49ers cruise past Jets, Aaron Rodgers; can Notre Dame still make playoff?

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🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

The 49ers‘ dramatic offseason took one final twist when Christian McCaffrey (calf/Achilles) was ruled out 90 minutes before their clash with the Jets.

No matter. They’re the 49ers: a dominant outfit that grinds opponents into dust. San Francisco defeated New York, 32-19, with McCaffrey’s unsung backup, Jordan Mason, running 28 times for 147 yards and a touchdown. Deebo Samuel also scored on the ground.

The defense, which took a step back last year, shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Jets’ attack, with star linebacker Fred Warner forcing a Hall fumble and Maliek Collins recovering. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles picked off Rodgers. Breece Hall managed just 54 yards on 16 carries. It’s a strong start for new defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen.

All that leads to these remarkable numbers:

• The 49ers scored on eight straight possessions.
• The 49ers ran 70 plays to the Jets’ 49.
• The 49ers out-gained the Jets 401-266.
• The 49ers recorded 38:40 time of possession, the most ever by a team facing Rodgers.
• Scorigami!!!

The machine rolls on.

Honorable mentions

😬 And not such a good morning for …

THE NEW YORK JETS

Rodgers ended last year’s season opener watching due to an injury. This year, he watched again, this time as the Jets got blown out. There’s no need for him to play in garbage time, of course, but the Jets are going to need him to be a lot better going forward.

I think he will be. His injury was a literally a year ago, and he didn’t play in the preseason. Still, Monday night was ugly, and it wasn’t just Rodgers.

• The offensive line — as healthy as it will be all year — opened up very little for Hall.
• The run defense (180 yards allowed) looked abysmal.
• New York produced just two plays of 20 yards or more and just one run of 10+ yards.

This certainly wasn’t the grand return Rodgers had in mind, and it certainly wasn’t the start his teammates or hot-seat coach Robert Saleh were envisioning, either.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

NOTE: The following section contains disturbing content.

Civil sexual assault lawsuit filed against Deshaun Watson 

Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has been accused of a 2020 sexual assault and battery in a lawsuit filed Monday in Texas.

• The full details of the case can be found here. “Jane Doe,” the woman suing Watson, seeks damages in excess of $1 million due to Watson allegedly violating three sections of the Texas Penal Code: indecent exposure, assault and indecent assault.
• Tony Buzbee, who represented dozens of women who previously sued Watson for various levels of sexual misconduct, is also the representative for this case. Buzbee told CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones, “We intend to pursue this case with the same aggressiveness with which we pursued the others. We want a jury trial. As far as any specific comments on the facts of the case, we believe the lawsuit speaks for itself.”

Watson was suspended 11 games in the 2022 season for similar incidents from 2019-21. Roger Goodell called Watson’s behavior “predatory” and said the league’s evidence called for a full-season ban. The 11-game punishment was the result of collective bargaining by the NFL and the NFLPA.

As for the football ramifications, though this is a civil case and not a criminal one, the NFL could view it as proof of a personal conduct policy violation, notes Will Brinson.

🏈 Tyreek Hill detainment: Star wide receiver considering legal action, body camera footage released

The fallout from Tyreek Hill‘s detainment Sunday continued into Monday as police body camera footage was released. Here are some notable parts:

• An officer knocked on Hill’s window and told Hill to keep the window down, to which Hill responded by telling him not to knock on the window and that he would be late to the Dolphins‘ game against the Jaguars. Hill then rolled up his window again, which led to things escalating.
• Hill appeared to be on his phone with agent Drew Rosenhaus when officers forcibly removed Hill from his car, pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him. They then picked Hill up and forced him to a seated position on the curb.
• Later, Dolphins defensive lineman Calais Campbell pulled over to see what’s going on. Campbell was standing at a distance when an officer confronted him, handcuffed him and told him he’s under arrest.

Here’s what Hill had to say Monday. Upon seeing the video, Hill’s Dolphins teammate Jalen Ramsey called for the officers to be fired immediately.

Hill ended up playing — he scored an 80-yard touchdown (with a mock handcuff celebration) — in Miami’s 20-17 win over the Jaguars. 

Here’s more …

🏈 New CBS Sports 134, plus can Notre Dame make the playoff?

Just like in the most recent AP Top 25, Texas jumped to No. 2 in the CBS Sports 134 (full rankings here) as well as Brandon Marcello’s Power Rankings.

Brad Crawford says the Longhorns deserve even more love than they’re getting, but Steve Sarkisian won’t be hearing any of it. He’s using Notre Dame‘s loss to Northern Illinois as a warning to his team, and it’s a message worth hearing. National championships aren’t handed out in September, but dreams of winning one can be erased before October.

Has Notre Dame already fallen to that fate? Will Backus and Shehan Jeyarajah debated whether the Fighting Irish can still make the playoff.

• Backus: “If the 2023 season taught us anything, it’s that the selection committee can be forgiving under the right circumstances. … It’s not like 10 more wins aren’t attainable for the Irish, either. They’ll have a chance to pad their résumé against ranked teams like No. 19 Louisville and No. 11 USC. Though Florida State has lost its luster, beating the Seminoles still resonates.”
• Jeyarajah: “Realistically, the path is for Notre Dame — a team that just stumbled against a MAC team — to win 10 straight games, including tricky matchups like Georgia Tech, Army and No. 19 Louisville. Then, it has to hope that these wins actually remain impressive by the end of the year. And then even on top of that, it has to hope that every at-large team in the country finishes with multiple losses.”

I still can’t get enough of Northern Illinois and coach Thomas Hammock, which means I loved John Talty’s story on Hammock’s emotional postgame interview. His Huskies were, unsurprisingly, the biggest riser in the CBS Sports 134.

Here’s more:

James Earl Jones dies at 93; here’s his connection to baseball

James Earl Jones, the iconic stage and screen actor who won Tony Awards for “The Great White Hope” and “Fences” and voiced Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and Mufasa in “The Lion King,” died Monday at 93.

CBS News has a full obituary, but regarding sports, Jones loomed large in baseball, too, Matt Snyder notes.

• Snyder: “He played (spoiler alert, but c’mon, the movie is more than 30 years old) the owner of the dog — aka “the beast” — in The Sandlot. Much more famously, Jones was in ‘Field of Dreams’ alongside Kevin Costner and delivered possibly the most famous baseball movie speech ever. … Few actors, if any, ever had a connection to baseball without ever having actually played it. For that and so much more, we thank you and mourn your loss, Mr. Jones.”

📺 What we’re watching Tuesday

⚽ USMNT vs. New Zealand, 7 p.m. on TNT/truTV
⚾ Orioles at Red Sox, 7:10 p.m. on TBS
🏀 Lynx at Dream, 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 Liberty at Wings, 8 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
⚾ Cubs at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. on TBS