49ers News: George Kittle highlights 4 winners and 3 IDKs from Week 5

Believe it or not, the San Francisco 49ers also performed well in every phase against the Arizona Cardinals.

The offense had nearly 400 yards of offense. The defense forced a turnover while the special teams scored a touchdown. If those three things happen nine times out of 10, you win those games. The Niners found themselves on the wrong side of the ball for the second time in three weeks.

The sky always falls after a defeat. So let’s highlight Sunday’s “winners” and discuss some player performances at the end.

WR Brandon Aiyuk

Hey, now we've done something right! The Aiyuk eruption was staring us right in the face.

The Arizona Cardinals play soft coverages and don't pay much attention to the No. 1 wideouts. In our prediction, we said Aiyuk should shoot in triple figures against the Cardinals' secondary team. He had 91 yards after the first few drives.

Aiyuk had a season-high 12 goals. By the way, it is noteworthy that Aiyuk's goals in both NFC West games have doubled compared to the other three games. This shows me that the coaching staff knows who they want to give the ball to in crucial games.

No, there is no connection between Aiyuk's stronger offense and the 49ers' loss. Far too many variables go into a particular play to isolate a loss and place blame on one play or player.

Aiyuk caught eight passes for 147 yards, including a long of 53 and 49 yards after the catch. It was the fourth most valuable performance of the week by any wide receiver in Week 5.

For those still wondering about Aiyuk's separation issues, he had the highest average yards per separation of any top five receivers this week at 3.1. No one else was higher than 2.6.

Edge rusher Leonard Floyd

The pressure to perform is not on the 49ers’ diamonds in the rough. It's up to the starters who play large amounts of money to do their part.

Floyd's activity against the Cardinals was incredible. He was the only player on the defensive line to take more than one pressure. Floyd had a sack, but most importantly, he showed himself to be a run defender. Four of his five tackles were run stops.

As a pass rusher, Floyd was the only player to score above double figures at 12.5 percent on 23 snaps. Here's a look at the defensive line's pressure rate in Week 5 with their snaps in parentheses:

Nick Bosa (26): 3.8

Maliek Collins (25): 4.0

Jordan Elliott (14): 0.0

Kevin Givens (13): 7.7

Sam Okuayinonu (11): 9.1

Kalia Davis (9): 0

Robert Beal Jr. (7): 0

TY McGill (5): 0

RB Jordan Mason

Mason fumbled at the worst possible time as the 49ers could have ended the game and scored two possessions. Instead, the offense lost the ball and we know how the game ended.

The piece can be classified as a “freak accident”. The Cardinals defender ended up throwing a haystack. Mason tried to protect the ball with both hands, but the defender timed his shot perfectly to end the drive.

The timing couldn't have been worse, but I wouldn't blame Mason or any running back in that situation.

Another play that Mason gets blamed for is the interception on the final drive. It looked like Mason blocked the wrong player, but he took the most dangerous man – and that's what you should do. The right tackle didn't work, meaning an open runner was closer to the quarterback, resulting in an interception.

Mason is listed here because he didn't receive much help from his offensive line. Nevertheless, he managed the first 30-yard run of the season for the 49ers. Mason had another carry that went nearly 30 yards, picking off a stiff-armed linebacker for a big gain. Fifty of Mason's 89 yards came after contact.

To paint a better picture of blocking, Next Gen Stats projected Mason would average 3.5 yards per carry against the Cardinals. He finished with 6.4. The running game remains fundamentally inconsistent, but you can't blame the running back.

Mason had better statistical results, but I would argue that Week 5 was his best game as a pure runner.

S Ji'Ayir Brown

When I watch the 49ers defense, I see that Ji'Ayir Brown is the Kyle Juszczyk on that side of the ball. He is asked to wear five different hats – sometimes all in one series – and receives little reward for doing so.

Brown gave up a long reception against the Cardinals, where Arizona exploited the 49ers' coverage more than anything else. The other time Brown was targeted, it resulted in an incomplete pass.

On the very next play, after giving up the reception, Tig made a tackle at the line of scrimmage. Remember how he played the run near the line last year? It was borderline cruel. His tackling was sloppy and he often ended up wheezing.

There was a play where you could see Brown communicating with Charvarius Ward — who deserves his own post — calling out what the Cardinals were going to do and who Mooney should guard. They both skated with the same player and Ward looked dejected afterwards, knowing he had made a mistake.

But it shows how important communication is in this sport, and Tig has it all. He also has an incredible sense of what's coming, which shows me he's a connoisseur of the game. Each of his run stops against Arizona resulted from film study.

As a result, an impressive performance from the second-year safety team was lost.

IDKs

Aside from the turnovers, if you have a talented, top-heavy team and your stars aren't performing, you'll end up on the wrong end in most cases. There were several off games from the team's best players.

George Kittle

It feels strange to say someone who caught eight passes and a touchdown struggled, but this wasn't a typical Kittle game. He dropped a first down early. On 4th-and-23, Kittle dropped a pass from about 20 to 21 yards. It may not seem like much, but Arizona started inside their 10-yard line and began the drive at their 27-yard line. They marched down the field to score a touchdown.

In many ways, the team is asking Juszczyk to do the impossible, and the same goes for Kittle when it comes to blocking. But it was an area where he didn't excel on Sunday, something that may never happen again.

Charvarius Ward

Ward is the poster child for IDKs this week. He looked like his head was in another room, thinking about something else.

I've seen Mooney compete. I know what he's capable of. And whatever the product was that was on the field from No. 7, it wasn't the player we were used to.

I mentioned the miscommunication with Brown above. There was a deep crosser that led to a first down where Ward was jogging across the field.

Ward was lucky that Kyler Murray threw the ball out of bounds late in the game on a back-and-forth pattern. He was easy to beat for a touchdown. On the day, Ward allowed three of his four targets to come within 67 yards, for an overall EPA of +4.1 and an average of 3.7 yards on each target.

Ward's most telling stat was the donut he showed for tackles. When he's “right,” Mooney plays the run as aggressively as a linebacker. I'm not sure if he was conserving energy for Thursday or was dealing with an injury, but this wasn't the type of All-Pro performance that Ward has consistently produced during his tenure with the 49ers.

Brock Purdy

Last Sunday marked the first time in Brock Purdy's career that the 49ers were shut out in the second half of a game. That's how much the offense has corrupted the fan base.

As a lover of high variance in a sport that produces a lot of variance, I like Purdy's style of play. But I think he's developing bad habits.

The Cardinals tried to heat up Purdy with pressure. He finished 1-for-6 under pressure, including the final interception. Arizona played behind man coverage and Brock completed just 12 of 21 throws, including seven tight window attempts, according to Next Gen Stats.

Some of this can be attributed to the separation – it's man coverage and the defense is paid too. However, Purdy will be indecisive at times, and there were a few examples on Sunday.

It's happening more and more in the red zone, which is why we've seen the offense struggle. The field is shrinking, everything is faster and with the 49ers having more and more empty backfields, the pressure is on the quarterback to make a decision.

Purdy climbs into the pocket and makes a throw when he's confident and confident. In the opposite case, he keeps the ball and retreats from the pocket, and this results in a second-round sack inside the red zone.

The tipped passes come from holding the ball and staring at the receiver half a count too long. With the last interception, there wasn't much a quarterback could do in that situation.

Purdy remains one of the best at his position in the sport this year, but we saw some chinks in the armor on Sunday. He didn't play badly, but it wasn't up to the standard of a top-10 quarterback. Most of Purdy's problems can be solved by climbing the pocket and trusting what he sees. When he plays on time, the offense is a juggernaut, moving the ball at will.