INGLEWOOD, Calif. — As he was formulating his game plan to attack the Los Angeles Rams last Thursday night, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan raised a pressing question about his team’s newest weapon.
“Does anyone know if Christian can throw?” Shanahan shouted to any assistants within earshot.
When tight ends coach Brian Fleury texted a clip of McCaffrey lofting a 50-yard touchdown pass from December 2018, that was all Shanahan needed to see. Anticipating that the Rams would aggressively swarm to the ball whenever Christian McCaffrey caught a pass in the flat, Shanahan decided to try to exploit that tendency by adding a half-back pass to his repertoire of trick plays.