© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Kendrick Bourne had a good day. Then, he had a very bad day. Then, he sort of redeemed himself… before un-redeeming himself yet again.
It was a weird day for Bourne, and one which will largely be remembered for a drop-turned-interception which swung the tide in favor of the Seahawks in a 27-24 overtime loss, and the 49ers’ first of the season.
With Emmanuel Sanders out for the entire second half due to a rib injury and Marquise Goodwin used sparsely, head coach Kyle Shanahan was often running out a wide receiver unit of Bourne, Deebo Samuel and Dante Pettis. As far as the stat sheet goes, Bourne had an impressive day. He finished with four receptions for 42 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
But it was that first drop, deflected into the hands of Quandre Diggs, which set up a Seahawks’ lead-taking touchdown in the second half. After that mini-redemption in the form of a two-point conversion, Bourne dropped another pass, this time on a 3rd-and-8 at the Seattle 21-yard-line, which was nearly picked off again. It would have given the 49ers a first down inside the Seahawks’ 15-yard-line and a potential touchdown chance. Instead, it resulted in a field goal.
“I really just be down on myself, because those kinds of things can’t happen,” Bourne said. “So, definitely just about focusing in on the ball, because I know I can catch the ball. I mean it’s not hard, just sometimes you squeeze it harder than other situations and when I’m wide open I tend to get more relaxed than when somebody’s on me. If somebody’s on my back, I know I have to be really firm, so just focusing on that, you know, being firm every time it comes. Jimmy has a rocket so I gotta make sure I’m catching it.”
How does he put drops behind him?
“I am pretty bad with that. I am kind of one of those guys that will beat up on himself. Just having good teammates telling me to keep my head up. Just not really thinking about it. It is tough, especially how it got an interception off of it, that is what really gets at me more than a drop. Even the second one almost got picked.”
Samuel, who otherwise had the game of his career (8 catches for 112 yards) also had a crucial drop over the middle on what would have been a first down.
“We just have to make the catches that are coming our way,” Samuel said. “We have to make a better effort at bringing those balls down… the ball is everything to us. We just have to come down and protect the ball.”