Fred Warner and the San Francisco 49ers are 5-0 after humiliating the Dallas Cowboys 42-10 in Week 5, and there is a growing feeling around the NFL that they’re the best team in football.
At the same time, there is also a feeling that they haven’t fully hit their stride yet. They may have played about as well as they could’ve played versus Dallas, but there are still some things they can improve on both offensively and defensively.
That is the sentiment Warner expressed this week. He said there is still lots of improvement for San Francisco and that the team is focused on making that improvement happen.
“I honestly don’t think that we’ve hit our peak,” Warner said. “I think that we just continue to keep our head down and grind and stay humble. If you saw the way that we graded this tape this morning, you would see that we’re taking this really serious. It’s not we just scrapped this past game just because we beat them by 32 points. We’re trying to find ways to get better in the little things that you do see out there.”
On Sunday, the Niners harassed Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott into possibly the worst game of his NFL career. He completed only 14 of 24 pass attempts, threw three interceptions and was sacked five times. Fred Warner, who is arguably the NFL’s best middle linebacker, was responsible for one of those sacks on Prescott.
On the other side, San Francisco signal-caller Brock Purdy continued his stellar play by going 17 of 24 and throwing four touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception this season.
This weekend, Purdy and company will start a two-game road trip by heading to Northeast Ohio to take on the Cleveland Browns. The Browns, who are without star running back Nick Chubb and QB Deshaun Watson, have somehow managed to forge a 2-2 record on the strength of the league’s second-best scoring defense, and they’re first in total yards allowed.
However, their offense is anemic, and they will be hard-pressed to manufacture points against Warner and the rest of San Francisco’s savage defense.
If San Francisco manages to stay healthy for the first time in a few years, this could end up being a special season for it — the type of special season that may end with a sixth Super Bowl championship.
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