Juice disappointed he fumbled rare rushing opportunity in 49ers’ loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The 49ers’ run game was going well until it wasn’t in their 35-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
Not only did the team lose Christian McCaffrey to what could be a season-ending knee injury early in the game, but Kyle Juszczyk also fumbled the ball on the 1-yard line to begin the second half when a score seemed very likely. A touchdown would have cut the Bills’ lead to a more manageable 11 points, and would have given the 49ers much-needed momentum.
“[Bills safety Taylor Rapp] got a good shot on it,” Juszczyk said after the game. “I felt like I had it locked up, and [Rapp] punched right on it and it was a good play by him.”
With the 49ers so close to the goal line, the logical choice would appear for coach Kyle Shanahan to have a play ready for the game’s leading rusher, Jordan Mason. But the third-year running back was on the sideline being evaluated for a concussion.
Rookie Isaac Guerendo was on the field during the gaffe, but the ball went to the veteran fullback Juszczyk instead. Shanahan explained his decision after the game.
“We do a lot on the goal line — we thought it was a good scheme run for the fronts [the Bills] always play down there,” Shanahan said. “It’s tough to run it versus their zero looks, and we thought it was a good schemed up play to run an inverse there and felt really good about it.
“I don’t think Kyle’s fumbled the ball in a long time. I can’t remember the last time he did it … They stripped him, and they made a good play.”
Juszczyk clearly was disappointed with his fumble, which seemed to suck the momentum out of a 49ers team that had come out of the halftime break with positive energy.
“Extremely,” Juszczyk said of his frustration level. “I don’t get a ton of opportunities, so every one them means so much to me. So when something like that happens, I take it personally and it’s something that I never want to happen and something that I’ll do everything to try to fix.”
The 49ers actually had success in the run game, averaging 5.7 yards per carry against a stout Bills defensive line, but it was not enough to compensate for the three turnovers committed in the game.
“We felt like we did have some good things going in the run game,” Juszczyk said. “Hopefully we had some things figured out. It’s always hard to say in game like this with this environment. Hopefully there is something we can build off of from that going into the next week, but we will see.”
Things won’t get any easier as the 49ers travel home to host the Chicago Bears in Week 14 at Levi’s Stadium, and then face a short week before the Los Angeles Rams come to town.
