4 things that we learned from the 49ers in Week 1: Charvarius Ward is still an All-Pro

What the San Francisco 49ers do in the regular season doesn’t necessarily matter as long as it results in the team’s fourth consecutive playoff appearance.

Think about the 17-game schedule as 17 separate homework assignments to prepare for the big tests in January. With each homework assignment, you allegedly are supposed to pick something up that can be applied to help with the test. And that’s just what we are doing here.

The 49ers passed their first homework assignment on Monday night with a 32-19 victory over the New York Jets, but what did we learn about our first look at the 2024 49ers? Well, we first learned that the offense can look fine without Christian McCaffrey:

The offense can work with a piece missing

There was one tiny blip of games in 2023 where the 49ers offense struggled. The 49ers had varying levels of health between Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel, who were out a couple of games between Weeks 6 and 8. After five games of scoring at least 30 points, the 49ers offense scored 17 points three games in a row, losing all three without the ailing Samuel or Williams.

There was a concern that the 49ers offense couldn’t function with the full selection of crucial offensive players after that stretch of games, but that wasn’t a problem after. But on Monday night, McCaffrey was a surprise inactive, leaving the 49ers without possibly its most important player against a pretty good Jets defense.

Without McCaffrey, the 49ers offense gained 401 total yards while scoring 32 points en route to the 13-point win.

With Williams and Brandon Aiyuk missing all of camp and the preseason and McCaffrey being ruled inactive as the cherry on top, the excuses were already built in for a sloppy night for the San Francisco offense. Instead, the offense rode Jordan Mason, who produced 147 yards on 28 carries with a touchdown.

It seems the 49ers could be without McCaffrey for a few weeks. Still, Monday night’s performance by the offense – specifically from Mason – gives plenty of confidence in the unit, even without the reigning Offensive Player of the Year.

Dominick Puni is the real deal

Mason’s big game on the ground was mainly due to the offensive line, with a spotlight on the debuting right guard.

Puni’s big preseason earned him the starting right guard spot, and his first task was a Jets defense that struggled against the run in 2023 but still features Quinnen Williams. The 49ers ran the ball behind Puni nine times, averaging 5.1 yards per attempt for 46 yards, with Mason’s five-yard touchdown in the third quarter running behind the rookie. Puni’s run-blocking abilities also helped San Francisco run the ball successfully on the right side, averaging 5.3 yards per attempt on 24 rushes to the right side of the line.

Not only did Puni hold well in the run game, but he also only allowed one pressure on 36 pass block attempts. The right guard spot has been a rotating door for the 49ers for the past few seasons, but the very early returns on Puni are positive.

Aaron Rodgers fears Charvarius Ward

Charvarius Ward played 45 snaps out wide on Monday night, with all 45 coming on the left side of the field. According to his pass chart, Aaron Rodgers seemed to know where Ward was all night.

However, while Rodgers avoided Ward, the lack of success while throwing away from Mooney should be the standout. Deommodore Lenoir and Isaac Yiadom combined for 71 snaps on the right side of the San Francisco defense. Lenoir targeted ten times, and Yiadom targeted four, but only nine combined receptions were allowed for 100 yards.

Not only were Lenoir and Yiadom solid in their play, but both made timely pass breakups to end two New York drives. Rodgers’ lone interception came near the midway point in the third quarter when he targeted Garrett Wilson on a second-down pass.

Lenoir got his hand in front of the pass, deflecting the ball into the waiting hands of Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, giving the ball back to the 49ers offense. Two drives later, Rodgers again targeted Wilson on a fourth down, but this time Yiadom got his hand – maybe a touch early – on the ball, ending the Jets drive and effectively ending any New York hope of getting back in the game.

The 49ers haven’t had a shutdown corner like Ward in a long time, but what’s across from Ward could make this a special cornerback group.

The 49ers can be a little shady

I am a blogger, so I don’t know what to make of this situation. I am just going to slap a weird on it and move on.

After a weekend of Christian McCaffrey saying he would be good for Monday night’s opener, the 49ers announced the running back would be inactive about 90 minutes before kickoff. Intrigue was added when Mason said postgame that he knew he’d be the starter on Friday. Kyle Shanahan said he didn’t say that on Friday, and now we are here.

I am not accusing Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, McCaffrey, or the 49ers of anything nefarious, but I might accuse them of some slight tomfoolery. Football is a competitive sport, and any edge that can be found should be exploited. Not giving the actual status of your star running back could fall into that category.

I don’t think the 49ers did anything intentional. Athletes will say they are good to go even when less than 100 percent and the teams will believe them because only the athlete knows how they feel. The least that could be said is that the situation is shady, and I think I like that for this 49ers team.