SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jordan Mason, Jauan Jennings, Eric Saubert and Jake Moody.
On a roster teeming with marquee players, it was the San Francisco 49ers’ B-listers who powered them to a 32-19 season-opening victory over the New York Jets on Monday.
And we do mean power. Even without Christian McCaffrey, scratched from the lineup due to a calf injury that’s bothered him throughout the summer, the 49ers trampled the Jets and their celebrated defensive line, gaining 180 yards on 38 attempts and dominating the time of possession by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Mason’s 28 carries were the most for a 49ers running back since Frank Gore — inducted into the team hall of fame this weekend and honored at halftime — had 31 on Oct. 30, 2011.
“Obviously, we wanted to keep that D-line moving,” tackle Trent Williams said. “We didn’t want them to be able to pin their ears back and pass rush, it’s what they do best. We wanted to get them running side to side, get (Mason) going downhill like he did. I think the game plan worked out perfectly.”
GO DEEPER
Key takeaways as 49ers surge by Jets: Jordan Mason steals spotlight and spoils Aaron Rodgers’ return
After a slow start, the offense seemed to find its spark on the third drive when Saubert, a blocking specialist, entered the game. Mason gained 4 yards on first down, then 13 more up the middle, then 5 more later in the series. It wasn’t always pretty, but the 49ers seemed to find their Week 1 identity on the drive — a lot of two-tight end formations, plenty of play-action passes and an avalanche of Mason.
“A hundred and forty-seven yards — that’s not bad for your first career start in the NFL,” tight end George Kittle said. “So happy for him and hoping we can keep rolling on that train.”
Made for these moments‼️@jpmason27#NYJvsSF on ESPN
📱 NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/7xH2PzwONS— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 10, 2024
There were other contributors.
Jennings, gritting his way through an ankle injury, looked like he did in the Super Bowl in catching all five targets, four of them for first downs. Moody, meanwhile, made all six field-goal attempts, one from 51 yards out and another from 53. He never attempted more than three during his rookie season last year.
After the game, the 49ers said they knew what was coming after watching Mason close out contests last season and seeing him fill in for injured tailbacks McCaffrey and Elijah Mitchell during training camp. That led to plenty of first-team snaps for Mason, an undrafted rookie in 2022, and a lot of snaps in general.
Kyle Shanahan noted that there can be a domino effect of injuries at running back. As soon as a couple go down, the rest have to take on a bigger workload, which can lead to them getting hurt. Mason, however, arrived in excellent shape this year and never flinched from the workload.
“It never phased him at all,” Shanahan said. “Every day in practice he was the same and it carried over into the games. He looked like he always does.”
Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations & everything you need to know to win your fantasy football league.
Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations.
Buy
Over the last year, fans have been clamoring to see more of Mason, partly because they didn’t like seeing McCaffrey get so many late-game carries and partly because when Mason did get chances, he invariably mowed down his opponents. He proved on Monday that it wasn’t merely a late-game phenomenon as he and the 49ers blockers methodically demoralized a Jets team that jumped in front 7-3 in the first quarter.
“He’s such a downhill runner and he’s a dense dude,” Kittle said. “Sturdy? That’s a good word for it. He just runs downhill very physically.”
Kittle said he teased McCaffery that the only benefit of him being out was that Shanahan’s vast playbook shrank a little bit. Indeed, the 49ers seemed to get back to basics with Mason in the backfield. Both Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel Sr. had modest receiving numbers — they combined for 82 yards — while Brock Purdy finished with 231 passing yards and a ho-hum 89.9 passer rating.
Samuel’s biggest contribution came as a runner. He had eight carries for 23 yards and a touchdown, recalling the pre-McCaffrey 2021 season when Samuel regularly lined up as a tailback.
“Kyle can make all these awesome plays and the cool thing about Christian is that he can do all these cool things that no one in the world can do,” Kittle said. “But we really just ran the most simple outside zones all day, whether it was a weak-side run at Trent or Colton (McKivitz) or you had two tight ends out there and we ran outside zone. It worked really, really well and I was happy for that.”
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
The question now becomes how long the 49ers will lean on Mason and Samuel as their primary runners.
McCaffrey hasn’t gone through a full practice since Aug. 4 when his calf first started bothering him. Shanahan said the issue has been problematic to some degree every day since, but stopped short of declaring McCaffrey out for Sunday’s game in Minnesota. That game is on an artificial surface as is the Week 3 contest against the Los Angeles Rams.
“No, he didn’t have a setback,” Shanahan said. “It was on and off throughout the week. It was always bothering him to a degree. Sometimes it goes away, sometimes it comes back. Today it was bothering him too much where we didn’t feel good about it.”
(Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
