Some thoughts on 49ers/Giants

I miss the days when this used to a tense week of discussion amongst us, haha. I think next year we might see that if the Giants fix their OL/QB situation and with James Garoppolo returning.

I always believe in the NYG/SF warfare.....been following that hard since '88!

- The Niner offense runs though Breida (RB) and Kittle (TE). Both are probably the best offensive players on the team right now. Goodwin does a bunch of work to draw safeties away from other receivers and in the box, and has improved as a WR since last year. Garcon has been disappointing this year overall even with Garoppolo, but has been around long enough to still get it done in spots. Dante Pettis looks to be a threat at WR at some point in the future.

- Shanahan is a strong enough play caller to get guys open through scheme, but these guys still aren't dominant all by themselves. The Lions did present problems when their man coverage was used aggressively forcing Garoppolo to hold on to the ball and take sacks, and put in the work to win that game.

- Kittle is a baller. His stats show him to be a top 3 TE right now. Vance McDonald on the other hand needed a better QB and lots of other weapons to look decent.

- The Niner defense is still largely fed off the offense. It can be a pretty good unit when the QB is doing well and junk when it isn't. Still a ways to go to match that Seahawk 60 minute ferociousness. Schematically a solid run defense, I anticipate to see the matchup against Barkley, but several weeks ago the amount of missed tackles projected to Barkley rushing for 300.

- Niner pass rush is the true achilles heel of the defense still. Some good production sack wise against two bad teams in a row. Their strength relies mostly on interior pass rushing, where Buckner and Solomon Thomas are a poor(er) man's version of Donald & Suh.

- Nobody throws to Richard Sherman's side. It's utterly fascinating and comical, and I'm not so sure why he hasn't been tested more. The amount of attempts through 9 games is probably under 30. This is likely because Akhello Witherspoon's game has fallen off a bit this year. The one legit attempt on Sherman this year, he broke up a bomb intended for Tyreek Hill (and might have gotten away with pass interference).

- On a good day, Reuben Foster and Fred Warner are a forecast into a possible approximation of a Willis/Bowman revival down the road. On a bad day, they can be invisble.

- The true test of Nick Mullens vs. CJ Beathard is who processes information faster. Beathard's greatest trait was his ability to take punishment, so he would make a good backup for NYG if that ever had to happen. No Niner fan actually thinks Mullens is going to be a baller, but he does present a perception that he has higher upside than Beathard, which means the team might win a few of the games they've been losing.


Perceptions of Giants from afar:

- I have not watched many Giants games this year. I'm still 8 time zones away and thus watch a lot less football than I like.

- Jags game looked like that defense was swarming hard to the ball like a vintage Seahawk D. Cowboys looked like they had a straight line to Eli every snap.

- Eli Manning in 2011 and 2012 made plays when plays shouldn't have been made. Now it's not quite the same.

Biggest difference between Giants & 49ers:

- Culture. Right now the Niners have been fighting hard every game for 25 games under Lynch & Shanahan. 2015 and 2016 were a far different story.

Not sure what it will take to turn the culture around for the Giants, but once it happens with improved QB play, the team gets scary pretty quick.