[New post] 49ers should consider sitting Christian McCaffrey vs. Vikings
gqlshare posted: "SANTA CLARA — Take it from someone who has no expertise in athletic medicine or specific knowledge of what is ailing Christian McCaffrey:If the 49ers truly value the end game in 2023, they should think hard about having McCaffrey watch from the side" Daily Democrat
SANTA CLARA — Take it from someone who has no expertise in athletic medicine or specific knowledge of what is ailing Christian McCaffrey:
If the 49ers truly value the end game in 2023, they should think hard about having McCaffrey watch from the sideline when they visit the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
No need to make any announcements and telegraph their intentions. Better to keep alive the possibility of McCaffrey playing as long as possible going into kickoff for what Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the NFL coaches term a "competitive advantage."
McCaffrey left a 19-17 loss to Cleveland after 36 snaps with what was termed an "oblique/rib" injury. They had an MRI done and didn't release any results, with ESPN's Adam Schefter reporting long-term injury had been avoided and that playing on Monday wasn't out of the question.
Publicly, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan will leave it to the medical staff. If McCaffrey is cleared and can tolerate the pain, it will be difficult to put the NFL's most valuable all-purpose running back on the bench.
We know enough about McCaffrey to assume he'll desperately want to play, because that's how he's wired. We know the 49ers have prided themselves on a week-to-week approach with the next game on the schedule superseding anything that happens afterward. We know McCaffrey leads the NFL in rushing with 553 yards and has scored touchdowns in 15 consecutive games.
But a Week 7 game against the Vikings, even should the 49ers lose, wouldn't necessarily have any impact on their goal of playing (and winning) Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
If you want to see a season go sideways, lose your offensive centerpiece for a prolonged period of time or have him playing at diminished capacity because of injuries and a steady procession of legal and illegal hits from teams that have McCaffrey targeted as the guy most likely to beat them.
In the last two games, McCaffrey has begun to show signs of wear and tear. Take away a 27-yard run on his first carry against Cleveland (a play in which he absorbed a personal foul) and he had 16 yards on 10 carries. That came after carrying 19 times for 51 yards against Dallas. That's 29 carries for 61 yards aside from the one burst.
And while the Dallas win was a blowout, McCaffrey got hit hard and often. He was the victim of an aggressive facemask on his first carry in that one for a personal foul, as well.
Going into the Cleveland game, McCaffrey was on pace for 404 touches rushing and receiving — one more than he had in 2019 with Carolina when he joined Roger Craig and Marshall Faulk as the lone backs to have 1,000-1,000 seasons in NFL history.
The Panthers were 5-11 that season and didn't have nearly the cast of playmakers that surround McCaffrey with the 49ers.
Giving McCaffrey a one-week reset to heal up would only be beneficial in the big picture. And if McCaffrey is hurting more than he's letting on, the 49ers have Cincinnati in Week 8 and then a bye. That would be a three-week respite to get McCaffrey back up to full strength for November, December and beyond.
Deebo Samuel, assuming his shoulder is sound (he's listed as day-to-day), was a similar versatile weapon in 2021 and could move back into his "wide back" role temporarily. Elijah Mitchell is active again and is one of the NFL's most productive runners if healthy. Jordan Mason is making a move on Mitchell's backup status and Ty Davis-Price is still around.
Plus there's always George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings in the passing game, giving Shanahan plenty of options to spread the ball around through quarterback Brock Purdy if McCaffrey were to be put on ice.
Christian McCaffrey finishes off a 13-yard touchdown after catching a shovel pass against Cleveland on the 49ers' first possession.
The one-year anniversary of the trade that brought McCaffrey to the 49ers is Friday. In 20 regular-season and playoff games (including a minor role in his first game), McCaffrey has 309 carries for 1,537 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing and 87 receptions for 702 yards and eight scores.
That's a lot of work, and one of the hardest things about coaching is determining when to forge ahead. Left tackle Trent Williams missed just two snaps with a right ankle injury against Cleveland and Shanahan talked Monday about the mental gymnastics that go into having an injured player stay on the field.
"That's always the toughest thing because you never want to put someone at a huge jeopardy to make it worse," Shanahan said.
Notice he said "huge jeopardy" as opposed to simply "in jeopardy." Playing injured and doing what it takes to play in terms of pain management in those instances is the part of the NFL nobody likes to talk about, but it goes on all the time.
You'll recall that before McCaffrey arrived, the 49ers were a good enough offense to reach a Super Bowl in 2019 and then come within a game of the Super Bowl two years later. The ancillary benefit of doing without McCaffrey now would be getting those other players into the mix and making the attack more balanced.
And maybe a slightly reduced workload for McCaffery upon his return in the weeks that follow to help ensure a strong finish leading into the playoffs and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment