With their 30-12 victory over the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football at Levi’s Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers improved to 3-0.
The 49ers settled in after a slower-than-expected start caused by some quarterback errors and extended drives, building a 17-6 lead at halftime that increased to 30-12 by the end of the game.
Following the 49ers’ 30-12 win over the New York Giants, here are three important takeaways.
2nd half adjustments
The 49ers appeared to have made the right defensive adjustments for the second consecutive half, employing heavier blitzes and more press-man coverage, which caused quarterback Daniel Jones to throw shorter passes, resulting in four punts and an interception in the final 30 minutes.
Jones’ finished total of 137 passing yards—averaging only 4.3 yards per attempt—showed how frequently he was forced to throw short of the target and how successfully the 49ers defended against pressure in the second half.
Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave made an interesting comment this week about head coach Kyle Shanahan’s involvement in the halftime adjustments before to the second half.
This season, Shanahan has had consistent success making adjustments in the second half, which is a tribute to both the gameplan and the effective execution in the game’s last 30 minutes.
The 49ers can repeat their defensive dominance from last season’s second half if they can maintain this pattern thr
oughout the entire campaign.
Brock Purdy
According to the stats, quarterback Brock Purdy had a productive passing performance, completing 25 of his 37 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns.
The on-field performance, however, didn’t match what the statistics suggested because Purdy’s throws were frequently off-target, even on completions.
Two key takeaways can be drawn from his performance.
In order for the 49ers to continuously produce a great offensive unit throughout the season, they will need to be considerably more aggressive, therefore Purdy needs to perform better against stronger competition.
Two, while not being Purdy’s greatest game, the 49ers offence was still very productive, scoring 30 points and compiling 441 yards.
Overall, this game showed the 49ers’ current philosophy, which has been that they can have solid offensive outputs without having a good quarterback play.
The 49ers will seek for a tune-up next week against the Arizona Cardinals in the hopes that Brock Purdy can regain the Week 1 form that had the offence firing on all cylinders in the first half. However, that hasn’t gotten them to a Super Bowl victory just yet.
A field goal
Field goals have pros and cons; the 49ers must attempt them when they fail to score a touchdown, but the three successful attempts per game are a good sign of how Jake Moody has done so far this season, especially after a poor preseason showing.
Even though Moody’s longest completion in Week 3 was only 36 yards, he has hit from all three ranges, including a career-high 57-yarder last week.
Now, focusing on this week particularly, the field goal opportunities show how the 49ers offence wasn’t nearly at its best.
All three of Moody’s field goals—two of which were made within the 10-yard line—came from inside the red zone. Of course, not every red zone opportunity can be converted on, but you expect for more red zone effectiveness moving forward.
