Shanahan indicated Friday<\/a> that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (ACL\/MCL rehab) was a possibility to have his practice window opened from the Physically Unable to Perform list, it appears that is still at least a week away.<\/p>\n\u201cI think it\u2019s week to week from here on out,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cI think it would have surprised me if it was this week, but that was me just saying that every week he\u2019s getting closer to having a chance, just not this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 49ers, meanwhile, will go forward without some of their best players until medically cleared. George Kittle, who has been back for two games after a week-opening hamstring strain, talked about the injury issues following the loss in Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love playing with Ricky. He\u2019s so full of energy and love for the game,\u201d Kittle said Sunday. \u201cYou guys know how I feel about Brock. He\u2019s the best operator of this offense I\u2019ve ever seen. And then there\u2019s Aiyuk. We paid him $30 million (per season) for a reason, because that\u2019s how good he is.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can daydream and think about that stuff, and I can\u2019t wait to start playing with those guys again. But currently we\u2019re playing with what we\u2019ve got, and I think what we\u2019ve got can win football games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones has been adamant about preparing as the starter whether he\u2019s starting or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy process isn\u2019t going to change I\u2019m going to come into work and follow my schedule and I do that whether we win or lose,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI\u2019ve played a lot of different roles in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
The good news for the 49ers is that all three players who left the Houston game due to injury and did not return \u2014 linebacker Dee Winters (knee), defensive tackle Jordan Elliott (ankle) and defensive end Sam Okuayinonu (ankle) \u2014 are all day to day and could practice and face the Giants. Defensive tackle Alfred Collins is also day to day with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
Center Jake Brendel and Bryce Huff, both of whom didn\u2019t face Houston because of hamstring strains, are likely out another week at least, Shanahan said.<\/p>\n
![\"Mac](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BNG-L-49ERS-10261.jpg\")
Quarterback Mac Jones (10) thought the 49ers made too many mental mistakes in a 26-15 loss to Houston.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n
Mental, physical errors costly vs. Houston<\/p>\n
Jones was disturbed with some of the mental mistakes made against the Texans, more than the physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can live with post-snap mistakes, like if we have a drop or I don\u2019t throw a good pass, but if I\u2019m not looking in the right spot or people are running the wrong routes, then you have no chance,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI feel like we have a veteran group. We\u2019ve got to get back in the ring and keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shanahan said there were errors of both the mental and physical variety against the Texans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were definitely mental errors, not more than usual or anything like that, but in that type of game, every single play was a huge deal with the lack of number of plays (on offense),\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cAny mistakes that were made were extremely magnified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s Nick Martin?<\/p>\n
Even with Winters unable to finish the Houston game, third-round pick Nick Martin didn\u2019t get off the sideline to play defense. Instead, veteran Curtis Robinson wound up playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s behind Curtis in that pecking order,\u201d Shanahan said. \u201cIt depends on how these practices go. He\u2019s been up these last two weeks, he\u2019s done real good on special teams. I think he\u2019s coming along fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
\u2014 The 49ers are out of elevations for defensive end Trevis Gipson, who has been flexed three times to play on game day. The 49ers will need to promote him to the 53-man roster in order to play because practice squad players can be elevated only three times. The same goes for wide receiver\/special teams player Malik Turner.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Shanahan said he is encouraged by the progress of Demarcus Robinson, a training camp standout who had his progress slowed by a three-game suspension to start the year for being in violation of the NFL\u2019s personal conduct policy during the offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think he\u2019s getting back there and he did some good things yesterday,\u201d Shanahan said.<\/p>\n
SNAP JUDGMENTS<\/p>\n
A look at who played and how much in the loss to Houston:<\/p>\n
80: Malik Mustapha played every snap at safety, his most work since returning from ACL rehab. Also staying on the field way too long for every snap were inside linebacker Tatum Bethune, safety Ji\u2019Ayir Brown and cornerbacks Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green.<\/p>\n
54: Rookie Alfred Collins got the most snaps of anyone on the defensive line, one more than Mykel Williams.<\/p>\n
48: Center Matt Hennessy, in for starter Jake Brendel (hamstring) played every offensive snap along with right tackle Colton McKivitz, right guard Dominic Puni, left tackle Trent Williams and Jones at quarterback.<\/p>\n
41: Jauan Jennings got the most snaps of any wide receiver, three more than Kendrick Bourne.<\/p>\n
35: Defensive end Robert Beal J. had never played more than 21 snaps in a game since his rookie season in 2023. He had four tackles and another on special teams but generated little if any pressure on Stroud.<\/p>\n
46: Christian McCaffrey was off the field for just two snaps.<\/p>\n
22: When Winters departed, Curtis Robinson assumed the weakside linebacker role over Martin. Martin played 10 snaps on special teams.<\/p>\n
19: Nick Zakelj was a standard practice squad elevation who subbed for starter Connor Colby at left guard, his most playing time since getting 64 and 76 snaps as a starter in his last two games in 2024.<\/p>\n
6: Rookie fourth-round pick Jordan Watkins made his debut at wide receiver and made his first NFL catch for a 7-yard gain.<\/p>\n
5: Jake Tonges had a season low in snaps \u2014 he has 13 in the last two games since Kittle\u2019s return \u2014 but had his fourth touchdown reception of the season on a Jones pass that was intended for Kittle. Fellow reserve tight end Luke Farrell played just three snaps.<\/p>\n
\u201cMac told me he was throwing it to me,\u201d Kittle said. \u201cJake has sticky fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n
0: Marques Sigle came in to the game having played 377 snaps including playing 100 percent of the snaps in his first five games as a rookie starter at safety. He finished the game still having played 377 snaps. He did play 23 snaps on special teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quarterback Brock Purdy and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall Jr. are getting closer to taking the field for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10254,17095,16216,56,58,57,79,15644,16217,16314,17096],"class_list":{"0":"post-23862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-brandon-aiyuk","10":"tag-brock-purdy","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-headlines","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-houston-texans","15":"tag-kyle-shanahan","16":"tag-mac-jones","17":"tag-new-york-giants","18":"tag-ricky-pearsall-jr"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}