Christian McCaffrey felt physically good after his return to the field. He plans to watch some game footage before deciding how well he performed in his first game of the season.
McCaffrey, San Francisco’s star running back, came back after missing the first eight games of the year. In the 49ers’ 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, he ran for 39 yards on 13 carries and caught six passes for 68 yards.
“I’m just happy I’m here,” McCaffrey said. “That was a long journey and a lot of long days, so it feels good to win and it feels good to just play in a football game again.”
McCaffrey, who was named the AP Offensive Player of the Year last season, had been out since early September due to Achilles tendinitis.
Sunday’s game, which marked the 49ers’ (5-4) second straight victory, started with McCaffrey running for 5 yards and ended with Jake Moody kicking a field goal to win the game as time ran out.
“I try to feel emotions as they come,” McCaffrey said. “I don’t really play anything. I have my routine. It’s all about my body and making sure the warmup’s on point. I try to stay even-keeled and obviously there’s a lot of emotion when you play an NFL football game.
So, I just try to let those come naturally. When you miss time due to something like that, nobody wants to be on the field more than me. Just to be out there again, to be honest with you, you really realize how much of a privilege it is to play football.”
Brock Purdy, the 49ers’ quarterback, threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was set up by a 30-yard pass to McCaffrey along the right sideline.
“I think he was awesome. … We had multiple plays with him out of the backfield that were some big plays throwing the ball,” Purdy said.
“Defenses have to scheme that up, they have to acknowledge him, which can open up some other guys,” Purdy continued. “More than anything just seeing how gritty and tough he is, we get behind him. He inspires us and keeps us going and lights that fire in the huddle. It’s huge having him in there.”
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was also pleased with McCaffrey’s performance.
“He came out great, which was huge,” Shanahan said. “We knew it was going to be tough to … load manage him, as everyone says in the media.
I just say ‘not play him as much.’ I thought we did that in the first half, in the second half it got away from us a little bit. We weren’t taking him out in the fourth and he didn’t need to be taken out. He’ll be pumped up and back next week.”
San Francisco rushed for 72 yards in total, with McCaffrey’s 13 carries being the most on the team. Purdy had four carries, Deebo Samuel had three, and Jordan Mason and Isaac Guerendo each had one.
McCaffrey was targeted seven times in the passing game, the second most on the team behind wide receiver Jauan Jennings, who had 11 targets and finished with seven catches for 93 yards.
“I never go in expecting anything, but when my number is called I like to be out there,” McCaffrey said. “That’s the third time I’ve had pads on in eight weeks, so just getting back into the groove. … That was really good for me to do.”
“I feel pretty good. I thought I was going to be a lot more sore, but we’ll see how I feel (Monday),” he added.
