The 49ers are now starting to make dominant wins look routine, and I'm here for it. Here are the grades from the 49ers' 13th straight regular season win.
Brock Purdy: B+
Wink Martindale's Giants defense was on a seek-and-destroy mission for Brock Purdy. New York blitzed on 85% of Brock's drop backs, which was the highest in the Next Gen Stats era.
For about the entirety of the first drive, Martindale came as close to anyone has come to rattling Purdy. There were at least three turnover worthy passes on the 49ers first drive of that night, but luckily they all hit the ground.
After that shaky drive, however, Purdy and the 49ers adjusted. He got the ball out of his hands quickly to Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey, and ended up with a regular season career-high 310 passing yards. Oh and he also continued his mastery deeper down the field:
Throw in two beautiful touchdown passes to Ronnie Bell and Deebo Samuel, respectively, and it turned into a very respectable performance for Purdy on TNF. Oh by the way, the touchdown to Deebo travelled 44.5 yards in the air - the most of any pass in Brock's career.
If you need more Purdy love:
Christian McCaffrey: A
Even with Elijah Mitchell taking away some of his carries, Christian McCaffrey just continues to produce.
All told, CMC went for 23 total touches, 119 total yards, and his 12th straight game with a touchdown (including playoffs). The man simply cannot be stopped.
McCaffrey didn't have the breakaway monster gain like he did in weeks 1 and 2, but I almost find that more encouraging. Instead he simply went to work, consistently churning out yards with every carry. Despite 85 rushing yards on the day, Christian's longest run was only 12 yards.
In 13 regular season games on the 49ers, McCaffrey and Company have scored 30+ points ten times. Right now he's is a lock to win Offensive Player of the Year, and he's putting himself in the conversation for Most Valuable Player in the entire NFL.
Receivers: B+
For the second straight week, Deebo Samuel was a human wrecking ball. Last night saw him catch 6 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Whether it was a 30 yard rumble on 3rd and 15 or a back shoulder tuddy in the corner of the endzone, Samuel did it all for the 49ers. He truly looks to have regained the form he showed in his historic 2021 season.
Samuel forced 6 missed tackles on the night. No other wide receiver in the league has more than 5 forced missed tackles on the entire season.
I'm also including George Kittle in this section since he actually got used more like a wide receiver instead of an extra blocker. Kyle Shanahan took advantage of the fact that the Giants don't have much of a pass rush and Kittle benefitted to the tune of 7 catches for 90 yards. Much like Deebo, George is unstoppable after the catch. Hopefully he gets more run as the season goes along.
Also want to give a quick shoutout to Ronnie Bell, who did a nice job keeping his feet in bounds for a touchdown early in the game. The more Bell plays, the more I love his style. He's a smart, physical player that always has his head in the game - as evidenced by his overhead catch later in the evening on a tipped ball. Everything you could ask for in a backup recevier.
Steve Wilks: B
It didn't take a half for Wilks' unit to dominate on Sunday. The Giants notched just 150 total yards in the game, and they were a putrid 3 for 12 on third down.
The soft zones from Week 2 were gone. Instead, Wilks used an extra defensive lineman and press coverage on the outside to disrupt Daniel Jones in the pocket and limit his options in the passing game.
Oh by the way, Jones was a complete non-factor on the ground, too, gaining just five yards on two total carries in the game.
Defensive Line: B+
Nick Bosa finally got his first sack of the year, leading a dominant performance by his unit that created 23 pressures in 32 attempts for Daniel Jones.
Javon Hargrave also got a sack, and Javon Kinlaw made multiple impressive plays from the middle of the defensive line. So far in 2023 Kinlaw is thriving in a reduced rule, generating 10 pressures on just 62 passing snaps.
With an extra game under their belts, Hargrave and Kinlaw lead the league in hurries, followed by Nick Bosa one behind them at nine.
Linebackers: A-
Fred Warner continues to erase players from games. Darren Waller came into the night the only threat the Giants had, and he left the night with just 3 catches for 20 yards on seven targets. All. Pro. Fred.
Dre Greenlaw tied for the team-high in tackles with five, but he also had a stupid personal foul penalty for the second straight week after smashing a ball carrier when the play was over. By now he surely has a reputation among the officials, and he's going to need to tone it down a bit in order to protect the team.
Secondary: B+
As I said earlier, this unit ditched the soft zone coverage and was all the better for it. Daniel Jones ended up with a meager 137 passing yards on the night, and 39 of those came on the Giants' first drive of the game, which is highly scripted.
Unlike last season the 49ers shut down any hope of going deep on them. Jones took a deep shot on the first play of the game that fell incomplete and tried one more to Waller in the third quarter that also wasn't caught. Other than those two attempts, no other Daniel Jones throw travelled 15 yards in the game. That's good defense.
Talanoa Hufanga also tallied his second interception on the year on a ball that fell into his hands after being tipped multiple times.
Special Teams: A-
Jake Moody continued his perfect start to the season, making three field goals and three extra points for the third straight week.
Mitch Wishnowsky booted three punts in the game, and two of them were downed inside the 20 yard line. So far this year, seven of Mitch's 10 total punts have been downed inside the 20. That speaks to both his control and the success that the offense has had even when their drives don't end in points.
The only reason this grade isn't higher is because the 49ers interfered with a punt returner for the second straight week. Last night's penalty cost the team 15 yards, and set the Giants up on a scoring drive that started at the 49ers' 37 yard line. There's no excuse for those kind of mistakes, especially two weeks in a row.
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