The San Francisco 49ers gave up an opening drive touchdown, and the immediate thought was, “Here we go again.” The New York Giants marched 64 yards in ten plays that took just over four minutes off the clock to take an early 7-0 lead.
Unlike last week, the offense punched back. They stayed on the field for 12 plays, taking over six and a half minutes off the clock, before finding the end zone to tie the game at seven. Mac Jones went 6-for-6 on the drive. Christian McCaffrey had his longest run of the season, and Jordan Watkins had a much-needed contested catch.
Upton Stout had a tackle for loss to begin the next defensive drive, and made a stop on third down after Dee Winters made a sideline-to-sideline tackle for a three-and-out.
Jones connected with Kyle Juszczyk for 12 yards on the first play of the next drive. Christian McCaffrey had 20 yards on his next two carries, and Brian Robinson followed that up with a 16-yarder. Not to be outdone, Kendrick Bourne also chipped in with a 21-yard reception.
Then, on 3rd & 5, Jauan Jennings ran a “return” route to shake free from the coverage and score from 11 yards out to give the 49ers a 14-7 lead. A fresh defense allowed 15 yards on the next drive, but forced a punt after a pair of pre-snap penalties against the Giants. That was surprising, as the crowd seemed to influence them.
After crossing midfield, Jones threw short to McCaffrey on 3rd & 7. The offense would punt for the first time after two successful drives. The decision to punt was a little easier after seeing your defense get back-to-back stops. Thomas Morstead pinned New York inside the 10-yard line.
The offense got the ball back, and Skyy Moore returned a punt to put San Francisco in New York Territory. But Spencer Burford picked a bad time to give up his first sack, which effectively ended the drive. But after picking up enough yards to decide whether to go for it on 4th & 5 or not, Eddy Pineiro’s 54-yard field goal gave the Niners a 17-7 lead.
The defense forced a three-and-out, giving the offense 38 seconds before the first half. However, Brian Burns beat Colton McKivitz fast enough that Jones couldn’t throw the ball in time. The result was a turnover, and New York was gifted prime field position.
But the defense stood tall, and the Giants missed a chip-shot field goal. It was quite the turn of events that would have swung the momentum toward New York. Instead, the 49ers would receive the ball to begin the third quarter with a 10-point lead.
On 2nd & 14, Skyy Moore’s third catch as a 49er picked up 21 yards on 2nd & 14. Moore, in for Jordan Watkins, made you wonder what happened to the rookie, who had been mostly absent since his catch on the first drive. A 3rd & 13 fade to Jennings meant Eddy Pinero would need to convert again. He did, this time, from 33 yards out.
There were some peculiar calls by Shanahan on the drive, from a toss to a jet sweep to George Kittle. It wasn’t Shanahan’s best work. Still, Jennings may have gotten held in the end zone, but there was no call.
Pinero’s kick made it 20-7.
The Giants, who were already down their right tackle, would lose their center on the next drive. The next call was worse, as Jaxson Dart scrambled, and at the end of the run, Tatum Bethune was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty. It was a clean tackle. It also gave the Giants a first-and-goal situation. But the defense stood tall once more and limited New York to a field goal to make it 20-10. Surprisingly, the Giants didn’t go for it from the three.
A 3rd & 1 infraction on Kyle Juszczyk meant the 49ers would face a 3rd & 6. Jones’ pass was batted down, and the Niners would go three-and-out.
Sam Okuayinonu registered his second sack of the season to help stall a Giants drive. Renardo Green forced an incompletion on third down to force New York to punt the football. Heading into the 4th quarter, McCaffrey was 25 yards away from reaching 100 yards. The 49ers had outgained the Giants by 105 yards, picked up seven more first downs, but had only picked up three of their eight third-down attempts.
There would only be one third-down attempt on the 9-play, 76-yard touchdown scoring drive to give the Niners a season-high 27 points. Brian Robinson had carries of five, 10, and 18. The latter, Robinson, ran over a couple of Giants defenders en route to the end zone.
The Giants only needed 3:43 to score on their next drive. They were aided by gains of 24 and 14. Explosive plays were the only thing that could hurt the Niners. On that drive, it did. Jaxson Dart scrambled in for a touchdown, and it was 27-17 with just under eight minutes to play.
Robinson had an electric 41-yard kickoff return to give the offense the ball at their 40. Jones found McCaffrey wide open out of the backfield for his longest gain of the season. McCaffrey’s 40-yard gain flipped the field. McCaffrey scored on 3rd & goal to ice the game and give the 49ers a 34-17 lead.
New York added a garbage time score after Dart found Olszewski for a 24-yard touchdown to make it 34-24. This is how the 49ers will need to win moving forward. It’ll take getting more than four touchdowns.
