49ers’ Studs and Duds: Brock Purdy and Jake Moody need to wear the Niners’ first loss
For the first time this season, the 49ers are losers.
Jake Moody’s missed 41-yard field goal in the final seconds and Brock Purdy’s worst game as an NFL player (12 of 27, 125 yards, a touchdown and an interception) ended the Niners’ regular-season win streak at 15 on Sunday in Cleveland.
There weren’t many positives to glean from a game that lacked execution and entertainment for all 60 minutes.
Here are the studs and duds from the contest:
STUDS
Christian McCaffrey
Bloodied but undeniable — he was the only Niner who could move the football Sunday. Then, he left the game with an oblique injury.
Fred Warner
It might have only been the first quarter, but where would the Niners have been without his interception? Three points poorer, that’s for sure.
Ray-Ray McCloud
Stood in for Deebo Samuel after the star wide receiver left the game with a shoulder injury and did an admirable job. If nothing else, he allowed the Niners to run the same “Deebo plays” from the playbook for a while. He was pretty good on returns, too.
Jordan Mason
Scored the Niners’ go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. That didn’t hold, but his status as the true backup to McCaffrey should. That might be an important note moving forward in the season.
Deommodore Lenoir
He fell in one-on-one man coverage, allowing Amari Cooper to go for 58 yards, setting up the Browns’ first touchdown of the game, but he made up for it with a fourth-quarter interception that set up the Niners’ go-ahead score.
Lenoir was more good than bad Sunday.
DUDS
Jake Moody
With the game on the line, he missed, pushing a 41-yard field goal with eight seconds to play.
That’s enough to land the rookie kicker on this list, but he also missed a 54-yard field goal (he hooked that one) earlier in the game, likely leading to an overcorrection and the crucial miss in the final seconds.
The 49ers made a big bet on Moody this past offseason, drafting him in the third round — a stunningly early round to pick a kicker. In the stress-free environment that was the Niners’ first five games, that bet looked like it was a good one.
Under duress — when kickers really prove their worth — he faltered. Moody has even more to prove after Sunday’s poor, game-losing performance.
Brock Purdy
It was a brutal performance — the worst of his NFL career. An MVP day, it was not.
And yes, Purdy drove the 49ers into field-goal range in the final seconds, but the game should have never come down to that.
It’s even debatable that Purdy was the second-best quarterback on the field to Cleveland’s practice-squad call-up P.J. Walker on Sunday. (And Walker was quite bad, too.)
For most of the game, Purdy looked lost against an elite defense while lacking two of his best weapons. He didn’t elevate his game to meet the moment.
Purdy missed a couple of sure-fire touchdown throws and was generally off rhythm. He rarely set his feet when he threw, as he was under constant duress in the pocket.
Overall, it was the kind of performance that left head coach Kyle Shanahan livid and the Niners losers.
Brandon Aiyuk
On a day when the 49ers needed him most, Aiyuk was not at his best until the final drive.
Credit to him for those nice plays late, but, as with Purdy, a better performance in the first 58 minutes of the game would have averted the dire circumstance.
Aiyuk had three drops Sunday, two of which could have resulted in big yardage had he made the catch.
He needed to bring the fight he had at the beginning of the game — he and Deebo Samuel had a spat with the Browns before kickoff — to the field. And while Purdy isn’t blameless in the lack of connection, Aiyuk has to wear this whole-game performance.
Jake Brendel and Spencer Burford
Browns defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson was the best player on the field Sunday. He worked over the Niners’ center and right tackle snap after snap. Purdy could probably draw Tomlinson’s face from memory after having him in his grill so often on Sunday.
George Kittle
I’m sure he made some great blocks, but did you notice him in the passing game? On a day when Purdy could have used an over-the-middle option, Kittle was nowhere to be found.
The officials
They’re not the reason the 49ers lost, but, boy, were they lost Sunday. And they didn’t do the Niners any favors, either.
The unnecessary roughness call against Tashaun Gipson in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter was brutal and game-changing. To follow that up with a weak holding call on Charvarius Ward — creating an automatic first down — added insult to injury.
The Niners can only blame their performance for the loss. The refs didn’t determine the game, but they did play a role.