A Thoroughly Enjoyable Opening Day.
Man, that was fun. After a turbulent offseason full of speculation, rumour and uncertainty, it was great to settle down on a September evening and watch Niner football again. The week one assignment certainly looked tough coming in. A historically slow starting team rolling into one of the NFL’s most hostile atmospheres to open their season against the preseason darlings of the NFL media. That historically slow starting team who only signed their best player a few days prior to the season after an uncomfortably (and uncharacteristically) long contract holdout, all against the backdrop of an offseason featuring some absolutely textbook 49ers quarterback controversy. As we are all aware, that controversy involved the keys of the franchise being handed to a 23-year-old quarterback with eight NFL starts coming off major surgery on his throwing arm. This game would be said quarterback’s first start since that major surgery. In the aforementioned hostile environment against a top defense with an elite pass rusher. Surely the story of this game was one of struggle on the road, a game that ebbed and flowed before going down to the wire and a game that ultimately could have gone either way? Not a bit of it.
Week one went far better than I thought it would, and was as close to perfect as can realistically be expected. From the first drive of this game to the last, the 49ers were well on top. Positive signs were abounding three snaps in, when Drake Jackson (at the start of a very significant sophomore season for him) got the 49ers first sack of the season to force a three-and-out on the Steelers’ opening drive. One of few perceived holes on the 49ers roster is the lack of an edge rushing presence opposite #97, so it was great to see Jackson’s season start so positively, and his afternoon certainly wasn’t finished there.
After a perfect start for the defense, the offense followed suit with an incredible opening drive. All of the 49ers headline offensive playmakers touched the ball on a seven play, 54 yard drive that culminated in a Brandon Aiyuk touchdown on a trademark route that had Patrick Peterson on skates in the endzone. The drive was surgical and efficient to an extent that has almost never been seen this early into the season in the Shanahan/Lynch era. Another slightly uncharacteristic feature of this drive was Shanahan going for it on fourth-and-one from the Steelers’ 45 yard line. The play call worked a treat as a favourable George Kittle matchup turned into an 11 yard gain and the ball kept rolling. Brock Purdy looked like he’d never been away, Deebo looked like a man who’d been told to get into shape, and CMC was doing CMC things. Things were going well, and continued to do so as the Niners’ dominance was reinforced on the following drives.
A Mooney Ward interception led to a field goal, before another three-and-out was answered with a second Aiyuk touchdown, once again against Peterson, and once again of a quality that will add an extra few zeros onto the value of the long-term contract we all hope he will be signing with the 49ers very soon. A second Jake Moody field goal had the 49ers up 20-0 and cruising, with the pre-game fervour seemingly sucked out of Acrisure Stadium prior to halftime. The startling nature of the 49ers ascendency had clearly got to Neil Reynolds in the Sky studio, as he appeared oblivious to the fact that Brock Purdy had clearly (and innovatively) recovered his own fumble when imploring with Phoebe Schefter that the ball was out prior to Purdy hitting the turf. All in all, the first half was relaxing, reassuring and downright enjoyable, even if the Steelers’ final drive of the half did cut into the Niners’ lead as well as potentially exposing a weakness at right cornerback as Deommodore Lenoir and Ambry Thomas were repeatedly beaten on a touchdown drive that had the halftime score at 20-7.
Any doubts about the direction of the game were gone two plays into the 49ers’ opening possession of the second half, as a 65 yard Christian McCaffrey touchdown run showcased the absolute best of the Kyle Shanahan offense. Great blocking by Jake Brendel and Aaron Banks left a lane big enough to drive a car through. A spin move out straight out of Madden brought CMC into the open field and seemed to catch the attention of Aiyuk, who swiftly delivered a pancake on the safety that Trent Williams would’ve been proud of. Further downfield, Ray-Ray McCloud (just four weeks after breaking his wrist) continued Patrick Peterson’s rough afternoon by driving him twenty yards into the endzone after skillfully avoiding a block in the back penalty to ensure that CMC was going to hit paydirt. Every player on the offensive side of the ball did their job on this play, and it worked exactly as Kyle drew it up. The commitment of the receivers to block downfield is testament to the culture of this team, while the offensive line showed the extreme levels of athleticism demanded of guards, centres and tackles in this zone-run scheme. Perhaps above all else, McCaffrey showed a level of skill with ball in hand that Shanahan has not had until that trade with the Panthers last season, as his spin move turned a positive play into an explosive touchdown that, in truth, put the game to bed.
