Giants catch break vs. Mullens & beat-up 49ers
The Giants opened the season against Ben Roethlisberger, playing his first game since undergoing surgery on his throwing elbow. Week 2 presented a matchup against the ever-inconsistent Mitch Trubisky.
Still, the Giants enter Sunday looking for their first win.
A meeting with the 49ers’ Nick Mullens — a 25-year-old undrafted quarterback out of Southern Mississippi, who last week threw his first regularseason pass since 2018 — is the most inviting yet.
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan announced Friday that Mullens will start Sunday for the first time since Dec. 30, 2018, with Jimmy Garoppolo sidelined by an ankle injury he suffered in last week’s win against the Jets.
“Mullens is a talented quarterback, who has some really nice traits about him,” Giants defensive back Julian Love said. “He’s a guy that can really throw the ball. We’re locked in just like we’re playing [Garoppolo] out there and that’s our mindset with it. He’s a quarterback in the National Football League, so he has talent.”
Talent varies. Joe Montana was an NFL quarterback. So was Tim Tebow.
Instead of facing the quarterback who led the 49ers to a fourth-quarter lead in the Super Bowl last season, the Giants will prepare for someone who was cut by San Francisco twice, and who only was promoted from the practice squad in 2018 after Garoppolo tore his ACL.
Starting the final eight games of that season, Mullens threw for 2,277 yards, 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, while completing 64.2 percent of his passes. The Giants got the better of Mullens in a November 2018 matchup, when he completed 27 of 39 passes for 250 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 27-23 San Francisco loss.
“We’ll use all the resources we have, whether that’s players on the field and they remember something about it, or coaches in the building at the time, and all of the game tape, obviously,” Giants head coach Joe Judge said. “Nick’s a good quarterback. He’s a competitive dude. He’s a tough dude, Southern Miss mentality, really overachieving-type guys. He’s comfortable in the pocket, gets the ball out of his hands really quick. He’s an accurate passer.
“I can’t say over and over enough how competitive this guy is and how much we expect this guy to fight and give his team every advantage possible.”
Except Mullens steps back into MetLife Stadium at a disadvantage, playing without injured running backs Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman, as well as All-Pro tight end George Kittle.
Replacing Garropolo in the 31-13 win last week, Mullens completed 8 of 11 passes for 71 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception.
“It’s my fourth year. There’s really no excuses to why I shouldn’t perform,” Mullens said after the game. “And so that’s kind of what has kept pushing me.”
The Giants have motivation, too. One of the toughest games on their schedule no longer looks so lopsided.