49ers: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 3 at New York Giants

The San Francisco 49ers are set to take on the New York Giants in Week 3.

Guys, I’m as worried as you are about the San Francisco 49ers. I came into this season thinking they would pick up right where they left off and yet here they are with a roster decimated by injuries.

The magnitude of which we haven’t seen on an NFL team in quite a while — especially one that is expected to win their division.

They looked pretty good last week, but the New York Jets were a cupcake for them. Luckily for the Niners, the Jets were just as beat up as they were going in and their coach cannot string together good play calls on offense.

This time around, the 49ers go back to MetLife Stadium to take on the Jets’ lowly counterpart New York Giants in a back-to-back East Rutherford stint.

However, this game, unlike the Jets game, is significantly more dangerous to the 49ers because the Giants actually have pretty good historical numbers against them and because the the Niners are even more beat up than they were last week.

Not to mention that the Giants are coming off a close call where they almost beat the Chicago Bears on the road in their final drive.

Big Blue is hungry for this win, and despite how bad their franchise has been for what seems like forever, they can throw the ball and they’re going under-the-radar with how good they’ve been defensively in the early going.

The Giants are 7-3 against the 49ers in their last ten meetings and 4-2 in their last six. The Giants won their last game against this team, and now we have Nick Mullens, who is going to be under center for San Francisco this week in the wake of Jimmy Garoppolo being out, who is also 0-1 against the Giants in his career.

Big Blue is drawing very lucky right now that they landed on a week where they would face a guy they’ve already beaten.

Despite their many injuries, the 49ers are undoubtedly still favorites in this game.

However, all of that being said. All of the 49ers’ injuries to Garoppolo, George Kittle, Richard Sherman, Dee Ford, Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman, Dre Greenlaw. Did I miss anyone?

Something I don’t think you guys here on Golden Gate Sports know about me yet is that I do not pick the Giants under any circumstance unless I have declared that I would pre-season.

Last year, I called their wins against Washington and Miami in the preseason — both of which were at home. Both just so happened to be correct. They won two more games as well, but no sweat off my back.

The Giants are a team that cannot be trusted to win consistently. Every time you try to throw them a bone, they inevitably screw you over. It’s like clockwork.

I have them winning both of their Washington games this year but that’s it. No shot in hell I would pick them to beat this great 49ers organization. I don’t care who’s out for the Niners.

7-3 in their last 10 meetings worries me — I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t. But they’re also 11-8 at home against the 49ers all-time.

And even though San Francisco is completely gutted right now, their defense is still sixth in yards per game allowed, fourth in passing yards per game allowed, and seventh in points per game allowed.

They haven’t been so great against the run so far this year, but now they face a Giants team that tragically lost Saquon Barkley for the year with a torn ACL last week. I don’t think the Giants are going to doing much of anything in the run game here.

Two areas to keep an eye on in this matchup. For starters, the Giants are top-10 in sacks right now and the Niners’ offensive ine isn’t exactly playing that well in the early going.

Moreover, I think the 49ers are going to need to throw the ball a little more in this game with both Mostert and Coleman out and the Giants have allowed only 377 passing yards in their first two games (second-best in the league).

All the signs are pointing to the Giants winning this game, but I’m going to stick in there with the 49ers because of their structure and how I think their defense will be able to shut Daniel Jones and the passing game down.

Jordan Reed is still available. Jeff Wilson is still available. Jerick McKinnon. Brandon Aiyuk. Kendrick Bourne. Kyle Juszczyk facilitating the run game. All hope is not lost. This 49ers team still has offensive pieces to go to war with this week.

I have the Niners winning this game 24-20. I think their defense is still going to show up despite all the injuries they’ve sustained and give Daniel Jones a hard time moving the ball. Perhaps a turnover or two will put the icing on top.