{"id":470795,"date":"2026-09-21T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470795\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:00:18","slug":"49ers-report-card-purdys-precision-dooms-dolphins-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470795\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers report card: Purdy’s precision dooms Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2013 Here is how the 49ers (2-0)<\/a> graded in Sunday\u2019s 35-13, home-opening win<\/a> over the Miami Dolphins (0-2):<\/p>\n

PASS OFFENSE: A<\/p>\n

\u201cBrocktober\u201d came early. By going 20-of-22, Brock Purdy\u2019s<\/a> 90.9 completion percentage ranked only behind his 20-of-21 effort in a 35-16 home win over Arizona in October 2023. Purdy\u2019s incompletions this time: a Deebo Samuel drop on pass No. 3, and an intentional-grounding throwaway on pass No. 22. His confidence was best displayed by two completions to Mike Evans, one on a blitz beater over the middle and the other a pump-fake that hit Evans in stride to the 1-yard line. A 40-yarder to Kittle opened the second-half onslaught, with Purdy then throwing touchdowns to Kittle and Juszczyk. No sacks through two games.<\/p>\n

RUN OFFENSE: B<\/p>\n

Christian McCaffrey\u2019s pair of 1-yard touchdown runs raised his total to 100 career touchdowns, and he\u2019s not stopping there, as Juszczyk coyly noted afterward. There wasn\u2019t much space for McCaffrey as a 5-yard run marked the longest of his 10 carries for 23 yards. Kaelon Black (seven carries, 25 yards) pushed through last week\u2019s groin issue before mop-up duty went to Jordan James\u2019 season debut (four carries, 14 yards). Purdy\u2019s 30 rushing yards came on a second-quarter series he finished with a 2-yard score.<\/p>\n

PASS DEFENSE: B<\/p>\n

The 49ers sacked Malik Willis four times and allowed 197 yards, 77 of which came on a garbage-time touchdown that Upton Stout yielded. More sacks could have come, if not for Willis\u2019 elusiveness. Nick Bosa split a sack but he also forced offensive tackles to commit a pair of holding penalties. Keion White made up for a roughing-the-passer penalty on third down with a fourth-quarter sack. Stout had the only pass breakup. Four of Miami\u2019s third-down conversions before halftime were via completions.<\/p>\n

RUN DEFENSE: B<\/p>\n

Bosa correctly identified this unit as the No. 1 area to clean up through two games. A five-man front couldn\u2019t stop Miami from playing first-half ballhog. The Dolphins averaged just 3.5 yards per carry, but De\u2019Von Achane (20 carries, 74 yards) posed a credible threat. Short-yardage conversions also hurt. But the 49ers\u2019 red zone defense held firm and forced field-goal attempts on each of Miami\u2019s three possessions before halftime. Safety Ji\u2019Ayir Brown had a team-high 12 tackles.<\/p>\n

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-<\/p>\n

Eddy Pi\u00f1eiro assured everyone Saturday he could push through a week-long illness, and it probably helped that his duties consisted of just five point-after kicks and six kickoffs (average starting position: 32-yard line). Brayden Willis smothered Miami punter Bradley Pinion on a botched attempt in the third-quarter surge. Both of Corliss Waitman\u2019s punts pinned Miami inside the 20. Returners Jacob Cowing and Deebo Samuel were fine.<\/p>\n

COACHING: A<\/p>\n

Kyle Shanahan insisted that the 49ers\u2019 opening two wins were not a package deal for how they overcame an Australian adventure. But the 49ers showed no signs of jet lag nor letup. Purdy praised Shanahan\u2019s play-calling and timely orders for big plays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2013 Here is how the 49ers (2-0) graded in Sunday\u2019s 35-13, home-opening win over the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[13734,184,7,949,402,181,752,101,296,103,102,197,198,104,106,105,200,127],"class_list":["post-470795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-49ers-hq","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-football","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-santa-clara","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-south-bay","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}