Injuries open the door for big changes in the 49ers week 5 snap count

The San Francisco 49ers lost an ugly one to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5, but it was not due to a lack of offensive effort. The team filled the stat sheet, but turnovers, dropped passes, and penalties cost the team in a big way. This stat showed just how badly the team hurt themselves.

The offensive “dominance” (for lack of a better term) is reflected in the snap count. You can view that below, or check out the gamebook PDF.

The offense had 98 snaps, which the most by any NFL team in the past five years, and the most by a 49ers offense since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. The 49ers offensive time of possession (40:12) was the most by the team since 2014. Suffice to say, the offense was busy.

We saw some lineup changes due to injuries, with wide receiver impacted the most. Marquise Goodwin (quadricep, hamstring) and Dante Pettis (knee) were both inactive. The team activated Victor Bolden from the suspended list, and had Richie James active for the second time this season. Pierre Garçon led the receivers with 62 snaps, but Bolden was right behind him with 57 snaps. Trent Taylor had 50 snaps, Kendrick Bourne had 42 snaps, and James brought up the rear with 24 snaps. Garçon led the team with 12 targets, followed by Taylor with 8, and Kendrick Bourne with 7 (tied with George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk).

The 49ers welcomed Richard Sherman back from a calf injury, and he started and played all 51 defensive snaps. Ahkello Witherspoon got the start opposite Sherman, but we saw significant rotation between Witherspoon and Greg Mabin. Witherspoon played 29 snaps, whole Mabin played 24. After the big 75-yard touchdown to open the game, the secondary was not challenged all that much. They had some good coverage at times, while Rosen overthrew his receivers at other times. Aaron Rodgers will present a decidedly more significant challenge in Week 5.

Another injury issue popped up as well in this game. Weston Richburg left the game at one point, and Erik Magnuson played 13 snaps. We’ll have to see what Kyle Shanahan has to say about Richburg’s status for Week 6, but I suspect he’ll sit the first practice of the week on Thursday (Monday Night Football means the practice week starts Thursday not Wednesday).