The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Giants vs. 49ers

It was a slopfest at the Meadowlands, as the Giants defeated the bumbling 49ers, 29-17. There were a total of 24 penalties for 214 yards, fumbles, interceptions, a blocked field goal, a safety, and even the refs were blowing calls.

But the Giants won, recovering from last week’s disaster, upping their record to 5-1. It was their fourth home victory of the year, which already surpasses their total of three from last season.

The Good

It was a good day for the defense. They finally forced some turnovers, with Mathias Kiwanuka recovering a fumble and Justin Tuck knocking the ball out of J.T. O’Sullivan's hands, which led to a safety. Michael Johnson picked off two passes for his first career interceptions. They only gave up one touchdown and a field goal, with SF’s other TD coming on a blocked field goal.

The downfield coverage was good for most of the day, with the exception of a handful of receptions where the 49ers’ receivers seemed to be wide open. The good coverage led to the pass rush being back in full force. They racked up six sacks for the day. Tuck had two, and Dave Tollefson, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield and Chase Blackburn each got to O’Sullivan once.

Blackburn, filling in for the injured Antonio Pierce, also led the team with seven tackles.

The D was outstanding in stopping the run. The 49ers only rushed for 35 yards. O’Sullivan actually led SF with 27 scrambling yards, and Frank Gore was held to 11 yards. Yes, 11 yards.

Brandon Jacobs led the offense, scoring two touchdowns (giving him six for the year) and gained 69 yards on 17 carries. Derrick Ward rushed for 19 yards but caught three passes for 50 yards. Ahmad Bradshaw rounded out the running attack with 28 yards on eight carries. Eli Manning threw for a touchdown and didn’t have any picks, but he was only 16 for 31 with 161 yards passing.

Giants receivers dropped a lot of passes on him, though. El was a lot better today than in Monday’s nightmare. Plaxico Burress caught a TD pass, and Steve Smith led the receivers with four catches for 39 yards. After Lawrence Tynes announced that he would start this week, John Carney was right back out there. Oops. Maybe next week, Lawrence. Carney booted two through the uprights. His second one was for 48 yards, his longest of the year.

The Bad

11 penalties is pretty pathetic. Luckily, San Francisco stinks, so the Jints could get away with it. The refs called a phantom pass interference on Burress, which negated what would have been a first down. On the next play, Burress was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct, which sounds about right for him.

He only caught three passes for the day. Carney had a field goal blocked (Jeff Feagles bobbled the bouncing snap), which was returned for a TD. It was his first miss of the season. Aaron Ross was burned for another touchdown. It hasn’t been a good six days for the cornerback.

The Giants didn’t look sharp but it was good enough against a bad team.

The Ugly

Actually, the whole game was pretty ugly. And I’m pretty sure I blacked out at a bar called J.T. O’Sullivan’s once. That’s never pretty.

The Giants’ schedule is starting to get tougher, with Pittsburgh next week and then Dallas and Philly. So after these last two games, they need to start playing better and getting all aspects of their game in order. But they’re 5-1 and in first place, so it’s hard to complain.