ATLANTA — DeMeco Ryans huddled the 49ers’ protection for a stern sideline speech as the sport fell additional out of attain Sunday.
It wasn’t an enormous huddle.
This was a unique protection with out Nick Bosa and finally seven starters in complete lacking due to accidents. This wasn’t the NFL’s No. 1 crew. However Ryans’ message was easy: “Do your job.”
By the point Ryans lashed out in that minute-long sideline huddle, the Atlanta Falcons already had constructed up a 28-14 lead, and that held up as the ultimate rating earlier than a bipartisan crowd within the 49ers’ first go to to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The 49ers (3-3) had loads of time to rally, thanks partly to Ryans’ protection not permitting any extra factors after his minute-long sideline speech within the third quarter.
“We had our possibilities to beat. We made it more durable on ourselves,” coach Kyle Shanahan stated. “Yeah it’s an enormous deal lacking these folks (to damage) however we had each probability to drag that off and had no room for error.”
Downfield drops by Ray-Ray McCloud and Charlie Woerner, in addition to a Falcons interception off a deflected go, appeared to doom the second-half comeback.
What actually completed issues off, nevertheless, was a bizarre fourth-down play with 2:33 to go. On-target throws by Jimmy Garoppolo to Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle shoved the 49ers into the crimson zone, however after Tevin Coleman misplaced a yard on a pitch, the 49ers had yet one more shot to maintain alive an important drive.
On fourth-and-2, with 9 seconds left on the play clock, Garoppolo took the snap and threw low to a double-covered Samuel for an incompletion that, basically, put an finish to the 49ers’ two-game win streak.
“We had alternatives all day. We had so much. We simply didn’t make the most of them,” Garoppolo stated. “It was self-inflicted wounds, actually. Guys have been making errors. It wasn’t one man or one place. It begins with myself.
“We, one after one other, stored making errors. Once you do this, it provides as much as a sport like this.”
A 14-0, first-quarter deficit introduced the 49ers an opportunity to indicate they — an typically conservative, run-first offense — may play come-from-behind soccer. They succeeded — within the second quarter, when Aiyuk caught two landing passes from Garoppolo in a 4 1/2 minute span to tie the rating at 14.
The second half went virtually simply as discouragingly for the 49ers as their first: Ray-Ray McCloud dropped a possible, 70-yard landing go after racing previous the Falcons’ protection and letting Garoppolo’s strike fall on the 25-yard line.
Garoppolo completed 29-of-41 for 296 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Aiyuk and Kittle each had eight catches for 83 yards, and Samuel had seven for 79 yards.
Garoppolo’s counterpart, Marcus Mariota, accomplished all however his closing go, going 13-of-14 for 129 yards and two touchdowns because the Falcons once more leaned on their dashing assault (40 carries, 168 yards).
The 49ers’ protection, not surprisingly, missed Bosa, whose groin damage from final sport stored him out of uniform for the primary time in 26 video games.
Cornerback Charvarius Ward (groin) headed to the locker room on the two-minute warning, and he wouldn't return for the second half, nor would proper sort out Mike McGlinchey (calf). Different would-be defensive starters out or on injured reserve have been defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, cornerback Emmanuel Moseley and security Jimmie Ward.
Security Talanoa Hufanga and McCloud have been cleared to return after evaluations for doable concussions. Others injuredin the primary half: defensive ends Samson Ebukam (Achilles) and Drake Jackson (knee) and security Tarvarius Moore (unknown).
No opponent had scored greater than 19 factors within the 49ers’ earlier video games, towards a protection that had yielded the fewest yards and was tied with the Buffalo Payments for fewest-points allowed.
Subsequent up: Sunday’s homecoming towards the NFL’s No. 1-scoring group, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, who the 49ers final confronted within the 2019 season’s Tremendous Bowl.
“We’ve acquired an enormous one this subsequent week,” Garoppolo stated in closing.
The 49ers entered halftime down 21-14 after permitting a 75-yard landing drive. Mariota put the Falcons again within the lead on a 3-yard keeper. Rookie cornerback Sam Womack misplaced outdoors containment on the play-action faux, and Womack did the identical gaffe on the earlier play that resulted in a 16-yard run to the three by Caleb Huntley.
What arrange that deciding rating, Shanahan stated, was Mariota scrambling 15 yards on third-and-12, towards a six-man go rush.
After successful final Sunday in 37-15 trend at Carolina, the 49ers figured to maintain the offensive momentum rolling, after practising all week at The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. They'd bunkered there every of the earlier two seasons and swept back-to-back East Coast video games.
This time, issues opened bleak out the gate — from a 7-0 deficit after one sequence, to a 14-0 gap when Jeff Wilson Jr.’s third-down fumble was returned for a Falcons’ landing with 1:26 left within the first quarter.
On the opening drive, the Falcons marched 74 yards in 11 performs, culminating with a second-and-goal, 2-yard landing go from Mariota to 49ers’ 2021 camper MyCole Pruitt. Garoppolo and Aiyuk related twice in a span of 4 1/2 minutes early within the second quarter to forge the 14-14 tie.
