With Christian McCaffrey ruled out for at least the next four games, the San Francisco 49ers can't afford to have many of their healthy offensive stars fail to fire as they look to build on their dominant season-opening win over the New York Jets.
San Francisco had no problem overcoming McCaffrey's absence in Week 1, as Jordan Mason rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown in his absence.
That came in a game in which wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, coming off a long contract dispute that ended in a four-year, $120 million extension, displayed clear signs of rust, the most obvious of which came late in the second quarter, when Aiyuk dropped a near-perfectly thrown ball from Brock Purdy in the back right corner of the endzone.
Aiyuk received significant criticism, not least from Hall of Famer Peyton Manning, for that error. Manning highlighted that Aiyuk had been away from the practice field for entirety of the offseason, returning to practice just six days before the start of the 49ers' campaign.
Yet head coach Kyle Shanahan saw little problem with Aiyuk's performance, at least from a conditioning side.
"I thought he did a good job. He never felt like he wasn't conditioned," said Shanahan. "We rotated him more than usual, which definitely helped. I haven't gotten to talk to him yet today, but I'm sure he was sore and stuff from it. But no, the conditioning, everything, was no factor."
Still, the 49ers didn't sign Aiyuk to a $30 million a year contract to drop a pass in the endzone and have just 28 yards on two catches. The good news for the Niners is that the second of those catches indicated Purdy and Aiyuk will soon re-establish their outstanding rapport.
Last season, Purdy looked to Aiyuk 105 times, the most of any receiver on the team. Aiyuk had the best season of his career, racking up 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns, and was comfortably the most efficient receiver in the NFL by DVOA, which measures per-play value, per FTN Fantasy.
When targeting Aiyuk last season, Purdy averaged 0.761 Expected Points Added per play, per nflindex.com. Kittle was the next best pass-catcher in that metric, with targets to the 49ers' All-Pro tight end averaging 0.708 EPA. No other receiver on the team averaged 0.5 EPA per play.
Watching Aiyuk struggle to make an impact against the Jets, you would be forgiven for thinking he is primed for a down year, but his 14-yard reception in the fourth quarter says otherwise.
It was a perfect illustration of why Purdy and Aiyuk have been so successful together.
Attacking Jets slot corner Michael Carter II, Aiyuk got the benefit of a free release from the trips side of the formation. He took full advantage of that luxury, displaying outstanding fluidity in his lower half as he broke to the sideline without dropping speed and created massive separation.
Purdy, meanwhile, wasn't able to fully step into a long throw from the near hashmark to the field side as the pocket slowly closed in on him. He also released the ball a little late, failing to do so until Aiyuk was already coming out of his break. Despite those issues, he still uncorked a throw that landed in Aiyuk's grasp with outstanding timing right as he made it to the sideline.
Though they had little time to work with each other ahead of the season, that completion was a clear indicator that it won't take long for Purdy and Aiyuk to get back in sync.
McCaffrey's hopefully temporary departure from the picture places more pressure on Purdy and the passing game weapons to perform at their highest levels.
Aiyuk was a long way from his best in the opener, yet was still able to produce a demonstration of his superb understanding with Purdy. With more practice time together under their belt this week, it surely won't be long before the connection between Purdy and Aiyuk bursts back into life.
