Jauan Jennings' second career playoff TD came on a "sky bang reverse pass"
Jauan Jennings was a four-star, dual-threat quarterback recruit out of high school, ranked ahead of Sam Darnold, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. The 49ers wide receiver threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey in the team's 25-22 Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Chiefs.
He threw another touchdown, this one a 29-yarder to McCaffrey, that gave the 49ers a 17-16 lead early in the fourth quarter on Sunday. The 49ers won 23-19.
"I was just thinking, 'Get the ball, execute, tuck the ball away, make the defense think I'm running it," Jennings said, via Kirk Larrabee of 49erswebzone.com. "And I saw Christian get open and [made] the right pass."
Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak suggested running "sky bang reverse pass," a play the team hadn't run since 2019 when wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders threw a touchdown to running back Raheem Mostert in a game against the Saints. They had the play in mind earlier in the game, setting it up with a sweep to wide receiver Skyy Moore.
On the double-reverse pass play, Moore took the handoff from Brock Purdy, tossed it to Jennings on a reverse before Jennings threw it to McCaffrey. Jennings drew a roughing-the-passer penalty on the play, too.
"We were trying to set it up a little bit," Shanahan said. "We got a jet sweep to Skyy earlier in the game and we had to be on the right hash for the play because Jauan's not left-handed, so we're just hoping to get it around there. Klay suggested it. It was a hell of a suggestion.
"Jauan threw a perfect ball, which made me a little scared. I thought he should have just thrown a bad ball and put it on him, so I thought it was a hell of a catch by Christian, and I didn't see it, but knowing that he got roughed up and stuff just shows what a G [that] Jauan is."
The 49ers had practiced the play several times during the season, so when it was called, they were prepared for it.
"We had it up earlier in the year too, you know, some trick plays and stuff you have in some weeks," Purdy said. "Some weeks you don't. So, that's something that we've sort of been working on, I guess, over the last I don't know, however many months. But it was cool in that moment that they believed in JJ to get it done, so it's cool."