Until Sunday, the 49ers wide receivers hadn't played much of a role in the offense.
Only one, Jeremy Kerley, had produced 100 or more receiving yards in a game, and the rest of the group had produced few memorable plays.
But in San Francisco’s loss to the Saints Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, Quinton Patton gave the offense a large dose of what it needed.
Patton had the biggest game of his four-year NFL career, catching six passes for 106 yards on a day when the 49ers’ long-dormant passing game came to life. It was Patton’s first career game of 100 or more receiving yards.
“(Patton) did a great job, when the ball did come his way, of making plays,” quarterback Colin Kaepernick told Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.
Perhaps the biggest play was Patton’s 31-yard gain on a jet-sweep in which Patton comes around in front of Kaepernick from his wide receiver spot and takes a short shovel pass. He burst around the flank of the Saints’ defense to pick up 31 yards on that play in the first quarter.
Coming into Sunday’s game, Patton had just 19 catches for 187 yards.
Sports
“We just executed,” Patton told reporters after the game. “We just came out with a lot of energy today. We had fun. We had a great week of practice. We had a great week of preparation. We just came out flying around. It felt good. As we looked into everyone’s eyes, you could see that we were ready to play today.”
Unfortunately for the Niners, the energy on offense didn’t translate into an ability to tackle and cover on defense, as the Saints’ passing and rushing attacks sliced through San Francisco’s defenders en route to a 41-23 victory.
San Francisco is now 1-7. The 49ers’ next game is this Sunday at Arizona against the Cardinals, with kickoff set for 1:25 p.m.
