SANTA CLARA — Your mom lied to you.
Bullies do prosper.
At least they do in the NFL.
The Niners proved it on Monday.
There was a point in the 49ers 32-19 prime-time dismantling of the Jets had nearly three times as many yards as their opponent.
It wasn’t in the first quarter or the second, when possessions are limited and yardages are low.
No, it was with less than 3:30 to play in the third quarter. The Niners, then up 26-7, had nearly 300 yards.
The Jets had 100.
For all the talk about the Niners not practicing with their full squad this preseason, San Francisco sure didn’t look rusty in their Monday night debut.
They turned a highly-anticipated primetime game into a glorified practice by dominating where games are truly won: in the trenches.
Yes, the Niners won a Week 1 game with a slobberknocker effort. They won in September with “January” football.
Niners linebacker Fred Warner wasn’t kidding when he told his team pregame that they’re in the business of “whooping [long unprintable word] ass.”
And Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson was spot on when he said after the contest that the 49ers “whooped our ass.”
Football doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.
In fact, at its best — its peak form — it isn’t.
The Niners didn’t need smoke and mirrors to beat the Jets. Finesse? That’s for the weak. No, the Niners won with heavy personnel. We saw fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and two tight-end sets almost all game on offense, and “base” three-linebacker sets at a high clip on defense. It was like the 1980s out there.
They won despite starting the team’s third-string running back (Christian McCaffrey was out with an injury, backup Elijah Mitchell is out for the season), a rookie right guard, a left tackle who was so dehydrated he told me his tongue was cramping, and a defensive front that featured three new players in pivotal roles.
They won because they might smile off the field, but on it, they have mean attitudes.
In all, the Niners kept it simple Monday. And simple was more than enough to control the game from start to finish.
That simple established an outstanding base for a long, arduous season.
And it also kept the Super Bowl hangover at bay in the Bay, at least for a week.
Frankly, this team probably could have used a bit more smoke and mirrors on Monday. Their one trick play (a double reverse to Deebo Samuel) fell flat. The Niners kicked six field goals Monday, leaving points all over the field. Perhaps they were just being merciful to the Jets, who are led by former Niners defensive coordinator Robert Saleh (for now).
Still, Monday’s performance was more than good enough to win in the NFL. The Niners know they have multiple levels above what they showed, though.
But when you can run the ball 37 times for nearly five yards a clip and hold a player like Breece Hall — a top fantasy football target this season — to 2.5 yards per carry aside from a one-off 16-yard run, why bother being fancy?
The star of the contest was running back Jordan Mason. Third-string at the start of camp, he showed elite-level vision, burst, and tackle-breaking ability to gash the Jets for 147 yards on 28 carries. Over the last few seasons, Mason had hinted at this kind of ability. When called into action Monday (or did the call come on Friday?), he was immense.
But while it might have seemed like a one-man show, other factors were at play.
Clearing those lanes for Mason were precocious rookie right guard Dominick Puni and the team’s blocking tight end, Eric Saubert.
Both could have received game balls for their performances on Monday.
Yes, a guard and a blocking tight end were stars. That’s some old-school football, right there.
Or, as I like to call it: The good stuff.
Saubert was a player the Niners brought in as a veteran depth piece at tight end this past offseason — someone to push the team’s young talent, maybe stick around on the practice squad. He certainly wasn’t expected to be a critical piece in their run game. After all, in Houston last season, he was graded as merely an average blocker.
He looked like a better version of George Kittle in the run game on Monday.
“No, it’s definitely something you develop,” Saubert, 30, said of run blocking. “We take a lot of pride in it here. I’ve learned a lot of cool stuff in the short time I’ve been here with George and [tight ends coach Brian] Fluery. Props to them for teaching me to do it their way.”
Their way, unsurprisingly, works like gangbusters.
“To be able to dominate like that in the run game… it’s just so fun,” Saubert said.
Puni, a third-round pick from Kansas, was thrust into a starting role this preseason because of injuries. He never gave up the spot. It was easy to see why against the Jets.
“I had flashes for sure,” a jovial Puni said. “You could tell they were throwing some looks [my way] on the D-line… But I love running the ball.”
On defense, Warner was, as per usual, a menace.
His strip of Hall on the Jets’ fourth offensive play of the game helped set the tone for the Niners defense, bringing the home crowd into the contest, as well.
On the rare occasion the Hall reached the second level of the Niners’ defense, Warner ensured they went no further. He ended the game with seven tackles to lead the team.
It was just another Hall of Fame performance from the Niners’ middle linebacker.
Just ask the Hall of Famer, Niners great Patrick Willis.
“I tell him often ‘Man, I really admire you play the game,’” Willis said in the locker room after the win. “Fred was just doing what Fred does. It was just a joy to see.”
Warner didn’t have that much work on Monday, though, because the two big boys in front of him, defensive tackles Javon Hargrave and newcomer Malik Collins, were downright dominant. The Niners’ run defense has struggled in recent years, in part because they have never truly replaced DeForest Buckner, who was traded after the 2019 season.
When it was Buckner and D.J. Jones on the interior, you didn’t dare run the ball inside on the Niners.
The last few seasons, that’s where you went.
It’s only one game, but that might be over. And if that’s the case, it could be fundemental to the Niners changing their fortunes in the games that matter most.
The Jets tried again and again to beat Collins and Hargrave. The effort was so futile, Rodgers was pulled from the game in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Collins called the Jets continued efforts surprising.
Hargrave took it a step further:
“They tapped out, so we [must have] played a pretty good game.”
I’d say.
And I’ll add this: If what we saw Monday was the Niners ramping up into real game speed — if this is a team working its way into form — then the best for this squad should be yet to come.
That’s a scary thought for the rest of the NFL.