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With Fred Warner out, expectations for the 49ers’ defense have sunk. And because quarterback Brock Purdy — even though he has returned to practice in a limited capacity — isn’t expected back yet this week, the team’s offensive ceiling certainly isn’t at its peak.

In past seasons, such ailing statuses of both primary phases would spell certain doom for the 49ers. But this 2025 team, still in first place in the NFC West at 4-2 even after the Week 6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has shown surprising resilience.

A big reason for that: Kicker Eddy Piñeiro has completely changed the 49ers’ mathematical equation by supercharging their special teams unit. He’s a perfect 15-for-15 on field goals so far, offering the 49ers a 180-degree reversal from the struggles of his predecessor, Jake Moody (who won a game this past Monday for the Chicago Bears and received a congratulatory call from Piñeiro afterward).

The table below shows the expected points (EPA) generated by each phase of the game. Zero represents an average score. While the offense has remained acceptably productive, the 49ers’ defense has fallen off a cliff the past two weeks. Meanwhile, special teams — after notching positive EPA scores in just five games over all of last season — has registered four positives over the five games Piñeiro has been aboard.

Against the Bucs, Piñeiro’s 4-for-4 performance — paired with Tampa Bay’s kicking struggles and other gaffes — gave the 49ers a 6.8-point edge on special teams. That’s a touchdown-sized boost. The 49ers hadn’t enjoyed one that big since a plus-8.5 special teams EPA number in a 2022 regular season loss to the Kansas City Chiefs (San Francisco’s defense posted a horrific negative-30.6 EPA that day).

So the table illustrates how the 49ers, at the very least, can keep things interesting moving forward even without their two best defensive players. If they can somewhat stabilize the bleeding in the defensive column, offensive and special teams performances registering blue-shaded numbers can theoretically make up for inevitable injury-fueled deficiencies. Remember, a positive sum across a row translates into a very good chance to win any given game.

While we’re splitting hairs with numbers, it’s worth noting that Piñeiro’s first kick in Tampa thrust him into the No. 2 spot for all-time field goal percentage.

Piñeiro has been casually tracking his climb up these rankings. It’s fun motivation for him. He good-naturedly joked in the locker room on Wednesday that Los Angeles Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker would have to miss some kicks for the rest of the field to even have a shot of overtaking that No. 1 spot.

But the bigger motivation for Piñeiro this past Sunday was a personal one.

His parents, who live in Miami, were able to drive the four hours to Tampa to see their son kick for the first time this season. Eddy Piñeiro Sr. suffered a heart attack about two months ago and doctors have yet to clear him to fly, so this was the first time in about a month that he’d seen his son.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m still a little kid,” Piñeiro said. “I want to perform good in front of my mom and dad. I want them to be proud of me. So having them there, I felt a little extra pressure. It felt good to have a good performance for them, even though we lost.”

Piñeiro said that he’s leaned on his dad, a former professional soccer player who moved into construction work after his sporting career ended, throughout his entire kicking journey. Piñeiro started as a soccer player, too, before switching to football late in high school.

The change proved to be the right move. Piñeiro, who’s been kicking in the NFL since 2018, bought his parents a house two doors down from him in Miami several years ago and then, more recently, he successfully retired Eddy Sr.

“My dad will never work a day in his life again,” Piñeiro said. “Because he’s done everything for me. He’s been there for me. He’s worked his whole life to give us the best life, so now it’s time that I give him the best life. I retired him two years ago.

“That’s why I started playing football and quit soccer, even though I loved soccer. I knew that doing I could give my parents a better opportunity to own a home, have a car, have a house — everything they deserve. If it was up to me, I would live under a bridge — I’m OK. As long as they’re living good, that’s all that matters.”