49ers news: Fred Warner leads 7 winners and 3 losers from the Niners Week 4 win

Week 4 felt like the final tune-up of the last preseason game for the San Francisco 49ers as they step into the meat and potatoes of the schedule coming up.

The next month will be critical, and the Niners have an opportunity to set themselves up to make a run in the second half of the season. Kyle Shanahan and the company did exactly what they were supposed to do against a New England Patriots team that was hardly competitive.

But that’s what the upper-echelon teams do. They step on the throats of incompetent teams. That’s why we have so many winners today.

Winners

Nick Bosa

Next Gen Stats credited Bosa with nine pressures and the quickest get-off of any pass rusher from a defender over the past seven seasons:

Bosa finished with one sack, but he was all over the place and could have easily had four. He was credited with five run stops and, per PFF, had the 14th-highest win percentage of any defensive linemen in Week 4.

Bosa was the best player on the field and a dominant force.

Maliek Collins

Collins finished tied for fifth in win percentage among all defensive linemen. He was a wrecking ball inside for the 49ers. Collins was credited with five pressures, two run stops, and 1.5 sacks. He lived in the Patriots backfield and, if you didn’t know any better, resembled Javon Hargrave. Collins has been a bright spot for the defense this year.

Brock Purdy

The quarterback usually gets too much blame during a loss and too much credit for a win, but Purdy has been as consistent as you could ask this season, which continued against New England.

Purdy finished third in EPA per dropback among quarterbacks this week. He only completed 55 percent of his passes, but we know how outdated that stat is and how little it tells the story. Despite being pressured the fourth-most of any quarterback this week, Purdy found ways to create and extend plays.

Fourteen of his 15 completions went for first downs. He had four completions over 20 yards, but Brock’s scrambling ability continues to bail the 49ers out. He ran for a pair of first downs when nobody was open and should have had a touchdown after a scramble had it not been for a terrible illegal shift call.

Brock looks to be in complete control of the offense and has a full grasp of what’s expected of him. He looks like one of the top quarterbacks in the league.

Sam Okuayinonu

The 49ers may have found their Arden Key/Charles Omenihu. Okuayinonu is a tremendous athlete. He’s flashed in each game leading up to Week 4 but was arguably the third-best defensive lineman for the Niners on the day.

On 18 snaps, Okuayinonu forced a fumble, had a pair of run stops, including a tackle for loss, and pressured the quarterback on 33 percent of his rushes.

Bosa is not surprised by what Okuayinonu is doing:

Okuayinonu didn’t have enough pass rushes to qualify, but he won 44.4 percent of his reps against the Patriots, which is absurd.

Kris Kocurek has another diamond in the rough. Okuayinonu was undersized coming out of the 2022 NFL Draft, measuring in the 10th percentile in height and 11th percentile in wingspan, but the athletic traits were always there. He was in the 81st percentile for the 40-yard dash, the 87th percentile in the vertical jump, the 94th percentile in the broad jump, and the 85th percentile in the bench press.

Jauan Jennings

It’s been a remarkable season for Jennings. Jennings led the Niners in receiving yards for the third time in four games.

Jennings caught all three of his receptions for first downs and had 20 yards after the catch. He was credited with a drop, but Jennings had a season-long 45-yard reception. Jennings has a 20+ yard reception in all four games.

Losers

Red zone offense

A month into the season, Kyle Shanahan has still yet to figure out what to do in the scoring zone without the reigning Offensive Player of the Year.

It’s puzzling to see a team with Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Jennings not reach the end zone more often than not once they cross the 20-yard line.

The 49ers went 2-for-4 in the red zone. Last year, every opening drive felt like it would be a touchdown. San Francisco went on an unreal streak. In Week 4, there was a 15-play drive that lasted nearly eight minutes but ended in a field goal.

Jordan Mason gained one yard on 1st & goal from the six. Deebo gained two yards on a short pass on second down. Then, on 3rd & 3 from the three-yard line, Purdy threw to Jennings on a double move that was out of his grasp.

Okuayinonu’s forced fumble gifted the Niners the ball at the Patriots’ 30. Mason ran for 16 yards, and within a couple of plays, the offense was inside New England’s 10-yard line. On 3rd & 4 from the Patriots’ 8-yard line, New England had bracket coverage to the single side against Aiyuk.

There was a free rusher, which Purdy somehow avoided but had to flee the pocket before eventually throwing it out of bounds.

The third red zone drive should have never happened because Mason caught a 38-yard touchdown pass. Kittle mossed three Patriot defenders after Juszczyk’s touchdown was also called back.

Mason took a 13-yard pass to the four-yard line on the final red zone drive before running untouched from four yards out.

We have a year and a half of data to suggest the 49ers have a historic mismatch out of the backfield in the passing game. Mason is not the same receiver as McCaffrey, but he’s shown plenty of elusiveness as a pass-catcher.

Shanahan might need to lean more on Mason as a receiver. Or, 85. Kittle has caught both of his red zone targets this year. A tight end is a quarterback’s best friend, and there aren’t many if any, second-level defenders who can run with Kittle.

During the next month, Kittle should be the top option in the red zone for the 49ers. Good things happen when he’s targeted. Plus, you can’t double-team a tight end based on alignment. If you do, it opens up ample opportunities on the other side, whether for the run or pass.

Aaron Banks

In what was a relatively clean game for the offensive line, Banks was the only member who struggled. Banks allowed four pressures, including a quarterback hit. He’s allowed multiple pressures in every game since Week 1, but Week 4 was comfortably Banks’s worst game from an efficiency standpoint. Plus, he committed his first penalty of the year.

Special teams

Mitch Wishnowsky only averaged 44.3 yards per punt, with none going inside the 20. Jacob Cowing fielded both his punt returns but couldn’t seem to shake free. He had a long of seven, and his other attempt went for a yard. Juzczyk looked comfortable fielding the ball.

But this is about Isaac Guerendo. You can’t put the ball on the ground. Shanahan said the team will go back to him, but a rookie making that mistake when you are 1-2 cannot happen.

Put Deebo deep, dare teams to kick to him, and take the ball at the 30-yard line.

Winners

Fred Warner

Throw at Warner at your own peril. Warner was targeted twice, and there were receptions on both plays. One ended in a three-yard reception. The other ended with Warner in the end zone.

Warner erases the most essential portion of the field, which does wonders for the rest of the defense. You are not going to make a living in this league completing passes outside of the numbers. Those are low-percentage throws. But when No. 54 is roaming between the hashes, you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Warner’s run defense has been extraordinary this season. He had four more run stops against the Patriots. Fred has been uber-aggressive, in a good way, and that has gone a long way for the Niners on early downs.

He should be on the podium for Defensive Player of the Year through the first month of the season.

Nick Sorensen

In Week 4, Sorensen was down his best defensive tackle and starting safety, and he lost players during the game— including Warner for a half.

Per Next Gen Stats, the 49ers blitzed 33.3 percent of the time, the 13th-highest rate for Week 4. In Week 3, that number was 20 percent. In Week 2, it was 12.5 percent. In Week 1, it was 9.7 percent.

As the weeks go on, Sorensen continues to dial up more and more pressure. You can afford to be aggressive when you have Warner in the middle and three competent cornerbacks in coverage.

These blitzes also create one-on-one opportunities for Bosa and Collins, who have proven they can win those battles consistently.

It’s been four games. Sorensen is still getting his feet wet and getting to know his personnel. He’s trending in the right direction, as is the 49ers defense.