`Healthy’ 49ers gear up for stretch run after one-sided loss to Rams

Coach Kyle Shanahan had to catch himself when opening his postgame comments with two words which haven t been associated with the ers this season and then did it again with local reporters Monday in his weekly conference call No injuries No new injuries in a - loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams That won t bring back Nick Bosa Fred Warner or Mykel Williams Nor does it appear to be getting Brandon Aiyuk that much closer to practicing But quarterback Brock Purdy turf toe is getting closer to practicing enough to merit a start Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall Jr knee may re-start practice after missing the last six games Defensive tackle Alfred Collins hip may also practice and be available by the time they visit the Arizona Cardinals - Sunday So when Shanahan mentioned the words no injuries on consecutive days it was a pleasant surprise because when the other shoe drops for the ers it s usually accompanied by a cast crutches or a protective boot I m still not fully believing it Shanahan disclosed So I m going to wait until Wednesday to make sure nothing creeps up But its looking that way two days in a row so hopefully that will be the scenario The sooner the ers - put the Rams challenge in their rear-view mirror the better and the best way to do that is getting selected players back and start working on Arizona which lost Sunday to New Orleans We ll have a better idea about Purdy on Wednesday When Purdy starts practicing on consecutive days and is no longer listed as limited it s a good indication he ll be back in the lineup So Shanahan isn t about to say those words until he s got visual evidence for three days straight Purdy can play That s kind of what we want Shanahan stated We want to see it Want to hear it from him And we want three aggressive practices and want to make sure he feels good after all of them each day too Until that happens the ball belongs to Mac Jones who was of for yards three touchdowns and one interception against one of the NFL s top defenses Jones passer rating of is better than Purdy s best of in As for Pearsall his injury has been slow to heal which is why he didn t go to injured reserve He ll need to hit all speed agility and strength markers set by the performance staff in order to be cleared We re hoping to get him back in practice Wednesday Shanahan commented Collins Shanahan announced was a championship day decision against the Rams with his hip injury sustained in last Thursday s practice He came in and tried to go and didn t improve as much as we were hoping Shanahan announced We should have better luck and a better chance at that this week As for the emotional recovery of his company Shanahan declared there are enough indicators on film which suggest the ers contributed heavily to their own demise that they won t be susceptible to an inferiority complex about having been outclassed by a rival and co-leader in the NFC West along with Seattle Even though there were a lot of bad things about that challenge even with the defense we stopped them twice in the second quarter and we only took advantage of one of them Shanahan disclosed We had a fourth-and- we didn t convert at the -yard line We had a fumble going into the red zone And when I look at the whole second half it wasn t that much different than when we played them a month ago There were plenty of opportunities that we could have ascertained a way to get off the field vs a very good quarterback and a very good offense but we didn t get that done and that s why we ve got to live with that development That s why we want to get back to work fast and and get to Arizona and get that taste out of our mouth The ers margin for error makes every opponent regardless of record a foreseen win or a likely loss We re capable of beating anyone in this league with the situation we re in but if you don t play good we re also capable of losing to every unit in the league too Shanahan reported That s why we need to do a really good job over the next seven weeks and if we do I like our chances Colby Parrkinson of the Rams escapes a tackle attempt by the ers' Malik Mustapha Sunday at Levi's Stadium Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group NOTABLE The ers twice had too-many-men on the field penalties when going to an alignment with six defensive backs dime where a linebacker didn t get off the field quick enough We need to communicate to one of the linebackers to they have to come off and we didn t do it until it was too late Shanahan commented Shanahan didn t sugar coat the defensive performance I mean they put up points and I think we only stopped them twice so we didn t have a very good day Shanahan commented Pro Football Focus PFF noted that the ers blitzed percent of the time and Matthew Stafford was -for- for yards and two touchdowns against it Safety Ji Ayir Brown in particular was having trouble getting home I thought our blitz was all right definitely Shanahan noted I thought we hit him a number of times He s just good at getting rid of it and we ve got to make sure when we blitz we cover better the holes or the hot routes With a good quarterback when they re heart they know how to get rid of it Ben Bartch got specific work at left guard along with Spencer Burford lending certain depth to an offensive line that authentically played fairly well against a very good Rams front I thought he did all right Shanahan disclosed It was good just to get him in there and he and Spence rotated well I thought the O-line did a pretty good job The ers had cornerback Assante Samuel Jr in for a tryout Samuel was a second-round draft pick by the Chargers out of Florida State in He played just four games last season before going on injured reserve with a shoulder injury but played in games with starts from to with six interceptions and passes defensed Samuel is still only but had spinal fusion surgery in April I didn t get a chance to meet with him and we were putting the Rams match to bed and wasn t able to talk to anyone about him Shanahan reported We know he s been a hell of a competitor so it s presumably just to see where he s at right now Aiyuk s practice window will not open this week Shanahan mentioned Once it does if it does the ers have three weeks to activate him or have Aiyuk sit out the season SNAP JUDGEMENTS A look at how played and how much Sunday against the Rams Safeties Brown and Malik Mustapha and cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green played every defensive snaps Slot corner Upton Stout played snaps less than half percent Stout was credited with the only pass defensed made by a member of the secondary against Stafford two others were deflected by linemen Middle linebacker Tatum Bethune gave way to Curtis Robinson for three snaps due to injury but returned finished the challenge He led the ers in tackles with Starting linemen Colton McKivitz Dominick Puni Jake Brendel and Trent Williams played every offensive snap So did Jones Brendel missed the previous two games with a hamstring strain Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu had his second highest snap count of the season and was credited with two tackles and had no quarterback hits or pressures yet his PFF Pro Football Focus grade of was the highest of ers defenders Kalia Davis and Keion White shared the lone quarterback sack White had snaps in his second match Bartch got in his first work since going wire to wire in the opener snaps and then sustaining a high ankle sprain snaps into Week He subbed in for Burford snaps who started after playing every snap the week before against the Giants Related Articles Kurtenbach The ers roster-building plan was a brash bet The bill is coming due Inman things that caught my eye in ers - loss to Rams ers statement card vs Rams Jones prolific passing not enough to overcome defensive woes George Kittle reintroduced to ers offense in loss to Rams Here s why it s a big deal ers faced an elite band in Rams and were put in their place Core special teamer and occasional strong side linebacker Luke Gifford played his second the greater part snaps of the season with Bethune and Dee Winters of taking brief injury breaks Gifford was often victimized in coverage Clelin Ferrell was a rotational participant as a practice squad elevation for the second time since joining the ers He can be flexed one more time before he demands to be added to the -man roster in order to be eligible Brian Robinson Jr had a team-high yards on nine carries and in his last two games has rushes for yards He s played snaps in those two games