It was a one-score game early in the fourth quarter, and the defense had a prime opportunity to give their offense a shot at a go-ahead drive.
And then stepped up into a clean pocket and threaded the needle in the New Orleans Cover 2 zone on third-and-11, dropping a pass behind the linebackers to Jauan Jennings, who took it to the house for a 42-yard touchdown.
It was the last and biggest blow the 49ers landed against the Saints defense on crucial third-down plays . At the point Jones and Jennings connected, San Francisco had converted eight of its 12 third downs.
Four of those conversions, including the Jennings touchdown, came when the 49ers faced a third-and-10 or longer. That is coming on the heels of a performance against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 in which the Saints allowed Arizona to convert third downs of 10, 11 and 12 yards.
“We are giving up way too much in that situation,” head coach Kellen Moore said.
“We’re doing such a great job on first and second (down), and we get into these third-and-8-pluses, and they’re finding these windows and completing throws,” linebacker Pete Werner said. “That’s unacceptable."
The inability to get off the field on third down was more pronounced in Sunday’s loss to San Francisco because of the play outcomes: Each of Jones’ three touchdown passes came when the 49ers were in third down.
The first was a third-and-short where Jones kept the ball, rolled to his left and found an open Luke Farrell in the flat. Farrell broke through a poor Alontae Taylor tackle attempt for an 11-yard score.
With seconds remaining in the first half, Jones again stepped up into a clean pocket and found running back Christian McCaffrey on an out-breaking route for a 7-yard touchdown on third-and-6.
The common thread on most of the conversions seemed to be New Orleans' difficulties generating pressure on Jones. Carl Granderson sacked him twice in the first half, and Chris Rumph showed great hustle on a strip sack that set up a Saints touchdown, but Jones otherwise had a clean pocket to operate inside for much of the game.
“We have to be able to affect the quarterback,” said defensive end Cam Jordan. “We knew we had to get him off the spot. He was able to … get the ball out as fast as he could.”
Jones was a 2022 first-round pick of the New England Patriots, but Sunday’s game was his debut for the 49ers. He played because the usual starter, Brock Purdy, missed the game with toe and shoulder injuries.
Before his arrival in San Francisco, Jones’ star had dimmed considerably since his strong rookie season. But against the Saints, Jones compiled a 113.1 passer rating and carried a 49ers offense that managed just 77 yards on the ground.
“This is the pros, and it’s the pros for a reason,” linebacker Demario Davis said. “The guys who come off the bench are very good players; they can get hot and do good things just like starters, and he did that today.”
New Orleans came into the game figuring the San Francisco offense was not going to change much despite the stylistic differences between Jones and the more mobile Purdy. That meant a lot of quick passes that attacked the middle of the field.
After the game, Saints players said they saw what they figured they were going to see with Jones in the lineup, and they didn’t see their failures as a defensive game plan issue. Werner said he believed the Saints were in the right coverages to answer what San Francisco was doing, but the players didn’t always execute the coverages properly.
“We just weren’t in the right spots,” Werner said. “We could’ve anticipated a lot better. I don’t think it had anything to do with the game plan, the rush plan; I think that was all great. I just think we’ve got to do better.”
The Saints ultimately did get some third-down stops — Jones threw third-down incompletions to end consecutive drives in the fourth quarter, giving the Saints a chance at two go-ahead drives late in the game. But the damage had already been done.
“The NFL, more than anything else, is situational football,” safety Justin Reid said. “We gave ourselves phenomenal position, winning first and second down. And it’s just about winning third down. Got to get off the field.”
