Banged-up Niners rip Jets
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The injury carts rolled out twice in three plays and the 49ers lost a few more key players. Still, short-handed San Francisco had enough to beat the inept New York Jets. And it wasn’t even close. Raheem Mostert ran for an 80-yard touchdown on San Francisco’s first play from scrimmage and Jimmy Garoppolo threw two TD passes — before both players sat out the second half with injuries — to lead the banged-up 49ers to a 31-13 victory Sunday.
“When you have key players like those guys keep going down, we all gathered in the huddle and talked about how we have to play for them,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “We played for them and made sure that we stayed locked in.”
It was a costly victory for San Francisco, which was already hurting in a big way before losing Garoppolo to a high ankle sprain and Mostert to an injured knee. Defensive end Nick Bosa and defensive tackle Solomon Thomas were both carted off the field two plays apart with left knee injuries in the first quarter.
The fear is it could be a season-ending ACL injury for Bosa, who’ll have tests Monday. So will Thomas, although 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said there’s a better chance for him it’s not as serious an ACL injury. Shanahan didn’t seem as concerned about the knee injuries for Mostert and fellow running back Tevin Coleman, who also left the game.
Shanahan and the 49ers said the new artificial turf at MetLife Stadium — where they’ll play the Giants next week — might have played a role in some of the injuries.
The 49ers (1-1) also came in without star tight end George Kittle (knee), wide receiver Deebo Samuel
(foot), cornerback Richard Sherman (calf ) and defensive end Dee Ford (neck).
It didn’t matter against the Jets (0-2), who have also been hit hard by injuries and couldn’t muster much.
“We did not play the game we needed to play,” coach Adam Gase said.
Garoppolo was 14 of 16 for 131 yards and the two TDs before being replaced by Nick Mullens. Mullens finished 8 of 11 for 71 yards and an interception
Sam Darnold threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Braxton Berrios with 1:23 remaining. He was 21 of 32 for 179 yards and no turnovers.