It was an up-and-down day for kicker Jake Moody in his return to action for San Francisco but his 44-yard field goal as time expired lifted the 49ers to a 23-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Moody, who was back after suffering a high-ankle sprain in Week 5, had missed three of his five field-goal attempts in Sunday’s game before striking the winning kick.
It’s GOOD! Moody wins it for the @49ers! pic.twitter.com/NWwYbEVlWR
— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024
With 41 seconds left and the game tied at 20, quarterback Brock Purdy orchestrated a six-play, 39-yard drive to push the 49ers into field-goal range. Purdy threw for a season-high 353 yards and had two touchdowns. One of those touchdown passes went to Ricky Pearsall — his first career TD reception just 10 weeks after he was shot in the chest.
Christian McCaffrey made his season debut after missing the opening nine weeks with tendonitis in both Achilles. The 2023 AP Offensive Player Of the Year was not on any sort of pitch count. He recorded 19 touches for 107 total yards and showed no signs of rust — as evidenced by this clutch catch in the fourth quarter.
Nice to have ya back, CMC 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tnHfCUVLUt
— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024
The Buccaneers head into their bye week at 4-6, while the 49ers move to 5-4 and will host the Seattle Seahawks in a NFC West tilt in Week 11.
Special teams issues return
Moody’s 44-yard field goal as time expired gave the 49ers the win, but that’s not to say he had a good game.
The 49ers had their best special teams outing of the season just before the bye, but their problems returned with a vengeance in their first game back. Moody missed field goals from 49, 50 and 44 yards out, while also connecting from 28 and 33 yards out in his first game back Sunday after missing three games with an injured ankle suffered while trying to make a tackle in Week 5.
Coach Kyle Shanahan seemed particularly steamed after the 50-yard miss in the fourth quarter. Deebo Samuel, meanwhile, had heated words for long snapper Taybor Pepper after the 44-yard miss later in the quarter. Moody’s Week 6-8 replacements, Matthew Wright and Anders Carlson, didn’t miss any field goals in that stretch, though Carlson missed an extra point.
Another big gaffe occurred in the third quarter when Darrell Luter Jr. appeared to get blocked into return man Jacob Cowing as the ball arrived, causing a muff the Buccaneers recovered at San Francisco’s 21-yard line. Four plays later, Baker Mayfield hit Rachaad White for Tampa Bay’s first touchdown of the game. Luter was involved in another muffed punt in the Super Bowl after a short Kansas City Chiefs punt hit the back of his foot and could not be collected by returner Ray-Ray McCloud III.
Those types of blunders carried over into the regular season with the 49ers being victimized by everything from fake punts to kickoff fumbles to kickers getting hurt making tackles this season. — Matt Barrows, 49ers beat writer
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McCaffrey’s debut doesn’t cure red zone woes
The 49ers’ offense still doesn’t look like its 2023 self, though McCaffrey got a 2023-like workload. Making his season debut, McCaffrey started Sunday’s game and played all but eight offensive snaps. He rushed 13 times for 39 yards and caught six of his seven targets for 68 yards. The 49ers hoped McCaffrey, who’d already scored 13 touchdowns at this point last season, would help the 49ers solve their red-zone woes. In their first trip into the red zone, however, he gained 1 yard on first down, while Purdy didn’t look at him as a pass target on second and third down. The 49ers settled for a 28-yard field goal.
In the third quarter, he caught a 7-yard pass on third-and-5 to give the 49ers a first down at the Tampa Bay 9-yard line. But Purdy was sacked two snaps later and the 49ers again had to settle for a short field goal. McCaffrey wasn’t involved in a fourth-quarter trip to the end zone. Instead, Purdy hit tight end George Kittle in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown. — Barrows
GO DEEPER
49ers’ Pearsall scores first career touchdown just 10 weeks after shooting
Resilient Bucs, Mayfield continue to hang tough
A Buccaneers team that entered the game without receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin lost another prominent offensive player when left tackle Tristan Wirfs left the field with a knee injury late in the second quarter. He was replaced by Justin Skule, who entered the NFL as a sixth-round pick of the 49ers in 2019. Skule’s insertion prompted defensive end Nick Bosa to rush exclusively against that side of the line for the rest of the game. The Buccaneers initially didn’t put Skule or Mayfield in many precarious situations. They used short passes — including a 5-yard touchdown throw to White in the third quarter — and a robust running game to keep pace with, and at one point, pull ahead of the 49ers.
Bosa struck once, late in the fourth quarter, after a flubbed snap put Tampa Bay in a third-and-long situation. On the next play, he sacked Mayfield for a 10-yard loss. Mayfield, however, turned in a Herculean effort on the Buccaneers’ final drive of regulation, at one point fending Bosa with his off hand and completing a pass down field. That drive tied the game 20-2o with under a minute to play. — Barrows
BAKER MAYFIELD WHAT?!
📺: #SFvsTB on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/Mlj7lDybXM— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024
Required reading
(Photo:Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
