The 49ers bounced back with a much cleaner performance on both sides of the ball in their 34-24 win over the New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
While it was not a mistake-free performance, San Francisco’s improvements across the board are exemplified by their PFF grades.
Mac Jones had an exceptional first half, completing all 14 of his attempts for 143 yards with two touchdowns. The 49ers’ offensive line, with Spencer Burford taking over at left guard, protected Jones well all game. The quarterback was under pressure on just six of his 29 drop backs, or 20.7 percent.
Jones was best when not pressured, completing 17 of his 21 attempts for 219 yards with two touchdowns and a 141.9 passer rating.
The signal-caller did not complete any deep passes, instead succeeding at the intermediate level on throws 10-19 yards downfield. Jones connected on six of his seven attempts for 104 yards at that range.
The offensive line allowed six total pressures on 29 total pass plays.
LT Trent Williams – no pressures
LG Spencer Burford – one sack
C Matt Hennessy – no pressures
RG Dominick Puni – one hurry
RT Colton McKivitz – one sack, one hit, one hurry
TE George Kittle – one hurry
McKivitz was charged with three pressures, but he had the highest run blocking grade on the team — 93.0, which was a career high for the lineman. McKivitz (86.6) and Williams (85.0) are ranked Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, in the league in run blocking grades for the 2025 NFL season.
The 49ers had managed only one rush of over 15 yards before Sunday’s win and recorded three against the Giants. Christian McCaffrey had a 16-yard run in the first quarter, and Brian Robinson followed up with runs of 16 and 18 yards.
Robinson forced four missed tackles in just five rushing attempts, and four of his five carries resulted in either a first down or touchdown.
Offensive Personnel Packages:
21 – two running backs/fullback, one tight end – 50.0 percent
11 – one running back, one tight end – 25.8 percent
22 – two running backs/fullback – 16.7 percent
12 -one running back two tight ends 7.6 percent
Defense
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was under pressure on 10 of his drop backs and was unable to complete any of his four attempts, which led to two sacks and four scrambles on those plays. The defensive line affected the pocket; Sam Okuayinonu tied a career high with five quarterback pressures — one sack and four hurries.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh kept it simpler on Sunday, with less blitzing from linebackers and the secondary. The defensive line totaled 15 pressures on Dart — including the five listed above by Okuayinonu.
Mykel Williams – one hit, two hurries
Robert Beal – two hurries
Clelin Ferrell – one sack, one hurry
Alfred Collins – one hurry
Keion White – one hurry
Jordan Elliott – one hurry
With the team losing Mykel Williams to a season-ending ACL injury, the defensive line will look to new members Keion White and Clelin Ferrell, along with the return of Bryce Huff, ahead of their week 10 contest with the Los Angeles Rams.
“Keion definitely shows a lot of inside rush potential,” Shanahan said Monday via conference call. “And Cle, we’ve done both in the past, but both of them were up playing a big role yesterday before Mykel got hurt. So, obviously with Mykel getting hurt that only becomes stronger. We expect to get Huff back this week, so good to get another one back.”
Tatum Bethune led the team in tackles but also was charged with two missed. Dee Winters, Deommodore Lenoir and Ferrell all missed two tackles while Ji’Ayir Brown, Alfred Collins, Okuayinonu, and Renardo Green all were charged with one miss.
“I thought we definitely looked improved from the week before in Houston,” Shanahan said. “I thought the guys played tighter in coverage. I think there was much less mistakes in the pass game. I thought Renardo had one of his better games, thought he made a few plays there.
“The one thing, yeah, we did miss too many tackles, which we need to clean up, but I thought the guys took a step in the right direction.”
Green received a 76.2 overall grade which was the highest on the defense, allowing one catch on three targets for 6 yards and a pass breakup. The defensive back also recorded five solo tackles, one assist and one miss.
Malik Mustapha received the second-highest grade on the defense (74.0) allowing two receptions on two targets for only 9 yards and four solo tackles.
Upton Stout had a challenging day in coverage allowing completions on all six targets, but the nickel back made up for it with five solo tackles, one assist and no misses. The third-round draft pick received the second-highest tackling grade (82.8) on the defense behind only Mustapha (82.4).
The 49ers’ defense has their work cut out for them heading into Week 10 to face Matthew Stafford and a high-powered Rams offense.
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