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49ers play spoiler as Aaron Rodgers returns, and they roll over the Jets

Posted on September 10, 2024 - 8:30 am by

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers’s return to the New York Jets’ lineup was the main storyline for the first Monday night game of the NFL season. But the San Francisco 49ers used the occasion to remind everyone just what an honest-to-goodness Super Bowl contender — not just a team hoping to reach that status — looks like.

No Christian McCaffrey? No matter. The 49ers plugged in Jordan Mason as tailback for the injured McCaffrey, the reigning NFL offensive player of the year. They scored on eight straight possessions between an opening-drive punt and a game-ending kneel-down. And Rodgers and the Jets could not keep pace.

The 49ers began their latest bid to make a championship run by beating the Jets convincingly, 32-19, in Santa Clara, Calif.



In his first NFL start, Mason ran for 147 yards and a touchdown on a laborious 28 carries.

“Honestly, just thinking about it, I told Christian, I said, ‘I don’t know how you do it, man,’ ” Mason told ESPN afterward. “It’s a long game. But, you know, this is just the beginning. And we’re going to see where we go from here.”

The 49ers took a positive first step toward attempting to secure the Super Bowl title that just eluded them last season. Kicker Jake Moody provided six field goals. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel had a first-half touchdown run. Quarterback Brock Purdy completed 19 of 29 passes for 231 yards.



“I think the key is that because we brought back all of our offensive starters from last year and then we throw [rookie right guard Dominick] Puni into the mix … we’re able to just kind of hit the ground running. … You’re going to see a lot of good offense from us,” tight end George Kittle said on ESPN’s postgame set. “And when Christian’s back next week, you’re going to see some of those fun plays. You’re going to see the offensive MVP go out there and be a really good football player again.”

McCaffrey was on the game-day inactive list after being listed as questionable on the injury report with calf and Achilles’ tendon injuries. Rookie wideout Ricky Pearsall begins the season on the non-football injury reserve list after he was shot in the chest in a robbery attempt. Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk and left tackle Trent Williams played Monday after their contract disputes during training camp and the preseason resulted in Aiyuk holding in and Williams holding out before they signed new deals.



“We’ve been through a lot as a team,” Purdy said in his postgame news conference.

The 49ers are trying to rebound from their overtime defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs in last season’s Super Bowl.

“It lingers for a little bit,” Kittle said. “But then the second that you get back in the building, it’s just like a breath of fresh air. It’s like: ‘Football is back.’ And all I can focus on is the next play. All I can focus on is the next practice, the next game. That’s all I can put my attention to, because if you just sit there and linger all day on it, it’s going to affect you for the entire season. While it’s disappointing, yes, I’ve got to go out and play Monday Night Football tonight. … I don’t really think about it too much any more.”



Rodgers and the Jets could not keep pace once the 49ers got rolling Monday.

Rodgers completed 13 of 21 passes for 167 yards in his second regular season game for the Jets before giving way in the final moments to backup Tyrod Taylor. Rodgers found wide receiver Garrett Wilson for some early completions. He had a vintage Rodgers moment when he capitalized on a free play, with the 49ers jumping offside, to throw a 36-yard touchdown pass to wideout Allen Lazard in the third quarter.

And the Jets, with tailback Breece Hall running for a first-quarter touchdown and Taylor throwing a cosmetic touchdown pass to Lazard in the game’s final minute, occasionally looked capable on offense. But they could not sustain their offensive production and their usually formidable defense could not stop the 49ers.

Rodgers threw a tipped-ball interception in the second half. Even so, things went far better for him than they went to open last season. At least he made it through the game apparently unscathed. Rodgers lasted only four offensive snaps in his Jets debut in last season’s opener before suffering a torn Achilles’ tendon in his left leg. He resumed practicing late in the season but did not play in any games. The Jets also withheld him from preseason games this summer.



After upgrading Rodgers’s offensive line and wide receiver corps in the offseason, the Jets again could dream of the big things they first envisioned upon acquiring the four-time league MVP in last year’s trade with the Green Bay Packers. But they got a reality check Monday by lining up against a team that already has reached the top-contender level to which they aspire.