Week 1 - With the start of the 2024-25 NFL regular season in full-swing, football fans were given a steady diet of games all throughout the week including the season-opener on Thursday night between the Kansas City Chiefs & Balitmore Ravens, followed by a Friday matinee in Brazil between the Green Bay Packers & Philadelphia Eagles. The fun continued with a busy slate of matches on Sunday, bookended by the San Francisco 49ers hosting the New York Jets on Monday Night Football. The final match-up of the week would be one of the more intriguing games going in as no two teams are in win-now mode in their respective conferences more than the 49ers and Jets.
But if there's one thing these two teams have in common aside from their closing championship window, it's their familiarity with heartbreak which both teams felt in two completely different ways just a season ago. On one hand, you have Kyle Shanahan's 49ers who have gotten to the Conference Championship in 4 of the last 5 seasons including 2 Super Bowl appearances but have come up short despite having arguably the best overall roster in the entire NFL. On the other hand, you have the Jets who also have a talented roster of their own on both sides of the football but have had a glaring weakness in the past at the quarterback position. Expectations were sky-high a season ago for the Jets under head coach Robert Saleh, former 49ers defensive-coordinator who served four years on Shanahan's staff, after the acquisition of one of the greatest QB's of all-time in Aaron Rodgers. Hoping the 4-time league MVP would be the answer to those problems after coming over from the Green Bay Packers via trade during the offseason, things went south rather quickly when Rodgers was injured just four plays into his season and ruled out for the year with a torn Achilles in the Monday Night-opener. Coincidentally, the Jets would find themselves playing on Monday Night to open the season for a second consecutive season, this time hoping to avoid injury to arguably their most important player.
Taking the field without their big offseason acquisition Haasan Reddick whom quarterback Brock Purdy and the 49ers know quite well dating back to the 2023 NFC Championship game in Philadelphia against the Eagles which saw Reddick make a play that injured the Niners QB and put an end to their Super Bowl hopes, the Jets would have little to no answer for San Francisco's offense once the game started. With Reddick missing all of training camp and even demanding a trade after failing to receive a new long-term contract extension, similar to the incident that San Francisco's front-office endured with receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Reddick's presence was certainly missed in the trenches by the Jets defense, as demonstrated by a streak of eight consecutive scoring-drives which ignited the Niners to an easy win in the opener.
Missing a key player of their own, the 49ers would announce just an hour before kickoff that 2023 AP Offensive Player of the Year and starting running back Christian McCaffrey would be scratched from Monday night's game with a lingering calf injury suffered in training camp. Having led the league in scrimmage yards and touchdowns since joining San Francisco in Week 7 of the 2022 season, CMC would leave some big shoes to fill while missing only his second game in a 49ers uniform. However, filling those shoes would not be a problem for backup running back Jordan Mason who would be called upon to make his first career start. After later revealing that it wasn't until Friday night that head coach Kyle Shanahan had informed Mason that he could get the nod at running back if McCaffrey's calf didn't show any signs of improvement before kickoff, the 49ers appear to have channeled a bit of gamesmanship by possibly withholding the severity of McCaffrey's injury. The CMC news quickly spread like wildfire and took the betting landscape by storm as sportsbooks across the country either tinkered with their spreads moments before kickoff or wiped the game off their boards completely. Nevertheless, McCaffrey's absence would be a footnote by games end.
With both teams exchanging three and out punts on their initial drives, the 49ers struck first after Rodgers' first Jets completion ended in a turnover following a heads up play by Niners All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner who forced a fumble on New York running back Breece Hall. San Francisco would turn Hall's fumble, just the second lost fumble of his career, into a Jake Moody field goal to give them an early 3-0 lead. The lead would not last long, however, as Rodgers and company embarked on their longest drive of the night with a 14-play, 70-yard drive that spanned over 7-minutes and ended in redemption for Breece Hall who rushed into the end zone with a 3-yard touchdown to put the Jets ahead. Adding a second Jake Moody field goal on their ensuing drive, the 49ers would make it a 7-6 ballgame before taking a 13-7 lead midway through the second quarter and never looking back. The Niners' first offensive touchdown of the new year would come from Deebo Samuel who also helped fill in for running back Christian McCaffrey, with a 2-yard rushing touchdown. By this time, the 49ers were off and running on what would be eight straight scoring-drives.
Leading 16-7 at the half, Jordan Mason added the only other 49ers touchdown thanks to a 5-yard score up the middle to open the second half. The rest of the game in terms of scoring for San Francisco would turn into the Jake Moody show as the second-year 49ers kicker would add four more field goals on the night to give him a total of 6-for-6 on his way to being named NFC Special-teams Player of the Week in Week 1. The 49er defense did a good job stymying Rodgers, especially on the Jets' first possession of the second half when he was intercepted on a deflected pass intended for receiver Garrett Wilson. Niners cornerback Deommodore Lenoir broke up the pass, allowing for an easy tip-drill interception by teammate Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. One of the few mishaps on the night by the 49er defense came on New York's following possession when Rodgers took advantage of a free-play on an off-sides penalty by the newest member of the Niners Leonard Floyd, and chucked a 36-yard pass to receiver Allen Lazard for his lone touchdown pass of the night. After his NFL-leading 18th career free-play touchdown pass, Rodgers would sit out for most of the fourth quarter with the game out of reach after his final drive ended in a turnover on downs.
