Last-minute score allows N.Y. to halt 5-game slump
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Eli Manning threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard with 53 seconds left and the New York Giants snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the San Francisco 49ers 27-23 on Monday night. Manning threw two TD passes to Odell Beckham Jr. and then engineered the late game-winning drive with help from a pair of third-down penalties against Malcolm Smith and Ahkello Witherspoon.
Saquon Barkley then had a 23-yard catch to get the ball into the red zone and Manning connected with Shepard on third down to give the Giants (2-7) the win.
Matt Breida ran for 101 yards and scored two touchdowns for the 49ers (2-8), who were unable to win consecutive games under third-string quarterback Nick Mullens. Breida's 23-yard run helped set up a 30-yard field goal by Robbie Gould that gave the Niners a 23-20 lead with 2:46 to play.
But the 49ers allowed the go-ahead score and couldn't pull it out at the end as Mullens' pass from the Giants 20 sailed out of the end zone on the final play.
Mullens wasn't nearly as sharp as he was in his debut against the Raiders on Nov. 1 when he joined Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Fran Tarkenton as the only players with at least 250 yards passing, three touchdown passes and no interceptions in a first career game.
Mullens threw for 250 yards and had an 11-yard TD pass to Breida that made it 20-10 early in the third quarter. But Mullens also threw two interceptions with the first setting up a 10yard TD pass from Manning to Beckham.
Those two connected again on a 20-yard score in the third quarter as New York rallied from 10 points down to tie the game.
Niners GM John Lynch welcomed the high school football team from Paradise, a town destroyed by the wildfires in Butte County, about 175 miles north.
The Air Quality Index was at 161 at kickoff, which is in the unhealthy zone, and smoke could be smelled throughout the stadium. The NFL had monitored the situation but the AQI never got near 200, the level where the game would have needed to be moved.