49ers’ Carlos Hyde gets the best of Adrian Peterson in battle of No. 28s
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Carlos Hyde wanted to outplay the better-known No. 28 on the field, Adrian Peterson.
He did that and more, and Jim Tomsula’s San Francisco 49ers produced a victory in his debut as head coach minus the interim status he had for the final game of 2010.
Hyde carried the offense with 168 yards on the ground and touchdown runs of 17 and 10 yards in his first career start, spinning away from a defender and diving into the end zone untouched on a rare nice play in a first half full of ugly ones to lead the Niners past the Minnesota Vikings 20-3 on Monday night.
Peterson ran 10 times for 31 yards in his first game in more than a year following paid leave and then a suspension last year in the fallout from a child-abuse case against him in Texas.
Colin Kaepernick threw for 165 yards and second-year back Hyde ran 26 times to easily best his top rookie performance of 55 yards in his final game last year.
A sloppy first half featured a pair of botched field goals, Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater running into his own teammate that led to a 10-yard sack, an 85-yard punt return touchdown called back on penalty, and a fumbled punt – by the 49ers’ former Australian rugby star Jarryd Hayne on his first NFL touch.
The 27-year-old rookie lost the fumble on a punt return in the first quarter when he misjudged the ball and had to dive forward to try to field it. He made a 1-yard run in the second quarter and caught a 7-yard pass. He was forced into running back duties as the only active backup after Reggie Bush was lost to a left calf injury with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter.
Kaepernick improved to 5-0 on Monday nights with a victory in the first regular-season weeknight game at second-year, $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium, where a new field was put down for this game in the wake of regular sod problems the past month and even dating to last season. Kaepernick has thrown for nine TDs and no interceptions in Monday night games.
Peterson, playing for the first time since last season’s opener at St. Louis, had just four carries in the first half then doubled that total on the initial series after halftime.
49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman had one of five sacks against Bridgewater and also seven tackles in his first game in 20 months following a left knee injury sustained during the NFC championship game loss at Seattle in January 2014 that required surgery.