Niners Stifle Giants in Thursday Night Win

Week 3 - Entering the (2-0) San Francisco 49ers' home-opener on Thursday Night Football against the (1-1) New York Giants and in front of the Faithful at Levi's Stadium for the first time this season, the all-time head-to-head series between the two franchises stood at an even 17-17 in regular season meetings and 4-4 during the playoffs. Looking to tilt the series in their favor with a win to stay atop the NFC, the 49ers would also seek their first 3-0 start since 2019 when they got off to an 8-0 start on their way to a Super Bowl. Looking to also keep his perfect regular season record of 7-0 in tact would be Niners quarterback Brock Purdy who would be playing without one of his top targets in wide-receiver Brandon Aiyuk. The Giants would be without a playmaker of their own in running back Saquon Barkley who leading up to game day appeared to be in line to make a miracle recovery from an ankle sprain in time for kickoff, before New York head coach Brian Daboll elected to sit his healing star. Despite the absence of Aiyuk who took home NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 1 and is nursing a shoulder injury, Brock Purdy would make due with another pair of playmakers in Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, on his way to throwing for a career-high in passing yards. Helping step in for Aiyuk would be a rookie who would make his first career reception a memorable one. 

After both teams exchanged field goals to open the game, followed by a punt from both sides, the 49ers, donning their throwback uniforms, found the end zone first when Purdy connected with rookie receiver Ronnie Bell who's first career reception came in the end zone for a touchdown. Making his NFL-debut, the rookie out of Michigan displayed great awareness by sticking the landing and keeping both feet in bounds for the go-ahead score. One possession later, the San Francisco offense would be right back at it again, striking pay dirt on a 4-yard run up the gut from running back Christian McCaffrey who found the end zone for a 12th consecutive game (including playoffs). Coming off their first comeback win of 20-points or more since 1949 a week ago against Arizona, the Giants would not go down without a fight and stuck around for much of the game after a field goal just before the half made it a 17-6 game in favor of San Francisco. Making things even closer, New York struck first in the second half when a former Niner found the end zone. Filling in for the injured Saquon Barkley at running back was Matt Breida who spent his first three NFL seasons in a 49ers uniform and led the team in rushing in 2018. Throwing it back to his days at Levi's Stadium, Breida scored on an 8-yard carry to bring his team within 5-points after a failed 2-point conversion attempt. Unfortunately for Big Blue, it would be their one and only trip to the end zone on the night. 

Adding another pair of Jake Moody field goals to take a 23-12 lead, the 49ers added the final nail in the coffin when Brock Purdy launched a 27-yard strike into the end zone to Deebo Samuel. Any hopes of a second consecutive comeback attempt by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was thwarted when a tipped pass ended up in the hands of San Francisco's Talanoa Hufanga for an interception and the game's only turnover. Pulling out the 30-12 victory and helping the 49ers improve to 3-0 on the year, QB Brock Purdy logged a much cleaner outing on Thursday Night Football after missing on a number of deep balls with a chance to put the game out of reach just a week earlier in L.A.. Logging a career-high 310 passing yards and 2 touchdowns through the air, Purdy found favorites in Deebo Samuel who caught 6 balls for 129 yards receiving and a touchdown, and tight-end George Kittle who hauled in a game-high 7 receptions for 90 yards. Meanwhile, the 49er defense held Giants quarterback Daniel Jones to only 137 yards thru the air and kept the New York offense as a whole to just 150 yards in total, compared to San Francisco's 441 yards of total offense. 

Week 4 Preview: The (3-0) San Francisco 49ers will continue their three-game homestand in Week 4 when they welcome in the division rival (1-2) Arizona Cardinals who despite their record, have been scrappy thus far having lost two games by a combined 7-points and are coming off one of the bigger upsets of the season thru the first three weeks over the Dallas Cowboys. What the Niners can ill-afford to do with their next opponent is overlook them as what might've been the case for the Cowboys who came into Arizona hot before being embarrassed in front of a pro-Dallas crowd despite being on the road. Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan knows better than to underestimate a division foe who they'll see twice this season, but Cardinals QB Joshua Dobbs who was acquired via trade just a month earlier, has the team playing inspiring football under first-year head coach Jonathan Gannon. Many believed that Arizona would be in full-blown tank mode in favor of Heisman-winning quarterback and consensus first overall pick Caleb Williams out of USC, however, these pesky Cardinals look very much alive so far and look like they could be last season's Detroit Lions in the sense that they surprised everyone by coming out of nowhere and quickly put the league on notice. 

