Ardent supporters of the Jets optimistically and anxiously awaited their regular season opener versus the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. Now they have turned their attention to the 0-1 Tennessee Titans, which the Jets will face on Sunday in Nashville, after the Jets had a disappointing 32-19 road loss to the 49ers.
Despite the 49ers’ All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey being a late scratch due to a calf strain, the Jets’ defense could not slow down San Francisco. In his first career start, McCaffrey’s fill-in, third year running back Jordan Mason, who was undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2022, had a career highs of 28 carries and 147 yards to power his team’s offense versus a New York unit expected to be one of the best in the NFL this season. Overall, the 49ers had 180-yards on the ground on 38 attempts.
“They’re very, very good upfront and from an efficiency standpoint they beat us up front, plain and simple,” said Jets head coach Robert Saleh. “They are an elite football team and I know they’re missing Christian, but they still have (wide receivers) Deebo (Samuel) and (Brandon) Aiyuk and (Jauan) Jennings and a really good O-line and a really good quarterback (Brock Purdy). So credit to them, they executed a heck of a lot better than we did.”
The game marked the return of Jets QB Aaron Rodgers, who suffered a season-ending torn left Achilles four snaps into the regular season opener 12 months ago. Rodgers looked fully capably mobile in going 13-21 for 167 yards with one touchdown and an interception. He didn’t have too many opportunities as the 49ers controlled time of possession — 38 minutes and 40 seconds to the Jets’ 21 minutes and 20 seconds.
Rodgers’s best moment was leading the Jets on a 12-play, 70-yard scoring drive in the first quarter. “It felt great,” Rodgers said about taking the Jets down the field which resulted in a three-yard touchdown run by running back Breece Hall.
“We had some on-the-ball plays there where it had a menu to choose from. Luckily I chose the right ones in those situations and made the proper reads, but I felt like the protection on that drive was especially good. I mean, it was great all night, but with that drive I had a lot of time to throw… But we have to do a better job starting the second half there, get back in the game.”
The Jets struggled to run the ball, averaging 3.6 yards on 19 carries for 68 yards.
Linebacker Haason Reddick, who the Jets acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles this past April in a trade, did not play as he is holding out seeking a contract extension. .
