SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Jets fancy themselves as a Super Bowl contender. On Monday night, they saw what one actually looks like.
The 49ers, the defending NFC champs, dismantled the Jets 32-19 in the season opener at Levi’s Stadium even though they were missing their best player.
There is no shame in losing to the 49ers, who have become a perennial contender under coach Kyle Shanahan, but the Jets looked like they were not in their weight class. The Jets defense forced a punt on the 49ers’ first drive of the game and then not another one. The 49ers scored on eight straight possessions.
It was probably enough to drive Jets fans to drink … Ayahuasca.
Playing without star running back Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers offense still looked like a machine, churning through the Jets defense, which believes it can be the best in the league.
Backup running back Jordan Mason, making his first NFL start, rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Brock Purdy was not spectacular, but made enough plays to put the 49ers consistently in field goal position. The 49ers had 402 total yards against the Jets.
The return of Aaron Rodgers had some big highlights. He threw his first touchdown as a Jet late in the third quarter, a pretty 36-yard pass to Allen Lazard after he made the 49ers defense jump offsides in vintage Rodgers style.
He also put together a 12-play drive in the first half for the Jets first touchdown. But there were long periods where the Jets offense was totally ineffective.
The 49ers intercepted Rodgers in the third quarter. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles picked it off after Deommodore Lenior broke up the pass to Garrett Wilson.
A sign of just how bad a night it was for the Jets came when they put backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor in for mop-up duty with just under four minutes left to play.
Taylor ended up throwing a garbage time touchdown to Lazard with 25 seconds left in the game.
Rodgers finished the night 13-of-21 for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The offense was entirely Wilson and Hall in the first half. Rodgers began to get Lazard more involved late in the game, but it is clear the Jets need to find more answers on offense.
It felt like the game got away from the Jets on the first drive after halftime. Despite not playing well in the first half, the Jets went into the half only down 16-7. The 49ers received the opening kickoff of the second half and they went right through the Jets defense. It was an 11-play, 70-yard drive that Mason capped off with a five-yard touchdown. The big play was a 34-yard pass from Purdy to fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who beat Jets safety Ashtyn Davis.
The loss drops the Jets to 0-1 for the fifth time in six years. Oddly enough, the Jets only recent win in their season opener was last year when they beat the Bills in overtime. That victory was overshadowed, though, by Rodgers’ season-ending injury on the fourth play of the game.
The fourth offensive snap for the Jets was again a bad one.
A year after Rodgers suffered his injury, he made his first completion as a Jet. It was a little flip to Hall, but Hall fumbled after getting hit by 49ers linebacker Fred Warner.
49ers running back Jordan Mason #24 runs the ball as New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed #4 tackles during the third quarter.
San Francisco recovered at the Jets 32, but only got a field goal off the turnover to take a 3-0 lead.
The Jets bounced back quickly.
Their next drive was a 12-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a Hall three-yard touchdown run that gave the Jets a 7-3 lead. Rodgers emphatically pumped his fist as Hall crossed the goal line. Rodgers connected with Garrett Wilson on three third-down conversions on the drive.
That was the Jets’ only good drive of the first half. They had three other three-and-outs and the fumble. They had just 14 yards on four drives and 70 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 put the 49ers up 13-7. Jake Moody added this third field goal of the game just before halftime to push the lead to 16-7.
Jets star cornerback Sauce Gardner was not on the field for nine of the 12 plays on the last drive of the first half. The Jets said it was not injury related, making it a strange absence for Gardner.
While he was off the field, Purdy went 6-for-6. Gardner returned to the field for the final few plays.
Haason Reddick, who remains a holdout, has more of a case for the Jets to pay him after this performance.
The Jets had three sacks of Purdy, but two 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 head to Tennessee on Sunday to face the Titans and then play the Patriots in their home opener on Sept. 19 on Thursday Night Football.