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49ers Continue Dominance over Rival Rams

Week 2 - In what's known as one of the longest standing rivalries out west in the NFL, things have been rather one-sided over the last 4+ years now between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, with the exception of their lone playoff meeting in January of 2022. With the 49ers having beaten up on their rivals from southern California in eight straight regular-season games entering Sunday, head coach Kyle Shanahan's Niners team looked to make it nine straight wins over the Rams and a dozen consecutive regular season wins overall. Making only his 7th career start, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy would face off against the Rams for the first time in his young NFL journey. Opposite of Purdy would be former No.1 overall pick and future Hall of Fame quarterback Matthew Stafford, marking the first time in NFL history a QB drafted 1st overall faced a QB drafted last. 

Coming off the worst-ever record in NFL history by a defending Super Bowl champion a season ago (5-12), Sean McVay's Rams have already looked better this season after pulling off a Week 1 upset win on the road in Seattle, despite being without one of their best players in receiver Cooper Kupp. With Stafford back under center after missing the team's final seven games with a spinal injury last season, L.A. would put up quite the fight against the Niners on Sunday and even provide a scare for much of the game. With a majority of the crowd at SoFi Stadium draped in 49er red as fans turned the venue into Levi's Stadium South like they so often do, the San Francisco offense got off to a quick start after receiving the opening kickoff. 49ers wide-receiver Brandon Aiyuk who received NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 1 for his two touchdown, 129 yard performance, appeared to be in line for another big day after catching a pair of passes for 25 yards on the opening-drive, but he would need medical attention just a few plays in after a neck injury. Aiyuk would eventually reenter the game, but was visibly bothered throughout the rest of the contest. Capping a 13-play, 75-yard drive would be 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey who put an exclamation mark on the initial drive with a 14 yard touchdown to give San Francisco an early 7-0 lead. 

With the Rams offense entering the game having scored on five consecutive drives to finish out Week 1, they were right back at it on Sunday, scoring on all three of their first half possessions. After tying the game at 10-all, the Rams even took a 17-10 lead late in the second quarter following a pair of touchdowns from running back Kyren Williams who got the start in place of last week's starter Cam Akers and made the most of it. Just hours before kickoff, Akers; the subject of trade rumors, was ruled out as a healthy scratch. The Rams' rushing attack would do just fine without him. Refusing to head into the locker room at the half trailing, Brock Purdy and company needed only four plays to make it into the red zone. Setting up shop at the 1-yard line, time quickly became a factor for the 49ers who were knocking on the door of a game-tying touchdown, but had only 1-second remaining on the clock. Instead of electing to go for the much safer chip-shot field goal, coach Shanahan dialed up a Brock Purdy QB-sneak which proved successful and paid dividends, tying the game at 17-all at the half. 

With both teams exchanging punts to open the second half, the 49ers struck first on defense by forcing the game's first turnover when Niners newcomer Isaiah Oliver tallied his first interception in a 49ers uniform, corralling a pass that was thrown behind the receiver and tipped into the air. The 49ers would turn the turnover into points as rookie kicker Jake Moody split the uprights with a booming 57-yard field goal to retake the lead. One possession later, San Francisco would add to their lead after Purdy connected thru the air on a 31-yard deep ball to receiver Jauaun Jennings to open the fourth quarter. The big gain would setup Deebo Samuel who would make his presence felt several plays later, breaking a pair of tackles before rumbling into the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown. Trailing by two scores, the Rams would inch closer with a Brett Maher field goal and had a chance to tie things up after forcing a three and out punt, but a second Matt Stafford interception would deal a blow to their comeback attempt. Jumping out in front of a Stafford pass intended for Van Jefferson, was San Francisco cornerback Deommodore Lenoir. Cashing the turnover in for another Jake Moody field goal, the 10-point lead and dwindling game clock would be too much to overcome for the Stafford and the Rams.

