SANTA CLARA — Already challenged in terms of a pass rush, the 49ers got some bad news Monday when it was learned Bryce Huff came out of a 20-10 win over Atlanta with a hamstring strain and will likely miss at least two games.
Huff played 45 snaps against the Falcons and 69.2 percent of the plays. Both are his high-water marks for the season. But toward the end of the game, Huff apparently felt something was amiss.
“I was told it was right at the end,” Shanahan said in a conference call with local reporters. “I was told he felt it on the last two plays.”
Having lost their top edge rusher in Nick Bosa to a torn ACL on Sept. 14, the 49ers are 25th in the NFL with 14 sacks. Huff leads the 49ers with four and also leads in quarterback hits with six.
Acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles after a lost season playing out of position as a standup outside linebacker, Huff has given the 49ers their best burst off the edge. He got his fourth sack of the season against Atlanta by abusing tackle Elijah Wilkinson with an outside move and forcing a fumble in the process.
Besides Bosa, the 49ers are also without end Yetur Gross-Matos, also out with a hamstring. That leaves Sam Okuayinonu and rookie Mykel Williams as the lone healthy ends on the roster, with Robert Beal Jr. and William Bradley-King on the practice squad.
Okuayinonu got his first sack against Atlanta and although the 49ers had just two in the game, they were able to keep Atlanta quarterback Michael Penix Jr. off-balance with some creative blitzes dialed up by coordinator Robert Saleh.
It didn’t sound as if Huff’s hamstring is as serious as the one that sidelined tight end George Kittle for the first six games of the season.
“Hopefully it won’t be longer than two weeks,” Shanahan said. “You know he’s coming back sooner than later.
That does put the 49ers in a bind with two road assignments upcoming — Sunday against Houston and Nov. 2 against the New York Giants.
If the 49ers were already on the lookout for an edge rusher via trade with the deadline approaching Nov. 5, will they be looking even harder now?
“I don’t think it changes the urgency of it,” Shanahan said. “(The front office) has been looking into that stuff all the time for the last few weeks and I’m sure they will over the next couple of weeks.”
The 49ers will also be without center Jake Brendel for approximately the same amount of time. Brendel left the Atlanta game with a hamstring strain and was capably replaced by veteran Matt Hennessey.
The 49ers will continue to monitor quarterback Brock Purdy (toe) and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall Jr. (knee) this week. Shanahan stopped short of saying Purdy was in line to start against Houston. Cornerback Renardo Green will be day to day with a toe injury.
Shanahan said guard and swing tackle Spencer Burford (knee) could have his clock started this week off injured reserve.
It’s too soon to tell if Brock Purdy will be back at quarterback for the 49ers for their Week 8 game at Houston. Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group
Purdy, Pearsall and Stout
Various reports have Purdy being on track to start against Houston, but when Shanahan was asked directly if it was a reach to say his quarterback was on track to start he said, “Yes, I would say that. No one has said that.”
Purdy, Pearsall and slot corner Upton Stout (ankle will all be evaluated Wednesday and their progress tracked during the week.
Shanahan said whether fields are on artificial surface or grass would have no bearing on whether Purdy was declared ready to play.
Gap vs. ZBS
The 49ers used more straight-on gap blocking than usual as opposed to the zone blocking scheme (particularly outside zone) that has been their bread and butter. While Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father, seldom strayed from zone blocking with the late Alex Gibbs as the guru of the system, Kyle has been more open to different ways to block.
“I think that’s a little bit exaggerated,” Shanahan said about the 49ers’ shift in techniques against Atlanta. “We did a lot of gap schemes in that game, but we also did a lot of outside zone. When you get 39 runs you get a little more of everything. We thought it tied well together and balanced them out with that stuff.”
Kittle’s 1-2 punch: Mac and Saleh
Rather than drift into a “it takes all 53-men” soliloquy when asked the biggest reasons the 49ers are 5-2, tight end George Kittle was very specific.
“I think, one, Mac Jones is a fantastic quarterback,” Kittle said. “The way he’s stepped up when Brock has not been in and led this team to a bunch of victories is incredible. He gets hit 100 times and stands right back up and delivers the next pass . . . the other is Robert Saleh was the best offseason signing we possibly got. The juice he brings every single day, how smart he is, how he game plans, how he sets guys up for success . . . he’s such a good, good coach and I’m so glad we got him back this year.”
SNAP JUDGEMENTS
A look at who played and how much in the 49ers’ win over the Falcons:
67: Colton McKivitz, Dominick Puni, Mac Jones and Trent Williams played every offensive snap.
65: Ji’Ayir Brown, Deommodore Lenoir and Dee Winters played every defensive snap. Lenoir stayed exclusively at outside corner after speculation he could split time as a nickel back as he did last season.
56: It was a career high for middle linebacker Tatum Bethune, and Shanahan said the second-year player benefitted greatly from a week of practice at the position in place of Warner.
50: McCaffrey gave way to Brian Robinson (17 snaps) more than usual in a run-oriented game plan. He had 31 touches (24 rushes, seven receptions) as the primary mover on 62 percent of the 49ers’ offensive snaps.
47: Darrell Luter Jr. played his second-most snaps of the season, behind the 68 he had against Jacksonville. He had seven defensive snaps in one other game and none in three others.
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44: Malik Mustapha didn’t start at safety but will before long. He was second to Bethune with six tackles and probably won’t come off the field again unless he’s hurt.
35: Chase Lucas nearly doubled his previous high of 18 snaps (against the Rams) while stepping in for inactive Upton Stout at slot corner.
39: Kyle Juszczyk had his season high in both snaps and percentage of snaps (58.2) as Shanahan utilized a fullback more than in any game this season.
23: Kalia Davis was worked into the defensive line rotation after being on injured reserve with a torn pectoral. He recorded one tackle.
10: Malik Turner was flexed from the practice squad and got in 10 plays at wide receiver and played well on special teams. Having been flexed the maximum three times, the 49ers cannot promote him from the practice squad any longer. He’ll have to be put on the 53-man roster and kept there in order to play.
9: Curtis Robinson stepped in briefly for Bethune at linebacker with a faulty green dot helmet and had to read defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s lips to get the defensive calls.
0: Nick Martin made his NFL debut and didn’t play at linebacker but had 10 special teams snaps and had one assisted tackle.