Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick exploited San Francisco's woes at cornerback, attacking recently promoted corner Brian Allen in the 49ers Week 5 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Allen got the start ahead of Ahkello Witherspoon, who has been working his way back from a hamstring injury. Fitzpatrick targeted Allen's direction on big plays in back-to-back drives. The first, a 47-yard bomb to Preston Williams to open up the game and move the Dolphins into 49ers territory. The second was a 28-yard pass to DeVante Parker. Both drives resulted in touchdowns for Miami.
The 49ers entered the contest without Emmanuel Moseley (concussion) and Dontae Johnson (groin), in addition to K'Waun Williams (knee, hip) joining Richard Sherman (calf) on Injured Reserve.
Moseley missed back-to-back games with a concussion suffered in Week 3. After seeing a specialist over the last week, Kyle Shanahan appears "optimistic" that the cornerback is nearing a return.
Sherman on the other hand, still has several question marks surrounding his return. The veteran missed the last four games after being placed on Injured Reserve with a calf injury. The hope was for Sherman to return ahead of the 49ers divisional match against the Los Angeles Rams, however a setback may have derailed the corner's impending return.
"The healing hasn't gone the way we were hoping for," Shanahan said on Monday. "I know we're gonna try a few different procedures this week, but I know I'm not counting on this week. So, we'll see how that goes with the new stuff we're going to try."
The team plans to give the corner non-surgical shots in his calf this week to attempt to alleviate the inflammation he has been dealing with.
Just as the 49ers linebacking corps returned to full strength with the return of Dre Greenlaw, Kwon Alexander could miss some time with what is believed to be an ankle sprain. The team hasn't determined the severity of Alexander's injury, however, will further evaluate the linebacker when the team returns to the facility on Wednesday. If his injury is more severe than the team anticipates (high-ankle sprain), Alexander is a likely candidate for short-term Injured Reserve.
"We could be wrong, but right now (the 49ers medical staff) told me that they believe it's a high ankle sprain. They're not sure the severity of it. It could be a minor one," Shanahan said. "They think it possibly could be a minor one, I don't know. They have to do more work today on it and we'll have an answer on that for Wednesday."
D.J. Jones suffered an eye injury during Sunday's game and did not return to the field. The 49ers nose tackle is cleared to return to the field and is expected to be on hand when the team reconvenes for practice on Wednesday.
