Giants have to take the good and learn from the bad of loss at 49ers
Santa Clara, Calif. — Give the Giants credit. Even at full strength, they’re at a significant talent disadvantage to the 49ers. So minus Andrew Thomas and Saquon Barkley? Azeez Ojulari? Ben Bredeson? On the road across the country? Their second game in five days? They didn’t stand a chance.
But New York fought. They did. They kept it close for a time. Until, as expected, the 49ers pulled away, 30-12. But this was in no way, shape or form the embarrassment many predicted.
So maybe, just maybe, they can find victory in this defeat.
“We took a step in the right direction,” said outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. “I feel like there were spurts of the team that we can be.”
It’s pretty surprising, actually, what the Giants -- specifically on defense -- did on Thursday night. They were far healthier than their offense, sure, but they went up against an opponent who seemed unstoppable through the season’s first three weeks. Pro-Bowlers and all-pro littered the field the moment Brock Purdy and Co. took it. A true pick-your-poison dilemma.
Cover Deebo Samuel? They’ll go to George Kittle. Pick Kittle? They’ll go to Samuel. Somehow manage to shut those two down and Christian McCaffrey will run left, right and up the middle, or catch passes in all the same directions.
Yet, despite this, the Giants held strong until Samuel got past Adoree' Jackson for a game-sealing touchdown with just under six minutes left. They were never going to shut this offense down, but they bent without breaking.
The 49ers gained 441 yards. They held the ball for over 39 minutes. They converted nine of 16 third downs. They exposed the Giants’ alarming 2023 tendency to miss tackles. But Wink Martindale’s unit gave up just three points in the first quarter. Just 10 in the second. A field goal in the third. It was an eight-point, one-possession game when the final 15 minutes began.
“Honestly, I like the way we ended the last game (against the Cardinals),” said defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence. “This game we attacked as a defense. It was very promising. I think we have to correct the little things that have been hurting us.
“It shows the heart that we have the competitive stamina we have as a unit. I think we have to keep going out there and fighting and showing who we are.”
It wasn’t perfect — don’t let that thought enter your mind. Not by any stretch. But just about every possible situation presented itself to the Giants to make this one a blowout, bus-starting-in-the-second-quarter disaster. It was not that.
Unlike the 40-0 thumping the Giants took at the hands of the Cowboys in the opener — there are things to build on.
“You have to take the good from it,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “And you have to learn from the bad.”
The bad was obvious: The Giants got nothing from their offense. Not having Barkley hurt, sure, but the Thomas and Bredeson absences might have been felt the most. The 49ers, with Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave headline one of the league’s best front four’s. Five-step drops or longer-developing plays would have been disastrous. Coordinator Mike Kafka (who appeared to regain play-calling duties) knew he couldn’t keep the ball in Daniel Jones’ hands long, so he didn’t.
Jones attempted just six passes beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. He released 21 of his 32 passes in under 2.5 seconds. But dinking and dunking is far less effective when the opponent doesn’t fear anything else.
That’s why Jones finished 22 of 32 … for 137 yards with an interception. The Giants ran for just 29 yards on 11 carries. They had just 150 net yards as a team and converted only three of 12 third downs.
The Giants’ lone touchdown came when a fair catch interference gave them the ball at the 49ers 37, then a pass interference gave them a fresh set of downs at the eight. Matt Breida rushed it in from there.
“We just didn’t make enough plays,” Jones said. “We didn’t create a rhythm, we didn’t execute, and we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”
This season has not started the way the Giants wanted. They’re 1-2. They’d be 0-3 had it not been for a miraculous comeback against the Cardinals. But this did, as Thibodeaux said, appear to be progress.
The key now is to build on it.
While there were more positives to take from this loss than most, it was still a loss. The Giants can survive this hiccup if it jumpstarts a winning streak. All these good feelings mean nothing if they lose to the Seahawks at home in Week 4. Things only get harder from there with games against the Dolphins and Bills on the docket.
The Giants hope to have Thomas back for them. Barkley, whom Daboll said improves daily and was “walking around” well before the game, should follow. The others as well. That will help. Big time.
But, until then, there’s something to be said for how the Giants battled in the Bay Area.
