Jordan Mason filled in superbly for an injured Christian McCaffrey by rushing for a career-high 147 yards and a touchdown, and the San Francisco 49ers made Aaron Rodgers' return to the field a frustrating one with a dominant 32-19 season-opening win over the New York Jets on Monday.
The 49ers made McCaffrey inactive with a calf injury that limited the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year in the pre-season, but still managed to bully New York's usually stout defence for 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Mason did most of the work by logging 28 attempts, and San Francisco also received a rushing touchdown from wide receiver Deebo Samuel to win its first game since a tough 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in last February's Super Bowl.
Rodgers threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard, but struggled for much of his first appearance since rupturing his Achilles tendon in the Jets' 2023 opener. The four-time NFL MVP was held to 167 yards on 13-of-21 passing along with an interception that led to one of five field goals by 49ers kicker Jake Moody.
The 40-year-old quarterback did look like his vintage self on the Jets' third drive of the night, a 12-play, 70-yard sequence in which Rodgers completed 6 of 7 passes for 62 yards. Breece Hall capped the series with a 3-yard touchdown run that gave New York a 7-3 lead with 3:51 left in the first quarter.
New York's offence mostly sputtered from there, however, as the 49ers scored 23 consecutive points to move ahead comfortably.
After Moody hit a 51-yard field goal in the opening minute of the second quarter to get San Francisco within a point, the 49ers defence forced a three-and-out before Mason made his presence felt on the ensuing possession.
The backup running back rushed six times for 43 yards on the 12-play drive, which ended in Samuel's 2-yard touchdown run on a jet sweep that put San Francisco up 13-7 with 6:54 left in the first half.
Another three-and-out by the Jets followed by another long drive by San Francisco set up Moody's 31-yard field goal that sent the 49ers into the break with a 16-7 advantage.
San Francisco started the second half in much the same fashion, going 70 yards in 11 plays to increase its margin on Mason's 5-yard touchdown run.
Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles then picked off Rodgers on the following series, which led to Moody's 53-yard field goal that extended the lead to 26-7 with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
The Jets did answer on Rodgers' deep touchdown pass to Lazard on the next possession, though the 49ers stopped Hall on the resulting 2-point conversion try. New York's next drive again went nowhere, however, and Rodgers was pulled in favour of backup Tyrod Taylor with under 4 1/2 minutes to play.
San Francisco had a 32-13 lead at that point after Moody knocked home his fourth and fifth field goals of the game.
Lazard also caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Taylor in the game's final minute, though the Jets again misfired on the 2-point attempt.
Moody's first field goal, a 46-yarder, opened the scoring just over four minutes into the contest. The kick came shortly after 49ers linebacker Fred Warner jarred the ball loose from Hall on a reception and San Francisco recovered at the New York 32-yard line.
Brock Purdy threw for 231 yards on 19-of-29 passing for San Francisco, while Lazard led the Jets with 89 yards on six catches in addition to his two touchdowns.
NFL: Chiefs stay perfect with OT win over Bucs
Kareem Hunt finished the game's lone overtime drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that kept the Kansas City Chiefs unbeaten with Monday's 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hunt powered into the end zone to conclude the 10-play, 70-yard series that gave Kansas City (8-0) its 14th consecutive victory, including play-off games, dating back to last season. The veteran running back finished the night with a season-high 106 rushing yards on 27 carries.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, including two to DeAndre Hopkins in the wide receiver's first home game as a Chief, to help the defending Super Bowl champions stay perfect despite the Buccaneers forcing overtime on Baker Mayfield's 1-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Miller with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Tampa Bay (4-5) opted to kick the extra point instead of attempting a potential game-winning two-point conversion, however, and never got the ball back again after losing the coin toss to begin overtime.
The Bucs trailed 10-7 at half-time following Mahomes' 1-yard touchdown pass to Hopkins late in the second quarter, but scored 10 unanswered points in the third quarter to move ahead.
After Mayfield found Cade Otton for an 11-yard touchdown pass early in the period for a 14-10 lead, Tampa Bay's defence forced a three-and-out to help set up Chase McLaughlin's 47-yard field goal with 5:50 left in the third.
The Chiefs stormed back with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, however. Mahomes capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown delivery to Samaje Perine to tie the game at 17-17, then later hit Hopkins for a go-ahead 5-yard strike with 4:17 remaining in regulation.
Kansas City's next possession stalled, though, to give Mayfield enough time to orchestrate a 10-play, 71-yard sequence that ended in Miller's tying touchdown grab.
Mayfield finished 23 of 31 with 200 yards and two touchdowns. Otton led the Bucs with 77 receiving yards on eight catches, while Rachaad White had a rushing touchdown for Tampa in the first half.
The Chiefs received 14 catches for 100 yards from Travis Kelce and 86 yards on eight receptions from Hopkins, playing his second game since being acquired by Kansas CIty from the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 24.
Cowboys quarterback Prescott reportedly expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined following an MRI, and reported Monday from multiple media outlets.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
Cowboys quarterback Prescott expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined Monday following an MRI.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
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