July 8, 2024

49ers Promote Two Defensive Players to the Active Roster Ahead of #SFvsCLE

Deebo not satisfied with 49ers’ play despite recent dominance

Deebo not satisfied with 49ers’ play despite recent dominance originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After beating the Arizona Cardinals 45-29 on Sunday at State Farm Stadium, the 49ers share an NFL-best 11-3 record with the Baltimore Ravens and are winners of six consecutive games.

However, one of San Francisco’s star players believes the team can be even better.

Deebo Samuel: What teams could sign him if the 49ers trade him? | Marca

During his weekly appearance Tuesday on “Up & Adams,” fifth-year 49ers wideout Deebo Samuel told host Kay Adams that San Francisco isn’t playing at its highest level just yet.

“As we continue to stack these days, stack these games, stack these wins, we’re still not playing to our best potential,” Samuel said. “We’re still leaving stuff on the field. Those are things that people [outside] don’t know. Within the building, things we know we have to work on, for us.”

Samuel insists that the 49ers have another gear to reach despite the team hovering near the top of most key statistics.

Deebo Samuel: What teams could sign him if the 49ers trade him? | Marca

San Francisco is third in points per game (30.4) and second in points allowed per game (16.7), while also ranking first in forced turnovers (25) and in least amount of giveaways (12).

For a polished 49ers team that owns blowout wins over probable playoff teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars, Samuel knows what his team has to address.

“Just little things,” Samuel told Adams. “One block here would spring Christian [McCaffrey] free probably like three or four more times, or a block here would get Brock [Purdy] a little bit more time in the pocket to throw another ball. It’s just little things like that.”

While San Francisco is unbeatable as of late, it’ll have its chance to get Samuel’s mentioned wrinkles out in Week 16 ahead of its NFC playoff run.

The 49ers host Lamar Jackson and the 11-3 Ravens on Christmas Day at Levi’s Stadium, with the winner taking sole possession of the NFL’s best record.

Deebo Samuel: What teams could sign him if the 49ers trade him? | Marca

And Samuel, who has been one of the top wide receivers in the NFL the past three weeks, knows how high San Francisco’s ceiling is.

The 49ers face the NFL’s top rushing offense on Christmas night, and their top objective this week is to tackle their biggest issue on defense.

General manager John Lynch, appearing Tuesday on KNBR’s “Murph & Markus,” acknowledged the 49ers have to do a better job of tackling when the Baltimore Ravens come to town.

“We come at people and we play aggressively,” Lynch said, “but we always play intelligently and to our help, to our leverage. The last three weeks we’ve gotten a little out of whack in terms of that.”

The 49ers have missed 42 tackles over the past three games, according to Pro Football Focus. They missed 16 tackles on Sunday, as the Arizona Cardinals rushed for 234 yards in the 49ers’ 45-29 division-clinching victory.

Linebacker Fred Warner, who is having the best season of any 49ers defensive player, missed six tackles in the past three games. Defensive lineman Randy Gregory missed a team-worst seven tackles during that span.

“I think league-wide tackling probably suffers this time of year,” Lynch said. “We’ve never really succumbed to that. We certainly did the other day.

Deebo Samuel: What teams could sign him if the 49ers trade him? | Marca

“The good news is we have the personnel that is very capable of being very good tacklers. I think we just got to get back, and sometimes it just takes getting punched in the mouth and having a performance like that to really drill in how critical and important it is.”

The 49ers face a tall order on Monday night in a matchup pitting teams that currently rank No. 1 in the NFC and the AFC. The 49ers and Ravens are tied with the best records in the NFL at 11-3.

In addition, the Ravens own the No. 1 ground attack in the NFL with 2,293 yards rushing on the season.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson leads the way with 741 yards, followed by running back Gus Edwards’ 663 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“We got to clean it up,” Lynch said. “We’re playing against a really good team in Baltimore, and that’s something that’s been a hallmark of what we do, being a sure-tackling team. And we do it by getting multiple people to the ball.

“We got to certainly improve, and I expect us to, because that’s not who we are and that’s not who we want to be.”

 

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