Bosa says 49ers D-line is ‘fine’ after six-sack game against Patriots originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SANTA CLARA – The 49ers defense bounced back from consecutive subpar performances in Sunday’s 30-13 win over the New England Patriots, proving the team is still a contender.

Defensive end Nick Bosa was pleased with the group’s performance, which included six sacks of Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett, four forced fumbles and just 216 yards allowed (73 rushing, 143 passing).

“It feels good to win,” Bosa said after the match. “But it’s been such a long year that from an outsider’s perspective or online, you would think the building burned down. But I told the D-line guys last night at our meeting that we lost some guys, but that is not the case.” I haven’t lost faith in this group for a second, and that’s the truth.

Before halftime, a D-line already without Javon Hargrave lost Jordan Elliot to a knee injury, and the fifth-year veteran did not return. But Kevin Givens (three tackles, 2.5 sacks, one tackle for loss, three QB hits), Maliek Collins (three tackles, 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss, two QB hits, one fumble recovery) , Sam Okuayinonu (two tackles, one tackle for loss, one QB hit, one forced fumble) and rookie Evan Anderson (two tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss) all stepped up.

After several near misses, Bosa joined in on the sack fun with 2:52 left in the game. The All-Pro picked off Brissett and forced a fumble that he also recovered, giving the 49ers their final possession of the game.

“It looked bleak, but you just have to be ready for your surgery,” Bosa said. “I had a few and missed a lot, but I think we had a great day as a D-line and we won. And that’s all that matters.”

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan noted that bringing down Brissett like Bosa and his D-line buddies did so often is no easy task.

“I was happy for him,” Shanahan said of Bosa. ‘I’m happy for everyone who gets a bag. Jacoby, he’s a big man. We compare him to Ben Roethlisberger. If you don’t focus your body on him, he won’t go down.

“You can’t just grab that guy and pull him down. You have to hit him hard, and he got close to the rim a number of times. You can grab the comic and stuff, but I didn’t really do that. I saw someone take him down with one arm. You have to hit him square, and he’s one of the most competitive guys playing that position, and it usually takes two to take him down.”

Brissett completed 19 of 32 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown with one interception and recorded just 3 yards on two carries. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who rushed for 120 yards in New England’s season opener, carried the ball 13 times for 43 yards — just an average of 3.3 yards — against San Francisco’s defensive front.

“I have to look at the tape, but it seemed good,” Bosa said. “I think coming into the year I was confident in the depth we had. I hope Jordan is good. Evan stepped in and looked like he had a good game.

“We’ve been practicing pretty well. It’s just a matter of bringing it to the game. And I think we did that today.”

Shanahan added: “From what I saw there, it looked like they were dominating the run and the pass game. I was really excited about them, especially losing to Hargrave last week, we really had to step up. Then we lost Jordan in this game I thought they played well the entire game – from the first quarter to the fourth.”

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