Santa Clara – No Brandon Aiyuk, no problem. The 49ers were without their top wide receiver due to a shoulder injury from last week’s game against the Los Angeles Rams. San Francisco scored three touchdowns and managed to overcome a slow start to cruise past the New York Giants 30-12 for their third consecutive win.
“I felt like it was a little choppy at first and then once we got into a rhythm, we sort of saw what they were doing and at what point in the game they’re going to start doing stuff,” said Brock Purdy. “We had a good feel for it, a couple drives into the game once we got rolling, we were putting some drives together, we got in the red zone and we just have to score. Obviously the field goals and putting up points are great, but our standard, we want to be able to score touchdowns when we get in the red zone.”
The 49ers started the regular season 3-0 for the first time since 2019 and the 9th time in franchise history. They scored three touchdowns but it didn’t come easy. It was a rough start for San Francisco, Brock Purdy got sacked and was unable to move his offense out of the red zone for a touchdown. The 49ers settled on a 28 yard field goal from Jake Moody.
The Giants also struggled on offense with Graham Gano kicking a 44 yard field goal to tie the game 3-3 in the first period. By the second quarter, San Francisco found their groove behind a few penalties that proved costly for New York. A face mask holding penalty by Jihad Ward on Christian McCaffrey was the offensive break the 49ers needed.
After moving the chains 15 yards, Purdy’s pass to Ronnie Bell for a 9-yard touchdown in the end zone made it a 10-3 game. On the next series, Purdy and his offense continued to wreck havoc on the Giants defense. McCaffrey rushed for a 4-yard touchdown to extend San Francisco’s lead 17-3 with 1:40 left in the half.
“No, he already has proven to us, head coach Kyle Shannon said on Bell’s touchdown. “We’ve been real happy with Ronnie. Thought he was ready for the moment. I thought it was a challenge for him just on a short week getting all the game plan together, especially his first time going through that. But I’ll see when I see the tape, but I thought he’d stepped it up and played real well.”
New York opened up the third quarter with an 8-yard rushing touchdown by Matt Breida but failed to complete the two-point conversion. Credit Nick Bosa for the sack on Daniel Jones. After that the 49ers completely shutdown the Giants offense. Bosa registered 3 tackles and 1.0 sack on Jones. The sack marked his 1st of the season and the 44th of his career. His 1.0 sack on the evening ties him with DL Aldon Smith for the 6th-most sacks in franchise history.
Javon Hargrave registered 3 tackles and 1.0 sack of Jones. The sack marked his 2nd of the season and gave him 39.5 in his career. Talanoa Hufanga tallied 1 tackle and 1 interception off Jones. The INT marks his 2nd of the season and the 6th of his career. Moody connected on all three of his FGAs (28, 21 & 36). Two of his field goals came in the fourth before Purdy found Deebo Samuel for a 27-yard touchdown.
“I think tonight, all around as a unit, was one of the best performances,” Bosa said regarding defense. “Well, the best performance we’ve had together. Winning rushes, everybody, really fast. Sometimes too fast where he [Giants QB Daniel Jones] could get it out. But the interior, [DL] Arik [Armstead] and [DL] Javon [Hargrave] had really good games today.”
The 49ers defense held the New York to just 150 total yds. vs. NYG (9/21), marking the fewest amount of yds. allowed in a single game since 12/3/17 at Chi. (147 yds.). The unit also held the Giants to 29 rushing yds. on the evening, which is the fewest rushing yds. the team has surrendered since they allowed 25 rushing yds. in 2019 at Cin. (9/15/19). Through the first 3 Weeks of the season, San Francisco has held opponents to just 159 total rushing yds., the 3rd fewest in Weeks 1-3 by the team since 1970.
The Niners 30 points vs. NYG mark the 6th consecutive regular season game that the team has scored 30-or-more points dating back to Week 16 of 2022, the longest streak in franchise history. With 30 points Week 1 at Pit. (9/10/23), 30 points Week 2 at LAR (9/17/23) and 30 points vs. NYG (9/21), the 49ers have scored 30-or-more points in each of the first three games of a season for the 3rd time in franchise history (1984 & 1992).
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