From 2-4 and mounting tensions in the Bay Area, to 5-5 and suddenly thinking about the playoffs.
The San Francisco 49ers went back to their smash-mouth, pummel with the pads approach by turning to an Elijah Mitchell-less ground attack to trounce the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, November 21 on the road 30-10.
This time, the 49ers handed the ball off 42 times — accumulating in 171 rushing yards and averaging 4.1 yards a carry. The team also saw an efficient Jimmy Garoppolo who only threw six incompletions and tossed two touchdown passes.
Oh, All-Pro tight end George Kittle saw a sea of red down in North Florida.
The people’s tight end is all of us rn
But that wasn’t the only notable Twitter reaction of the 20-point rout. One other reaction? One that has 49ers beat reporter David Lombardi of The Athletic revealing a big difference with this 49ers team in the final sentence of this below tweet.
The 49ers smoke the Jaguars, 30-10. SF hogged the ball throughout. Thanks to Deebo Samuel, they manufactured a run game even at less than full strength. Jimmy Garoppolo was very good for the fourth straight game. A rested defense was opportunistic. SF is 5-5 and primed for a run
Others include two 49ers who were sidelined for this game to the sudden feeling of a NFC playoff run at the Bay. Here’s some of the top online reactions involving the ‘Niners:
Injured 49ers Liked What They Saw
Raheem Mostert, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, first sent his message of support at 10:12 a.m. PT to his team:
Keep it rolling guys!
Mike McGlinchey also tweeted during the game, as the former right tackle starter is dealing with a season-ending torn quadriceps injury he suffered two weeks ago.
But at 10:55 a.m. PT, McGlinchey gave a rave review of the 49er offense:
Great start for the @49ers !!
Why? Because the 49ers dominated across the line of scrimmage from the jump on their first two drives — much to the liking of the injured lineman.
The first drive: 20 total plays that ate up 87 yards and ended in a field goal. It became shades of the opening drive in the romp of the Rams last Monday.
The 49ers’ offense has started strong the last two games 💪
And the subsequent drive? Seven plays that ended with Deebo Samuel showing that the 49ers can trust the wide receiver as a Mitchell-type option in the backfield:
Deebo doing his thing in Duval.
Mostert became so energized by the way the 49ers moved the ball on the ground, he fired off this online reaction:
I can’t wait to put those pads back on!
McGlinchey then retweeted two 49er Twitter posts following the win.
Now, with three wins in their last four games, has playoff talk returned to the Bay?
Playoff Talk Posts
Bay Area transplant Michael Silver of Bally’s Sports, who graduated from the University of California Berkeley, is one who is noticing a much different 49ers team than the one that lost four consecutive games.
The Niners are good again… which should make things a little more interesting
Associated Press sports writer Josh Dubow mentioned the significance of the 49ers posting back-to-back 40-carry games.
#49ers have 42+ carries in back-to-back regular season games for first time since 1987 (Oct. 5 and 11th in replacement player games). Last time it happened in non-replacement game (Dec. 14 and 19 1986). They also did it in playoffs after 2019 season
Sterling Bennett of 95.7 The Game FM in the Bay Area shared where the 49ers now stand in the playoff race with seven games to go.
Speaking of the Vikings, Minnesota was a 34-31 winner over the NFC North leading Green Bay Packers, which now sets up this logjam in the NFC wildcard race:
The 49ers, Vikings, Panthers, Eagles and Saints all have 5 wins apiece. Two of them are making the playoffs.
But, here’s what the remaining setup now looks like for the 49ers.
From 2-4, to on their way to 5-5.
And, the @49ers right now face only three teams that are above .500 the rest of the way. One of those teams the 49ers trounced recently.
The team the ‘Niners trounced? The one from last week’s Monday Night Football game, which is at the end of the season and could see playoff implications with the rate the ‘Niners are going. The other two: Cincinnati and Tennessee, the latter stunned by the lowly Houston Texans 22-13 on Sunday.
But overall, the 49ers leave the Sunshine State with their second straight victory of 20 points or more. And got Jimmy G to send this message:
That’s a DUB 👏
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Twitter Reacts to 49ers’ Blowout Win, Playoff Chances: ‘Primed for a Run’