For the 49ers’ newest receiver, Sunday just might feel like Groundhog Day.
uncertain
Sunday → feel → Day
The NFL trade deadline saw its shadow, and Keenan Allen has two straight weeks of football against the Cowboys.
asserted
Allen → see → Cowboys
As Allen hurriedly got up to speed this week on Kyle Shanahan’s playbook, he at least didn’t have to spend much time thinking about who he’d line up against.
asserted
he → get → who
He got an in-person scouting report last week.
asserted
He → get → report
Allen caught four passes for 26 yards from Daniel Jones, the Colts’ quarterback, in a 27-23 loss to the Cowboys last Sunday.
asserted
Allen → catch → Cowboys
After three days of practice, walkthroughs and route-tree study sessions, he’ll do it all over again this week with Brock Purdy relying on him to be one of his top targets, with the 49ers still missing fellow veteran receiver Mike Evans, rookie De’Zhaun Stribling, Christian Kirk and Ricky Pearsall.
asserted
49ers → do → Evans
Shanahan’s playbook is only regarded as one of the most complex in the NFL.
asserted
playbook → regard → NFL
“Definitely,” Allen said after his first practice, “[my] head [is] spinning.”
asserted
head → say → practice
Allen took the field for the first time Wednesday afternoon.
asserted
Allen → take → time
He got in late Tuesday and, as Shanahan put it, got “two hours of install to the face.”
asserted
Shanahan → get → face
“Then, he gets to go out there and walk through it,” he continued.
asserted
he → get → it
“No person in the history of football has been able to hear it for the first time and go out there right away.
asserted
person → hear → time
But that’s just about what the 49ers will ask the 34-year-old Cal product to do.
asserted
product → ’ → what
Christian McCaffrey was able to contribute right away after coming over at the 2022 trade deadline, but according to Shanahan, it’s easier for a running back, “because once you hand them the ball, they can just run.”
uncertain
they → contribute → ball
A better example might be Emmanuel Sanders, another veteran receiver the 49ers brought in on their run to the Super Bowl in 2019.
uncertain
49ers → bring → 2019
Sanders’ offensive coordinator before the trade had previously been a 49ers quarterbacks coach under Shanahan, “so,” he said, “they had the same terminology for a year, which helped him, but it was still a challenge for him.
asserted
it → say → him
…
“It takes a lot for receivers just getting lined up, knowing all the route tree, hearing the verbiage and everything on how to do it.”
asserted
It → take → it
At least Allen will know what he’s up against.
asserted
he → know → what
According to Todd Archer of ESPN, citing the Elias Sports Bureau, only one other player in NFL history has faced the Cowboys in back-to-back weeks — all the way back in 1963, when guard Andy Cvercko went from Cleveland to Washington between Weeks 3 and 4.
uncertain
Cvercko → accord → Weeks
It’s not quite so unprecedented in recent league history.
asserted
It → ’ → history
In 2024, linebacker Ernest Jones IV saw the Bills twice in a row when he was traded from the Titans to the Seahawks.
asserted
he → see → Seahawks
That same year, Davante Adams was handed consecutive losses by the Steelers, though he only suited up for one — after the Raiders had traded him to the Jets.
asserted
Raiders → hand → Jets
Heck, the 49ers are about to see Kirk Cousins again for the second time in three weeks next Sunday in Mexico City.
asserted
49ers → see → City
Cousins’ midseason trade from Las Vegas to Minnesota means that he, like Allen, will play all 18 weeks of the season.
asserted
he → mean → season
The 49ers had their bye leading into last week’s win over the Raiders; the Colts weren’t scheduled to have theirs until Week 13.
asserted
Colts → have → Week
“That’s what happened to Emmanuel when he came here, too,” Shanahan said.
asserted
Shanahan → ’ → Emmanuel
“I remember he missed his bye week, and it’s a long year.
asserted
it → remember → week
I couldn’t imagine missing that as a coach, too.
asserted
I → imagine → coach
It’s a grind, 17 weeks in a row.”
asserted
It → ’ → row
(Allen, it’s worth noting, may get an NFL-mandated break, pending what, if any, discipline the league hands down following his DUI arrest earlier this year.)
uncertain
league → ’ → arrest
The scheduling oddity adds an interesting wrinkle to Allen’s anticipated debut.
asserted
oddity → add → debut
Could it also give him any sort of upper hand?
uncertain
it → give → hand
“It would,” Allen sighed, “if it was the same plays.
asserted
it → sigh → ?
That’s what makes it hard.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
It’s all the same concepts, just different words now.”
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Marquee matchup: 49ers secondary vs. CeeDee Lamb
Raheem Morris has tended to keep his cornerbacks on their respective sides of the field, rather than using either Renardo Green or Deommodore Lenoir to shadow an opponent’s top receiver.
asserted
Morris → tend → receiver
So keeping the NFL’s most targeted receiver — with 70 catches for 904 yards on an astounding 108 chances from Dak Prescott — in check will likely be a team effort.
asserted
keeping → keep → check
Lamb is the most dynamic pass catcher San Francisco has faced since Jaxon Smith-Njigba in Week 5.
asserted
Francisco → face → Week
The 49ers took JSN out of that 32-29 win as well as any other team that has faced the Seahawks, tying his season low with five catches.
asserted
that → take → catches
Green, Lenoir, nickelback Upton Stout and Jack Jones, now on their practice squad, all matched up with Smith-Njigba, and it will likely look similar Sunday.
asserted
it → match → Njigba
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
