FedEx Field was reminiscent of a slip-and-slide during Sunday's 9-0 victory over the Washington Redskins. Both teams struggled to get drives going in the muddy clash where San Francisco's defense pitched its first shutout since Week 1 of the 2016 season. Here are 12 takeaways as the 49ers improve to 6-0 on the season:
1. Washington opened the game with 12-straight carries to move down into 49ers territory. On 3rd-and-8, Nick Bosa read a shovel pass to Steven Sims Jr. and quickly met the receiver for a loss of yards. The drive resulted in a 39-yard missed field goal to give Jimmy Garoppolo and Co. the ball.
2. On the 49ers second drive of the day, Garoppolo beat Washington's defense with his feet. The quarterback scrambled twice, the first, an 11-yard gain where he shook off multiple defenders en route to a first down. The second, Garoppolo evaded several tackles to pick up 6 yards. Garoppolo led the team in rushing for the majority of the first half. The quarterback finished the game 12-of-21 passing for 151 yards to go along with 20 yards on the ground.
3. San Francisco's defense came up big yet again on a fourth down stop. Redskins running back Adrian Peterson took the handoff and attempted to side step San Francisco's defense and was immediately swallowed up by second-year defense lineman Jullian Taylor for a turnover on downs. Last week against the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco didn't allow a single third or fourth down conversion.
4. Speaking of Taylor, he's coming off of an impressive outing in place of an injured D.J. Jones (hamstring). Taylor recorded his first-career fumble recovery. Late in the third quarter as Washington drove into San Francisco territory, Kwon Alexander forced a Peterson fumble that was recovered by Taylor.
"We've got a lot of confidence in Jullian," Kyle Shanahan said postgame. "He never knows each week whether he's going to be up or not. It's based off other positions and how we're going to play that game. It was a huge turning point getting that turnover. I think we had them in first or second and long on that drive. That's when we got one of our two penalties I think, which gave them the first down and gave them some momentum. And then Jullian to get that fumble. I was going to give him the game ball, but he didn't score. So I told him he had to score to get one because it wasn't easy to score. I'm just joking. He did a helluva job and that was a big turning point in the game."
5. Dee Ford picked up his 4.5 sack of the season. On 3rd-and-6, Ford took advantage of a missed snap cadence by Morgan Moses that delivered an open lane to Case Keenum. Ford now has 35 on his career.
6. The 49ers broke their streak of six-straight games with a touchdown on their first drive of the second half. Garoppolo connected on a beautiful 28-yarder to Kendrick Bourne to move the 49ers into Redskins territory. On 4th-and-5, Garoppolo took a shot downfield on a pass intended for Dante Pettis and was intercepted by safety Troy Apke. Its worth noting, Garoppolo went 8-for-8 following the interception.
7. The Redskins ensuing drive was cut short following a sack by Arik Armstead on 3rd-and-5. Armstead also added three tackles and several run stops on the day.
8. San Francisco's first points of the game came on a Robbie Gould 28-yard field goal. Garoppolo and the 49ers ran an 8-play 67-yard drive that was highlighted by a 40-yard catch-and-run by Richie James Jr., followed by a 15-yard reception by Bourne. Bourne made several impressive catches on Sunday and finished the game with a team-high 69 yards on three receptions.
9. Garoppolo connected with George Kittle on multiple third-down throws, including a 17-yarder late in the third quarter to extend San Francisco's drive. With Trent Taylor on Injured Reserve with a foot injury, Kittle appears to be his go-to target to move the chains. Kittle finished the contest with three receptions for 38 yards.
10. San Francisco's defense held the Redskins to 50 net passing yards and 3-of-9 on third down. Sunday marked the 49ers third straight contest holding their opponent to under 200 total yards of offense.
11. Bosa solidified the Week 7 victory with a sack on Keenum as the clock hit zero. The entire defense joined the rookie with a victory slide on the field to cap off the win. Bosa finished the game with a team-high seven tackles, a quarterback hit and four tackles for loss to go along with the sack.
12. Of note, running back Matt Breida was evaluated with a head injury in the third quarter and was later cleared. Marquise Goodwin also left the game with a head injury and was cleared from concussion protocol.
