The San Francisco 49ers built the entire plane out of Christian McCaffrey.
The star running back gobbled up 129 rushing yards and two scores on 24 carries and added a game-high 72 receiving yards on seven catches in Sunday night's 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons. The 201 scrimmage yards marked CMC's first 200-plus-yard game in six years.
"That should be our plan every time," left tackle Trent Williams said of feeding McCaffrey, via the Associated Press. "He's one of the better players on our team, so putting the ball in his hands as much as possible works out good for us."
The result of feeding McCaffrey was historic. Of all the legendary players to have walked the gridiron the past 60 years, none had a night like CMC.
According to OptaStats, McCaffrey had more rushing yards than all others on both teams combined, led all players on both teams in receiving yards and scored more points than the entire opposing team. No other NFL player in the Super Bowl era has done all of that in the same game.
For a banged-up Niners club, having McCaffrey perform like he did Sunday night, an unstoppable force picking up chunk gains every time he touched the pigskin, allowed them to overcome a dire injury situation that still saw them without Brock Purdy and Ricky Pearsall on offense and the brutal season-ending injuries to the likes of Nick Bosa and Fred Warner on defense -- among several other injuries on both sides of the ball.
When McCaffrey is on a heater like Sunday, it makes those injuries easier to manage.
"He's huge," coach Kyle Shanahan said. "He's the most consistent player I've been around. He just allows you to stay on track. He gets every yard in the run game and more and what he does in the pass game ... it's rare that you're going to throw a ball to him and not get a completion."
It's no coincidence that CMC had his best rushing day with George Kittle back in the lineup. The tight end upgrades the run blocking on the second level, giving the back creases that weren't there in other weeks.
"It's a different ballgame when he's in there," McCaffrey said of Kittle. "Even when he doesn't have a big statistical game, the attention that he draws opens so much up."
At 5-2 despite all the injuries, the Niners are a dangerous squad heading toward Thanksgiving. Shanahan's crew has shown repeatedly that they won't be thrown off track by injuries.
As long as McCaffrey remains healthy, they can continue to stack wins.
