San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman DeForest Buckner came away from Sunday's overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals with his first sack of the season. Despite not having a sack going into Sunday's game, Buckner already ranked as one of the NFL's top pass rushers, according to Pro Football Focus.
Buckner did enough in the 18-15 overtime defeat to earn Pro Football Focus' game ball. The analysis team for the site had the following to say about Buckner's performance.
"Once Buckner hit his rhythm he was virtually unstoppable, getting into the Cardinals backfield seemingly at will. At the end of it all, Buckner tallied six total pressures (two hurries, three hits and a sack) and that's not counting another sack he got during overtime but was nullified by a holding penalty San Francisco chose to accept on the opposite side of the line; he also batted a pass down at the line of scrimmage, made two additional defensive stops and finished the evening with an 86.9 run defense grade."
Buckner currently leads all interior defenders with 22 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He also has nine quarterback hits to go along with his lone sack. Buckner achieved six sacks last season and set a goal for himself in July to get to the quarterback 10 times this season. He still has 12 games to get there.
"Obviously, I want to get more sacks this year," Buckner said at the start of training camp. "My personal goal is 10 and some [tackles for a loss] and a bunch of tackles. I mean, that's really my main goal, getting at least 10 sacks this year because I know I can do it. I mean, I missed a couple last year and I just want to redeem myself from last year."
Below are the five highest-graded 49ers players from Sunday's game in Pro Football Focus' initial release of grades.
- LB Ray-Ray Armstrong, 89.7 overall grade
- OT Trent Brown, 88.8 overall grade
- DI DeForest Buckner, 88.7 overall grade
- OT Joe Staley, 88.4 overall grade
- LB NaVorro Bowman, 84.5 overall grade
The 49ers will now prepare for a road game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, October 8.