Kyle Shanahan: I love calling plays for Mike Evans

Mike Evans built his career with the Buccaneers on being the guy quarterbacks looked to on third down and in the red zone, and it didn't take long for him to take on the same role with the 49ers.

Evans converted three third downs on the team's opening drive to set up a field goal and the wideout extended the 49ers' lead to 17-7 by catching a fade from Brock Purdy for a touchdown in the third quarter. Evans finished the 27-7 win with six catches for 49 yards and head coach Kyle Shanahan said at his postgame press conference that he's already realized that "I love calling plays for Mike."

Shanahan also noted that Evans missed time this summer and that his connection with Purdy should only get stronger.

"We've watched Mike do that for his whole career," Shanahan said. "I've just never been on the team with him. I mean, he did that to us a ton when I was in Atlanta. Mike is as good as any receiver who's played down there. Hadn't got to work on it as much as we would like during training camp. It was something that we told them early on that we wanted them doing when they were in Tennessee working together [this offseason]. They were working on the side a little bit this week, and I said I want to give them more opportunities to get better at it, but they didn't need it today. They looked pretty good at it."

The 49ers saw another wideout go down with injury during the win and any absence for De'Zhaun Stribling will make Evans even more important to the offensive plans that Shanahan draws up in the weeks to come.