The San Francisco 49ers put together perhaps their best performance of the season when they needed it most.

Entering Sunday’s game the 49ers were coming off a dreary loss to the Houston Texans where they looked outmatched in every facet. They needed to get back on track against a scuffling New York Giants club at MetLife Stadium, and they did just that in their 34-24 victory.

Here are nine takeaways from San Francisco’s sixth win of the year:

49ers get much-needed victory

San Francisco fell flat against the Houston Texans and entered Sunday’s game with a 5-3 record. They have a massive game looming vs. the Los Angeles Rams. A loss in New York would’ve put the 49ers in a borderline must-win scenario in Week 10 if they wanted to stay ahead of the playoff race. Now they have a bit of breathing room with one of the toughest games left on their schedule coming up.

Christian McCaffrey shines, sets NFL record

After a rough game against the Texans, McCaffrey on Sunday was the star of the show again for the 49ers offense. He racked up 106 rushing yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. He also led the team with five catches for a team-high 67 yards and a touchdown on a team-high six targets. His rushing and receiving TDs made Sunday his 16th career game with at least one rushing and one receiving touchdown which is an NFL record. He broke a tie with Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk who did it 15 times.

Brian Robinson breaks loose

It remains to be seen whether leaning so heavily on McCaffrey is sustainable, but Robinson on Sunday made a case to be a more regular part of the 49ers offense. He racked up 53 yards and a touchdown on five carries. More importantly though, he looked explosive and broke multiple tackles. It’s the first time this year he’s looked consistently capable of racking up yards in the 49ers’ offense. At one point in the fourth quarter he ran it three consecutive times for 5, 10 and 18 yards with the final carry going for a touchdown. San Francisco needs to find ways to take some of the workload off McCaffrey’s plate, and Robinson showing out like he did Sunday should provide confidence that he can keep the 49ers’ run game productive if McCaffrey is on the sideline. His

The Mac Jones experience

Jones was good in exactly the way the 49ers needed him to be good Sunday. He didn’t do a ton of stuff outside of structure and he took a pair of sacks that showed some of his mobility issues. However, he was decisive and executed well enough to largely combat a very good Giants pass rush. The lack of secondary playmaking will limit Jones’s ceiling, but he’s been better than serviceable and he was good in a game the 49ers needed him to be. Jones finished the game 19-of-24 for 232 yards and two touchdowns. He posted a whopping 135.2 passer rating.

49ers special teams win again

It’s weird seeing San Francisco benefit from special teams mishaps by the opponent instead of losing because of their own. New York missed a field goal near the end of the first half that would have cut the 49ers’ halftime lead to seven. They also gave the 49ers the ball at their own 40 to start the second half because their kicker booted his kickoff short of the landing zone. Meanwhile, Eddy Pineiro continued to be nails. He drilled both of his field goals to move to 19-for-19 as a 49er. Pineiro also connected from 54 yards out to move to a perfect six-for-six from 50-plus yards in eight games with San Francisco. That’s the same amount of 50-yard kicks Jake Moody made in 12 tries across 32 games with the 49ers.

Jauan Jennings breakout looming

It feels like Jennings has a huge game brewing. He’s been dealing with injuries all year, but he’s starting to look healthier. He had four catches for 41 yards and a touchdown on five targets, but he made a couple of tough catches in traffic and did a nice job on his touchdown reception to beat a couple of defenders to the pylon after catching a short throw. Jennings has looked progressively better over the last two weeks and if his health is trending up that’s great news for the 49ers’ offense.

Complimentary football

The 49ers defense was excellent to start the game. After allowing a touchdown on the opening drive they forced four punts and a missed field goal on their next five series. In those drives the Giants ran 18 plays for 38 yards. In the second half the defense started to falter, but the 49ers offense kept on rolling. New York tried climbing back into the game after the 49ers went up 27-10, but San Francisco answered the Giants’ TD that made it 27-17 with a touchdown of their own to go ahead 34-17. When New York posted another touchdown with 1:27 left to make it 34-24, the 49ers recovered the onside kick and got a first down to seal the game. It wasn’t perfect, but the 49ers were able to win all three phases.

Pass rush not good, but better

Part of the reason the 49ers defense played better than they did in Week 8 was because their pass rush affected the pocket a little more often. It wasn’t necessarily good, but it was definitely an improvement with Clelin Ferrell and Sam Okuayinonu both notching sacks and QB Jaxson Dart being forced to tuck and run from muddy pockets a handful of times. There’s room to grow on that side still and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh will have some work to do schematically. San Francisco’s defensive line was at least a factor Sunday in way it wasn’t the previous week.

Mykel Williams injury a cause for concern

Speaking of the pass rush, Williams went down late in Sunday’s game with what the team fears is a season-ending torn ACL. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said they won’t know officially until Williams has an MRI. If Williams is out it will be the second starting DE the 49ers have lost to a season-ending ACL tear this season. They’re also without DEs Yetur Gross-Matos, who could be headed for IR, and Bryce Huff who were the next two on the depth chart. At some point the injury problems become impossible to overcome, and it’s easy to see in how ineffective San Francisco’s pass rush is.

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