PFF grades, stats for 49ers-Broncos

Pro Football Focus passed along their gradebook for the San Francisco 49ers31-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams, and I thought I would share some of the more interesting information to come from that. You can also read their "Re-Fo" article on the game. Thanks to Jeff Deeney for passing this information along.

If you have any questions about PFF grades or stats, let me know. I can't go in and copy and paste all their content here because they make a living off that information. However, I can provide some details. And if you have any questions about their process, let me know and I can talk to Jeff Deeney, who is available to answer questions as best he can.

Usual disclaimer: No one stat or grade or measurement is the be-all, end-all when analyzing performance. However, each stat can provide a little something extra to figuring out the bigger picture. If you get a minute, I highly recommend reading this 2-part series (Part 1, Part 2) at our Eagles blog, taking a look at their system.

Pass rush

It should not be remotely surprising that the 49ers graded out poorly in the pass rush. Aaron Lynch earned a 0.7 grade, but everybody else graded out negative. Justin Smith graded in the red at -1.2, while everybody else's negative grades were just meh grades between 0.0 and -1.0. The 49ers were only able to get pressure on Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler on 7 of 32 dropbacks. The 49ers blitzed on 3 of Manning's 30 dropbacks, and never rushed with more than five players.

Pass coverage

It should surprise nobody that the 49ers in turn had mostly negative pass coverage grades. Eric Reid graded out with a 0.5, and Chris Cook had a 0.1. Otherwise, it was all negative grades. Tramaine Brock was at the bottom with a -2.8 after giving up catches on all six of his targets. His receivers accumulated 126 yards two touchdowns.

Peyton Manning had his way with the 49ers secondary down the field. On passes of 10+ yards downfield, Manning was 6-7 for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Drops

The 49ers had plenty of Broncos-inflicted problems, but they did not help themselves. The 49ers had five drops on the night, include Anquan Boldin's drop inside the 5 on a play in which he likely would have turned and gotten into the end zone with little trouble. Michael Crabtree dropped two passes, and Vernon Davis dropped one.

Stevie Johnson

The 49ers did not get a huge performance out of their receiver corps in the second half, but it was a big first half. Johnson led the way with 5 receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown. He is not being used as extensively as other receivers, but he is productive when he does play. He is second in the NFL with 3.18 yards per route run. We hear a lot about yards per reception, and yards per target, but this is one way to look at how productive a receiver is overall.

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