PANIC AT THE FRISCO

Giants pummeled by 49ers in another forgettable disaster

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It has come to this, where a young player searching for answers and finding only more questions believes he knows what the Giants need moving forward. There is mounting evidence that, as presently constituted, this version of the New York Giants needs to be torn down and built back up. This franchise is situated at the corner of Rock and Bottom, a truly dangerous intersection. There are no safe havens, not even way out West in lovely Northern California, home of the previously winless 49ers, who took a 0-9 record into Sunday’s game with the Giants at Levi’s Stadium. One week after losing by 34 points at home, the Giants managed to do what no one else in the entire NFL, until now, had been able to accomplish this season: Lose to the 49ers. It is not that the Giants rolled over and played dead, as they did in a 51-17 humiliation at the hands of the Rams. Well, they did acquiesce, but at least not right away. The Giants were the inferior team. They were not as physical, not as spirited and not as efficient as a 49ers team in full rebuild mode. Everyone who cashes a paycheck from the Mara and Tisch families has to be on notice after a 31-21 loss that puts the Giants with the lowest of the low. It was after this sorry showing that Landon Collins, the thirdyear safety, went on the defensive far more forcefully than he and his teammates actually played defense as they were humbled by C.J. Beathard, an unheralded rookie quarterback. Ben McAdoo said the 49ers not only outplayed his team but also, “They out-coached me.’’ Asked to explain, McAdoo said, “Look at the scoreboard.’’

The scoreboard has been unsightly all season for the Giants, who fell to 1-8 and can set a franchise record for futility to start a season if they lose their next game to the first-place Chiefs. Collins knows it is going from bad to worse, but he also insists he knows what this team needs.

“You go to realize we went 11-6 last year,’’ Collins said, fighting back sniffles from a cold. “Just because we’re having a bad season, it’s not coach McAdoo’s fault, it’s everybody’s fault. It’s not just him, even though he’s gonna take all the hype, he’s gonna take all the pressure, that’s what a great coach does. He needs to coach this team next year too.’’

Reminded that the players can’t all get fired and that often the head coach is the one to go, Collins would not budge. “I never saw a coach get fired after an 11-6 season and then fired after a bad season,’’ he said. “I never seen that before and it shouldn’t happen this

year.’’

This is a topic sure to linger in the coming weeks, unless Giants ownership views this as untenable and decides to make a move now, or soon, which would be wholly out of character for John Mara, the co-owner.

McAdoo, on the subject of his job security, said, “That doesn’t have anything do with anything’’ and was not interested in discussing his situation with the team. “There’s no situation,’’ he said. It was almost unfathomable how the Giants caved in against a team that had lost every game this season and its previous three by a combined 93-30. Beathard came into the day with two touchdown passes all season and matched that against a Giants secondary that is truly horrendous. Beathard hit Marquise Goodwin for 83 yards — Janoris Jenkins, back from suspension, was beaten on the play and then refused to tackle the receiver — and found tight end Garrett Celek with 28 seconds left in the first half on a 47-yard scoring play that featured Jonathan Casillas trailing badly and Jenkins again showing no interest in physical contact. The 49ers rolled up 474 total yards.

“Hurt. Discouraged. Upset … I don’t know how to explain it,’’ Collins said.

“To be honest, I didn’t see enough want-to,’’ Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said. “I didn’t see enough relentless play, attitude, you name it, I didn’t see it.’’

That this loss — the Giants trailed 17-13 at halftime and 31-13 until a by-theway touchdown with 62 seconds remaining — came against a rookie quarterback and a winless team, was not well-received. “Yeah, it’s embarrassing,’’ Olivier Vernon said. McAdoo said “I’m not embarrassed by this team’’ and would not delve too deeply into the details, saying some version of “we’re going to take a look at the tape’’ 11 different times. The defensive foibles overshadowed another unproductive outing by Eli Manning’s offense — he had another sloppy lost fumble.

“Yeah it can get worse,’’ RodgersCromartie said. “We can keep losing.’’ paul.schwartz@nypost.com