The San Francisco 49ers pulled off their first win of 2018, beating the Detroit Lions 30-27 at Levi's Stadium on Sunday. And the game would have been vastly different had running back Matt Breida not been a factor.
If San Francisco 49ers running back Matt Breida doesn't wind up with a game ball following his team's 30-27 Week 2 win over the visiting Detroit Lions on Sunday, nobody on the Niners should get one.
The Niners' Week 2 victory was sloppy and filled with mistakes, not unlike their Week 1 loss on the road versus the Minnesota Vikings. But against the Lions, Breida and San Francisco's ground game managed to get plenty going against a defense that struggled against running back Isaiah Crowell and the New York Jets last week.
Breida's afternoon was solid, to say the least. He rushed for a whopping 138 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. But that line doesn't tell the whole story.
What was most impressive, for sure, was Breida's 66-yard touchdown run in the third quarter -- a score that gave the 49ers a 14-point lead at the time:
Matt Breida takes the stretch play to the house pic.twitter.com/sWGA9E2J5y
— Ian Wharton (@NFLFilmStudy) September 16, 2018
Despite the impressive outing, Breida wasn't hesitant to give shout-outs to his teammates.
"It was great blocking by the O-line," Breida told reporters after the game. "They were blocking well the whole game. And they just opened up and controlled that play."
As Breida neared the end zone, wide receiver Pierre Garçon was locked in with a Lions defender and maintained his block, pushing his man towards the sideline and allowing Breida to cut back towards the middle.
"He's a monster," Breida said of Garçon. "He's not afraid to block."
Garçon's block was key in allowing Breida to make it into the end zone. And given how massive Detroit's fourth-quarter surge was -- cutting San Francisco's lead to three points -- it's pretty vital Breida found pay dirt.
"I saw [Breida] run very hard, I saw our O-line blocking very hard," head coach Kyle Shanahan continued later in Niners' postgame presser. "When they gave him space, he hit it with no hesitation. He did a good job when he did get into the secondary, not sitting and breaking down and thinking about making too many moves. Just hit it as hard as could be and probably got about 60 yards. And Pierre did an awesome job on the backside.
"I always tell him he turns into a fullback on the play because he ends up being the lead blocker."
Breida and the 49ers rushing attack struggled in Week 1, surged back nicely in Week 2 but now look forward to facing the Kansas City Chiefs on the road in Week 3.
The Chiefs, who are flashing an explosive offense with second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes, still have a susceptible defense prone to giving up big plays on both the ground and through the air. So if Shanahan and the Niners want to keep Mahomes and Co. off the field, it will likely mean Breida will have plenty of additional opportunities to back up his impressive Week 2 breakout contest.