SANTA CLARA, Calif. — “Hold on, bro!”
Maliek Collins yelled across the locker room at his fellow defensive tackle, Javon Hargrave, after the San Francisco 49ers’ commanding 32-19 season-opening win over the New York Jets.
Hargrave was trying to scoot out to the parking lot while Collins was still finishing his media responsibilities.
“He’s selfish,” Collins said with a smile, pointing in Hargrave’s direction.
He was joking, of course. And Hargrave didn’t end up taking off early. The duo of starting tackles that were central to the 49ers’ stifling performance up front would leave Levi’s Stadium as cohesively as they had played over the preceding game.
“It was fun,” Collins said. “I think we can piggyback even more off each other as we go along. I jumped out of my gap one play and he made the play for only a 2-yard gain.”
The 49ers allowed only 62 rushing yards on 17 carries from Jets running backs. That’s 3.6 yards per carry — an average that was below 3 yards per carry for most of the game before the 49ers built a three-possession lead. In short, the 49ers dissuaded the Jets from running the ball, which is something their defense struggled to do last season when it finished ranked No. 26 in expected points added (EPA) against the run.
Poor run defense remained a critical problem for the 49ers in the playoffs, especially when the Detroit Lions gashed them for the first half of the NFC Championship Game.
The 49ers fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, replaced him with Nick Sorensen and overhauled their defensive line. They released defensive tackle Arik Armstead after he declined to take a pay cut. They didn’t re-sign fellow tackle Javon Kinlaw, who signed with the Jets and played against them on Monday night. They also didn’t re-sign edge rusher Chase Young, who went to the New Orleans Saints.
The 49ers replaced those players with Collins (via a trade with the Houston Texans), fellow defensive tackle Jordan Elliott and edge rusher Leonard Floyd — and all three helped rejuvenate the run defense in Week 1.
“They’re disruptive,” Hargrave said of Collins and Elliott. “They’re just scratching the surface of what they can do.”
Hargrave was already with the 49ers in 2023. He’s a pass-rushing specialist on the inside. The 49ers felt the need to pair him with sturdy beef that could perform better against the run. They thought that’d make the ideal combination. Both Armstead and Kinlaw, after all, also scored well in pass-rushing metrics last season but both struggled in the game.
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Hargrave confirmed that a clear offseason priority was to seal the leaks that had compromised their run defense.
“That’s where it starts for our defense,” he said. “When a team can run the ball on you, they can do anything. So we definitely focused on that this year.”
Armstead and Kinlaw were taller, lankier defensive tackles for the 49ers. Hargrave appreciates the wider body types that the 310-pound Collins and 303-pound Elliott have given the 49ers up front.
“They’re big, but they’re quick-twitched,” Hargrave said. “They disrupt a lot of things, so they make it a lot easier for everybody around.”
Floyd, meanwhile, continues to prove that he plays stronger than his 240-pound weight would indicate. The veteran end, who logged 39 1/2 sacks over the previous four seasons, notched another one against the Jets while also proving effective in his containment of running back Breece Hall.
Can’t escape @Leonard90Flo.#NYJvsSF on ESPN
📱 NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/tBbFaXbiWP— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 10, 2024
“He can stuff the edge,” Hargrave said of Floyd. “It makes it easier for the inside guys to get off blocks. It was fun to be out there with them boys, and especially to see him get a sack in his first game here.”
Have the 49ers found the right supporting cast for Hargrave and superstar Nick Bosa up front? The first return on that front was certainly promising. And fittingly, it mirrored the dominance the 49ers showcased in the opposite trench, where running back Jordan Mason stampeded for 147 yards on 28 carries — the most attempts for any back in a single game under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
A good snapshot of dominance up front on both sides. Only Jets efficiency came on late-down passing (and the 49ers rectified that issue). SF firmly controlled run game on both sides, and that’s a ticket to a lot of wins: pic.twitter.com/IaHb0tX9I6
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) September 10, 2024
“That was some of the most fun I’ve had running the ball in a long time,” 49ers tight end Eric Saubert said. “To be able to dominate in the run game, anytime you have a game like that, it’s just so fun. It’s what we love to do.”
Saubert is another one of the 49ers’ veteran additions. His job is to replace Charlie Woerner, a good blocking tight end who left in free agency to the Atlanta Falcons. After Monday’s game, tight end George Kittle touted the value of Saubert having played for Houston and the Miami Dolphins last season, two teams teeming with former 49ers coaches.
“So he knows what our offense is like,” Kittle said of Saubert. “His work ethic tonight was great.”
With versatile running back Christian McCaffrey inactive, the 49ers knew they’d be relying on a more rudimentary game plan — especially against a Jets defense that’s one of the best in the NFL at pass coverage. Running straight at the opponent was the strategy.
The 49ers, after three sporadic drives to open the game yielded only a pair of Jake Moody field goals, began doing just that. The Jets had managed to disrupt the 49ers’ pass protection, first with defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and then with Kinlaw, early on. But the 49ers were able to refocus the game on their strength, which is run blocking.
“Those first two or three drives are always a feel-it-out, get-in-your-rhythm thing,” said rookie right guard Dominick Puni, whose debut was vital in the 49ers’ 180-yard rushing effort. “The (fourth) drive, once you have a drive like that and you know you can do that, it’s easy to build off that.”
That fourth drive was a 12-play, 87-yard march that the 49ers finished with not one but two overpowering touchdowns — one from Mason which was called back due to a holding penalty and a subsequent score from Deebo Samuel Sr., who offered his own bruising contribution from the running back position.
It was an emphatic statement of a march that underscored a key theme of the night: The 49ers look primed to flex their muscles along both trenches this season. And for a team loaded with star power that’s expecting to welcome even more talent like McCaffrey back into the fold, that represents a significant Week 1 foundation.
“The preparation was there, the execution was there and it turned into something awesome,” Saubert said.
(Photo of Javon Hargrave, Leonard Floyd and Nick Bosa: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
