As members of the San Francisco 49ers continue to parade through radio row at the Super Bowl this week, the players’ saltiness about the NFC championship game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles appear to grow.
“It’s really tough,” McCaffrey told Kay Adams on the “Up & Adams” show. “You don’t want to make excuses obviously. It just sucks because we wish we had a healthy quarterback for a full game.
“It’s a really good team that we played. But it feels like something got stolen from you.”
In the first quarter of an eventual 31-7 defeat, quarterback Brock Purdy – who started the season as the team’s third-stringer – suffered a torn UCL after a sack fumble.
Josh Johnson, a journeyman veteran, was inserted at quarterback. He suffered a concussion and was ruled out, forcing Purdy to return while being unable to throw the ball.
McCaffrey mentioned a rule allowing teams to carry a third quarterback. While all teams can dress only 48 of the 53 players on the roster, there is no rule prohibiting them from doing so.
The Niners simply did not have another quarterback, although Adams asked McCaffrey whether Jimmy Garoppolo would have been healthy enough to suit up.
As the emergency quarterback, McCaffrey said he was ready to assume the position but ultimately did not have to.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Christian McCaffrey says the NFC Championship Game was ‘stolen’ from the 49ers