The Jets would add a garbage time touchdown with backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor under center, who connected on a 2-yard pass with Lazard for his second touchdown reception on the night, before falling by a final score of 32-19, the first time ever a game ended with that score and handing the Jets their 13th loss in their last 14 games played in primetime. Lazard would lead all receivers with 6 receptions for 89 yards receiving and 2 touchdowns. In his first game back since tearing his Achilles in the season-opener a year ago, Rodgers finished the contest with career-lows in an opener in both completions and pass attempts, tossing for 167 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception on 13 of 21 passes. His counterpart Brock Purdy would finish with a quietly productive night, throwing for 231 yards passing on 19 of 29 attempts, but helped his team play a turnover-free game on offense. But the star of the night for either team would be backup running back Jordan Mason who had himself a career night by logging the fourth best game in 49ers opening-game history.
Mason's 147 rushing yards were the 4th-most rush yards in a season-opener in 49ers franchise history, behind only Garrison Hearst's 187 yards in 1998 which also came at the hands of the Jets, Carlos Hyde's 168 yard performance in 2015 against Minnesota, and Christian McCaffrey who rushed for 152 yards just a season ago in Pittsburgh. Mason's 147 yards were also the most rushing yards in a season-opener by an undrafted player since Arian Foster's 231 rush yards in 2010 with the Houston Texans. By halftime, Mason had amassed 74 first half rushing yards which were the most total yards of his career in a full game. But perhaps the biggest stat of all is the 28 rushing attempts by Mason, the most in his football career since his 2016 Gallatin High School season in Tennessee, as well as the most carries of any 49ers player in a game under coach Shanahan. Prior to Monday night, the most touches Mason had in an NFL game was 11.
With their 32-19 win, San Francisco won consecutive openers for the first time since 2011-16 and their first time in the Shanahan era. It was a night filled with firsts as they faced Jets head coach Robert Saleh for the first time since he left San Francisco's defensive coordinator position to coach the Jets back in 2021. It would also mark the first game with newly hired defensive coordinator Nick Sorenson, marking the team's fourth defensive coordinator in five years. When San Francisco went on their scoring spree of eight straight scoring possessions (6 field goals, 2 touchdowns), it was their longest streak in 45 years. Monday's game would not only be the first win on Monday Night Football in three career tries for Niners QB Brock Purdy, it would also be the first game for him as a starter without Christian McCaffrey in the backfield. And finally, Monday night's game was the first game without allowing a pressure since Week 3 of the 2022 season for 49ers left-tackle Trent Williams who had missed all of his team's training camp while holding out in a contract dispute.
Noteworthy: The 49ers are the only NFL team in the Super Bowl era to get a 200-yard passing game (Purdy), a 125-yard rushing game (Mason), a 50-yard receiving game (Jennings) and an interception (Flannigan-Fowles) from 4 players who were drafted 200th or later or weren't drafted at all.
Week 2 Preview: Hitting the road for the first time this season, the 49ers will make the trip to the land of ten thousand lakes where they haven't won on the road since 1992 when they take on the (1-0) Minnesota Vikings. Facing off against former 49ers quarterback Sam Darnold who spent last season as the backup in San Francisco and started in the regular season-finale, the 49er defense will try to keep Darnold from having the same amount of success as he had in Week 1. Coming off a 28-6 drubbing of the New York Giants on the road, Darnold tossed for 208 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in the win. Darnold was brought in to provide a veteran presence and potentially even compete with Vikings first round draft pick J.J. McCarthy who was selected 10th overall out of Michigan, before the former Wolverine was injured in Minnesota's first preseason game. Requiring surgery to repair a torn meniscus, the injury would put McCarthy on the shelf for his entire rookie campaign, allowing the starting job to fall right into Darnold's lap.
Early reports have 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey listed as questionable while still nursing his calf injury, but he is expected to practice ahead of Sunday's game according to coach Shanahan. If he is unable to go, we could be in store for another heavy workload from Jordan Mason. 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga could also make his return in Week 2 after suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 11 last year that required surgery. The return of Hufanga would be a welcomed one for a 49ers secondary that figures to have their hands full with the very dangerous Justin Jefferson on the opposite side of the ball. San Francisco fell to Minnesota on Monday Night Football during Week 7 a season ago, losing 22-17 behind a Kirk Cousins-led Vikings team.
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