Dealing and healing: 49ers have NFL’s best depth, and it’s being tested again
The striking image for the 49ers this season has not always been a warm one.
It is of a player clutching his knee, ankle or hamstring after getting tackled, torqued or worse. Man down, surrounded by trainers. Here comes the cart, and away goes the player.
How San Francisco can continue to manage these mounting injuries will dictate the rest of the way. The 49ers sustain player losses because they have the best depth in the league, leaving them with a fighter’s chance to get back into the playoffs.
San Francisco rolled the New England Patriots on Sunday 33-6, but the discussion from the locker room in Foxborough, Mass., wasn’t so much about the career day for running back Jeff Wilson, Jr., or the return of Jimmy Garoppolo to his NFL roots, or the defense that came up with four interceptions.
Nor was it so much on moving to 4-3 on the season, 3-0 on the East Coast and 10-1 in the last 11 on the road. It was the injuries, and it was tight end George Kittle talking about why, perhaps, the 49ers produced their second successive impressive outing after beating the Rams for their first home triumph last week.
They’re uniquely wired for this.
”It’s fun to be part of a team with a bunch of psychopaths,” Kittle said. “I fit in really great here.”
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was detailing the injury list to the media via Zoom the signal cut out. No trainers or cart needed this time.
But the cart did whisk away Wilson Jr. That he is in the NFL speaks of his resolve. He rushed for a career-high 112 yards and three touchdowns against the Patriots but wasn’t around to enjoy the end of it. His final score was when he went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter, and that has the 49ers concerned.
Backs with high-ankle sprains are replaced here by backs who go down with the same sort of injury.
”I know he’s hurting right now,” Shanahan said. “Hopefully, we’ll get better news on that (Monday).”
Wilson Jr. was the first 49er to score three rushing touchdowns on the road since Roger Craig against the Rams in 1988. He seized the chance to shine as Shanahan eased up on Jerrick McKinnon’s rushing load.
Kittle’s theme of fierceness was heavy on Wilson.
“Jeff Wilson goes to a dark place before every single game. You can tell he’s angry. He attacks it. He wants contact, and he deals contact. He wants pain. He deals pain,” Kittle said.
What’s not to appreciate about Wilson Jr.’s journey?
He grew up in a rural part in east Texas, loyal to football and music. When he wasn’t lugging tires around in the yard to build strength under the tutelage of his father, Jeff Wilson Sr., the kid would play drums in a gospel church. His father sang gospel nearby.
Wilson Jr. was the biggest name on the smallest campus — 380 — at Elkhart High School. He fielded few scholarship offers despite his 6-foot, 200-pound frame and 36 touchdowns as a senior. Wilson Jr. wound up at North Texas in Denton, where he powered for 3,204 yards and 32 touchdowns as a three-year starter.
He signed with the 49ers as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2018, and then he rode the roller coaster of NFL detours: waived, signed to the practice squad, promoted to active roster, waived, signed to practice squad, elevated to main roster. In July, Wilson Jr. was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 when he tested positive for the virus, sidelining him briefly.
The only thing slowing this guy down otherwise are his legs. Wilson Jr. was inactive last week against the Rams with a calf injury.
The 49ers keep losing backs but remain committed to their run-first design. The plan is to run, have Jimmy Garoppolo find targets such as Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel and let them take off after those receptions. Unless they get hurt, which is what happened to Samuel. He departed with a hamstring strain against the Patriots.
The 49ers are built to survive this, a credit to drafting and free-agent additions. They also reduced the Patriots to a shell of themselves, leaving us to wonder how good they can be when healthy.
Tom Brady left, after 20 decorated seasons, for Tampa Bay, replaced by one-time NFL MVP Cam Newton. Newton showed glimpses of his old self earlier this season but he never looked worse than he did Sunday. He passed for 98 yards and was intercepted three times, and the Patriots suffered their third consecutive loss for the first time since 2002 in falling to 2-4.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick found Garoppolo after the game on the field, and then sized up his team to the media.
“We were clearly out-coached, outplayed, just out-everything,” he said, “We didn’t perform well enough in any area: offense, defense, special teams, running, passing, defending the run, defend being the pass, ball security, tackling, blocking. None of it was good enough.”
The 49ers have been just good enough even while not being nearly healthy enough. There’s plenty of time left for that, too.
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 7:03 AM.