New York Giants: 3 Reasons the G-Men Lost to the San Francisco 49ers

In an NFC battle that went down to the last two minutes, the Giants fell to the San Francisco 49ers, 27-20.

With the Giants' running game out of commission, combined with San Francisco's league-leading rushing defense, the outcome had to feature a stellar performance by Eli Manning.

While Manning finished the day with an 84.5 passer rating, his two costly interceptions, one which led to a 17-yard Kendall Hunter touchdown to put the 49ers up by 14, were too much to overcome.

Overall Manning played well, but not well enough.

Here are three main reasons the Giants were unable to overcome the 49ers:

Pass Defense

Entering Sunday's game, the main focus was to stop stud running back Frank Gore.

And the Giants did just that, holding Gore to zero yards on six carries.  Even before Gore was knocked out of the game, Alex Smith and the 49ers passing offense were shredding apart the Giants' secondary.

Smith completed at least three passes to four different receivers, on his way to a 242 yard performance and a touchdown, which ultimately culminated into a win. 

San Francisco came into the game averaging just 174 passing yards per game, but were able to take advantage of the Giants' secondary and lack of pass rush.

The Giants recorded only two sacks of Smith, far from what they are capable of, as they lead the league in sacks.

In the end, it came down to San Francisco's passing offense besting the Giants' pass rush and secondary, something that no one expected.

Running Game

It's been their main issue all season.

With Ahmad Bradshaw out, the Giants were forced to rely on Brandon Jacobs, who before last weekend, hadn't rushed for more than 50 yards in a game, and D.J. Ware, who has only 56 rushing attempts in five years of experience.

While the Giants did rush for a total of 93 yards, neither Jacobs nor Ware averaged more than 3.8 yards per carry, while San Francisco's Kendall Hunter averaged 6.7 yards per carry in the absence of Frank Gore.

Perhaps Da'Rel Scott deserves some carries in the future, as a change of pace back from bruiser Brandon Jacobs.

Play Calling

There were far too many running plays called in passing situations.

The Giants ran 40 passing plays, opposed to 29 running.  Against the league's best rushing defense, more passing plays should have been called.

The 49ers entered Sunday's game ranked in the lower half of the league in passing defense, allowing 255 yards per game.

Aside from two interceptions, Eli Manning was effectively throwing the ball down the field, completing passes to seven different receivers, and throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns.

The fact of the matter is that Gilbride and the staff should have called more passing and play-action plays.