Held to a turnover on downs to start their last-ditch effort at a comeback attempt, the Rams eventually got the ball back and scored on a last-second field goal as time expired, making it a 30-23 win for the 49ers and ruining quite a few bets in the process with San Francisco failing to cover the -8 1/2 point spread. For the Niners, the win marked their 9th straight regular season victory over the Rams and their 12th consecutive regular season win overall, the second longest streak in franchise history. It would also be the fifth straight game with at least 30 points scored for SF. Leading the way on the ground was another impressive showing by 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey who led all rushers with 116 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, highlighted by a big 51-yard rush on the final play of the first quarter. L.A.'s rookie receiver Puka Nacua who was quite the story after an impressive stat line in Week 1, continued his torid pace with another 15 receptions for 147 receiving yards in the loss, becoming the first player in NFL history with 10+ catches & 100+ receiving yards in each of his first 2 career games. Also making franchise history for the 49ers was tight-end George Kittle who recorded career reception No. 400, becoming the fastest 49er to reach the feat and needing only 84 career games to do so, one game fewer than two franchise greats in Jerry Rice and Roger Craig, both of whom needed 85 games. 

Brock Purdy threw for 206 yards in the win and avoided making any costly turnovers, but he missed on several deep balls to wide-open receivers that would've put the game out of reach for the Niners. While there's no reason to panic just yet given Purdy has been solid overall and is only two games removed from major elbow surgery, you'd like to see him make those plays as they could be the type of plays that can make a difference in a close game. Meanwhile, Matt Stafford threw for 307 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in the loss. 

Week 3 Preview: (2-0) San Francisco will make their home debut on Thursday Night Football when they welcome Daniel Jones and the (1-1) New York Giants into Levi's Stadium in Week 3. Avoiding disaster of falling to 0-2 on the season, the Giants erased a 20-0 first half deficit in Arizona to knock off the Cardinals by a field goal, 31-28. Scoring 24 unanswered-points to close out the win, the Giants did receive some unfortunate news regarding star running back Saquon Barkley who needed to be helped off the field in the second half with an injury. Described as an ankle sprain, early indications had Barkley listed as week to week, but now it appears he's listed as questionable for game day and will be a game-time decision. With the quick Thursday night turnaround, I would bank on the Giants taking a much safer approach and sitting Barkley in favor of backup running back Matt Breida who will get a crack at his former team. On the 49ers front, receiver Brandon Aiyuk will also sit out of Thursday's game due to his shoulder injury. Still seeking his first QB sack of the season, I’m expecting a big game for Niners defensive-end and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa. Prediction: Bosa will record 2.5 sacks along the way to helping the 49ers improve to 3-0. 

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49ers Close Curtain on Steelers in Season-Opener

Week 1 - Opening the season on the road in the Steel City, the San Francisco 49ers entered Sunday as 2-point favorites. With Super Bowl aspirations and high expectations following a disappointing finish to their 2022 campaign a season ago which came to a screeching halt due to injuries, the lone question mark regarding Kyle Shanahan's 2023-24 49ers remains at the quarterback position. With second-year man Brock Purdy needing off-season surgery to repair a torn UCL in his throwing arm in last January's NFC title game against the Eagles, the newly appointed captain of the offense looked a lot like his normal self in Sunday's opener. In a matchup between the first quarterback taken in last year's Draft in Kenny Pickett and the last QB and player taken in Mr. Irrelevant -- Brock Purdy, the two players looked like polar opposites out on the field by games end. 

