The 49ers are still unbeaten, and Sunday brought another reminder of why their offense keeps rolling even when it takes hits. Wide receiver Mike Evans played through a rib injury, yet still came through as a major part of the attack. Veteran linebacker Fred Warner said Evans has a kind of energy that shows up before the ball is even snapped.
“Just a walking aura,” Warner said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “I mean, I can’t help it.
Like, I’m on the sideline watching, dude, crazy stuff. I’m like, ‘We have Mike Evans.’
Like, I can’t believe it. He’s unreal.
He really doesn’t say anything. He just shows up every week and just works and then goes out there on Sunday and just dominates you.
So, it’s unbelievable. He’s great.”
General manager John Lynch also pointed to another tough blow for San Francisco: the Week 4 knee injury that sidelined fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Lynch described what the loss means for the offense and made it clear how much Juszczyk does beyond the obvious box score stuff.
“It’s a significant loss. His factor grade is off the charts.
He’s a guy who, his processing, his ability to see things, his ability to adjust, his versatility, it’s all really, really important to us.” (KNBR)
Lynch added that the offensive line has stepped up and said the offense as a whole has been doing a better job staying on schedule. He credited multiple parts of the unit for that stability.
“It’s collective. It’s the run game.
It’s third downs. It’s Brock getting the ball out.
It’s our receivers being where they need to be.” (KNBR)
In Arizona, the Cardinals are sitting at 1-4 under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur, and he’s not entertaining a quarterback switch. After the team’s latest loss, LaFleur said Jacoby Brissett wasn’t the reason things went wrong.
“I’ve got way too many other things, you know, that I need to correct right now,” LaFleur told reporters. “Jacoby [Brissett] was not the problem.
We were a problem as a team today. And, again, that starts with me.”
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