Reborn 49ers trounce N.Y. Giants
There aren’t many wins more demoralizing than what the 49ers experienced last week when they took down the New York Jets. The seasonending injury to Nick Bosa was a season-shaking moment that left coach Kyle Shanahan and his players emotional knowing they had a new hurdle in the way of their Super Bowl expectations.
Sunday’s game against the Giants, however, was on the other end of the spectrum.
It started when the team regrouped for the week of practice at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. Then the team trekked back to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where artificial turf last week helped take out Bosa, former No. 3 draft pick, Solomon Thomas, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the team’s top two rushers, Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman.
The pain is less sharp after a 36-9 thumping of the Giants on Sunday to improve to 2-1. The 49ers outscored both New York teams 67-22.
“I was real happy with this week,” Shanahan said afterward. “To pull together throughout the week, I just got a real good energy and vibe from the guys on Wednesday by the time we started practicing all the way to last night at the hotel meeting before the game.”
The positive energy also came through an excellent performance from backup quarterback Nick Mullens, who threw for 343 yards on 25-of-36 completions (69 percent) with a touchdown pass and 108.9 rating. Dating back to 2018, Mullens joined Joe Montana as San Francisco’s only signal callers to throw for at least 220 yards in nine straight starts.
The 49ers didn’t punt or turn the ball over. They had nine possessions and seven resulted in points. The only ones that didn’t ended with a missed field goal and Mullens kneeling out the clock to end the game.
“I think the biggest thing, just stay ahead of the chains and convert on third downs,” Mullens said. “I think early in the first half, we were moving the
ball pretty good, but we kind of got in some second and long situations, and we had to overcome a lot of stuff to keep it going. In the second half, those field goals turned to touchdowns, which was huge.”
The Giants tied the game at 6 midway through the second quarter as the two offenses traded field goals. From then on, San Francisco outscored the home team 30-3, getting touchdowns from running back Jerick McKinnon, receiver Brandon Aiyuk (a rushing score and the first of his career) and two from backup halfback Jeff Wilson Jr.
Mullens had five different pass catchers with at least three catches: Aiyuk, Kendrick Bourne, Wilson, tight end Ross Dwelley and McKinnon.
“Nick was great,” Shanahan said. “Very poised.”
Shanahan noted the length of some drives. His offense had four with double-digit plays and it converted 8-of-12 third downs. The 49ers outgained New York, 420-231.
San Francisco entered the game as modest favorites given the Giants began the year 0-2 and last week lost their best player, Saquon Barkley, to a season-ending ACL tear. They were also without top receiver Sterling Shepard, due to a toe injury. And given the 49ers’ injury situation, missing tight end George Kittle, Dee Ford, Richard Sherman and the players that went down last week, it appeared like a relatively even matchup, particularly since Mullens was starting in place of Garoppolo.