HOUSTON – Ingrained deep inside the DNA of the San Francisco 49ers’ playbook designed by Kyle Shanahan, there’s a smart axiom Kyle Shanahan never ignores.
Get the football in the hands of star running back Christian McCaffrey, by any means necessary.
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The game plan of the 49ers, especially with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk out for the season, can be boiled down to this elemental priority. Their strategy is built around getting McCaffrey heavily involved through the running game and through the versatility of his pass-catching skills.
McCaffrey is on pace for 2,383 all-purpose yards and leads the NFL in total offensive touches for a 5-2 squad that has overcome multiple injuries, including quarterback Brock Purdy sidelined again. He’s coming off an NFC Offensive Player of the Week performance in a win over the Atlanta Falcons with 201 total yards from scrimmage and two touchdown runs.
The Texans’ top-ranked defense knows exactly what’s coming Sunday at NRG Stadium: plenty of carries and targets for McCaffrey, the former NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
Their top priority is containing McCaffrey as a 2-4 team looking for a win after a disappointing Monday night loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
“The game plan is we have to have eyes for Christian McCaffrey, knowing that he’s going get the bulk of the touches because he’s their top playmaker,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, a former 49ers defensive coordinator. “Christian McCaffrey is by far one of the best players in the NFL. What he’s done in the game, I know for sure he has the respect of every player that’s played against him. He’s a tremendous athlete, physically gifted, a talented player in all respects not just running the football, but also as a receiving running back.
“He’s one of the best that we’ve seen. That’ll be their main focus and that’s their main game plan, rightfully so, because he’s such a dynamic player and he changes the game for them offensively. Not just what he does, but where he’s able to align. Kyle has done a really nice job of moving him around in a lot of different spots where he’s not just aligning in the running back position. He can line up at receiver. He can line up all over the place.”
He’s on pace to finish the season with 1,129 rushing yards and seven scores and 129 catches for 1,253 yards and seven touchdowns. He leads the NFL with 132 carries, rushing for 435 yards and three scores and has 53 catches for 516 yards and three touchdowns.
Against the Falcons, McCaffrey rushed for 129 yards and caught seven of eight passes thrown to him for 72 yards. After a slow start to the season an averaging a career-low 3.1 yards per run before the Atlanta game, the former NFL Offensive Player of the Year broke through against the NFL’s 16th-ranked defense. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry as the return of tight end George Kittle gave the running game a resounding boost.
McCaffrey leads the NFL with 185 touches through seven games, ahead of the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor at 154, and he is third in catches behind Ja’Marr Chase’s 58 receptions and Puka Nacua’s 54 catches.
“I think it’s just about closing ground, not letting him dictate what’s going on in that specific play,” Texans nickel Jalen Pitre said. “As a team, we would just want to swarm ‘em. Have all 11 running towards him. It’s hard to make 11 guys miss. We know that he’s really good at making guys miss, but it’s hard to make eleven miss."
McCaffrey is on a Marshall Faulk type of trajectory for the season as an all-purpose back.
He’s different than most backs who specialize at either running the football or catching it out of the backfield. McCaffrey does it all.
“Anytime you have Christian McCaffrey, he helps any quarterback because he’s a friendly target in the passing game,” Ryans said. “He has really great hands, catches the ball well and he’s also a really dynamic runner. He runs the ball tremendously hard. He understands the scheme.
“He understands how to press blocks. He knows how to set it up. He knows when to cut back. All around, really one of the smartest players I’ve been around and that’s one of the most reliable guys as well.”
McCaffrey has run 46 routes lined up in the slot or split outside, ranking third amongst all running backs.
McCaffrey, on pace for 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards, is on track to break his personal mark for touches.
Four out of six times this season, the Texans have limited opponents to 86 rushing yards or less. Against the Baltimore Ravens, they limited Derrick Henry to 33 yards on 15 carries.
The Seahawks rushed for 118 yards on 33 carries against the Texans.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers rushed for 169 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry against the Texans, who missed multiple tackles in that game.
“I think it just it’s all about us, you know what I’m saying?” Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said. “It starts with us up front and we have to do a really good job of stopping the run and it’s gonna be on us again, sitting there just knocking back, making plays, making them stop his feet, making them cut back into the help that’s coming and everybody rallying to the ball.”
Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke outlined how much the defensive agenda is centered around stopping McCaffrey, or at least slowing him down.
“They do a really good job of creating space for him,” Burke said. “Obviously, in the run game you can hand the ball off to him as much as you want, and that’s just part of what you do. But, in the pass game, they do a really good job of structuring space for him to get him into pockets, into windows, into matchups they like.
" So, just having awareness of how they’re trying to utilize him in the pass game particularly is going to be a huge challenge for us. Then, obviously when he does get the ball in his hands, dynamic player, has everything, can cut back and can get to the edge speed and make you miss. So, it will be a fun challenge for us for sure.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com