San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey finally made his season debut on Sunday, rushing for 39 yards on 13 carries and catching six passes for 68 receiving yards in the 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a fine outing for a player who's still dealing with Achilles tendonitis, but 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan originally wanted to give the 2023 NFL Offensive Player of the Year more snaps.
Shanahan commented on FOX Sports reporter Erin Andrews' claim that he didn't “want to kill” McCaffrey because of the Tampa Bay heat, via the 49ers' website.
“I didn’t exactly know the numbers. I think he, whatever the four plays he wasn’t in,” Shanahan admitted. “No, I, when I’m sprinting off the field and I have like eight minutes to go in and pee, come up with eight plays to talk to the offense, get all the tendencies, give a huge rah-rah speech to get us back out for a second half, my thoughts aren’t always there when I’m running and talking to someone.”
Halftime chaos aside, Shanahan resents being interviewed when he's locked into the game.
“That’s why I hate when they put me on TV, I’m not the most social at those times and I’d rather go in there and work on my job. But yeah, I don’t, I’m sure I did say that,” the 44-year-old continued. “I guarantee I did if Erin said it, but I didn’t know the numbers at the time either. I thought we had him out for a couple drives. We did take him out a couple times, but the numbers weren’t as, it felt like a hundred plays he was out. But I think it was only like four or five.”
Regardless, McCaffrey should see a slight uptick in touches going forward, as long as he's healthy.
Christian McCaffrey's return puts 49ers back on track
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McCaffrey came out of Sunday's win relatively unscathed after playing 56 snaps. Shanahan said that the 2023 NFL rushing leader experienced no setbacks despite having a limited practice on Wednesday, via NBC Sports Bay Area.
While San Francisco was able to tread water at 4-4 in McCaffrey's absence, there's no doubt that he was sorely missed. Now, the 49ers are 5-4 and are getting healthy at the right time, as they're just a half-game behind the Arizona Cardinals for first place in the NFC West.
