Things looked dire as the San Francisco 49ers left MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The team had seemingly lost two defenders to severe injuries, the starting quarterback, top two running backs, and others.
Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas were later confirmed to be lost for the season with ACL injuries. The news was better for Jimmy Garoppolo, but the quarterback is still week-to-week with a high-ankle sprain. Raheem Mostert isn't expected to miss too much time, but the same isn't true for Tevin Coleman, who head coach Kyle Shanahan said may miss four weeks and is a candidate for short-term injured reserve.
After watching Shanahan's squad plummet in power rankings, one analyst says you shouldn't count out the 49ers just yet.
"[Shanahan] is wired to never make an excuse or blink an eye," Chris Simms of NBC Sports, a close friend of Shanahan's, recently said on Pro Football Talk. "He'll continue to just go, OK, I've got an issue here. How am I going to fix that? Now, let me build a game plan around it. That's where Kyle is great that way. Can the roster handle it? We're going to see.
"I'm, of course, concerned as a friend and a guy who roots for the 49ers, but I'm not concerned to where I'm like, the season is over. No, not like that."
The 49ers' All-Pro tight end, George Kittle (knee), returned to practice on Wednesday but was limited. Newly-signed pass rusher Ezekiel Ansah practiced for the first time with his new teammates. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel (foot) could be returning soon too.
"There's still a lot of talent on the football team (and) Shanahan is special," Simms continued. "We're going to get George back. So you're going to have him back, Deebo Samuel back. There will be a few guys that get mixed back into the healthy group here that I think can make us change our thought on them in the next two to three weeks to where we say, 'OK, I know there's no Nick Bosa, but there's Dee Ford, George Kittle's there, Deebo Samuel's there, Richard Sherman's back. OK, it's not as bad as we thought. They seem to be regaining their form.'
"They've just got to kind of weather this storm right here and see if they can battle through it. Fortunately for them, they're playing the Giants, (who) are certainly one of the worst teams in the game right now. It's an evaluation. I'm not panicked, but I'm a little concerned."