Pro Football Focus: Nuggets from the 49ers Game

Each week, Pro Football Focus takes a quick look back at each of the game's that took place in the previous week and analyzes them. Their review of the Browns vs. 49ers game is now live. After the jump is a recap of some of the interesting things had to say, along with my own commentary.

Side note: PFF also had a post that talked about why the 49ers' 17-yard catch-and-run to left tackle Joe Staley was able to work successfully.

• I tried to give Chris Ogbonnaya the benefit of the doubt since he was relatively new to the team, but PFF had no qualms with trashing his performance. They criticized the following from his performance: he had a low yards per carry average (3.4), he did not break any tackles, he dropped a pass, and lost a fumble, and he gave up two sacks in pass protection. When you put it like that, it almost makes you wonder why I didn't name him the goat of the game.
   
• While they didn't say Greg Little had a terrible performance, they graded him low because he dropped a third down pass that would've gone for a first down, and for the amount of times he was targeted, his final stat line was not anything to crow about.
   
• Even though it'd be nice to see Joe Haden pitch a shutout, he was still "shut down" as he only allowed two receptions and also defended a pass.
   
• I am going to highlight this final one in full, because it is insightful as to how our rookie defensive linemen struggled against the run:
  

  In past games Jabaal Sheard (-2.3 run defense) and Phil Taylor (-1.8 run defense) have earned praise for how well they’ve been playing in the run; but they were no match for the 49ers offense. The 49ers used multiple TE sets 29 times, which often involved Alex Boone lining up as a TE on the right side. It was on these plays that Sheard was pushed to the inside while Gore ran to the outside. While running to the right end, Gore had seven carries for 35 yards and a touchdown. Sheard did pick up three defensive stops, but this is the most I can recall seeing him pushed. As for Taylor, he didn’t have a stop in the run game for the second straight game. He didn’t have nearly as many negative plays as Sheard, but was a relative non factor. That amazing start to the season seems like it owes more to Clint Boling than anything else at this point.