Shurmur: G-Men had best pass protection vs. 49ers
For head coach Pat Shurmur, one of the most encouraging aspects of the Giants’ 27-23 win at San Francisco on Monday night was how well the reconfigured offensive line played fresh off the bye week.
Quarterback Eli Manning was sacked only once with nine minutes remaining. The previous week, the 49ers sacked the Raiders eight times. And in the first eight games, opponents sacked Manning 31 total times.
“I thought for the most part our pass protection was as good as it’s been this year,” Shurmur said Tuesday on a conference call. “(The Niners) have really an outstanding front.”
Jamon Brown was the key addition to the lineup. Acquired two weeks ago via waivers, the right guard helped block two defenders on Manning’s first touchdown pass by deftly diagnosing a stunt by linebacker Cassius Marsh.
Shurmur praised the fourth-year pro’s physicality.
“I thought he did some of the things we thought he could do. He’s very firm, he gets his hands on you, and I thought he played well,” Shurmur said. “It’s a credit to him and to Hal (Hunter) and Ben (Wilkerson), he’s only been here a little over a week and he was able to go in there and really show up in a way that you don’t typically see for a guy that’s been here that short period of time.”
Here are two other takeaways from Shurmur’s conference call. 15 of last season — the Eagles game that largely convinced general manager Dave Gettleman that the Giants should “keep moving” with the 37-year-old Manning under center.
With the Giants now 2-7 and their five-game losing streak snapped, Manning’s spirited performance buys him playing time before the franchise potentially evaluates rookie Kyle Lauletta in the latter stages of the season.
The Giants will host the Buccaneers (3-6) next Sunday afternoon.
“I think it’s a coordinated effort, and certainly Eli had a winning performance,” Shurmur said. “When a guy plays the whole game like the quarterback and the o-line do, they’re all going to have a play or two they want back. But I think in total, the combination of having more time to throw the ball along with being a little bit more accurate on some throws, the results were much better.” Nick Mullens also drove the Niners 54 yards for a go-ahead field goal with 2:46 left.
Linebacker B.J. Goodson had two interceptions — one at San Francisco’s 17-yard line to set up a Giants touchdown.
But the defense again struggled to generate pressure even with a fair amount of blitzes by defensive coordinator James Bettcher. The Giants remain 31st in the league with 10 sacks, ahead of only Oakland (eight).
Shurmur said he thought rookie outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter, who had three tackles-for-loss, produced his best game.
“He actually did a good job not only rushing but also in coverage,” Shurmur said. “The edge players, our guys that rush on the edges have to beat their guy, I think that’s where it starts. Then schematically and tactically, we’ve got to pressure at the right time, and we’ve got to be coordinated in coverage so the quarterback’s got to hold the ball a little bit. We were close on a couple yesterday that could’ve been sacks, but I do think that we were disruptive enough to affect the outcome.”