JACKSONVILLE – On a cross country trip on a short week and an early kickoff, the San Francisco 49ers took care of business on the road in a commanding 30-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The 49ers led wire-to-wire, and by as many as 27 points, prior to a garbage time touchdown by Jaguars running back James Robinson. The victory evens out San Francisco's record to .500 now 11 weeks into the season.
"I think we've been good on the road. I think we've been good going to the East Coast," Kyle Shanahan said postgame. "We knew how much our backs were against the wall before that Rams game. And we also knew that meant nothing if we couldn't win today. I get how it looks, but I don't think it was very hard to get the guys attention and get ready to play. We knew how that felt when we were losing games and how much better it felt against the Rams and we didn't want that to end today."
Here are some notes from Sunday's rout:
1st Half Notes
For the second-straight week, the 49ers opened the contest with a lengthy drive. Last week against the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco marched down the field in an 18-play, 93-yard drive that chipped just over 11 minutes off the clock. On Sunday, the 49ers led a 20-play, 87-yard drive that lasted 13:05 and resulted in a Robbie Gould field goal.
The 20-play drive marked the longest scoring drive in the NFL since 2000.
San Francisco's defense forced a quick three-and-out on the Jaguars opening drive and the 49ers offense responded by orchestrating a 7-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in a Deebo Samuel 25-yard rushing score.
Samuel's score marked his third rushing touchdown of the season. He currently has the third-most rushing touchdowns for a wide receiver in NFL history behind only Tavon Austin (4, 2015) and Denard Robinson (4, 2014). Samuel also recorded three rushing touchdowns during the 49ers 2019 season.
On Jacksonville's second drive, the 49ers defense followed up with a takeaway on the first play of the series. On a pass from Trevor Lawrence to Laviska Shenault Jr., cornerback Josh Norman punched the ball out of the wideout's hands as it was recovered by linebacker Fred Warner.
Norman's forced fumble marked his fifth of the season, a league high.
The turnover set the 49ers up in Jaguars territory where two penalties moved the 49ers to Jacksonville's 14. On 3rd-and-goal from the Jaguars 6 yard line, Garoppolo connected with Brandon Aiyuk for a touchdown to extend San Francisco's lead 17-0.
2nd Half Notes
Jacksonville's offense opened the second half and had another quick three-and-out. San Francisco went on to punch their third score of the game, this time, to tight end George Kittle.
On a 3rd-and-goal, Garoppolo tossed an incomplete pass in the end zone to left tackle Trent Williams who was in double coverage. On fourth down, Garoppolo instead looked to his tight end for a 1-yard score to put San Francisco up, 27-3.
The 49ers first punt of the day didn't come until under three minutes left in the third quarter.
Nick Bosa earned his ninth and 10th sacks of the season just three plays apart from one another. At the top of the fourth quarter, Bosa swam past the Jaguars right tackle and leveled Lawrence for a loss of five yards. Two plays later, he chased the rookie quarterback out of the pocket to the sideline for his second sack and a 1-yard loss. He also finished the day with three solo tackles.
As if things weren't already rough for Jacksonville, a muffed punt return by Jaguars wideout Tavon Austin was recovered by 49ers wide receiver Trent Sherfield. The turnover led to another Gould field goal to extend San Francisco's lead to 30-3.
The 49ers have won both of their last two matchups by at least 20 points with noteworthy outings from all sides of the ball. San Francisco also notched two takeaways in back-to-back games.
Player Notes
- Garoppolo finished another clean outing, completing 16-of-22 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns for a quarterback rating of 126.3, a season high. With 22 yards on Sunday, Garoppolo surpassed 10,000-career passing yards.
- Despite catching just one pass on the day, Samuel led the team with 79 rushing yards, a career high, and a score.
"When he runs the ball that well it's pretty impressive to have," Shanahan said. "I think he had almost ten yards a carry and eight runs and his longest was 24. Usually when a receiver does that it's because they have one 70 yarder and Deebo is extremely efficient. He got everything and more on those looks. I think he had one real bad look that he protected the ball and got down."
- Brandon Aiyuk was perfect on the day, catching all seven of his targets for a team-high 85 yards.
- In addition to Bosa, defensive lineman Arden Key also notched a sack, his third of the season.
- Lawrence completed 16-of-25 passes for 158 yards and no touchdowns for an 81.8 passer rating.
- The 49ers defense limited Jacksonville's 11th-ranked rushing offense to just 54 net yards on the day.
- Davontae Harris left the game with a knee injury and did not return.
Team Notes
The 49ers outperformed Jacksonville in every stat. Here's a look at how the game shaped out:
| Stat | SF | JAX |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 25 | 14 |
| Third Downs | 6-12 | 5-11 |
| Total Net Yards | 333 | 200 |
| Offensive Plays | 66 | 44 |
| Yards Per Play | 5.0 | 4.5 |
| Rushing Net | 171 | 54 |
| Passing Net | 162 | 146 |
| Penalties | 1 (12) | 8 (56) |
| Turnovers | 0 | 2 |
| Punts | 2 (44.0) | 4 (48.3) |
| Time of Possession | 38:22 | 21:38 |
