The San Francisco 49ers opened their season on Monday night at home against the New York Jets.  They defeated the Jets 32-19.  It was an impressive win to start the season.  Here are my observations from week one. 

The biggest development last night was that Christian McCaffrey did not play and Jordan Mason was thrust into the starting role.  If you read my 49ers preview, you would not have been surprised by what went down.  I talked about the Madden curse ruining CMC’s season.  I’m not surprised he’s already missed a game.  I also mentioned that Mason was a good hard runner that fit the Shanahan system well.  His production last night was what I expected when he was given a chance.  He ran angry and kept exploding into the Jets’ secondary.  He ended up with 148 yards and a TD on 28 carries.  A good night’s work.

Mason proving himself as the main back means the 49ers should realize they do not need to rush CMC back and that once he does return, they don’t need to play him every snap.  It’s really hard to take the offensive player of the year off the field, but it will keep him rested and healthy throughout the season.  

With CMC on the mend, the back up running back role went to Deebo Samuel.  He scored a TD in short yardage but it was on a jet sweep.  He did not look particularly good back there.  Had I known he was going to spend so much time in the backfield I would have kept track of how many times he lined up at running back and didn’t get the ball.  They have to run some pass plays with him back there as not to tip off the defense.

The running atttack was great last night not only because of the work of Mason and Deebo but also because the offensive line played great. The most important thing we saw last night was the play of right guard Dominick Puni.  He gave up a pressure that I do not remember but other than that one play, he was pretty dominant.  The Niners ran behind him a lot of the night and most of their big runs came on runs to the right.  It was great to see him excel in an actual game that mattered.  If he plays this well all season, the offensive line will have a major upgrade, and their one weak spot will not be nearly as weak.  It will also balance out the 49ers run game as they usually have all their big runs to the left behind all world tackle Trent Williams.  Now, teams will have to worry about both sides of the formation.  

Speaking of Trent, no rust on him.  He looked like his usual self although he did have to go back to the locker room in he second half to get an IV.  That’s probably just because of the lack of build-up coming into the season after his hold out.  

The only black spot on the line was McKivits.  The right tackle was called for two penaties, a holding call and a false start.  The holding call wiped a TD off the board but did not coast the Niners as they scored a few play later.  The False start was on a drive that had multiple penalties called, but the 49ers showed great poise and ability by overcoming the penalties and completing the scoring drive.  

Speaking of that drive, that was when 3rd and Jauan made his first big catch of the season on a 2nd and 19 play to get the first down.  In all he had 5 catches, which tied Deebo for the team lead and a team leading 64 yards.   Jennings is basically a secret weapon for the Niners out there as teams do everything they can to try and stop the other 49ers weapons.  

Aiyuk had the type of night you would expect from a hold out.  He had some catches but not the big night of which he is capable.  He dropped two passes that were difficult plays but ones a mid season form Aiyuk usually makes.  I have no doubt that he will return to form in the coming weeks.

It is kind of hard to find nits to pick for an ofense that scored on all but it’s frst and final (a kneel down) possessions. One thing I will say is that Purdy was good not great.  There was a point in the third when they got up big that his throws got a little, I don’t know if wild is the correct term but they weren’t his best throws.  They also have to get into the endzone more rather than settling for field goals.  Moody was a career high 6 for 6 (I believe he tied the 49ers record) in the game and made both his extra points.  It’s great to see the kid have an excellent, confidence boosting game, but the Niners really shouldn’t rely on his leg to win them games. Not because he can’t, but because getting three points every drive just isn’t going to get it done most games.  

Speaking of the special teams, Moody kicked most of the kickoffs out of the endzone.  As I mentioned in my Niners preview, this is the best plan as the ball will end up in the same place and you do not risk a return.  There were only two kicks where he put it in the “landing zone”.  One was returned to the 30 (surprise, surprise) and the other was just short of the 25.  Hopefully they just keep kicking out of the endzone. I think this is what they will do as when asked about their own kick returns, Shanny pointed out that they put Deebo back there and dared the other team to kick it to him.  I am glad to see me and Kyle are on the same page when it comes to kickoffs.

One last note on the offense.  The Niners tried a handful of interesting plays (I really would only call one of them a trick play), and none of them came close to working.  They were all broken up behind the line of scrimage.  I am all for creative offensive play calling, but they need to figure out what went wrong.  

The defense was solid.  The run defense was really good to dominant all game.  There were a couple of missed tackles in the back field that could have been negative plays for the Jets but none of the misses resulted in big gains.  Malik Collins had a very good first game in red and gold stuffing the middle of the line.  He also recovered a fumble.  That fumble was caused by a classic Fred Warner “peanut punch” which dislodge the ball from th ball carrier.  

The pass rush was pretty non existant in the first half.  If it wasn’t for turnovers and a couple of drops, the Jets would have scored more early on.  Once the Niners got out to a big lead they were able to take advantage of the Jets trying to pass the ball down field in an attempt to come back.  The most fun play was the only sack of the game when Leonard Floyd and Nick Bosa (who was being held) met at the QB.  Hopefully there is a lot more of that to come.   Demetrious Flannigan-Fowles had a nice catch on an INT after Lenoir made a really nice play to knock the Rodgers pass into the air.  It is only game one, but the defense does have some things to work on.  

Some Quick Hitters…

–The league needs to calm down with the illegal formation calls.  There was only one in the game, and it was against the Jets, but I thought it was a bad call.  They are looking for the call, so they are seeing it when it’s not there. 

–I like the slow progression of the endzone paint at Levis. No paint in the preseason then just the 49ers logos in the regular season and finally the red endzones for the post season.  

–Aaron Rodgers made it past the 4th play (which was the fumble) so the Jets have that going for them.

–Not only is Jennings a very good wideout, but he is the best in the NFL at pissing off the other team.  Agian last night he goaded a player in the other color uniform into a shoving match.  

–Speaking of Jennings and the refs, Jauan was tackled by a textbook hip drop that was supposed to be outlawed this year.  What a coincidence the refs missed the one against the 49ers.  I’m shocked I tell you.  

–I thought Cowing did a nice job returning punts.  He didn’t muff any (most important) and he gained a few yards on a couple of them.

Now for the worst thing about the NFL, we wait a week for game 2.