49ers-Seahawks count: Deebo Samuel leads NFL in receiving yards and YAC

We’ll know more about Jimmy Garoppolo’s calf injury today. Jimmy did not return to the game as he was unable to fend off that right calf injury when he attempted to return to the game.

Suppose Garoppolo has been stepped on and feels an injury to his Achilles … poor guy. It’s Trey Lance’s time long before San Francisco expects it. Let’s take a look at the number of snaps on Sunday.

Offense – 76 possible snaps

Every time we’ve done that we’ve celebrated how the offense and the quarterback have played each set. Sadly, that ended on Sunday when Trent Williams and Garoppolo left the game with separate injuries.

On the one hand, I like the way the offense rotates receivers between Mohamed Sanu, Trent Sherfield and Jauan Jennings. On the other hand, Brandon Aiyuk not being on the field as the offense drove late in the game was a headache.

Trey Sermon watched and handled the ball much better. He was decisive, which was a problem last week. Once again, Sermon faced many defenders in the box, as 36% of his runs came with eight or more Seahawks in the box.

Another good sign for Sermon is that 42% of his litters were more expensive than expected. It was good for the ninth place in the NFL this week among runners with more than 15 races.

I thought the offensive line was protecting well, but there were a few plays that stood out like a sore thumb. Laken Tomlinson allowing a free runner midway through the first half was a killer. Mike McGlinchey had a call on hold when he was 28-13 and could easily have had a second:

Deebo Samuel is a superstar. In four games, Samuel leads the NFL in receiving yards (490) and catch yards (266). Plus, he’s fifth in the NFL in yards per reception (17.5).

Samuel is responsible for 36% of the 49ers’ aerial work sites. He exceeded his YAC expectations by 4.3 yards, which is comfortably the first in the NFL for any receiver with over 15 receptions.

Defense – 56 possible snap counts

You do a great job if you keep the attack at 56 snaps. Unfortunately, after being put in a few bad places and not relying much on a ride here and there, the 49ers defense ran out of gas.

Al-Shaair was all and then some for the defense. Yes, he gave up a touchdown. Yes, he was put in a terrible situation having to keep DK Metcalf.

Two third-base penalties against Dee Ford and Dr. Kirkpatrick – two players deemed to have been flagged – came at the most inopportune time.

As for Ford, 21% are on the low end this season. You wonder how he’s holding up. Then again, with Seattle up two scores, the 49ers might have known they weren’t going to throw the ball often.

I loved what we saw from Emmanuel Moseley. He turned out to be a competitor. It won’t be any easier as Moseley is now getting DeAndre Hopkins. A three-game Davante Adams – Metcalf – Hopkins streak is as difficult as it gets.

Marcell Harris playing 59% of the snaps feels high. In theory, you want his athleticism and his aggressiveness on the court. However, I’m not sure he’s the player that teams don’t take advantage of in the racing game.

No problem this week as to the importance of the defensive line on the field. Instead of looking at it like Bosa played 70% of the snaps, look like he played 39 snaps. It was nice to see Hurst get to the heart of the matter. Penalties aside, I thought this unit was playing well.

The lack of execution and discipline took its toll on the Niners. You can say the same for errors on special teams. More on this unit later. They were bad enough to deserve a stand-alone position.