Studs and Duds: Niners huge win over Saints led by Christian McCaffrey and… Mac Jones?

Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers can’t help it.

Whenever they go to New Orleans, they end up in a shootout.

Sunday’s Week 2 matchup between the 49ers and Saints was more entertaining than it had any right to be, and the Niners have a 2-0 record that shows that guts matter a heck of a lot in the NFL.

Here are the studs and duds (in no particular order) from the Niners’ 26-21 win.

STUDS

Christian McCaffrey • RBIs he a perfect offensive football player? Sunday’s performance was good evidence to confirm that suspicion. For a large portion of the game, it was McCaffrey or nothing for the Niners. That’s apparently good enough to be a functional offense. My goodness, was he good.

Ricky Pearsall • WRFolks, the only Niners receiver who could consistently separate on Sunday was Pearsall. He’s a star.

Dee Winters • LBOne brilliant game? That might be a fluke. Back-to-back brilliant performances? That’s a trend, folks. Winters is the real deal, and the Niners’ defense carries a different swagger because of it.

Jauan Jennings • WRI’d be remiss not to shout out the warrior-like performance from Jennings. His shoulder was busted up, his legs looked like they weighed 100 pounds each, and yet he still caught five passes for 89 yards, including a 42-yard, game-winning touchdown.

Bryce Huff • DENo one doubted that he could rush the passer as a hand-in-the-ground defensive end. Huff was not only a consistent winner as a pass rusher, but he’s held up better in the run game than I ever imagined. The game-winning forced fumble off an elite rush was merely the cherry on top. Nice pickup by the Niners.

Kyle Shanahan • HCShanahan busted out the old 2021 playbook and turned Mac Jones into Jimmy Garoppolo and Christian McCaffrey into Deebo Samuel. And boy, did it ever work. Was it an elite offensive performance? Hardly. But it was solid in a situation where the Niners had little right to be solid. Shanahan can still scheme it up, folks.

Mykel Williams • DEThe rookie lived in the Saints’ backfield. So much for all that hand-wringing from the YouTube highlights crowd about that first game (which was good!).

Mac Jones • QBThat’s a pretty darn good backup quarterback.

Jake Tonges • TEA sneaky positive development of the preseason was Tonges’ reps at fullback. He was really good at it. That proved vital in this game, where he was, indeed, very good at it with Kyle Juszczyk out with a concussion.

Ji’Ayir Brown • SSBig credit to defensive coordinator Robert Saleh for finding a role for the wayward Brown, who stood out as a third-down strong safety/linebacker in this game.

DUDS

Alfred Collins • DTI didn’t know you could ice skate in New Orleans. After a disastrous first game where he stopped receiving snaps in the second half, Collins was even more of a weak point in Week 2. That’s not the trajectory you want any rookie to take, much less your second-round pick who was drafted to a position of need with an intent for immediate impact.

Dominik Puni • RGPuni is playing injured, and you can see it rep after rep.

Brian Robinson • RBNiners fans were far more excited about Robinson than those in-house, because for fans, Robinson’s reputation as a one-year Fantasy Football league winner preceded him. But he’s not that back anymore, and he certainly isn’t behind this Niners’ offensive line, which sold out to pass-protect on Sunday.

Robinson isn’t a bad player–he’s simply the most average running back. He’ll get you everything you block for him and nothing more. That meant an average of 2.5 yards per carry in the first half. Think of Robinson as a control running back. How good is Christian McCaffrey? Look at how hard this all seems for Robinson.

Issac Guerendo • KRHe was given a couple of chances to return kicks and botched them both by making a bad one-on-one read and then returning one from the end zone. If you’re wondering why the Niners traded for Robinson instead of playing Guerendo, the kickoff returns were an excellent explanation. He doesn’t see it, and if you can’t see it, you can’t play for Shanahan.