return of Jimmy Garoppolo under center over the coming weeks.
The rushing attack hasn't been as productive as it was last year, when San Francisco was the second-best running team in the NFL. It has affected just about everything on offense, according head coach and play caller Kyle Shanahan.
"When you're not running the ball well, I think it's very hard to be successful," Shanahan said Monday. "I don't think we're running it horribly, but we're not close to what our standard is right now and that's got to improve for us to get better everywhere else."
To Shanahan's point, the overall numbers for the rushing attack aren't terrible. The 49ers in their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles averaged 5.8 yards on 20 carries, though 56 rushing yards came from non-running backs Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. There wasn't much balance from the offense as a whole. Kittle, who had 15 catches for 183 yards, was clearly the fulcrum the offense, rather than one of its many effective parts.
Last week against the Jets, Aiyuk, the rookie receiver, accounted for 31 of the team's 93 rushing yards, and both of his touchdowns the past two games have come on running plays (the pass on the bubble screen Sunday night was backward and considered a lateral).
And since top running back Raheem Mostert and his backup Tevin Coleman went down Week 2 against the Jets with knee injuries, 49ers running backs have 122 yards on 45 carries, an average of just 2.7 yards per attempt. The traditional running game hasn't been nearly as effective, which played a role in gumming up the offense in the Eagles game.
A lot of that has to do with not having Mostert the last two weeks, who ran for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage before leaving the Jets game at halftime. Mostert's status for this week is up in the air ahead of Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins, meaning his big-play ability might be missing for another week and Shanahan's offense must be more efficient on a play-by-play basis.
"We've missed the big plays since the Jets game, which is when you lose those explosives, you've got to be a lot more consistent. Our consistency just has not been good," Shanahan said. "(Sunday) night, I think it was pretty obvious. We had a few chances and you've just got one guy whiff (on a block) and it ends up being a negative play."
Running back Jerick McKinnon has been good since making his return after missing two seasons due to knee issues. He has 193 yards on 34 carries and scored touchdowns in each of the first four games. But using him as the No. 1 back is a big ask so early in his return from injury. His backup, Jeff Wilson Jr., hasn't gotten going, and has a paltry 24 yards on 17 attempts (1.4 yard average) on the season.
Shanahan's been quick to praise his running backs, indicating the issues involve the blocking up front. Even Trent Williams, who was stellar throughout training and during the first three games, struggled with the Eagles' aggressive defensive front on Sunday.
Shanahan made another important point for his big-play offense: there's a thin line between the running game working flawlessly and not being nearly effective enough, which was the case against Philadelphia.
"We're pretty aggressive in our run game by what we do, the way we try to attack people and when you do that, if you're not on it, you lose yards," said Shanahan. "When you do that and you've got one guy off here and there, you get some negative runs. When you don't have an explosive (play threat) to counteract that, that's really how the results have gone the last two weeks."
The running game has also altered the 49ers use of play action. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019 averaged 10.8 yards per attempt on play action, according to Pro Football Focus. Garoppolo was used for play action at the third-highest percentage of passing plays in the NFL, tied with Patrick Mahomes, per PFF.
This season, Garoppolo and Mullens are averaging 8.0 yards per attempt, down nearly three yards from last season. And while there's a debate among the analytics community about how much a consistent running game impacts the effectiveness of play action, Shanahan argues it's imperative.
"I don't know what the analytics say, but I know what my history and experience says. Everything's tied together," Shanahan said. "When you run the ball real well, play action is a lot easier. When you run the ball real well, dropping back is a lot easier. We ran the ball extremely well last year, and I think that's why it's hard to find a category in football that we weren't in the top five last year. I usually think it always starts with the run game. So, when that's not going as well, I think everything goes down a little bit."
Simply put, if the 49ers get improved player under center next week, whether it's from Garoppolo, Mullens or C.J. Beathard, there's a good chance being more effective in the running game will have something to do with it.
