Miami @ San Francisco - Game Thread

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The challenge ahead from Oddsshark:

"San Francisco just served up a win to a bad team at home, so could it happen again here? It would appear unlikely, but injuries are starting to take an even bigger toll on the 49ers, who may have now lost defensive end Ziggy Ansah for the season with a torn biceps. They are already without defensive ends Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas with knee injuries, not to mention Garoppolo.

While head coach Kyle Shanahan has done a solid job developing quarterbacks through his career, Mullens and Beathard are clearly a big step below a healthy Garoppolo. That said, Shanahan would be wise to lean more on the running game, especially lead back Jerick McKinnon, who is one of their few healthy weapons on the offensive side of the ball.

The return of tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Deebo Samuel should help as well, as they combined for 218 yards on 18 catches in the loss to the Eagles. However, Kittle had 15 of those catches for 183 yards."

Per Travis:
"Matchup Highlights
Tackling On the Edge
The 49ers went with a pair of elusive wide receivers in each of the last two drafts (Deebo Samuel in the second round in 2019 and Brandon Aiyuk in the first round last April). Both are explosive playmakers with the ball in their hands. The San Francisco offense will get them the ball on rush attempts and screens to create open-field tackling situations on the edge.

It's not just the 49ers' receivers that challenge the perimeter tackling; no team is better running the football outside. Last season, San Francisco ran the ball off either end 60 times for 363 yards, three touchdowns and 17 first downs. They also picked up 255 yards after contact on such runs – all of those stats were tops for San Francisco among potential gaps to run through (per Pro Football Focus).

Miami's perimeter corners are equipped to handle the challenge. Xavien Howard, Byron Jones and Noah Igbinoghene are strong, sure tacklers with a combined 22 tackles compared to four missed attempts this season, per Pro Football Focus.

Dolphins Pass Rush vs. 49ers Front
The 49ers' starting quarterback is undetermined at this time, but the recipe is the same for all three – heat them up with pressure. Garoppolo was limited in practice Wednesday as he hopes to return from an ankle injury. Nick Mullens had a passer rating of 41.5 against pressure in Sunday's loss to Philadelphia while C.J. Beathard posted a rating of 71.9 with rushers closing in.

The 49ers have surrendered 13 sacks through four games, sixth-most in the NFL. Trent Williams started all four games at left tackle after missing the 2019 season. He's been credited with only six pressures allowed. Shaq Lawson made an impact with a crucial sack of Russell Wilson last week while Emmanuel Ogbah picked up his second sack of the season. They'll be facing off against Williams and right tackle Mike McGlinchey (10 pressures allowed, per PFF).

Communicating Motion
No team utilizes motion more than the 49ers offense. With pre-snap shifting or motion on 75.7 percent of the snaps this season, Shanahan's ability to create leverage in the running game and passing lanes with window dressing before the snap is perhaps the best in football.

Using the two capable receivers in jet motion with the heavy use of two-back sets gives the defense a lot to look at. Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker talked about combatting the motion and movement by preparing for it."

Full game preview from Travis here - https://www.miamidolphins.com/news/dolphins-49ers-week-5-preview

Brian Flores 49ers-Dolphins Wednesday Press Conference
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"Depending where you're at on the call, it might be your job to leverage the motion," Baker said. "The motion might not affect you at all. Just understanding what your role is and then throughout the week, you really want to go through film and make calls and adjustments, and just get used to constantly seeing it, so on Sundays it's a lot easier."

Dolphins safety Eric Rowe offered his opinion on how to thwart the effectiveness of pre-snap motion.

"We all have to be on the same page on motion, shift, kind of whatever they do," Rowe said. "So when I mean 'breakdown in communication,' if the offense, they did some sort of motion and then whatever call that we have to give out, we have to give it out clean, faster, crisp so we can execute.

https://www.miamidolphins.com/news/top-news-dolphins-make-roster-moves-ahead-of-san-francisco-trip

Injury Report:
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https://s18453.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/10.09.20.Injury-Report-Week-5-at-San-Francisco-49ers.pdf

Uniform:
Road Whites with Aqua Pants

Hey guys. I'm just passing through. I will be rooting for you through out the year. Looks bleak, but there's a 7th spot up for grabs & I want to see Fitz get a playoff win.

Got a love hate relationship with the fella. Didn't care for him when he whupped my Texans as a rookie in his first start. But he won me over with his tough play, leaving it all on the field (even giving some to the opposing team at times) play. Dude is a warrior. I thought we were going to get him to the playoffs, but you know... O'Brien.

Anyway. I wish him well, & you guys too.

With Lawson out, it will be interesting to see how the Fins rotate through the rest of the DL. I imagine Ogbah will play almost the entire game, as he's been doing up to this point. Van Ginkle is probably due for a big spike in his play time, and I wonder if Wilkins will see most of the time at DE on early downs.

"Galant wrote:

49ers’ RB Raheem Mostert (knee) and WR Deebo Samuel (illness), both listed as questionable for today’s game against the Dolphins, both “should be good (to play)”, per source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2020

Feel like today is going to be ugly but hoping for the best.

If anyone wants to watch an explosive game featuring a lot of high-quality quarterback play, turn on the Raiders and Chiefs right now. My lord.

"The Guy wrote:

If anyone wants to watch an explosive game featuring a lot of high-quality quarterback play, turn on the Raiders and Chiefs right now. My lord.

Tune in now if you want to see whether Mahomes and company can replicate about what they did in the Super Bowl.

Good start despite this not beeing official...

We'll have to see if this game follows the pattern a lot of their others have -- keep the game close early against a good team, and the good team turns on the juice and scores at will.

Nice start to the game! Let's go!

"The Guy wrote:

We'll have to see if this game follows the pattern a lot of their others have -- keep the game close early against a good team, and the good team turns on the juice and scores at will.

Don‘t believe in your juice theory. I‘m interested in our secondary today.

D looking good early on.

Great stop!

Nice stop Miami, now to add to the lead.

Wow, looks like Davis was moved to LT and Hunt gets the start at RT.

Wow, this is impressive.

Let’s go Miami!

Mahomes has a rare clunker game.

Long way to go, but as good a start as you could hope for.

Best start from a Dolphins team to start a game in a loooong time. This is fun today!

First time O and D having a good day in the same game.