The San Francisco 49ers are now the only remaining undefeated team in the NFC West after they took down division rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, on Sunday in their Week 2 matchup, 30-23. It was another impressive performance from the Niners who are now 2-0 after their convincing Week 1 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey Plays 100% of Snaps Vs. Rams
To say that Christian McCaffrey played a key role in the 49ers‘ Week 2 win would be an understatement at this point. CMC logged 117 rushing yards on Sunday with one touchdown against LA. This is after the All-Pro running back played all 57 offensive snaps for the Niners in the game.
Yes, you read that right. McCaffrey literally played every single offensive snap for his team against the Rams, while backup RB Elijah Mitchell did not even get on the field.
Kyle Shanahan Speaks Out on Elijah Mitchell’s Lack of Playing Time
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked to comment on this massive discrepancy. The San Francisco shot-caller got brutally honest in his response:
“Yeah, we definitely got to get Elijah in there more and do better with our rotation than we did yesterday,” Shanahan said, via David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone. “That wasn’t the plan going in. It just ended up that way, and I got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
One reporter tried to give Shanahan a way out by asking him if substitutions are part of his responsibility during games. Instead of pinning the blame on one of his coaches, however, the veteran play-caller decided to take full responsibility for Mitchell’s lack of playing time against the Rams:
“No,” Shanahan responded. “Usually, calling plays, you can ask for guys specifically in certain plays as a play caller, but no, you’re not keeping guys fresh and rotating and doing stuff like that. Position coaches do that. But for him not to get in, I definitely should have noticed and asked for him (Mitchell).”
It will be very interesting to see how the Niners make these aforementioned adjustments in their running back rotation not only in Week 3 but for the rest of the season as well. After all, Elijah Mitchell has to eat, too.
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