The San Francisco 49ers scored on eight consecutive possessions in cruising to a lopsided 32-19 win over the New York Jets in Monday night's season opener.
The 49ers dominated on both sides of the ball, building a commanding three-possession lead deep into the fourth quarter before giving up a late touchdown to New York with just 25 seconds left in the contest.
The game featured two unlikely stars: backup running back J.P. Mason and kicker Jake Moody.
Mason, subbing for the injured Christian McCaffrey, bulldozed his way for 147 yards on the ground, while Moody booted a 49ers franchise-tying six field goals, converting on-field goal tries from 46, 51, 31, 53, 23, and 42 yards.
McCaffrey, the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year, was held out of the game with a calf injury. Even still, San Francisco rolled up 401 yards of total offense against what was thought to be the best defense in the league.
Left guard Aaron Banks was not surprised by Mason's big night. "Personally, I kind of knew that if he gets the opportunity, he's going to take advantage of it," said Banks.
"Dude's strong man. He's strong, explosive, very downhill, and you got to tackle him. You really got to tackle him."
Mason averaged 5.3 yards on 28 carries. San Francisco piled up 180 yards rushing while holding Breece Hall and the Jets running attack to a measly 2.2-yard average in the first half.
The Jet's offense held the ball for just 21:20 minutes of the entire game. That's the fewest time of possession by an Aaron Rodgers-led team at any start of his career.
The nationally televised game was billed as a showdown between the best of the best: San Francisco's high-flying offense against the New York Jets and the league's stingiest defense. San Francisco won the battle hands down by running the ball, stopping the run, and dominating in every statistical category.
San Francisco's defense forced two Jets turnovers. Fred Warner punched the ball out of the hands of Breece Hall on the Jet's second possession, and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles intercepted a ball from a deflection by Deommodore Lenoir early in the third quarter.
The game's outcome was decided midway through the fourth quarter when the 49ers stopped the Jets on fourth and one and took over on downs.
Aaron Rodgers connected with Garrett Wilson on second and one, but Wilson failed to get both feet down, in-bounds. Breece Hall was stuffed for no gain on third and one, and then Issac Yiadom swatted the ball away on a pass over the middle, forcing a change of possession.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh was effusive in his praise for the 49ers.
"They're a championship outfit," Saleh admitted. "They introduced us to championship football. We'll get that s**t fixed, he said.
"We never really gave (Rodgers) a chance to get into a rhythm," Saleh added. "Defensively, credit to San Francisco, they did a great job running the ball and were efficient in the passing game. Even in the second half when we feel like we made some adjustments in the run game… they were explosive."
Brock Purdy had an unspectacular but skillful performance in throwing for 231 yards and no turnovers. Jauan Jennings paced the 49ers with 64 receiving yards.
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