Christian McCaffrey loved an enormous night time after serving to the San Francisco 49ers to a 20-9 victory over his former team, the Carolina Panthers, on Monday Night Football.
The running back joined the Niners again in 2022, however this was his first time going through the team that drafted him again in 2017.
McCaffrey, although, appeared relaxed in regards to the night time and set about main his present team to a much-needed win. The 29-year-old stood out as he gained 142 complete yards and scored a landing as he went about his enterprise as normal.
“When it comes to playing in this league, you have to approach each week as similar as possible, stay in your routine,” McCaffrey told reporters after the sport. “You can’t get too far exterior of what’s regular for you.
“Obviously, when you see familiar faces, it’s always good to see them before the game and after the game. But that’s a completely new team than when I was there, so it’s really just business once the ball was snapped.”
While the 49ers could have received the sport, the competition wasn’t fairly at occasions. San Francisco made a number of errors within the first half, exemplified partly by an underwhelming efficiency from quarterback Brock Purdy.
Purdy was intercepted thrice within the first half – which Carolina’s offense squandered, scoring solely three factors off the turnovers – however the signal-caller refused to blame a current toe damage for his poor show.
“It’s just the execution of throwing a better ball. I feel like on really all of them, I needed to just drive the ball a little bit more. I kept it up in the air too long on multiple of them,” Purdy – who threw 23-of-32 for 193 yards, a landing and the three picks – informed reporters.
While issues weren’t precisely clicking for the Niners, they as soon as once more leaned on McCaffrey to get them over the road. The ninth-year veteran finished with 89 yards speeding and 53 receiving as San Francisco improved its document to 8-4 for the season.
With his receiving efficiency, McCaffrey turned simply the third working again in league historical past to have over 50 yards within the air in at the least 50 profession video games, together with Larry Centers (55) and Marshall Faulk (50), in accordance to NFL Research.
The Panthers, in the meantime, failed to capitalize on their opponents’ early struggles with quarterback Bryce Young – who threw 18-of-29 for 169 yards, one landing and two interceptions – blaming a “lack of execution.”
“Couple of plays I’d like to have back, some stuff we could do better. Not what we wanted. We didn’t do good enough and I take ownership of that,” Young stated, per the Associated Press.
Frustrations appeared to bubble over on the finish of the sport, with Panthers security Tre’Von Moehrig seen hitting San Francisco receiver Jauan Jennings within the groin throughout the closing moments.
Jennings responded by hanging Moehrig within the head on the finish of the sport, earlier than he was held again by his personal team.
“The guy took a cheap shot and hit him in the (groin). I was real proud of Jauan for not losing his mind out there,” Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan stated postgame.
“I was just responding to some childish behavior,” Jennings stated afterwards, whereas Moehrig stated he initially hit out due to Jennings’ bodily play all through the sport.
Moehrig, although, acknowledged he may be fined for his actions.
NCS Sports has reached out to the NFL for remark in regards to the incident.
According to the NFL, the 49ers now have an 86% probability of creating the playoffs, whereas the defeat means the Panthers now have only a 14% probability of reaching the postseason, regardless of sitting simply half a recreation again of first within the NFC South.