With Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey at full speed, 49ers can beat anyone

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 14: Christian McCaffrey #23 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates with Jauan Jennings #15 after scoring a 3 yard touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks during the first quarter in the NFC Wild Card playoff game at Levi's Stadium on January 14, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
By Matt Barrows
Jan 15, 2023

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Bad news for playoff defenses: Deebo Samuel is back to full strength and Christian McCaffrey has a full understanding of the 49ers’ playbook.

That combination accounted for 301 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday’s 41-23 wild-card playoff rout of the Seahawks, a strong signal that the 49ers have the weaponry to keep pace with any NFC team — and perhaps, unlike three years ago, the AFC’s top team.

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“Quite honestly, those are two of the best players in the NFL with the ball in their hands,” said fullback Kyle Juszczyk. “So if you can have them in the backfield together — just on the field together — man, it’s going to be hard to stop.”

A backfield with Samuel and McCaffrey isn’t new.

Kyle Shanahan used it eight times — and to great effect — when the 49ers emerged from the bye in Week 10. But it had to go on the shelf when Samuel suffered knee and ankle injuries against the Buccaneers.

It was back on Saturday, this time with Brock Purdy distributing the football. The result was 505 yards of total offense, a season high for San Francisco and only the third time that a franchise that boasts Joe Montana, Steve Young and Jerry Rice among its all-time greats has gone over the 500-yard mark in a playoff game.

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GO DEEPER

49ers use second-half run to thump Seahawks

The numbers reflected a team that for the first time this season has every offensive weapon at full throttle. The 49ers began the season without tight end George Kittle. Then they lost their top runner, Elijah Mitchell, in Week 1 and again in Week 12. Then Samuel got hurt in Week 14 against Tampa Bay.

Samuel got a gentle warmup in the regular-season finale six days ago and on Saturday looked like the version of himself that tore through defenses in the 2021 postseason. That was especially true after Seahawks safety Johnathan Abram twisted Samuel’s ankle well after a play had been blown dead in the third quarter, a move the 49ers — both offensive and defensive players — took as an act of war.

“I would not piss off the dudes on offense,” defensive end Nick Bosa said. “Especially Deebo, because he’ll make you pay. … Don’t poke the bear.”

Samuel had been stiff-arming Seahawks and breaking tackles throughout the game. In the fourth quarter, he delivered the dagger when, following a catch on a short crossing route, he picked up blocks from Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk and raced down the sideline for a 74-yard touchdown, the longest play of the game. According to Next Gen Stats, Samuel reached 20.37 mph after the catch, his fastest speed of the season and an indication he’s back at peak strength.

McCaffrey, meanwhile, has appeared in every game this season. — six with the Panthers and 12 with the 49ers. After the 49ers traded for him in October, however, he was learning the offense, game plan to game plan. Now he has a fuller understanding of not only the playbook but also how Shanahan and the 49ers want him to operate on the outside zone runs that are such a staple of the team’s offense.

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He had the team’s second-longest play, 68 yards, on that type of run in the first quarter, reaching 20.8 mph on the carry.

McCaffrey, who prominently noted there was “more meat on the bone” when the 49ers first began their 11-game winning streak, said he thinks there’s still more to gain even now.

“A lot of times you’re playing against the tape,” he said. “You want to put good things on tape. You want to wake up Monday morning and when you watch it on the iPad, you want to be proud of what you put out there. That’s football. That’s what makes it so fun — it’s that constant pursuit for perfection. And I think everybody on this team has that.”

The 49ers will find plenty of room for improvement, even in an 18-point win. They certainly didn’t coast through the contest. They settled for three field goals and had their only punt of the game in the first half. They went into the locker room trailing by a point despite averaging a gaudy 8.3 yards a play.

But in the second half, they emphatically pulled away from the Seahawks and put to rest the notion that it’s hard to beat the same team three times in a season.

The 49ers did so against the Seahawks using a different weapon each time. In their Week 2 win, they leaned on tough running from Jeff Wilson Jr. In Week 15, Kittle had 93 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 108 rushing yards and a touchdown from McCaffrey.

And on Saturday the McCaffrey-Samuel duo led the way.

“It seems like an extremely special team,” Juszczyk said. “When teams try to take away one thing, I feel like we are able to exploit that and answer what they maybe think ought to be our weakness. And it’s been every week — somebody else steps up. It’s been a different star each week. And I think that’s just how it’s gonna be.”

(Photo of Christian McCaffrey and Jauan Jennings: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

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Matt Barrows

Matt Barrows is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the 49ers. He joined The Athletic in 2018 and has covered the 49ers since 2003. He was a reporter with The Sacramento Bee for 19 years, four of them as a Metro reporter. Before that he spent two years in South Carolina with The Hilton Head Island Packet. Follow Matt on Twitter @MattBarrows