The 49ers walked out of Week 3 with a 36-30 win over the Cardinals, a 3-0 record, and a growing list of bodies to monitor. That’s the tradeoff right now in San Francisco: the results keep coming, but the injury report keeps getting longer.
Brock Purdy keeps making the conversation around him smaller and smaller. He finished 15-of-27 for 297 yards and four touchdowns, giving him nine passing scores through three weeks, the most in the league. He still hasn’t been sacked this season, and he looked especially sharp late, after both Mike Evans and Trent Williams left the game.
That late stretch mattered, because there was a time when one of the loudest knocks on Purdy was that he wouldn’t answer when the game got messy. That argument is fading fast.
The receiver room, though, is taking hits that are hard to ignore. Evans went down with what’s been reported as a rib strain, and the 49ers are already without Ricky Pearsall for the season because of a knee injury.
De’Zhaun Stribling is expected to miss about 10 weeks with an ankle injury, and Demarcus Robinson is also dealing with a high-ankle sprain. San Francisco has managed so far, but Evans clearly changed the way the offense functioned in the first half, and the absence now looms larger.
That’s where Deebo Samuel comes in. The offseason re-signing looked like a depth move at the time, something to stabilize the group behind Evans and Stribling.
In Week 3, Samuel looked like much more than that. He was part of the 80-yard touchdown sequence when Evans flipped him the ball, and he finished with 94 all-purpose yards.
With Evans out, Samuel’s role becomes even more important if San Francisco wants to keep the offense humming.
Jordan Watkins also made the most of a chance that didn’t look guaranteed a month ago. The second-year receiver had been on the bubble after an uneven preseason and limited value on special teams, but he got on the field after sitting out Week 2 and caught two passes for 60 yards.
Christian McCaffrey put it plainly after the game: "He's another guy who when his number's called, he just shows up," McCaffrey said of Watkins postgame. "He'll be a guy that'll continue to get better, continue to help us.
He's got great speed, great hands, runs great routes."
Not everything was clean, though. Special teams gave San Francisco some serious flashbacks.
Eddy Pineiro missed two extra points, and Siran Neal let a punt bounce off his foot and back to the Cardinals, a mistake that handed Arizona another chance to hang around. The Niners survived it, but it was the kind of sequence that can turn a comfortable win into a tight finish.
The bigger picture is even better for San Francisco. The 49ers now sit alone atop the NFC West at 3-0, while the Seahawks are 2-1 and both the Rams and Cardinals are 1-2. Seattle lost to the Washington Commanders, and the Rams fell to the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football, leaving the 49ers with two division wins already in hand.
There’s still concern along the offensive line, especially with Williams exiting in the second half and not returning. Vederian Lowe filled in, and San Francisco’s rushing attack still hasn’t looked as explosive as it has in past years. Even so, Purdy not taking a sack yet this season says plenty about how well the line has held up, especially with questions at left guard, center and right tackle.
The real tests are coming soon, with the Broncos and Seahawks on deck in Weeks 4 and 5. For now, though, the 49ers are undefeated, in first place, and still finding ways to win even while the injuries pile up.
In Other News...
Deebo Samuel Just Had One Of The Strangest Stat Lines Ever
Deebo Samuel delivered one of the oddest box-score quirks youll ever see in the 49ers win over the Cardinals, turning an 80-yard hook-and-ladder into a touchdown without officially catching a pass. It was the kind of play that reminded everyone how uniquely dangerous San Francisco can be when Samuel is lined up all over the field and the ball starts moving side to side.
Even stranger, the output came with a bit of history attached. Samuel finished with the most receiving yards in an NFL game without a reception, topping a mark that had stood since 1961, and he added two rushing attempts for 14 yards. For a player whose value often comes from his versatility, this was a rare line that fit the eye test, the highlight reel and the record book all at once. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Win Came With A Bigger Brock Purdy Concern
The 49ers got the result they needed Sunday, outlasting the Cardinals 36-30 in a game that had plenty of familiar San Francisco fingerprints on it. Brock Purdy handled the offense well despite the injury issues around him, George Kittle delivered a pair of touchdowns, Christian McCaffrey found the end zone on the ground, and Fred Warner again set the tone on defense with 17 tackles.
Still, the win came with the kind of discomfort that can linger beyond the final score. Mike Evans exited with a rib strain, Trent Williams was among the key injuries affecting the passing game, and Dre Greenlaw also left with a quad issue, leaving the 49ers to sort through what Sunday cost them as much as what it gave them. For a team that keeps finding ways to win, the bigger question now is how long it can keep doing it while pieces keep dropping out. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Win Came With A Bigger Concern Fans Could Feel
The 49ers got off to a fast start Sunday with a hook-and-ladder touchdown involving Deebo Samuel and Mike Evans, then kept stacking points even as the game started to turn into something more uneasy. Christian McCaffrey added a touchdown of his own, and the defense mixed in stops while the Cardinals found enough offense to stay around the fight, leaving San Francisco ahead at halftime with the kind of lead that can still feel fragile.
What made the win feel bigger than the scoreboard was the injury picture developing around it. Deommodore Lenoir and Mike Evans were among the players who dealt with issues, and for a team trying to build rhythm while scoring in spurts and trading field goals, the concern was impossible to ignore. The 49ers walked into the locker room with control of the game, but also with the kind of health questions that can linger long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]