The 44-year-old grandfather appeared like he was throwing the soccer and not using a thumb. He had been retired for 5 years, presumably spending his Sundays arguing with a lawnmower or organizing a crowded minivan, earlier than unretiring final week.
And but, there he was, carving up the San Francisco 49ers’ protection on nationwide tv like a Whoville roast beast.
It was some really woeful stuff for a Niners squad that was within the driver’s seat for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Snap after snap on Monday night time, Robert Saleh’s protection lined up in the identical static seems. And snap after snap, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers — hiding his dad-bod pot stomach below a flak jacket that appeared two sizes too small — would shift a participant, gauge the Niners’ defensive response, and bark out a brand new play.
The fitting play.
He didn’t want a manifesto. Simply wanted a phrase or three.
“Insert.” “Rat.” “Flipper.” “Maestro Right.”
It was masterful orchestration from a legendary signal-caller who spent his retirement working his previous Chargers and Colts playbook as a highschool coach in Alabama.
He was actually beating an NFL protection with varsity prep ways.
However 49ers linebacker Dee Winters proved that it pays to be a very good scholar.
Early within the fourth quarter, with the Colts trailing 34-20 however in Niners’ territory, Rivers audibled on the line. He checked to “53 Orlando Left” — a play explicitly designed to isolate No. 53, Winters, towards tight finish Tyler Warren. It labored, selecting up a pleasant eight-yard achieve.
The Colts scored three performs later.
However then Rivers, working on pure wits and gall all sport, tried to return to the effectively. Down two scores with below 4 minutes to play, contained in the Niners’ 30-yard line, he noticed the look he needed from San Francisco.
“Orlando Right,” Rivers yelled.
Winters heard him.
After which Rivers threw it proper to him.
“I heard the check, and I said, ‘I’m going to trust my instincts here and make a play,’” Winters mentioned postgame. “It came up huge for us.”
Did it ever.
Winters jumped the spot route and rumbled 74 yards the opposite means for a game-sealing landing.
“It felt like a movie,” Winters mentioned. “When I caught the ball, all I heard was my heart beating.”
“It was my first career pick… It kind of felt fake, honestly.”
If the Niners’ protection efficiency had been a film on Monday, it will have been a horror flick. Certain, they held Colts’ star working again Jonathan Taylor to 46 yards dashing, however Rivers outsmarted Saleh at virtually each flip.
The person would have misplaced a footrace to the chain gang, but he was a step forward all night time.
And but, the Niners left with a win.
We’ve spilled plenty of ink questioning if this protection is elite sufficient to hold a Lombardi Trophy. We’ve fretted over the bend-but-don’t-break mantra, trying extra like “shatter-into-a-million-pieces-and-pray-it-works-out.” However Monday night time provided a special, maybe extra real looking perspective:
This protection doesn’t should be the 1985 Bears. It doesn’t should be a brick wall.
With this offense backing them, the Niners don’t want a protection that shuts the door for 60 minutes. You simply want one which leaves it open a crack, waits for the opponent to get comfy, after which finds a approach to slam it shut on their fingers.
The system for San Francisco has been easy: 4 touchdowns on offense and one turnover on protection.
They greater than did that Monday. Brock Purdy threw 5 landing passes towards a single interception, and the Niners picked up a turnover on “Orlando Right” and a compelled fumble on a kickoff.
It was a protracted approach to go for a plus-one within the turnover column, however fortunately, type factors serve no function within the NFL.
Winters’ interception offered greater than a silver lining, too. Not solely did the play present his progress as a participant — a transparent manifestation of pairing the bodily with the psychological — however it additionally highlighted the expansion of the Niners’ protection as an entire.
The Niners are down their three most necessary defensive gamers for the season, and had been lacking No. 1 cornerback Renardo Inexperienced on Monday. They performed a fifth-string center linebacker for a stretch. As a staff, they’ve 4 fewer sacks than Browns defensive finish Myles Garrett.
They’re younger, inexperienced, and had been taken to high school by the previous, clever quarterback for lengthy stretches Monday. However maybe this protection is so younger, it’s incapable of being embarrassed.
The follies of youth can go each methods.
When Saleh lastly began throwing warning to the wind and introduced strain at Rivers on third downs, it began to get house, with rookie defensive tackles CJ West and Alfred Collins proving large within the second half. Rookie nickelback Upton Stout gave up some robust catches however by no means broke from his frenetic tempo.
And Winters, a first-year starter, determined that as a substitute of simply enjoying secure and holding Warren to a brief achieve, he’d slide in entrance and go for the jugular.
On Monday, the younger Niners’ protection listened, they adjusted, they usually outlasted their opponent. Their youth labored towards them, after which for them.
Maybe bend-but-don’t-break has been a psychological mantra all alongside.
The Niners’ protection wasn’t good, however it was plucky and opportunistic on Monday. That’s all this offense wants them to be.
And so they survived one other week.
Typically, that’s all a championship staff must do.
