SANTA CLARA — Jake Moody knew as soon as he kicked the ball he wouldn’t get the carry he desired.
Little did he know that failing to record a touchback would be a huge play for the 49ers in a 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
The 49ers had just scored 61-yard return by Deommodore Lenoir of a blocked 45-yard field goal by Chad Ryland attempt courtesy of Jordan Elliott, giving them a 19-10 lead and a much needed boost to but a maligned special teams unit.
Moody then converted the extra point for a 20-10 lead before kicking off to the Cardinals.
Up to that point, Moody had 19 touchbacks on 21 kickoffs on the season, which is among the best in the league.
“Going in into the wind in that direction, I kind of got under it a little bit,” Moody said afterward, wearing a protective boot on his right foot. “It was not deep enough to let it go for a touchback. They brought it out and it sucks how it ended up turning out.”
Arizona returner DeeJay Dallas got free, broke to his left and Moody did what football players do. He tried — and succeeded — in making the tackle at the Arizona 38-yard line. However, his right foot got twisted underneath, and the resulting high ankle sprain put Moody out of the game.
Moody will be out indefinitely, and the 49ers have already begun calling place kickers for what could be a monthlong absence or longer.
That left punter Mitch Wishnowsky as the place kicker, with fullback Kyle Juszczyk as the holder. Wishnowsky converted a 26-yard field goal attempt late in that half, but coach Kyle Shanahan said he wasn’t comfortable attempting field goals from anything farther than the 15-yard line.
That meant when the 49ers drove as far as the Arizona 13 in the third quarter, and the drive disintegrated with a false start on Jauan Jennings and a sack absorbed by Brock Purdy, the 49ers were forced to go for a first down on fourth-and-23 rather than have Moody attempt a 44-yard field goal to salvage some points.
Purdy was incomplete on fourth down, and the 49ers still led 23-13 but the missed points proved to be crucial. When Arizona finally took their final lead at fourth-and-23, Purdy had all of a 1:37 to make something happen — with no place kicker.
As the 49ers processed the defeat afterward, there was no denying the Lenoir touchdown (on his 25th birthday) followed by Moody’s injury had played a big part.
“It was a crazy thing, but in the NFL it’s `next man up’ always,’ ” Lenoir said.
Juszczyk, who kicked a few balls into a net in case he was called on to kick, shook his head at the sudden turn of events.
“It just seems like with each loss we’ve had a series of events that have gone on top of each other,” he said. “It’s hard to plan for and these things are unfortunate. You’ve got to answer and score touchdowns and not have to kick field goals.”
Birthday behavior, @Dmo_lenoir!
#AZvsSF on FOX
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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 6, 2024
Moody, who eventually walked off the field under his own power — although he hopped the final 10 yards — knew immediately it wasn’t good.
“I broke my leg in the eighth grade in a pretty similar way, actually, so that was my first thought,” Moody said. “Thankfully, I didn’t feel anything break or crack as I did when I did break it. But I knew something was wrong.”
There were times with the Raiders where place kicker Sebastian Janikowski would make a beeline for the sideline after a kickoff to make sure he was out of harm’s way. It never occurred to Moody.
“I’m always going to try and make the best tackle I can,” he said. “I’m not trying to make tackles every single day so it’s not something I’m used to but I’m going to do the best I can to get him down. Just try to go lower I guess. I kind of got rolled up on.”
Shanahan wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You try to tackle. You don’t tell guys to keep their ankle out of it,” he said. “You hope that it doesn’t come to him and he doesn’t have to make a tackle, but you also don’t tell guys to turn it down and just let them score. So, it’s part of football.”
Moody had field goals of 28 and 20 yards — with the 49ers again struggling in the red zone — but came into the game having missed just one field goal in four games, a 54-yard attempt against the Rams. He was 13-for-14 at the time of the injury and was 3-for-3 between 40 and 49 yards and 2-for-3 on attempts of 50-plus.
“Losing your kicker is huge, especially when you’ve got a guy who’s good from 57 yards,” tight end George Kittle said. “That’s tough. Jake’s a hell of a kicker and when you don’t have that option and now you’ve got to get to the 25-yard line to kick (actually the 15), that’s tough. But I think our special teams and our defense gave us every opportunity to win.
“As an offensive player who’s been here for eight yards, that’s mostly on us more than anything else.”
Alright mate! Mitch Wishnowsky’s first career FG
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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 6, 2024
Wishnowsky was no longer around when reporters entered the locker room. It’s not the first time he’s been pressed into duty. In Week 4 of 2021, place kicker Robbie Gould had a groin strain in warmups and couldn’t kick. Wishnowsky, with Taybor Pepper snapping and Juszczyk holding, was 1-for-2 on extra point attempts but missed a 41-yard field goal attempt wide left.
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With the extra point that day, Wishnowsky became the first Australian player to score a point in an NFL game. Coincidentally, following the conversion, Wishnowsky, a former soccer and rugby player, laid a big hit on DeeJay Dallas on the ensuring kickoff. The same Dallas that Moody tackled with a far more painful outcome on Sunday.
Football coaches have plans for everything, but using practice time to prepare for losing one suddenly isn’t part of the plan in part because kicking and punting are dramatically different in terms of the muscles use and in the fundamentals of the swing.
“It’s such a weird anomaly,” Pepper said. “Your punter may take a few kicks through the year, but as an every week thing it’s not the expectation of an NFL punter.”