Unfortunately for the San Francisco 49ers, they did not come out of their 27-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers completely unscathed. In the third quarter, safety Talanoa Hufanga went down with a torn ACL that will cause him to miss the rest of the season.
Following the game, 49ers general manager John Lynch acknowledged that losing All-Pro is significant for the team.
“First of all, with Huf, I mean, those types of guys are hard to replace,” Lynch said on KNBR's “Murph and Mac” show. “I think he just plays with an energy, with a passion. He's an instinctive player. He's a playmaker. He gives a lot to our defense, and he's made so many plays. He fires up our stadium. He fires up our players,” via David Bonilla of 49ers Web Zone.
Even though the loss of Hufanga hurts, Lynch believes in rookie safety Ji'Ayir Brown to fill in for Hufanga. While filling in against the Buccaneers, Brown had four total tackles and a crucial interception of Baker Mayfield.
“Ji'Ayir has tremendous ball skills, as we saw evidenced by that pick at the end. So he's been biding his time, been getting better each week. The coaches have done a great job, [he's] been a big-time special teams contributor, and really proud of the way he's worked and stepped up when he was asked to.”
Lynch added, “But Ji'Ayir has done a great job from the first day he came in here of knowing his assignments, knowing them well. So much of the back end at safety is communicating the coverages, the changes of strength, and all those things, and Ji'Ayir has done a really good job,” via Bonilla.
Brown and the 49ers take on the Seattle Seahawks next.
Follow Us
Subscribe