SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Sutton and Jones Connect for 241
San Francisco, March 28th, 2021: In a heavy downpour, the Chargers rebounded from last week's upset loss to Atlanta at home with a road win that vaulted them into the NFC's sixth seed at present. The victory put the Chargers at 8-4 and the 49ers dropped to 7-5. With the Charger victory and losses by Chicago and Arizona, the Chargers sit alone at 8-4, with their closest challengers at 7-5 with four games to go.
The Chargers led from their opening possession, took a 17-0 halftime lead, and won 30-14. And they did it without their best running back, rookie Josh Jacobs, who suffered a wrist injury before he got his first carry and missed all but the first play of the game, and will miss one or two more before he gets back on the field.
Rookie quarterback Daniel Jones had his best game in many ways, throwing for over 300 yards and carrying the team to victory with the loss of Jacobs. Wideout Courtland Sutton was a direct recipient of that, catching ten passes for 242 yards and both Jones touchdown passes in the game. Sutton was voted the MVP, but it could easily have gone to Jones.
The Chargers were fired up from the outset and came out throwing. Jones connected twice with Sutton for 23 yards before hitting running back David Montgomery on a check-down that Montgomery took 35 yards to the 49ers 17. Montgomery then carried the ball off tackle for the final 17 on the next play to give the Chargers a 7-0 lead.
After a 49er three-and-out, the Chargers added a Stephen Hauschka field goal of 29-yards when their drive stalled at the San Francisco 11-yard line. The Chargers' biggest play was a 50-yard connection to Courtland Sutton on the first play of the possession, moving it from their own 20 to the San Francisco 30.
After an exchange of punts, the 49ers managed their initial first down of the contest on a Ryan Fitzpatrick 20-yard scramble, but on second and ten from their own forty, Fitzpatrick fumbled when hit from behind by defensive tackle R. J. McIntosh, with fellow Charger Rashaan Evans recovering the ball.
It took only three plays for San Diego to expand their lead to 17 points, with Montgomery running twice for 11 and a first down, and Jones hitting Sutton for the final 26 yards on a long strike in the end zone.
That touchdown came on the second play of the second quarter to make the score 17-0 in the Chargers' favor, and the rest of the first half was scoreless, but not without some key plays by both teams. The biggest was perhaps the Delanie Walker reception at the Charger 14 that was yanked out of his hands by Charger safety Tracy Walker at the nine and returned 14 yards by Tracy Walker to the 23 to deny the 49ers points on their best drive of the first half. On another series, with the Chargers backed up to their two-yard line, Daniel Jones hit Sutton for 51 yards to move the ball into 49er territory, but middle linebacker Joe Schobert picked off Jones pass on the next play to stymie that Charger possession.
After an exchange of punts to start the second half, the 49ers finally got on the scoreboard on Odell Beckham Jr.'s six-yard touchdown reception from Fitzpatrick to make it 17-7 with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter. The drive featured Fitzpatrick checking down for first downs repeatedly as the Chargers were unable to mount much of a pass rush. On the possession, Fitzpatrick completed five of five for 58 yards.
But after an exchange of punts, the Chargers made it 23-7 late in the third quarter (the Hauschka point after was missed) on David Montgomery's second rushing touchdown of the game, this time from a yard out on a dive play into the line. The touchdown was set up by Courtland Sutton's 48-yard reception on a long pass on the first play of the possession to move the ball to the 49ers' 22-yard line. Completions by Jones to tight end Ricky Seals-Jones for 16 and fullback Alec Ingold for five put the ball on the one for Montgomery to punch it over.
The 49ers sat Fitzpatrick and inserted Devlin Hodges to create a spark. But after a shanked punt by 49er punter J. K. Scott that traveled only 24 yards, the Chargers scored their final touchdown on a patient nine-play, 57-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock and ended with Jones finding (who else?) Courtland Sutton on a short out for the final five yards to make it 30-7 with just 9:22 left in the game.
The spark finally came for the 49ers, but it was too little, too late. On the second play of the 49ers' next possession, Odell Beckham Jr. caught a short pass from Hodges and bolted 55 yards for the 49ers' second touchdown to cut the Chargers lead to 30-14, with 8:11 to play, but the Chargers final possession ate up nearly half that and the 49ers effectively ran out the clock, throwing only twice on their final march and conceding the contest to the Chargers.
GAME NOTES: Montgomery carried the rushing load for the Chargers, picking up 112 yards on 27 carries (4.1) and scoring twice on the ground. He added two receptions for another 42 yards.
But it was the Jones to Sutton connection that caught everyone's eye. Sutton had his best day as a pro, catching ten passes for 241 yards and scoring twice. He 'added' a six-yard loss on his one rush. Daniel Jones stepped up in a big way to fill the void left by Josh Jacobs loss. Jones completed 16 of 26 for 324 yards and two scores, with one interception. He was sacked only once. Jones finished with a passer rating of 114.9 in the game. The 324 passing yards were the most Jones has put up in a game all year. Jones connected with Sutton for three passes of 48 or more yards. He also connected with Sutton for a 26-yard touchdown and 35 on a dump-off to Montgomery.
