SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Jets think they’re a Super Bowl contender, and on Monday night they saw what that actually looks like.
The 49ers, the defending NFC champions, dismantled the Jets 32-19 in their season opener at Levi’s Stadium despite missing their best player.
There’s no shame in losing to the 49ers, who have become a perennial contender under coach Kyle Shanahan, but the Jets didn’t seem to be in their weight class. The Jets’ defense forced the 49ers to punt on the game’s first drive, but then never again. The 49ers scored eight straight points.
It was probably enough to get Jets fans to drink ayahuasca.
Even without their star running back Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers offense looked like a machine, tearing apart the Jets defense, which believes it is the best in the league.
Backup running back Jordan Mason, making his first NFL appearance, ran for 147 yards and scored a touchdown.
Quarterback Brock Purdy wasn’t spectacular, but he made enough plays to put the 49ers in field goal position on a regular basis. The 49ers gained a total of 402 yards against the Jets.
Aaron Rodgers’ return had some big highlights. He threw his first touchdown as a Jet late in the third quarter, a beautiful 36-yard pass to Allen Lazard after sidelining the 49ers defense in classic Rodgers fashion.
He also led a 12-play drive in the first half that led to the Jets’ first touchdown. But there were long periods in which the Jets’ offense was completely ineffective.
The 49ers intercepted a pass from Rodgers in the third quarter. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles intercepted it after Deommodore Lenior intercepted the pass to Garrett Wilson.
A sign of how bad things were for the Jets was when they brought in backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor to clean up with just under four minutes left.
With 25 seconds left in the game, Taylor threw a garbage time touchdown to Lazard.
Rodgers finished the night 13 of 21 for 167 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
In the first half, the offense consisted solely of Wilson and Hall. Towards the end of the game, Rodgers began to involve Lazard more, but it’s clear that the Jets need to find more answers on offense.
It felt like the Jets lost the game on their first drive after halftime. Despite not playing well in the first half, the Jets trailed just 16-7. The 49ers received the opening kickoff of the second half and broke right through the Jets defense. It was an 11-play, 70-yard drive that Mason capped off with a 5-yard touchdown. The big play was a 34-yard pass from Purdy to fullback Kyle Juszczyk that beat Jets safety Ashtyn Davis.
The loss leaves the Jets at 0-1 for the fifth time in six years. Curiously, the Jets’ only win in a season opener came last year, when they beat the Bills in overtime. That win was overshadowed by Rodgers’ season-ending injury on the fourth play of the game.
The fourth offensive snap for the Jets was again bad.
A year after Rodgers was injured, he completed his first pass as a Jet. It was a short flip to Hall, but Hall fumbled after being hit by 49ers linebacker Fred Warner.
49ers running back Jordan Mason #24 runs with the ball as New York Jets cornerback DJ Reed #4 tackles in the third quarter.
San Francisco recovered at the Jets’ 32-yard line, but only managed a field goal after the turnover and took a 3-0 lead.
The Jets recovered quickly.
Their next drive was a 12-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Hall that gave the Jets a 7-3 lead. Rodgers pumped his fist emphatically as Hall crossed the goal line. Rodgers connected with Garrett Wilson on three third-down conversions during the drive.
That was the Jets’ only good drive of the first half. They had three more three-and-outs and the fumble. They only managed 14 yards on four drives and 70 yards on the one touchdown drive.
On defense, the Jets gave up 210 yards in the first half but limited the 49ers to one touchdown.
Deebo Samuel scored on a 2-yard run with seven minutes left in the second quarter to give the 49ers a 13-7 lead. Jake Moody scored his third field goal of the game just before halftime to increase the lead to 16-7.
Jets star cornerback Sauce Gardner was absent from the field for nine of the 12 plays on the final drive of the first half. The Jets said it was not injury-related, making Gardner’s absence a curious occurrence.
While he was off the field, Purdy made 6 of 6. Gardner returned to the field for the final few plays.
Haason Reddick, who continues to fail to show up for his contract, has better reasons to get paid by the Jets after this performance.
The Jets had three sacks on Purdy, but two of them were by defensive backs after Purdy rolled out. Micheal Clemons sacked Purdy late in the game.
The Jets don’t have much time to regroup. They travel to Tennessee to face the Titans on Sunday and then play their first home game against the Patriots on Thursday Night Football on Sept. 19.
