Monday Night Observations

Good

I had 49ers -7 in Circa, not that it matters, but I like going 3-1-1, shows I’m in touch with the flow of things. I also had Tet McMillan, and he scored a TD at least too.

• Every year, the same talking heads say Christian McCaffrey is the 1.1 if he’s healthy, so you have to take his chronically injured 29 YO carcass in the first round and deal with the risk. McCaffrey now leads the NFL with 81 receptions. Not “leads all RBs” but leads all players. He also got 24 carries last night and looks no worse for the wear.

• Brian Robinson had 40 yards on seven carries and saw two targets. He’s still worth holding onto as a backup — would be a top-20 back were McCaffrey to go down.

• George Kittle got involved on screens and short throws, saw 10 targets total. He’s all the way back and getting more work given the depleted WR corps.

• Speaking of which Ricky Pearsall hasn’t gotten very involved since returning from a knee injury. Maybe he’s not 100 percent. Jajuan Jennings had a nice catch and run for a TD before getting into a post-game fight with a Panthers DB who punched him in the balls on the last play of the game.

• Brock Purdy forced a couple balls, resulting in three first half picks, but it oddly didn’t affect the game that much.

• Bryce Young is just good enough for the Panthers to stick with him longer than they should. Ideally you want Jaxson Dart, but otherwise give me JJ McCarthy where it’s obvious.

• Rico Dowdle led the team in rushing and receiving, but totaled only 74 YFS.

• The Panthers didn’t have the ball much and didn’t have much success when they had it, so there’s not a lot you can take away. McMillan had seven targets, but caught only two including the TD.

• I have it on good authority (RotoWire, ESPN) the 49ers kicker is Gay.