The Chargers had the 49ers number today, making Ryan Fitzpatrick look like a dime-store magic trick. He completed 19 of 32 for only 176 yards and one touchdown, for an 84.9 passer rating. He also tied for the team lead with Jamaal Williams in rushing yards with 26. Fitzpatrick fumbled twice on sacks, losing one. He was sacked three times in total. Odell Beckham Jr. was one of the few stars for the 49ers, catching seven passes for 112 yards (17.3) and both 49er scores.
Rashaan Evans was the Chargers leading defender with 11 tackles, two stuffs, and a fumble recovery. Marlon Humphrey had 12 tackles to lead the 49ers. Linemen Stephen Weatherly and R. J. McIntosh, and linebacker Tyus Bowser each had a sack of Fitzgerald. The latter two each received credit for a forced fumble. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had the lone sack of Jones.
TEAMS IN OPPOSITION: With the loss of Josh Jacobs on the first play from scrimmage in the game, the Chargers were held to only 132 yards on the ground and 3.9 yards per rush. The 132 yards is the Chargers second-fewest of the season, behind only the 102 they gained in week two against the Packers.
The 49ers rushed for 65 yards on 15 carries (4.3 per rush) but 34 of those yards came on their final possession when the Chargers were protecting against the pass and the 49ers were content to run. Before their final possession, the 49ers had been held to 31 yards on 11 carries, a 2.8 per rush average.
The Chargers had 452 yards from scrimmage to the 49ers 309. Many of the other stats were close (first downs, 21-18 in favor of the Chargers, time of possession 31-29 in favor of the 49ers, both teams were four of 11 on third downs). The biggest difference was the yardage, and that's reflected in the average per play from scrimmage. The 49ers were held to 5.8 yards per play while the Chargers had a robust 7.4 yards per play. The 49ers also had two turnovers to the Chargers one.
SEASON TO DATE: The Chargers won their fifth in their last six games. Their only loss in that span was their upset at the hands of the Falcons last week. Their 8-4 record at present guarantees them their first non-losing season in Hank Sienzant's four years at the helm. That record is vastly better than the 4-8 and 3-9 records they put up their last two years. Let's not even mention the 1-11 record they had after 12 games three years ago, other than to note their only win in that span came against the previously undefeated Rams in week nine.
The Chargers defense has come around of late. In their first six games, when they compiled a 3-3 record, the defense allowed 184 points or an average of 30.7 points per game. No opponent was held to fewer than 21 points. Over the past six games, with the aforementioned 5-1 record, the Chargers have allowed only 92 points, exactly half as many as in the first six games. That's an average of 15.3 points per game and the most they've allowed in that span has been 21.
On offense, the Chargers are first in the league with 6.2 yards per rush average, seventh in the league with 8.1 yards gained per pass attempt average, and third overall with 6.8 yards gained per play from scrimmage average. On defense, they are 17th with 4.3 yards allowed per rush average, ninth with 6.5 yards allowed per pass attempt average, and tenth overall with 5.4 yards allowed per play from scrimmage average.
With his 241-yard game, Courtland Sutton is now second in the league in receiving yards with 1151, first in average with 22.6 yards per reception, and first in touchdowns with 14.
Josh Jacobs, who didn't get a carry due to injury, is fourth in rushing yards with 1040, and second in average at 6.5 per rush. David Montgomery is 11th in rushing with 785 yards and sixth with a 5.2 average. Montgomery, with 172 yards over his last two games, is back on track for a thousand-yard rushing season. At his current pace, he'd finish with 1047 on the season.
Daniel Jones is eighth in the league among qualifiers with a 109.2 passer rating and his 27 touchdown passes puts him fifth in the league at present. Among all qualifiers, Jones has the highest percentage of touchdown passes per attempt at 9.8%, throwing 27 touchdowns in 275 attempts. His 14.4 yards per completion is third in the league.
NEXT MAN UP: The Chargers suffered two more key offensive injuries, Josh Jacobs and tackle Donovan Smith. Smith is questionable for next week, and Jacobs is out next week for certain and may not be back until week 15. Rookie Andre Dillard will get his first extended audition of the season in place of Smith. Dillard has only 23 plays from scrimmage under his belt to date and has already allowed one sack. There's some good news for the Chargers here too. They may get back tight end David Njoku in the next week or two. Njoku went down in the second game of the season with a broken ankle. His bone is mended and he's been working hard to get back into game shape. It may be this week he's activated.
A LOOK AHEAD: The now 7-5 49ers host the 8-4 Buffalo Bills next week in a huge game for both teams. Buffalo owns the sixth seed in the AFC at present, and the 49ers hold the seventh seed, just outside the playoffs. In an equally huge game, the 8-4 Chargers face the 7-5 Cardinals in Arizona. Arizona is the eighth seed at present, and beating the team immediately in front of them could go a long way toward getting them into the playoffs.
Posted on 29 Mar 2021 by Hank-Chargers
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