San Francisco 49ers: Previewing The New York Giants
The San Francisco 49ers, coming off blowout losses in consecutive weeks and heading into last Sunday’s match-up with Green Bay, likely had fans asking themselves how things could possibly get worse.
More from Colin Kaepernick
- Former San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick is a hero
- San Francisco 49ers: With QB Situation In Flux, Kelly Must Be Unconventional
- San Francisco 49ers: Colin Kaepernick Working Hard To Repair Tarnished Image
- San Francisco 49ers: Kaepernick Contract Not So Team Friendly After All
- San Francisco 49ers Should Address Biggest Need First In NFL Draft
Well, that question was answered on Sunday. It got worse. In many ways.
The loss to Green Bay was more painful than some of the others have been. Sure, the defense was better than it had been the last few weeks, but the offense somehow got worse.
Colin Kaepernick didn’t throw four interceptions — he only threw one to the Packers — which is better. However, he didn’t complete many passes to players on either team. He threw passes wide, short, and just about everywhere but into the hands of his targets.
There were plenty of times where the receivers didn’t exactly help him out — terrible routes, drops, and miscommunication were all happening. Though, that doesn’t make fans any happier or more understanding. With the way the team is playing, the calls for Blaine Gabbert are getting louder by the game.
No matter who starts, 49ers fans are still not going to be happy with the quarterback situation. But realistically, it would be hard for any quarterback to do well with the current state of the offense.
The offensive line is extremely young and inexperienced. Carlos Hyde is promising, but teams are stacking the box because they know Kaepernick won’t be throwing 30-40 times a game.
The receiving corps is a mixed bag of old age, inexperience, and inconsistency. In other words, this season has gone, and looks like it will continue to go, exactly as the 49ers’ offseason went — roughly.
In the interest of trying not to be too pessimistic, credit will certainly be given to the defense.
From the first snap against the Packers, San Francisco’s defensive front seven wanted to get in there and stop Aaron Rodgers. They all showed a refreshing confidence and stability, frequently pressuring Rodgers into making errant throws or scampering off for a short gain, if any.
Rodgers was held in check for the most part, and save for the opening drive that was extended due to a bad penalty call on the defense, he didn’t lead many scoring drives during the game. It was on that opening drive though, that Rodgers found his tight end for a touchdown, after extending the play and the shaking the defense in end zone coverage.
Live Feed
Bear Goggles On
All in all, the 49ers did well to hold one of the best offenses in the league to only 14 points most of the day and 17 overall, but the offense just floundered out on the field. There was never a drive where things went well enough that fans could get pumped and rowdy. The offense was flat and ineffective. And they will certainly look to improve upon that this upcoming Sunday.
Unfortunately, things are not getting any easier.
This week, the NFL decided the only thing better than going to Pittsburgh for an early morning game would be to go to New York for a late-night game. The 49ers-Giants tilt will be the NBC Sunday Night Football game which will be televised nationally.
This could be the breaking point for Kaepernick, Jim Tomsula, and the 49ers.
If Kaepernick comes out an looks similar to how he’s looked over the last month of play, there’s a good chance that he could get pulled early on. There are only so many weeks in a row that Coach Tomsula can come out of the locker room post-loss and declare his devotion to Kaepernick. The fans are already clamoring for change — and not the kind of change Jed York has made in the past.
The New York Giants are far from a great team, but any offense throwing passes to this guy is dangerous.
Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants have looked good this year, leading in the fourth quarter in all four games thus far. The problem, clearly, is the fact that they’ve had a hard time keeping that late lead.
The Giants are a rather bland offense for as much national exposure that they get, with Eli really only taking deep shots to Odell Beckham Jr. on the majority of possessions. Their running game is a mess of decent, but not great, players.
If the 49ers defense from last week shows up to play again, there’s no way the Giants run them out of the building.
The Giants’ defense is nothing to write home about either, but like the offense, it’s good enough to keep them in most games. This game is almost guaranteed to depend entirely upon whether or not Kaepernick can strap on those Beats headphones, truly shot out the voices of his critics, and get back to his former self.
If he continues in this downward spiral though, the whole country may just witness the benching of a big-contract quarterback in favor of one who was considered to be bad enough that not even Jacksonville was willing to hold on to him.