The San Francisco 49ers overcame five turnovers to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. The win moves the team to 3-0 on the season. The 49ers will have some time to clean things up and get healthy as they enter their bye week. Kyle Shanahan was “very happy” to leave with a victory.
Kyle Shanahan “Happy” After Ugly 49ers Win
It’s not often an NFL team will overcome five turnovers and still leave the field victorious. That’s precisely what the 49ers did Sunday against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers at Levi Stadium. When head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked after the game how he felt, he had to say:
“Very happy. I’m exhausted. I thought we played extremely well at some times and played extremely bad at some times. Anytime you have five turnovers in a game, that means you didn’t play that well. But, you take those away, and every aspect of the game decides that. I thought the guys did very well.”
Turnovers kill football games. Sunday the 49ers had plenty. The turned the ball over five times, four inside the first 19 minutes and seemed completely unable to get out of their own way at times. The 49ers had two interceptions and two fumbles in their first five drives Sunday. Jimmy Garoppolo had two picks and a fumble and Raheem Mostert added a fumble of his own. Richie James added the last fumble as the snap hit him on an attempted jet sweep in what was perhaps the most frustrating turnover of the day.
A Team Victory
Despite their many, many mistakes on Sunday the 49ers hung tough and the offense began moving the ball effectively and the defense stood strong time and again. Garoppolo finished with 277 yards passing as well as a touchdown. Matt Breida and Raheem Mostert ran for a combined 147 yards and Jeff Wilson found the endzone twice, proving to be a scoring machine.
The San Francisco 49ers outgained Pittsburgh 436 yards to 239 yards offensively. The 49ers also earned 26 first downs compared to 11 for Pittsburgh. They held Mason Rudolph to under 175 yards passing despite giving up 76 yards on one play to Juju Smtih-Schuster. They also gave up a 40 yarder to Diontae Johnson. Those two plays are responsible for 68 percent of Rudolph’s passing yards.
When I put together some of the keys to the game last week I looked at the 49ers keeping T.J. Watt away from Jimmy Garoppolo. The 49ers offensive line did a nice job by and large, as Jimmy was only sacked one time. The offensive line also allowed Raheem Mostert and Matt Breida to run for nearly 5.7 yards a carry. Jimmy Garoppolo added this after the game:
“Those guys battled upfront though. We knew it was going to be a dogfight, they had a good D front and everything and I thought they played phenomenally, Justin [Skule] stepping in the way he did, I couldn’t ask for anymore.”
Dante Pettis has not had a great season heading into Sunday’s game. He seemed to be in Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse during the preseason and wasn’t on the field much in the first two games. Sunday he caught four passes including the winning touchdown. It’s good to see him back in the mix. He had this to say about his mindset heading into that game-winning catch:
“Let’s go. This is what we work for. If you don’t want to be in that moment, if you don’t want the ball right there, you shouldn’t be playing sports. That is kind of what you live for.”
Bye…Bye…Bye Week!
The 49ers will take their undefeated selves into an early bye week. You have to imagine the team would rather keep on playing, but the team has some injuries and the break comes in handy. That said, not everyone is happy about it. Here’s what Coach Shanahan had to say about the timing of the bye:
“We’d rather not have it, but it’s always good to rest guys up. You can always use this time to get guys healthier, but it is what it is. We know we’ll come back. You always have a little time off when you have a Thursday Night game. Hopefully, it will allow us to get a couple of guys back who haven’t been with us this year and then we know those last eight games are going to be a grind.”
They will return to the field on a Nationally broadcast Monday Night Football game against the Cleveland Browns on October 7th. Cleveland is currently sitting with a 1-2 record after a loss to the Los Angles Rams on Sunday night.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