Like San Francisco, the Steelers also entered the regular-season opener with high hopes after a bigger than normal fuss was made following noticeable strides shown by Pickett and the Pittsburgh offense in the preseason which saw them score on every drive led by the starters. However, Tomlin's team would learn rather quickly that the preseason and regular season are two totally different things as San Francisco had their way and dominated from the onset on both sides of the ball. After forcing a three and out on defense to start the game, the 49er offense came out guns blazing on a nine-play, 54-yard scoring-drive that ended with Purdy finding Brandon Aiyuk wide-open in the end zone after putting his defender Patrick Peterson on skates with a juke move. Drive number two would end even worse for the Steelers as Pickett had a deep pass intercepted by San Francisco's Charvarius Ward. The 49ers would only get three points out of it, but the 41-yard field goal would do wonders for the confidence of rookie kicker Jake Moody who had a less than ideal preseason with multiple missed field goals and even an injury, after the 49ers made him the highest drafted kicker since Roberto Aguayo in 2016, selecting him in the third round of April's Draft. 

With Brandon Aiyuk quickly becoming a favorite target of Purdy's, the two connected again just one drive later for another touchdown, this time from 19-yards out. With San Francisco jumping out to a 20-0 lead in the first half following another Jake Moody field goal, Pittsburgh struggled to get much of anything going early on as they were held to five consecutive three and outs to open the game on offense. The Steelers would finally get their first 1st down of the game at the 1:16 mark of the second quarter, and at one point were outgained 199 yards of offense to just 1. Closing the first half strong, Pittsburgh would follow up their first forced punt of the game with a touchdown just before the half to make it a 20-7 affair heading into halftime. But with San Francisco opening the second half in possession of the ball, any momentum Pittsburgh thought they had would be short-lived. Just two plays into the second half, San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey broke for a 65-yard touchdown to give his team a 27-7 lead. McCaffrey would have both his longest rush and his biggest day on the ground as a member of the Niners on Sunday, finishing with 152 yards rushing, his most since 2019. It would also mark McCaffrey's 10th straight game with a touchdown (including the postseason). 

The lone silver lining all afternoon for the Steelers came from 2021 Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt who leads the league with 79.5 sacks since making his NFL debut in 2017, and was a force to be reckoned with again on Sunday, finishing with three sacks and two forced fumbles on the afternoon. However, he would be matched by an unlikely candidate in second-year defensive-end Drake Jackson who finished his rookie campaign with the Niners a season ago with 3 total sacks, matching that total in Sunday's game alone. After turning another Kenny Pickett interception into a third Jake Moody field goal, the 49ers took a commanding 30-7 lead that would hold up and serve as the worst home loss for Pittsburgh in the Mike Tomlin era which began in 2007. With the loss, Tomlin's record dropped to 10-6-1 in regular-season openers, while Kyle Shanahan's improved to 3-4. In the win, Brock Purdy threw for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 of 29 attempts, becoming the first QB in NFL history to win each of his first six career regular-season starts and throw 2+ TD passes in each start, 129 of those yards and both touchdowns going to receiver Brandon Aiyuk. The 49ers absolutely dominated the time of possession battle: 37:23 to 22:37, and held the Steelers to just 41 yards rushing, compared to 188 total rushing yards by San Francisco, fueled by McCaffrey's best rushing output in four years. Kerry Hyder Jr. and Javon Hargrave each added a QB-sack to give the busy 49er defense five total sacks on the day.

Week 2 Preview: The (1-0) 49ers will continue their season on the road in Week 2 when they travel west and pay a visit to Levi's South to take on the division rival (1-0) Rams at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Coming off an upset win on the road to NFC West foe Seattle where Sean McVay's Rams handled the Seahawks in all facets, most notably outgaining them in total yards: 426 to 180 and nearly doubling their time of possession output: 39:23 to 20:37. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford also looked like his former self by throwing for 334 yards on offense, something he was unable to accomplish a season ago before needing to be shutdown by Week 12 with a spinal cord injury. Despite being without their All-Pro receiver Cooper Kupp, the Rams had two receivers finish with a career-high 119 receiving yards on Sunday as Tutu Atwell and Puka Nacua had big games thru the air. The 49ers will try to put a stop to their long-time rivals' hot-start in hopes of improving to 2-0 for sole possession of first place before their home-opener at Levi's Stadium. 

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