49ers RG Dominick Discusses His Matchup with Chiefs DT Chris Jones

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are great, but one of the biggest reasons the 49ers are 0-2 against Kansas City in the Super Bowl is Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones.

Grant Cohn | Oct 14, 2024

Sep 9, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers guard Dominick Puni (77) after defeating the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are great, but one of the biggest reasons the 49ers are 0-2 against Kansas City in the Super Bowl is Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones.

The 49ers haven't ever been able to block him. He took over both games in the fourth quarter (and overtime in the second one). The 49ers simply had no answer for him.

Now they have rookie right guard Dominick Puni who's having a Pro Bowl season. He's the best right guard the 49ers have had since Kyle Shanahan has been their head coach. Jones will be the first major test of Puni's career.

Here's what Puni said about Jones Monday in the 49ers' locker room.

Q: What do you think of your upcoming matchup with Chris Jones?

PUNI: "I'm excited for it. Aaron Donald was going to be the first test until he retired. I was really excited to go against him, too. Obviously I know how crazy of a challenge it would have been, but just to say I did it. But Chris Jones is in that echelon, too. He's one of the best D-tackles if not the best one in the league, so I'm excited for it, it's going to be a great matchup and I hope it propels me for the rest of the season."

Q: At what point did you start looking at film of Chris Jones?

PUNI: "Today in meetings. The offensive linemen who have played here have experience against him too, so I've been asking them questions. By the end of the week, I'll have a good feel for what he brings."

Q: What's the first thing that stands out when you watch him?

PUNI: "His playmaking ability. He shows up in big moments. I think that's his x-factor and what he brings to the table."

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Published Oct 14, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.