The San Francisco 49ers can take some positives from a devastating afternoon in Kansas City Chiefs. We look at three standouts from the Week 3 loss.
The San Francisco 49ers will see little room for optimism after Jimmy Garoppolo was lost for the season to a torn ACL in their 38-27 Week 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Yet, in coming not too far away from pulling off what would have been a remarkable comeback from 35-7 down, the Niners saw numerous players impress, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Those players will need to maintain the play they produced at Arrowhead Stadium going forward as to give C.J. Beathard a realistic chance of keeping the 49ers competitive in 2018.
Here we look at three standout players from Sunday’s game and assess their importance to the Niners going forward.
Matt Breida
The NFL’s leading rusher, Breida hyperextended his knee and is questionable for the Week 4 clash with the Los Angeles Chargers, making his display against the Chiefs even more impressive. Breida had 90 yards on 10 carries and 27 yards on three reception, his elusiveness, burst and acceleration in the open field coming to the fore once again.
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The former undrafted free agent’s performances have helped negate the impact of the loss of Jerick McKinnon to a torn ACL and his ability to continue to excel against the stacked boxes he will likely face with Beathard under center will be pivotal to the success of the offense for the remainder of the season.
Alfred Morris
Not every defense will be as soft as the Chiefs one the Niners faced in Week 3, yet what partially enabled Breida to have another big day was Alfred Morris’ strong showing. Morris had 67 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries thanks not only to his knowledge of the zone running scheme employed by Kyle Shanahan but also his ability to power through tackles for extra yardage.
With the running game set to become even more significant, the 49ers need an effective one-two punch. Should Morris continue to perform as he did in Kansas City, they will have one of the better backfield combos in the NFL.
George Kittle
Kittle’s importance to the passing game was on full display in Kansas City as Garoppolo went to him early and often, and it was easy to see why. The former fifth-round pick had five catches for 79 yards and was magnificent after the catch, making defenders miss and ploughing through tacklers at will.
He would have had a touchdown had a perfect throw from Beathard on the play after Garoppolo’s injury not been called back on a highly questionable offensive pass interference call on Kyle Juszczyk. Kittle and Beathard already have a well-defined connection from their days together at Iowa, expect him to be a focal point of the attack for the 13 remaining games.