49ers, Garoppolo Route League's Best Defense for 4th straight Win

Week 16 - Entering Sunday's meeting with the playoff-bound (10-4) Jacksonville Jaguars, the (4-10) San Francisco 49ers would once again look to play the role of spoiler while also keeping their recent winning-streak alive. After throwing a wrench into the works of the playoff-hopeful Tennessee Titans a week ago, the 49ers would look to duplicate that success against a Jacksonville team still vying for a top 2 seed to secure a first-round BYE in the AFC's Wild Card round. But if the red-hot 49ers had any plans of increasing their winning-streak to four consecutive games, Jimmy Garoppolo and company would need to knock off the NFL's number one defense. Something Jimmy G. and the rest of the 49ers offense would have very little trouble with on Sunday as the Niners QB often spent the day carving the league's best defense like a Christmas day ham.

With San Francisco receiving the opening kickoff, Garoppolo would pick up right where he left off with a blazing start to orchestrate the 49ers' first opening-drive touchdown of the season, running 10-plays before Garoppolo rushed it in himself from the 1-yard line. Garoppolo would finish his first career rushing touchdown with an emphatic spike in the end zone while receiving daps and pounds from his Niner teammates. Even more impressive, San Francisco's opening-drive touchdown would also be the first surrendered by Jacksonville since Week 10 of the 2016 season. After setting an NFL record with 15 made field goals in three games the last three weeks, Niners kicker Robbie Gould who was named the NFC's special-teams Player of the Week for the second time this month, would have a much quieter day on Sunday. Having made 20 consecutive field goals since his last miss, Gould would be called upon for only one field goal as San Francisco scored on each of their first two possessions to take a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. And what an odd quarter it would be, as Jacksonville who was tied for the second best first quarter point-differential (+51) in the league entering Sunday, found themselves trailing by two scores against a San Francisco team boasting the NFL's worst first quarter point-differential (-49).

The opening minutes of the second quarter would be equally as unforgiving to the Jags as quarterback Blake Bortles had a pass intercepted and taken to the house to give the 49ers a 16-0 lead before Gould had his extra-point attempt blocked and returned for two-points to put Jacksonville on the board. Bortles' pick-six would snap a streak of 98 consecutive passes without an interception and would ultimately be a sign of bad things to come for the Jags QB, but not before a pair of Jacksonville touchdowns tied things up at 16-all. After a rushing touchdown by rookie running back Leonard Fournette, Garoppolo would again march his team down the field, but their plan to score would be halted as the 49er QB was pressured into lobbing up a pass that was intercepted in the end zone. Thanks to a bit of luck, Bortles would capitalize on the lone 49er turnover as his pass into the end zone bounced off of one receiver and into the lap of another with 14 seconds remaining, tying the game just before the half. The Jags' scoring barrage would continue into quarter number three as Jacksonville made it a 19-0 run to take their first lead of the game on kicker Josh Lambo's field goal.

The 49ers would open the second half with only the second three and out since Garoppolo was named the starter, but Jacksonville's lead would be short lived as Bortles was picked off by K'Waun Williams who made his first career interception worthy of the highlight reel. Several plays later, Garoppolo would find tight-end George Kittle for the touchdown. Setting things up for a wild fourth quarter that would see a combined five touchdowns scored, Garoppolo would kick things off by displaying some of his baseball skills with a sidearm pass into the end zone to receiver Trent Taylor. Looking to answer, Bortles would be picked off for a third time on Jacksonville's first play following the touchdown. Three plays later, Carlos Hyde would join the party with a 6-yard touchdown run to make it a 37-19 ballgame with under 9 minutes remaining. But just when it appeared the 49ers were going to run away with it, the Jags came storming back with a touchdown of their own, capped by a successful two-point conversion. Making things even more interesting, Jacksonville would recover the ensuing onside-kick. Three plays and 26-seconds later, the Jags would pull within four points as Bortles threw for his second touchdown pass of the afternoon.

