Christian McCaffrey is hoping to have as little contact as possible with the San Francisco 49ers defense when he celebrates a homecoming with the visiting Carolina Panthers in a matchup of two of the NFL’s hottest teams Sunday afternoon.
The league’s co-leader in total touchdowns goes head-to-head with a defense that’s allowed the second-fewest points in the NFL when the Panthers (4-2) take their four-game winning streak up against the unbeaten 49ers (6-0).
“He’s a special player,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan gushed Wednesday about McCaffrey, who played his college football about 20 miles west of Levi’s Stadium at Stanford. “He can do about everything. He reminds me of Marshall Faulk. He can beat you in the pass game; he can beat you in the run game.
“They’re doing a great job on how to use him because they are using him as much as possible. Christian is — not many players you can do that with — but he has the ability to do it. You can tell he’s a very smart player, extremely talented, and that’s why he’s being mentioned with some of the best in the league this year.”
McCaffrey has scored nine touchdowns in Carolina’s first six games, tying him with Green Bay’s Aaron Jones for the NFL lead.
He also ranks as the league’s third-leading rusher with 618 yards.
McCaffrey has yet to go up against the 49ers defense this season, however. When he does, he will be encountering a group that ranks first in the NFL against the pass, tied for seventh against the run, and second in both average fewest points and yards allowed.
The 23-year-old kicked off his NFL career on the very same Levi’s Stadium field in the 2017 opener. And while the Panthers were able to come away with a 23-3 road win, McCaffrey treated his old fans to just 47 yards rushing and 38 yards receiving on five catches, with no touchdowns.
The Panthers haven’t lost since Kyle Allen replaced injured Cam Newton at quarterback. Their four-game winning streak includes road wins at Arizona, Houston and Tampa Bay, the latter a 37-26 shootout that led Carolina into last week’s bye.
While the Panthers have been resting, the 49ers were busy trying to beef up a stagnant passing game with the addition of veteran wideout Emmanuel Sanders. San Francisco dealt their third- and fourth-round picks in 2020 for the former Broncos two-time Pro Bowler and Denver’s fifth-round choice next year.
While Sanders, who caught scoring passes in each of Denver’s first two games and later tacked on a 104-yard effort in Week 4, adds to a 49ers offense that struggled in the rain last week at Washington. Panthers coach Ron Rivera noted Wednesday he considers Shanahan’s imaginative play-calling to be San Francisco’s primary offensive weapon.
“The biggest thing is try to figure out what he’s trying to do, how he’s trying to attack us and put ourselves in the right position,” Rivera told reporters. “He does a lot of different things. The biggest thing, though, is you got to be disciplined, you got to play your game and do the things you’re supposed to.”
The Panthers have won their last three visits to San Francisco dating back to 2001. The 49ers’ last win in the series came 23-10 at Carolina in the 2013 playoffs.
