49ers grades from tough Week 6 loss to Bucs as Fred Warner goes down with injury

Things got a whole lot more difficult for the 49ers on Sunday.And that has little to do with their 30-19 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.The 49ers, at 4-2 on the season, are still atop the NFC West based on their 3-0 record within the division.But the climb got a lot more rocky with linebacker Fred Warner sustaining a dislocated and fractured right ankle. The 49ers also must proceed for the remainder of this season without Nick Bosa, who sustained a torn ACL three weeks ago.“I’m glad we’ve played some decent football to put us in this position at least with our record,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Now we have to find a way to get better everywhere else throughout this year.”The grading becomes a lot more difficult because of the number of key players the 49ers do not have. But here is the report card from their Week 6 game against the Buccaneers:Rushing offenseThe streak is over. On the 49ers’ 148th rushing attempt of the season, they got into the end zone on a running play. Christian McCaffrey handled the honors with a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.But, still, this was simply not good enough. The 49ers knew it would be difficult to run the ball against the Bucs’ offense, and it was. McCaffrey averaged just 3.2 yards per rushing attempt with 54 yards on 17 rushing attempts.Grade: C-minusPassing offenseQuarterback Mac Jones had a solid game, as he averaged 8.9 yards per pass attempt. He completed 27 of 39 yards for 347 yards with no touchdowns. But his two interceptions were costly.The pass protection was not good, and he was sacked six times for minus-51 yards. The 49ers had surrendered just seven sacks in the first five games of the season.Jauan Jennings returned to action. He played with five broken ribs. It was difficult for him to get going, and he caught just one pass for 7 yards and appeared to have words with Shanahan on the sideline.Kendrick Bourne stepped up with another big game with back-to-back 142-yard performances.Grade: C-minusRushing defenseThe loss of Warner hurts the 49ers in so many different ways, beginning with the team’s run defense.The 49ers gave up 105 yards rushing to the Bucs, including two touchdowns on the ground. Rachaad White had a 1-yard scoring run and Sean Tucker added a 9-yard score on the ground.Tatum Bethune stepped in for Warner and registered a team-high 10 tackles.Grade: C-plusPassing defenseStill, the 49ers do not have an interception on the season. And the problems with their pass defense do not stop there. San Francisco has issues getting pressure on the quarterback, which makes things nearly impossible on the secondary.The 49ers had two bad plays during a three-play sequence in the third quarter. Baker Mayfield escaped Trevis Gipson and Bryce Huff in the backfield and scrambled for 15 yards on a third-and-14 situation. Two plays later, Tez Johnson took advantage of a breakdown to get beyond the 49ers’ secondary for a 45-yard touchdown to give the Bucs a 27-19 lead.Mayfield averaged 11.1 yards per pass attempt, as he completed 17 of 23 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.The 49ers managed just one sack, as rookie Mykel Williams came up with his first NFL sack.Grade: C-minusSpecial teamsIt was another good day for kicker Eddy Piñeiro, who remains perfect on field-goal attempts since signing with the 49ers after Week 1. Piñeiro made kicks of 52, 54, 42 and 29 yards.Return man Skyy Moore made some, shall we say, questionable decisions on where to handle punts. Those came early in the game, as the 49ers had difficulty forcing any punts after Warner left the game.Grade: B-plusCoachingThere was only so much that could be done on this day.Shanahan made a debatable decision when he passed up an opportunity for a 51-yard field goal, down 27-19 in the fourth quarter, to go for it on fourth and 5. Jones threw an interception on fourth down.Shanahan said he believed at that point in the game, he was not sure if the 49ers would have enough time to get the ball back. That might have been a reflection on his lack of confidence that the 49ers had the players on defense to stop Mayfield and the Bucs.Grade: C-plusOverallWarner’s injury in the first half was a huge blow to the team, of course. The 49ers remained competitive throughout the game but did not have enough at the end to overcome Mayfield and the high-powered Buccaneers’ offense.Tampa Bay’s defense created all kinds of problems for the 49ers, who also managed to make some plans down the field.Grade: C-minus

49ers grades from tough Week 6 loss to Bucs as Fred Warner goes down with injury

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