The Atlanta Falcons pulled off one of the most shocking results of the season on Sunday, handing the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season in a 29-20 season and they spoiled Raheem Morris' revenge game as they rode a three-touchdown performance from Michael Penix Jr. to the upset win.
The 49ers tried to dial up the pressure knowing that's something he struggles with, yet it still failed. According to Next Gen Stats, Penix was pressured just six times on 34 dropbacks (17.1%), for the second-lowest total of his career behind an inspired performance from the offensive line. And after the Niners pressured Jayden Daniels 29 times in Week 6, the inconsistency was too much to bear.
The 49ers got fed up with their pressure not getting home against Atlanta, and in order to counteract that, they got swept up in trade fever and struck a major move before the deadline, as they brought back three-time Pro Bowl DL DeForest Buckner after acquiring him from the Indianapolis Colts.
This deal came just hours after their division rival Seahawks acquired eight-time Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson from Indianapolis. So Niners GM John Lynch saw his own opportunity to capitalize on the Colts' firesale after they fired longtime general manager Chris Ballard, as San Francisco was able to bring back their 2017 first-rounder for the price of a 2027 fourth-round pick.
And if it wasn't for the pass-rush imploding against the Falcons (and the subsequent Nelson trade), it's safe to say they wouldn't have been as willing to make this move.
The Falcons' loss was the reason the 49ers traded for DeForest Buckner
The 49ers went into Mercedes-Benz Stadium without superstar pass-rusher Nick Bosa, who has missed the last three games due to a left calf strain. And since he's expected to return after the Week 8 bye, they want to ensure the pass-rushing issues we saw in Week 7 were a one-time issue.
Without him, Morris turned to Mykel Williams, Keion White, and rookie Romello Height off the edge and Osa Odighizuwa and Gracen Halton inside. On paper that's a really good group, but they were getting bullied by Matthew Bergeron and 34-year-old Jake Matthews, who'd been awful this year.
The Dirty Birds couldn't run the ball that well in this one either. It was Penix getting the ball out quick and that's what made it tough on those guys to get home. They didn't sack him once. Not even so much as a QB hit on the guy despite blitzing on 37.14% of passing downs. And while Morris is known to be good with adjustments (at least as a DC), this one had them scrambling for answers on the DL.
The 49ers entered Week 7 with a 51% pressure rate in Week 5 and a 46% pressure rate in Week 6, and since there were still issues, San Francisco decided the best course of action would be to make a splash instead of waiting for Bosa to return--and that's all because of what this Atlanta offense did..
Buckner was getting dealt regardless. He publicly expressed his frustration about the situation in Indy, and given he's in the final year of his contract, he was likely leaving this offseason anyways. And given the 49ers were always going to be aggressive to add deadline help, this was an obvious pairing, but there were other teams rumored to be involved, yet Lynch didn't pull the trigger until after he saw the pass-rush struggle against the Falcons.
The good news here is that the 49ers waited until after they played the Falcons to acquire DeForest Buckner, and it's because Atlanta won this game in the trenches that prompted them to make this move in the first place.
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