SANTA CLARA — The 49ers just beat the Washington Commanders 23-17. Here are the 49ers grades for this performance. QUARTERSHIP: BBrock Purdy was great in the first half as he completed 17 of 22 passes and posted a passer rating of 122.2. Mike Evans then suffered an aggravated Achilles tendon injury. And suddenly, Purdy fell apart. In the second half, he completed just 4 of 7 passes and made two sacks. Without Evans, he didn’t look like the MVP. To be fair, his remaining wide receivers were Brandon Cooks, Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing. But Purdy still had Hall of Famers at tight end, running back, left tackle and maybe signal-caller, and he finished the game with three straight 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Jayden Daniels outplayed Purdy while working with Stefon Diggs, Rachaad White, Treylon Burks and a 31-year-old rookie offensive coordinator. Suddenly, it looks like the 49ers’ MVP is Evans, not Purdy. More on Evans in a minute. RUNNERS: Christian McCaffrey scored two touchdowns, but also lost a fumble and averaged 4.0 yards per carry and just 5.9 yards per catch. He’s still a solid player, but he’s no longer an important player. His longest catch of the game was 13 yards and his longest run was 9. Frankly, he looked better last week when Kyle Juszczyk was out. This week, Juszczyk returned and McCaffrey’s productivity took a hit. Odd. TIGHT FINISHES: BGeorge Kittle was great in the first half as the Commanders defense focused on stopping Mike Evans. Then Evans went down and Kittle made a nice 35-yard catch when wide open on the first drive of the third quarter, then never caught another pass. With Evans out of the game, the Commanders were able to shut down Kittle and force Purdy to look elsewhere, resulting in Purdy suffering painful sacks. Kittle is great, but he can’t carry out this offense on his own. Needs help from wide receivers. WIDE RECEIVERS: DMike Evans had three catches for 94 yards in less than two full quarters of action; He is a great player when he is healthy. Unfortunately for the 49ers, he aggravated his Achilles tendonitis and left the game before halftime. And without him, the offense fell apart. Brandon Cooks and Jordan Watkins caught just one pass each, and Jacob Cowing caught none. Without Evans, the 49ers could have the worst wide receiver corps in the league. They need to replace it with one immediately. They can’t rely on Evans to recover and stay healthy this season. He has been playing through injuries since early August. OFFENSIVE LINES: The 49ers ran the ball decently, but allowed two sacks. Still, the offensive line wasn’t the problem. DEFENSIVE LINEMANS: A-MINUS They sacked Jayden Daniels four times and held the Commanders to just 3.1 yards per carry. Of course, the Commanders were missing their starting running back. Still, the 49ers defensive line played exceptionally well without their highest-paid player, Nick Bosa. But in the second half, the pass rush tired as the offense continued to go three-and-out, which is understandable. This group needs some help from the offense. LINERS: Rookie Jaden Dugger had a team-high 11 tackles, replacing the suspended Dre Greenlaw, and Fred Warner had 8 tackles. I thought Greenlaw’s absence would hurt the defense, but it didn’t. Dugger has been a revelation. DEFENSIVE BACKS: The cornerbacks were not good. Renardo Green was exposed and picked on, Deommodore Lenoir gave up a touchdown reception to a running back, Upton Stout gave up a touchdown reception to Stefon Diggs and then left the game with a shoulder injury, Ashtyn Davis replaced him and was the worst player on the field. Fortunately for the 49ers, safety Malik Mustapha was one of the best players on the field and helped seal the victory with multiple big plays late in the fourth quarter. To think that the 49ers had him on the bench until Marques Sigle was injured. SPECIAL TEAMS: DEddy Piñeiro missed another extra point. He misses a kick almost every week. If he keeps this up, he’ll cost the 49ers a game when it really matters. I better find out. And the 49ers better replace Jacob Cowing as punt returner. He got a punt at his own four-yard line (a major no-no), fumbled it, and then recovered it himself. Please take him off the field. COACHES: B-MENUS Raheem Morris gets credit for limiting the Commanders to just 17 points, but he couldn’t do much to stop Jayden Daniels, who completed 73 percent of his passes and posted a quarterback rating of 110.4. Daniels is the first quarterback the 49ers have faced this season who can run and throw equally well, and they struggled against him. That’s something to keep in mind if they make it to the Super Bowl and have to face Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. On offense, Kyle Shanahan made things look easy in the first half until Evans went down. After that, he didn’t seem so creative anymore. He continued to call long play passes on first and second downs that resulted in sacks. Considering he had a 20-point lead in the second half, he should have called for quick, sure runs and passes, but this is Shanahan we’re talking about. He specializes in passing when he should be running and leads late in games; that’s how he lost all three Super Bowls. Tonight he almost blew a 23-3 lead. Only he can do that. Additionally, Shanahan let Evans play with Achilles tendinitis and made it worse. Now, Evans could miss some time that he might not have missed if Shanahan had simply not played Evans in this game. Instead, Shanahan let Evans decide whether he would play or not, so of course Evans made the wrong decision. Can you blame him? He is a professional athlete and a competitor. He’s not going to lock himself up. That’s the head coach’s job. Hopefully, this coaching mistake doesn’t cost Evans several games, because the 49ers are clearly struggling without him. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
