49ers Look Vastly Different Heading into Rematch…

San Francisco lost their top ball carrier in Week 1 and saw a carousel of running backs looking to fill the void of veteran Raheem Mostert. In the Week 3 meeting against Green Bay, third-round pick Trey Sermon, who had only played one offensive snap prior to the matchup that ended in a scary collision, got the start at running back.

The rookie led the team with 31 yards rushing on 10 carries and a score. Juszczyk followed with 14 yards on five carries as San Francisco saw a vast mix of players attempt to get involved in the ground game (George Kittle – 1 carry, 5 yards; Brandon Aiyuk – 1 carry, 8 yards; Samuel – 1 carry, 0 yards).

The ground game as a whole was limited to just 67 yards, San Francisco’s second-lowest output of the year (Arizona Cardinals – 37 yards).

But as of late, San Francisco has found its footing, as the unit closed out the regular season owning the seventh-best rushing offense in the league (127.4 yards per game). In fact, the 49ers rushed for under 100 yards in just three of the 15 contests that followed the Week 3 matchup against the Packers.

Partial credit is due to the rise of rookie running back Elijah Mitchell, who missed the Week 3 contest with a shoulder injury. The sixth-round tailback has led San Francisco’s backfield with 983 yards this season, the second-most rushing yards by a rookie ball carrier this season and the most by a first-year running back in franchise history.

The 49ers are coming off of three-straight outings where they rushed for more than 135 yards and notched more than 130 rushing yards in four of their last five contests. In the Wild Card win over the Dallas Cowboys, the unit posted 38 runs for 168 yards while helping dominate the time of possession, 33:59 to Dallas’ 26:01.

Of note, San Francisco is 6-0 this season when they rush for 155 or more yards and 7-1 when they total more than 145.

Samuel is another aspect that has improved San Francisco’s offensive productivity. The wideout has established himself as a dual (maybe even triple or quadruple) threat in the 49ers offense and has become a defense’s nightmare. Samuel has registered 365 yards rushing this season, with the bulk of his production coming during the team’s mid-season turnaround. Samuel had notched just six rushing attempts for 22 yards and a score through the first eight games of the year. From Week 10 on, he’s posted 343 yards on the ground to go along with seven rushing scores. His eight scores on the ground this year (14 total) set an NFL record for rushing touchdowns by a wide receiver.

In Sunday’s win over the Cowboys, Samuel ran the ball 10 times for 72 yards and a touchdown, while catching three balls for 38 yards.

With the receiver’s evolution in the run game, Kyle Shanahan has emphasized getting the ball in Samuel’s hands, which has appeared to work in the 49ers favor and could again on Saturday. Green Bay enters the game allowing an average of 4.7 yards per carry to opposing backs (fourth-worst in the NFL) and an average of 109.1 per game.