SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- There was talk last week about the college football atmosphere at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where 100,000 fans watched the San Francisco 49ers put the Los Angeles Rams to sleep in the season opener.
We'll stick to the theme, as Sunday's 35-13 win over the Miami Dolphins was like homecoming. (Even though many fans passed on attending the home opener.)
The Dolphins were the perfect team to play. They have only one star player (De'Von Achane) who requires extensive film study to prepare for. They also struggle to score or defend the pass. The 49ers lost two more receivers to injury, and though Jerry Rice was probably looking for a jersey on the sideline, they wound up scoring touchdowns on their first five possessions Sunday. Coach Kyle Shanahan told players after the game it was the first time in 40 years the Niners offense had done that.
San Francisco's receivers created 4.84 yards of separation per target, per Next Gen Stats, the most in the NFL this week.
And just in case there were any lingering signs of jet lag from the 49ers' trip to Australia, once the Dolphins kept running the ball no matter the score, the game flew by. Nice and easy.
"You love games like this," running back Christian McCaffrey said.
The 49ers might have run the ball more themselves, but Brock Purdy was in the zone. He just missed having a perfect passing rating, completing 20 of 22 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 30 yards and a score.
The 49ers averaged 7.8 yards per play and faced third down only seven times, converting five. They have scored 62 points in two games, with an average victory margin of 21 points. This is their 20th 2-0 start in the Super Bowl era, and they have three Super Bowl wins, six Super Bowl appearances, and 14 playoff berths to show for it.
Did any of those 49ers teams have seven players score touchdowns in the first two games? No.
McCaffrey, Purdy, George Kittle and fullback Kyle Juszczyk joined the party Sunday after Demarcus Robinson, Deebo Samuel and Mike Evans got in the end zone Down Under.
"We have a lot of weapons on this team," Juszczyk said. "And that's not particularly new. I feel like that's been the case for many years here. But it's a lot of weapons that have now had the time to jell together, that continue to grow. Brock gets more experience. … The offensive line plays together longer. And I just feel like we still get to excel and continue to get better and better."
The injuries are still an issue, as the 49ers had their third player carted off the field in two weeks. It was rookie receiver De'Zhaun Stribling and tight end Jake Tonges against the Rams and Robinson against the Dolphins. Shanahan said after the game it appears Robinson has a high ankle sprain.
But there was good news regarding Evans, who left the game with a hip injury. Shanahan said Evans would have come back into the game if it were close.
That leaves the 49ers down only three receivers, with Ricky Pearsall out for the season, Stribling out "close to" 10 weeks, and Robinson for perhaps half that. Evans and Deebo Samuel will lead the way against the Arizona Cardinals next week, and veteran KhaDarel Hodge and youngsters Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins might be asked to take on bigger roles. The real help will have to wait until Week 5, when veteran Christian Kirk is eligible to come off the injured reserve list from his calf injury.
Shanahan was even asked whether bringing back Brandon Aiyuk was an option.
He smiled.
"No."
Luckily, the 49ers have not only the best receiving running back in the league (McCaffrey) but also a healed-up Kittle.
The tight end played in Australia but said afterward he wasn't himself in his first game back from a torn Achilles tendon. Well, Kittle was back Sunday. Just ask Dolphins safety Michael Taaffe, whom Kittle threw to the turf in the middle of his 40-yard catch-and-run in the third quarter. Kittle would add a touchdown catch and finish with 80 yards.
"I was disappointed that there was another safety, because that would have been a really fun 75-yarder," he said. "It's actually funny -- that play usually never goes down the middle. (Purdy) was like, 'Hey, if it's split safeties, you can go down the middle, and they told us, 'Hey, it's not going to be split safeties' at halftime. And it was split safeties the first play. So it's always fun to rumble, bumble and tumble, man, and stiff-arm people into the dirt.
"It just feels really good, and it revitalizes you, and it definitely gives you a bunch of confidence."
Defensively, the 49ers are feeling pretty good about themselves. They allowed only two first-half field goals and a garbage-time touchdown bomb against the Dolphins. After not having a sack against the Rams in the opener, they had four against Miami and could have had more if quarterback Malik Willis wasn't so shifty.
Rookie pass rusher Romello Height had his first career sack, with Keion White and safety Marques Sigle each adding one, and Fred Warner and Upton Stout splitting another.
Sigle was part of a secondary that turned in its second consecutive good performance, albeit this time against the most anonymous receiving corps in the NFL.
"I've been super happy with our secondary," Warner said. "They've been out there flying around, communicating a ton, just everybody on the same page, guys hunting the football. It's not a finished product, and it probably won't ever be, right? We just got to continue to try to see how far we can take this thing to really be a dominant defense."
Next up for this seemingly complete team are the Cardinals, fresh off a 31-7 thumping by the Seattle Seahawks without their starting quarterback. There are levels to this in the NFC West, and if the 49ers give the Cardinals a similar reminder, they would be 3-0 heading into a home game against an AFC contender with a formidable defense in the Denver Broncos. After that, they'll travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks before three winnable games against the Washington Commanders, Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders ahead of the Week 8 bye.
Fans don't want to look too far ahead, but it's hard not to when the 49ers have had close to the best possible start to the season. Yeah, there are the injuries, but that's become routine over the past year and a half. They just keep on winning.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
