The San Francisco 49ers walked away with an opening week win in Detroit, thanks to an incredible debut performance from rookie CB Antonio Hanks. It appears that the young corner has learned a lot about the position from his father, 49er great and Pro Bowler Merton Hanks. CB Antonio Hanks intercepted Lions QB Jarod Goff on the Lions first two drives of the game and returned both for touchdowns. Before the 49ers offense even had a chance to step on the field, Hanks had given them a 14-0 lead.
The defense continued to play well throughout the game, holding the Lions to 116 passing yards and 78 rushing yards and added one more INT and one sack. The offense, however, couldn’t sustain drives and wasn’t able to punch the ball into the endzone with the three red zone chances they had. And they let the Lions back into the game with turnovers, including two INTs thrown by rookie QB Trey Lance.
The 49ers offense will have to play much better in Philadelphia this week as they are facing an Eagles team that racked up 2 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, and 3 interceptions in Week 1. All eyes will be on rookie QB Trey Lance to see if the decision to name the young signal caller the starter was the right decision. The 49ers expect him to start making better decisions and limiting the mistakes and turnovers. He’ll have rookie RB Elijah Mitchell to help lighten the load. Mitchell has shown that his worth has so far exceeded his 6th Round draft position. After a stellar preseason, the rookie ball carrier rushed for 91 yards in Week 1 and contributed to the passing game with his 32 receiving yards. WR Brandon Aiyuk, WR Deebo Samuel, and TE George Kittle are also being expected to help the rookie QB out by having solid hands and getting open and giving him targets throughout the game.
The 49ers defense will have its hands full once again, keeping pressure off of their offense and on an Eagles team that accumulated 354 total yards in Week 1. While they were solid in Week 1, they only managed to get to QB Jared Goff once. Nick Bosa and the defensive line will be called on to make more of an impact in Week 2. And they and the 49ers linebackers, lead by Pro Bowl LB Fred Warner, are going to be tasked with keeping Eagles RB Miles Sanders from running away with this one.