San Francisco 49ers Injury Report: Mike Iupati, Tarell Brown to Miss Week 12

As the San Francisco 49ers finish their preparations for Monday night’s game against Washington, they've confirmed that two of their regular starters will miss the game: left guard Mike Iupati, who suffered an MCL sprain last week against New Orleans, and cornerback Tarell Brown, still down from his rib injury.

Iupati’s injury is the more significant one for San Francisco in Week 12.  He’s had an up-and-down season this year, especially protecting against the pass rush.  Iupati’s given up two sacks, three quarterback hits, and sixteen more hurries this season, a far cry from his All-Pro season a year ago.  Still, he’s been effective clearing out paths for Frank Gore in the run game and was coming off of a very solid day against New Orleans.  There was definitely hope that he could continue putting up that level of performance.

His replacement will most likely be Adam Snyder, who has started 83 games in his NFL career, including being a regular in the pre-Harbaugh era for the 49ers.  This is a notable downgrade.  Snyder’s main value at this point comes from the fact that he can fill in anywhere, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s particularly good at any position.  He was the victim on this play late in the fourth quarter against the Saints, both leaving a void in the middle for Junior Galette to run straight at Colin Kaepernick untouched, and then releasing Keyunta Dawson to clean up the play had Kaepernick somehow managed to avoid Galette.

In 2012, as a starter in Arizona, he was rated as the fourth-worst guard in football by Pro Football Focus (subscription required), with his performance in the run game particularly noted as subpar.  It wasn’t just a one-year fluke, playing in the disaster that was Arizona last season, either; he was rated the forth-worst guard in 2011, eighteenth-worst tackle in 2009 and fourth-worst tackle in 2008.

It’s not all horrible news; he came in at right tackle against Jacksonville and played solidly in relief of Anthony Davis.  Washington also hasn’t been able to exploit the interior of defensive lines that much in recent weeks; Philadelphia’s Evan Mathis had a very solid day stopping Barry Cofield and Jarvis Jenkins, and the Eagles were decently successful running in that general direction. LeSean McCoy averaged four yards a carry going through the left-middle side of the line last week.  Still, it’s a notable downgrade, and one that will put more pressure on Joe Staley to keep that side of the line of scrimmage clean.

Brown’s injury is more serious overall, though it appears now that he likely will not miss the rest of the season with his rib injury.  It’s less impactful for the 49ers on a week-to-week basis, though, because they are very happy with the play of third cornerback Tramaine Brock.  Brock was just signed to a four-year contract extension despite only having started one game in his career.  The 49ers are very high on Brock, who replaced Nnamdi Asomugha as their nickelback and never looked back.

Pro Football Focus gives Brock the best pass coverage grade for any 49er so far this season, and his four interceptions lead the team.  His best game came against Houston, where he picked off Matt Schaub not once, but twice.

That second interception is worth going into, because it shows a fraction of the talent that has impressed San Francisco’s front office this season.  Already, he’s trusted enough to be in single coverage on Andre Johnson without any significant help—Eric Reid is deep on the play, but immediately backpedals, leaving Brock alone, one-on-one.  Schaub reads this, sees his six-time Pro Bowl receiver going up against some nickelback with a five-yard cushion, and throws without even looking at other receivers.  Brock reads the quarterback’s eyes and breaks on the ball just as it’s thrown, tipping the ball into the air, and having the presence of mind to follow the tip and bring it down for his second pick of the day.

Of course, Brock entering the starting lineup means someone else has to play nickelback, and that job will likely go to Eric Wright, who only has 31 snaps on defense so far this season, all against New Orleans last week.  He gave up three receptions on four targets, so he might be someone Washington could attack.  However, Washington’s also playing a man down in the passing game, with Leonard Hankerson out for the year after tearing his ACL and LCL.  The injuries somewhat offset one another.

Other 49ers listed on San Francisco’s final pregame injury report include Mario Manningham, Ray McDonald and Garrett Celek, all listed as questionable.  Washington, meanwhile, will be missing their rising star tight end Jordan Reed, who suffered a concussion last week.

Will San Francisco miss Iupati and Brown, or will Snyder and Brock cover for them adequately?  We’ll find out Monday night—but Brock, so far, has shown the ability to step into tough situations, while Snyder has struggled.  We’ll see what, if anything, Washington can do to exploit these weaknesses.