49ers get tricky for first TD Niners’ Greenlaw exits
WR Jennings hits Mccaffrey with throwback pass
The San Francisco 49ers opened up their bag of tricks late to score the first touchdown in Super Bowl 58.
Receiver Jauan Jennings threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Christian Mccaffrey to give San Francisco a 10-0 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs late in the first half Sunday.
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan shies away from using too many trick plays, believing in the ability of his offense to deliver without them.
But he saved this one up for one of the biggest moments of the season. With San Francisco facing a second-and-10 from the Kansas City 21, Brock Purdy threw a quick lateral to Jennings on the left side.
Jennings immediately threw it back to the other side to Mccaffrey, who had a convoy of blockers and ran in for a 21-yard TD.
The score was just the sixth TD pass thrown by a non-quarterback in Super Bowl history with it happening three times in the past seven seasons.
Running back Joe Mixon threw the most recent one two years ago to Tee Higgins for Cincinnati against the Los Angeles Rams. Trey Burton had the famous “Philly Special” pass to Nick Foles at the end of the first half in Super Bowl 52 for Philadelphia against New England.
The other non-quarterbacks with a TD pass in the Super Bowl are Antwaan Randle El for Pittsburgh against Seattle in Super Bowl 40, Lawrence Mccutcheon for the Rams against Pittsburgh in Super Bowl 14 and Robert Newhouse for Dallas against Denver in Super Bowl 12.
Jennings hadn’t thrown a pass in three seasons in the NFL. He threw five in college at Tennessee with two touchdowns. The previous one came in 2016, when he threw a 4-yarder to Joshua Dobbs against Texas A&M.
Mccaffrey also tied an NFL record with his seventh straight playoff game with at least 50 yards from scrimmage and a TD. The only other players to do that are Marcus Allen, Terrell Davis, Leonard Fournette and John Riggins.
Sideline frustration
A frustrated Travis Kelce bumped Andy Reid on the sideline, knocking the 65-year-old Chiefs coach a few steps back after teammate Isiah Pacheco fumbled inside the red zone during the second quarter.
Kelce, with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, ran over to Reid and screamed at him after the fumble. CBS reported that Kelce was angry that he wasn’t on the field for the play and yelled at Reid to keep him in the game.
The Chiefs gained just 16 yards on their first two possessions and trailed the 49ers 3-0 when Patrick Mahomes and Mecole Hardman hooked up on a dazzling play.
Mahomes rolled to his right, threw a deep ball across his body and dropped a perfect pass into double coverage to Hardman for a 52-yard gain to the Niners 9. But Deommodore Lenoir forced Pacheco to fumble on the next play and Javon Hargrave recovered for San Francisco.
This was the second sideline incident involving Kelce and Reid this season.
During a game against the Raiders on Christmas Day, an angry Kelce spiked his helmet on the sideline, and when a staff member tried to hand it back to the tight end so that he could take the field, Reid grabbed the helmet and refused to give it back.
49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw went down with a freak Achilles tendon injury in the first half.
Greenlaw bounced up and down on the sideline and then started to run onto the field with a few teammates when he collapsed holding his left leg. He was then helped off in a cart. The 49ers have ruled Greenlaw out for the rest of the game.
Greenlaw started all 15 games he played this season and was the team’s second-leading tackler. He’s in his fifth NFL season, all with San Francisco.
He was credited with three assists in this game before his injury.
Greenlaw had dealt with Achilles tendon issues recently, but he missed only those two regular-season games — and one of those was the regular-season finale, which he missed for non-injury reasons.
Greenlaw was limited to three regular-season games in 2021 because of a groin injury, but he was back for that postseason. He’s been a regular starter since he was a rookie.