The game was managed as it should have been from that point, and the 49ers cruised to a surprisingly comfortable opening day victory. It wasn’t a completely perfect day, and the performance wasn’t without fault, but (as mentioned earlier in this article) it was as close to perfect as the Faithful can realistically expect. Brock looked like a seasoned veteran, our skill position players looked like the elite playmakers that they are, and the defense gave a very strong hint that a second change at coordinator in three years is not going to lead to a backwards step. Special Teams was another plus point, as any pre-game jitters about Jake Moody were soothed by a perfect kicking display, while Mitch Wishnowsky added to the Steelers’ rough afternoon by repeatedly pinning them inside their own 10 yard line.
This wasn’t a smooth offseason for the 49ers, and I think most Faithful would concede that prior to week one, the vibes coming from the team did seem a little tense. However, the Bosa deal was a huge weight off everyone’s shoulders, and the contract restructures that have somehow left the Niners with the most cap space in the league at the start of the season brought an air of positivity to the fanbase after a challenging period. Added to this, I do think the fact that Trey Lance is in a different facility is probably in everybody’s best interests, as for the first time in close to a decade there can be no doubting who should be the 49ers’ starting quarterback once the season has started. The positive momentum of the final few days of the offseason carried into a dreamy opening day win. The 49ers appear to have escaped a seemingly tough opening day road game with an extremely comfortable victory and a healthy roster. That will do me just fine.
Throughout the season, I’m going to close these weekly reports with a section that picks out three players or coaches who will get a shoutout for different reasons. The first individual receives my game ball for the week, the second will be put forward as my candidate to spend the week in Kyle’s Doghouse, and the third player or coach is one who I believe deserves a special mention for a contribution that may not have received the recognition it deserves.
Game Ball: Brandon Aiyuk.
This was probably the hardest of the three to award this week, but in the end I had to go for #11. A huge factor in this was the way in which he dominated Patrick Peterson, after Peterson promised an interception this week and said that the Niners’ offense had ‘tells’. Aiyuk is clearly getting better and better, and the positive training camp reports certainly weren’t hyperbole. I imagine I am not alone in imploring John and Paraag to sit down with Aiyuk’s reps as soon as possible to spend some of that newly-created cap-space on an extension to prevent Aiyuk hitting the open market.
Kyle’s Doghouse: The Right Side of the Offensive Line.
In reality, Colton McKivitiz is the recipient of this award for week one, but I felt it was a bit harsh given that he started the season with probably his toughest assignment for the year, and I also thought we could’ve schemed some help when T.J. Watt was bullying McKivitz in the second half. In closer games, we can’t afford the kind of penalties that Spencer Burford gave up today, so he has to clean that up as the season goes on, and I’m putting Burford with McKivitz in Kyle’s Doghouse this week. Hopefully having Nick Bosa back on the practice field will help refine McKivitz’s technique and Burford cleans up the penalties, resulting in a cleaner display from the two of them next week.
Special Mention: Steve Wilks.
Coming into the season, I was a little concerned that our defense would take a backwards step. That isn’t a knock against Steve Wilks, it was simply based on the fact I think DeMeco Ryans was an incredible defensive coordinator for the 49ers who will be almost impossible to replace. While I don’t want to draw any conclusions too hastily after one week of football, I do really like what I saw from Wilks’ debut as defensive coordinator, and believe he deserves a ton of credit, given the hype Kenny Pickett and the Steelers’ offense was receiving in the build up. We know that we are going to see more blitzes this season, and it was a lot of fun seeing Fred Warner run downhill and lower the boom on Najee Harris almost as soon as he’d touched the ball on a play in the first quarter. I like what I saw from the defense in this game, and hope it continues against a Rams offense that looked surprisingly impressive in Seattle this evening.
Thanks for reading this far, and I look forward to having you back for the next one. FTTB!
By Matt McDonald