The 49ers' vaunted pass rush has cooled off.
Although San Francisco is fifth in the NFL with 47 sacks this season, the 49ers just aren't generating pressure on opposing quarterbacks at the same rate they were earlier this season. Through the first eight weeks of the 2019 campaign, NFL Next Gen Stats found that the Niners pressured QBs on the second-highest percentage of dropbacks (33.6 percent).
From Week 9 onward, the 49ers dropped to 29th with pressures on 20.6 percent of dropbacks. If San Francisco is going to clinch the NFC West title -- and the conference's top seed -- in Sunday's winner-take-all showdown with the Seattle Seahawks, the pass rush needs to return to form in Seattle, according to NBC Sports' "Sunday Night Football" color commentator Cris Collinsworth.
"[The] 49ers rush has not been what it was early in the year," Collinsworth told NBC Sports Northwest's Joe Fann earlier this week. "And they have a lot of guys -- I think four guys over six sacks this season. And they really need to have a day. Without [injured left tackle Duane Brown] over here with the Seahawks, they need to disrupt and get Russell Wilson on the ground."
The 49ers will once again be without edge rusher Dee Ford (quadriceps, hamstring) on Sunday. Ford has not played since playing just six percent of the defensive snaps in Week 14, and he missed two games prior to then. San Francisco acquired Ford -- and drafted Nick Bosa No. 2 overall -- in order to bolster the pass rush, so his absence looms large over the 49ers' regular-season finale.
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Even if Ford had played, containing Seahawks QB Russell Wilson is a challenge in and of itself. The 49ers sacked Wilson five times in a Week 10 loss, holding him to what was his second-lowest passer rating of the season at the time.
Repeating that is easier said than done, according to Collinsworth.
"There’s a big difference between getting close to Russell Wilson is different than getting him on the ground," Collinsworth said. "The teams that can get him on the ground and kill four or five drives with those kinds of plays, they have a good chance of beating them. And, I’ve also seen teams that were all over him and got hands on him and sacked him one time and you’re going to lose if you do that. It’s catch me if you can with Russell Wilson."
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December 27, 2019 at 09:35PM
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Why Collinsworth believes 49ers' pass rush must step up - NBCSports.com
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