49ers micro minute: In Seattle, Charlie Woerner, Ambry Thomas, and Nick Bosa stand out.
On Thursday, the 49ers showed that they were once again in control of the clock, averaging 5.1 yards on 31 carries and holding the ball for over ten minutes longer than the rival Seahawks.
The 49ers defense saw the field for just 56 snaps in Seattle, four days after playing 71 with the Tampa Bay Bucs. There were sixty-six plays for the offense.
In an optimistic indicator of his concussion rehabilitation, Nick Bosa returned to the field on Wednesday in the San Francisco 49ers Wild Card victory against the Dallas Cowboys.
With the complexity of brain injuries, nothing can be assured, but San Francisco has felt reasonably hopeful that the edge rusher could return to the field before Saturday’s Divisional Round clash against the Packers of Green Bay.
The 49ers avoided one long-standing rivalry-filled game, and they will face another one this Saturday when they travel to Lambeau Field to play the top-seeded Wisconsin Packers.
The two teams will play each other again on Saturday in the Divisional Round. The first meeting between them this season ended in a painful last-minute loss that sent San Francisco reeling after four straight defeats and made them realize how little hope they had for the postseason.
After finishing with 114 yards for the Seahawks, McCaffrey is expected to keep his NFL rushing lead.
This is the first time he has reached 100 yards since October 1st (Arizona). This is his fourth 100-yard game of the season.
In addition, he tallied his 15th and 16th touchdowns during that campaign, breaking Roger Craig’s record of 15 touchdowns in a single 49ers season.
In addition to setting a 49ers single-season record, his 11 running touchdowns are also one more than those of Frank Gore (2009), Derek Loville (1995), and Ricky Watters (1993) combined.
Perhaps the play of the season for Jennings was the third-down reception he made at the end of the first quarter.
Three yards shy of the first-down marker, the Seahawks appeared to have him tied down by two defensive backs.
But Jennings was able to break loose and gain the first down, prolonging the drive that would result in a score.
The play demonstrated how the teams differed on third down. While the Seahawks only converted 27.3% of their third-down attempts, the 49ers converted 45.5% of their attempts.
According to Scott Bair on the Falcons’ official website, Oliver (knee) practiced on Wednesday after being placed back on injured reserve.
After tearing his ACL in Week 4 of the previous season, Oliver was sidelined during minicamp and resumed full-team workouts at the commencement of training camp.
Despite not playing in the team’s opening two exhibition games, he saw 31 defensive snaps in the season’s penultimate game.
Still, the organization put him on injured reserve (IR) before the 53-man roster cutoff in order to give him more time to finish his rehabilitation.
Just over a year after the injury first occurred, he now seems prepared to move past the problem. If he does not return t IR for the remainder of the campaign, he will have 21 days to rejoin the active roster.