The New York Giants fell to (1-2) on the season as they were soundly defeated by the San Francisco 49ers 30-12 on Thursday Night Football.
With several key players out due to injuries, New York was fighting an uphill battle against one of the best teams in the league. They hung around for three quarters, but the 49ers’ skill and physicality proved to be too much to overcome.
Few gave New York a chance to pull off the upset and when you watched the game you could see why. We’ll take a look at four noteworthy takeaways from Thursday’s game.
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The New York Giants got off to another slow start
For the third game in a row, New York was thoroughly outplayed in the first half as they trailed at halftime 17-6. The team has now been outscored 63-6 in the first half of their three games.
The 49ers put up scoring drives of 64, 72, and 73 yards during the first 30 minutes and were 7 out of 10 in third-down conversions. Conversely, the Giants’ offense struggled mightily. Following their first drive of the game that resulted in a 44-yard field goal by Graham Gano, New York mounted just two yards of offense in their next two drives.
You’re not going to win many games in the NFL if you keep spotting your opponents double-digit leads. Brian Daboll must find a way to have his team ready to play at the start of games before the season goes into a downward spiral.
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The defense is a major concern
Simply put, New York’s defense was putrid on Thursday night. They allowed Brock Purdy to complete 25 out of 37 passes for a career-high 310 passing yards and two touchdowns. Christian McCaffrey gained 87 yards on the ground on 18 carries as the San Francisco rushed for 141 yards on the evening.
Deebo Samuel had his best game of the season, catching six passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. What was most alarming about the defense’s performance was their tackling was atrocious, which led to many third-down conversions for the 49ers. Often coaches will say tackling is all about effort Well, the Giants effort was lacking on Thursday.
New York’s Giants patchwork offensive line didn’t stand a chance against the 49ers front seven
Going against the 49ers’ defensive front seven is a daunting task for a healthy team. Unfortunately for New York, the team was without left tackle Andrew Thomas and left guard Ben Bredeson. Joshua Ezeudu and Shane Lemieux started in their place and fared as you would expect. The right side of the line was also going through a transition as Marcus McKethan started at right guard in place of Mark Glowinski who has been ineffective to start the season.
This patchwork offensive line performed well in the second half last week in their comeback win over Arizona, but they were overmatched by Nick Bosa and the rest of the 49ers’ front seven on Thursday night.
With the exception of doing a quick two or three-step drop-back pass, Daniel Jones was under constant pressure the entire game. He completed 22 out of 37 passes for 137 yards and one interception due to a pass that bounced off Darren Waller’s hands and fell into the arms of safety Talanoa Hufanga.
Jones never even had enough time to target the team’s deep threat Jalin Hyatt, due to the 49ers relentless pressure.
The team is hopeful that Thomas and Bredeson will be able to play next Monday against the Seattle Seahawks, but if they can’t, expect Jones to once again be under duress.
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New York Giants sorely missed Saquon Barkley
This is stating the obvious as Saquon Barkley is clearly the team’s best offensive weapon. Without him in the lineup, there was no need for the 49ers to respect New York’s ground game that had only 29 yards on 11 carries. This allowed San Francisco to double-team tight end Darren Waller who finished the game with three catches for 20 yards.
Even if he were playing behind the patchwork offensive line, Barkley has the elusiveness and skill to make a big play at any time that could’ve helped New York’s offense, especially in the first half.
Barkley stated he’s optimistic that he can play against Seattle since it’s 11 days away, but it was confirmed before the game that he has a high ankle sprain which makes his availability highly questionable. The quicker he’s able to return the better it will be for the entire offense.