49ers defensive end Nick Bosa wasn’t happy with how the defense played in last Monday’s loss to the Vikings and that wasn’t the first time that he’s felt like his performance has fallen short of expectations so far this season.
During a session with media from the locker room on Wednesday, Bosa pointed to the team’s loss to the Browns in Week Six and their season-opening win over the Steelers as other games when he didn’t play as well as he expects himself to play. That Steelers game came shortly after Bosa ended his holdout by signing a new contract with the team and he was asked if he felt missing work this summer has factored into the shortcomings he’s identified in his game.
“I think a little bit,” Bosa said. “I think I’m trying to work on stuff on the run this year that I wasn’t able to do in camp. So, those games that I mentioned, the two, I think I was thinking too much because I was trying to add something to my rush plan which is not what I want to be doing during season. I want to be locked in on what I do best and just doing it throughout the whole year. But there’s no excuse at this point for that.”
Bosa has 2.5 sacks through seven games, but he’s near the top of the league in quarterback pressures and hits. That bodes well for the sack total rising and for Bosa continuing to round into the kind of form that has made him one of the NFL’s top defensive players since he entered the league.
