PFF grades, stats for 49ers-Eagles

Pro Football Focus passed along their gradebook for the San Francisco 49ers 26-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, 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.

Offensive Line

The 49ers offensive line dominated in certain aspects of the run game, but struggled mightily in pass protection. PFF graded out the pass blocking with Joe Staley (-2.9), Daniel Kilgore (-2.5), and Alex Boone (-1.3) all grading out negatively in pass blocking. Mike Iupati got a 0.7, Anthony Davis was a 1.0, and Jonathan Martin was a 0.6. In run blocking, Mike Iupati was tops with a 3.5. Alex Boone got another negative performance here, however, finishing with a -2.0 grade. Daniel Kilgore managed a -1.7, in what was his worst start through four games at center.

Kap

Colin Kaepernick struggled with consistency for the most part, but he found some success going down the field. He was 6-of-9 for 150 yards and a touchdown on throws of 10+ yards. Kap was pressured on 17 of his 37 dropbacks. PFF figures out a time to throw statistic, which is time for snap in which the QB either attempts a pass, gets sacked, or scrambles across the line of scrimmage. On Sunday, Kap's time to throw was 3.71 seconds. That number was 0.60 seconds higher than any other quarterback.

Secondary play

The 49ers secondary put together quite a performance. Antoine Bethea got the game ball in PFF's game recap. He finished with a 4.8 grade, covering an interception, a forced fumble, a QB pressure, and a team-high four stops. He made the huge stop of Lesean McCoy at the 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter. Bethea is PFF's highest graded safety.

Perrish Cox and Chris Culliver both graded out at 2.2 in coverage, while Bethea was a 2.7. Cox was targeted 12 times (10 times while covering Macline), and allowed 4 catches for 51 yards. Culliver was targeted seven times and gave up 4 catches for 34 yards.

Pressure

PFF put together this interesting rundown. It looks at the percentage of dropbacks in which the 49ers have pressured the opposing quarterback:

• Week 1 vs. DAL: 22.5%
• Week 2 vs. CHI: 24.3%
• Week 3 vs. AZ: 20.0%
• Week 4 vs. PHI: 31.1%

Aaron Lynch secured a +3.1 overall grade thanks to four QB pressures (two hits, two hurries). He spent the entire game in the 49ers nickel and dime packages. He rushed the quarterback on 24 of his 25 snaps. The only play in which that was not the case was on the final drive when he tackled Darren Sproles on the swing pass.

On the other hand, Ahmad Brooks struggled against left tackle Jason Peters. Brooks made a big stop against the run at one point, but otherwise had a -2.4 overall grade and no pressures in 30 pass rushes.

Nick Foles was blitzed on only 4 of his 47 dropbacks (Wilhoite 2, Willis 1, Bethea 1). He finished the game 1-13, 22 yards, 2 INT (passer rating of 0.0) on passes of 20+ yards downfield.