SANTA CLARA - The 49ers are back home now, done with the weirdness of opening the season in Melbourne and ready for a more familiar kind of Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. After knocking off the Super Bowl-favorite Los Angeles Rams 27-7, they return to their own building for three straight games, beginning with a visit from the Miami Dolphins.
There’s no shortage of noise around this one, but Fred Warner made the assignment sound simple during Friday’s pre-practice stretch: “FOOTBALL!”
That’s the mindset the 49ers need, because this is not just a walk-through against a team in transition. Miami arrives with a first-year coach in Jeff Hafley, a new quarterback in Malik Willis and the NFL’s youngest roster, while the 49ers bring an older, more decorated group into a game they’re favored to win by 13 ½ points. Kyle Shanahan has already spent the week making sure his team understands the challenge.
“The greatness in our team is having a head coach like Kyle Shanahan. He paints the picture perfectly for the situation week to week,” Warner said, “and he did that this week to let us know the challenge the Dolphins present and the challenge we have as a team to get better.”
That warning matters, especially with last season’s reminder still hanging around. The 49ers opened 2-0 on the road a year ago, then came home and dropped games as favorites against Arizona and Jacksonville.
A big part of avoiding that kind of slip starts with Willis. Miami brought him in on a three-year, $67.5 million deal to replace Tua Tagovailoa, and his first outing was rough: five sacks, 11 hits and a 27-13 loss at Las Vegas. The 49ers didn’t record a sack against the Rams, but they did get enough pressure from Nick Bosa, Keion White and Osa Odighizuwa to keep Matthew Stafford uncomfortable.
Willis is also the kind of quarterback who can hurt you when the pocket breaks down. He led Miami with 39 rushing yards in Week 1 and scored the Dolphins’ only touchdown on a 14-yard run. Across his career, he has run for 444 yards and five touchdowns while passing for 1,542 yards with six interceptions and four touchdowns, and he is 3-4 as a starter.
That puts extra weight on the 49ers’ defense, especially against De’Von Achane. Miami’s running back had 11 carries for 36 yards and added 30 receiving yards in the opener, but the bigger picture is the season he just finished: 1,350 rushing yards and eight touchdowns in a Pro Bowl year. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris knows exactly what makes Achane dangerous.
“He gets mistaken that he’s an outside runner, but he lowers his pads, he runs for the extra yards, he does the special things that we talk about in running where he makes (extra yards),” Morris said. “Then, if you’re not careful, he can make a really explosive run or catch. Presents a lot of challenges for us.”
On the other side, Brock Purdy is coming off a sharp opener of his own, one in which he threw three touchdowns and made one costly mistake with a second-quarter interception. The Dolphins’ best shot at slowing the 49ers may be creating more of those turnovers. Miami got its lone touchdown against the Raiders after an interception set up the drive.
Purdy will also have to deal with a pass rush missing Chop Robinson, who is out with a concussion, but Josh Uche along with ex-49ers Cle Ferrell and Rob Beal Jr. are still part of the problem. And if anyone needs a reminder of how Purdy handles pressure, George Kittle has one saved from Dec. 4, 2022.
Purdy led the 49ers to a 33-17 win that day and showed exactly the kind of confidence that has become his calling card. Kittle still remembers the play.
Said Kittle: “They had a cover-0 blitz, I had a six-step slant that if you threw it at the time of the play, you should beat any blitz. He stepped into it, whipped it, and he got smoked by Jaelan Phillips.
It’s one of those routes, you turn around and the ball is hitting you in the sternum. I was like, ‘Alright, I can play with this.
This is awesome, he hit me in the chest.’ Then I saw the replay and was like, ‘Oh (crap), good job Brock.’
His confidence sky rockets but everyone around him has their confidence sky rocketed.”
The other place the 49ers want to keep building is the ground game. Last season’s 3.8 yards per carry needed a reset, and Week 1 brought one behind Christian McCaffrey and rookie Kaelon Black. McCaffrey ran for 68 yards, Black for 65, and the combination gave the offense a better rhythm.
Black is now listed as questionable because of a groin injury that limited him in the past two practices, but McCaffrey is healthy. Trent Williams said the offense can lean on both backs, even if the roles aren’t identical.
“Both run this offense and scheme really, really well. Everyone knows what Christian does in the pass game, and K.B. is not in a situation where we have to use him as much, because Christian is one of the best to ever do it,” Williams said.
“(Black) is capable. We just don’t have to.”
In Other News...
Brock Purdy Gets A Meaningful Reminder Against Miami This Week
Before Brock Purdy became the 49ers answer at quarterback, Miami offered one of the first real reminders of what he could handle. In Week 7 of the 2022 season, he came off the bench for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo and helped San Francisco beat the Dolphins 33-17, taking on a defense that kept coming after him and still finding ways to stay poised.
Purdy finished that afternoon with a calm, efficient performance that helped reinforce why the 49ers trusted him so quickly. He kept making quick decisions against the blitz and carried that momentum into the rest of his rookie season, long before injuries in the NFC Championship Game finally ended it. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Voice Greg Papa Faces A Serious Fight Fans Didn't Expect
Greg Papa, the longtime voice of 49ers radio broadcasts, is in the middle of a far more serious battle than anything that has played out on the field. He is hospitalized with advanced heart failure, another major health setback after already going through B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a bone marrow transplant, and the situation has forced him to weigh several treatment paths as he confronts the next stage of his recovery.
For listeners who have come to rely on Papas presence over the years, the news lands hard because it comes with the uncertainty of what happens next. He is considering medication, an LVAD pump or a heart transplant, but even amid that difficult backdrop, Papa has made clear he wants to fight through it and get back behind the microphone. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Fans Have A Lot Riding On These Week 2 Results
Week 2 has already given 49ers fans plenty to track beyond their own box score, because the NFC playoff race is getting shaped in real time by what happens elsewhere. Buffalos win over Detroit mattered in the broader conference picture, and Minnesotas unsettled quarterback situation only adds another layer to the standings watch, while games involving Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Arizona and the Los Angeles Rams all carry some sort of ripple effect for San Francisco.
For a team with postseason and seeding ambitions, the appeal here is simple: every result has a downstream consequence, whether it helps or hurts the 49ers path later on. The tricky part for fans is sorting through which matchups deserve a cheer and which ones are best left to play out, since the Week 2 slate could leave San Francisco in a better position, or tighten the race in ways that make the coming weeks even more important. [Read more 🡒]