That bad man, Aaron Rodgers’ homecoming and season debut did not go quite as planned and was overshadowed by the 49ers’ dominance on Monday night.
The NFC champion San Francisco 49ers thoroughly outplayed Rodgers and the New York Jets on Monday night to put a bow on Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season. The 49ers cruised to a 32-19 victory at Levi’s Stadium, even without star running back Christian McCaffrey who was ruled out 90 minutes before kickoff with a lingering calf injury.
“That’s a championship outfit, and they introduced us to some championship football,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said.
The 49ers took a nine-point lead, 16-7, into the locker room at halftime, thanks to three long field goals from second-year place kicker Jake Moody and a 2-yard scamper from Deebo Samuel Sr. in the second quarter. They could have gone for the knockout punch early, but star 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk dropped a touchdown pass that he would normally have caught 99% of the time, a result of missing nearly all of training camp, right before halftime, which left Hall of Famer Peyton Manning beside himself and extremely frustrated on ESPN2’s alternate broadcast, alongside his brother Eli.
The 49ers did not take their foot off the gas pedal, quickly adding 10 more points in the third quarter without much resistance, thanks to a methodical 11-play drive that running back Jordan Mason punctuated with a 5-yard touchdown run. Rodgers, who was injured just four plays into the 2023 season before going down with a torn Achilles, threw his first touchdown pass of the game late in the third quarter. He connected with his former Green Bay Packer teammate Allen Lazard for a 36-yard touchdown pass right up the middle after drawing an offsides penalty, the eighteenth of his career. It was his first touchdown pass in more than 600 days.
Embed from Getty ImagesMason resembled the late, great Walter Payton, running for 147 yards and a touchdown in his first career start, in place of the injured McCaffrey.
“I thought he runs like he always does,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “When you get him the ball, he breaks tackles, usually gets more than we block for. When we had the good lanes, he always hit them and got a bunch. But JP was awesome today.”
Moody booted a pair of field goals in the fourth quarter, which brought him to six on the night, to keep the Jets within arm’s length and lead San Francisco to its 13-point win. The Jets scored one cosmetic touchdown in the final minute, doing so with backup Tyrod Taylor under center. Rodgers was lifted in the final minutes after the Jets waved the white flag.
Brock Purdy was the ultimate point guard, going 19-of-29 for 231 yards for the 49ers in the win. Mason was a true bell cow, running for 147 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. Jauan Jennings had 64 receiving yards on five receptions.
Rodgers was a bit rusty, going 13-of-21 for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Jets. Breece Hall, who scored in the first half, had 54 rushing yards on 16 carries. Lazard finished with a game-high 89 receiving yards and two touchdowns on six catches.
Rodgers had a hard time moving around in the pocket but still showed off the cannon of an arm that helped him win four MVPs with the Green Bay Packers a few times in his first real action for the Jets.
“I can play better,” Rodgers said. “I missed a couple of throws. … I felt overall I got the ball out pretty good but there were some opportunities I’d like to have back.”
The Jets travel to the ‘Music City’ to take on Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
The 49ers are on the road and will face Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
