49ers demolish Giants in Week 3 victory: Key takeaways

It's hard to think of the New York Giants without some painful postseason memories. And that's why it's always so sweet to beat them soundly. And the San Francisco 49ers did just that on Thursday night, winning 30-12, and improving to 3-0 on the season.

Although the score was relatively close at halftime, it wasn't as close statistically. And by the end of the game, it was even more lopsided—on the scoreboard and on the stat sheet. When you have more YAC (yards after the catch/contact) than the other team has total yards, you've thoroughly beaten your opponent.

The 49ers outgained the Giants 441 to 150 and almost doubled New York's time of possession, 39:10 to 20:50.


A year ago, the 49ers were 1-2 after three games. One loss was to a bad Bears team. The other loss was to a bad Broncos team. That's the one Jimmy Garoppolo decided to run out of the back of the end zone. This year's team is noticeably better right out of the gate. Hopefully, they can stay healthy and keep playing at this level.

Here are my observations from the 49ers pounding of the Giants.

• An opening drive appearance from "Third and Jauan." Jauan Jennings did what Jauan Jennings does—convert third downs.
• Jake Moody. Team MVP. I'm kidding. Sort of.

• Deciding to block Nick Bosa with a tight end isn't a good idea. Bosa had his first sack of the season in this game.
• Deebo Samuel runs like an angry bowling ball. He finished the game with 129 yards on 6 catches.

• Someone tell Coltin McKivitz that offensive players aren't allowed to tackle opposing players.
• This was the Ronnie Bell game. The rookie made his first catch, a touchdown, and also made a big play on special teams.

• Javon Hargrave was an excellent pick-up. He wrecked things for the Giants all night.

• It was great seeing Elijah Mitchell get into the action.
• Christian McCaffrey. Special.

• Spencer Burford made some plays. That was good to see.

• I did not like the soft defense Steve Wilks called, right before the half, that led to a New York field goal. But Wilks again made some good adjustments.
• Tre Swilling needs to stop committing penalties on special teams. That's two in two games.
• The 49ers continue to have issues on special teams (except for kicker and punter).

• It was great seeing George Kittle come alive. He had 7 catches for 90 yards.
• Brock Purdy answered the critics about deep throws. Purdy finished with 310 yards passing, and two touchdown passes.

• The 49ers' pass rush was impressive, even though they didn't get home as often.
• Oren Burks looked good at linebacker.

• Impressive performance from the 49ers, especially on 3rd down, converting 9 of 16 tries (57%).
• I think Purdy likes it when the other team blitzs him. He was blitzed a lot on Thursday night, and he made the Giants pay.

• It feels like every week Purdy does something to impress us. Per Matt Maiocco, "Since his last interception (including postseason), 49ers QB Brock Purdy is 125 of 190 for 1,636 yards with 10 touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.3." That's crazy efficient, especially for such a young quarterback.

This is quite the run the 49ers are currently on. They have scored 30 points or more in 9 of the last 12 regular season games, and have won 13 straight regular season games. If Purdy had been able to throw a pass in the NFC Championship Game, who knows what would have happened?

For now, they just need to keep taking care of what's in front of them. The team has a little break, and will then begin preparing to face the Arizona Cardinals.

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