Trailing 37-33, four points would be as close as Jacksonville would get down the final stretch as Lambo missed the extra-point and Jacksonville's ensuing onside-kick went out of bounds as tempers began to flare. Failing to keep their cool, the Jags defense would be called for their second unsportsmanlike penalty of the second half when defensive-tackle Malik Jackson was flagged for a headbutt, costing his team a crucial 15-yards. San Francisco would welcome the extra 15-yards with open arms as 49ers backup running back Matt Breida dealt the decisive blow, striking for pay dirt with a 30-yard rushing touchdown to send the Levi's faithful into a frenzy. With the clock hitting double-zero, the 49ers would walk away with the 44-33 victory, marking the first time an NFL game would finish with a final score of 44-33, playoffs included. The 44-point outburst by San Francisco is the most points allowed by Jacksonville this year and would mark the first game in which the 49ers scored 40+ points since their last meeting with the Jags back on Oct. 27, 2013 on the road in London.

As for the defense, former Jags linebacker coach and current 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, would get the best of the team he spent the last three seasons with as the San Francisco defense forced three turnovers with a trio of interceptions. A week after holding the opposition to under 100 yards rushing for the third consecutive week for the first time since 2013, the Niner D made it four straight after holding Fournette to under 50-yards on 18 rushing attempts. Throwing for 382 yards in the loss, Jags QB Blake Bortles would help his team amass more than 400 yards of offense for the fourth straight game. And though Garoppolo would throw for 140 fewer yards than his counterpart (242 yards on 21 of 30 pass attempts), he's the only QB in the NFL this year to log a QB rating of 100+ against the Jacksonville defense. With the win, Garoppolo improves to 6-0 in his career, the best start to an NFL career since Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 and becomes the first Niner QB to ever go 4-0 to start their 49er career. San Francisco fullback Kyle Juszczyk who is the only member of the 49ers to be named to this year's NFL Pro Bowl, would set a career-high in receiving yards in the first half of Sunday's game before finishing with a team-high 76-yards on 5 receptions, including a 44-yarder.

With the loss, the Jags fall to 2-11 all-time when playing in the Pacific time-zone and 10-5 on the year as the loss eliminates them from clinching a first-round BYE. As for whoever faces Jacksonville in the first round of the playoffs two weeks from now, a smart thing to do would be to dissect the footage of how Garoppolo and the 49er offense took them to school on Sunday as the mixture of play-action calls and constant men-in-motion played a key role in catching the Jags defense off-guard after they allowed a season-high 226 yards in the first half.

Week 17 Preview - Closing out the season on the road against a division rival, coach Kyle Shanahan will look to make it five straight victories as the 49ers pay a visit to the L.A. Coliseum to take on the (11-4) Rams. With both teams meeting back in Week 3, a 41-39 barn burner, both squads have taken on entirely different identities than the teams we saw in the Rams close victory on Thursday Night. While the Rams had yet to hit their stride and were still a team of mystery at the time of their Week 3 win, the 49ers were just three games into what would eventually be a nine-game losing streak. But with Los Angeles proving that they're for real to the tune of a 11-4 record and sending the franchise to their first playoff appearance since 2004 and the 49ers turning things around since the arrival of Jimmy Garoppolo, Sunday's regular season finale probably won't equate to what we should be seeing from these two young teams for many years to come moving forward. Claiming their first NFC Western Division crown since 2003, Rams head coach Sean McVay who's in his first year at the helm and has done as good a job with his team as anyone in the league this year, might lean towards sitting a few of his guys to avoid injury, but doesn't necessarily want to take them out of their rhythm either. Most notably QB Jared Goff and running back Todd Gurley III who's bounced back from a sophomore slump and has emerged as a true MVP candidate. Either way, the Rams defense figures to be yet another test for Jimmy G. and the suddenly streaking 49er offense who will look to close the season out on a strong note with their fifth straight victory. 


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