It was an emotional moment for a San Francisco 49ers team that had just won its first game of the season. From the scene in the locker room, you would have thought the 49ers had earned a trip to the Super Bowl ... or at least a playoff spot. Exuberant players jumped up and down and celebrated the team's first victory of the Kyle Shanahan era.
The 49ers beat the visiting New York Giants, who themselves have just one victory, by a score of 31-21. It was the most impressive game of rookie C.J. Beathard's early career. The quarterback has only four starts under his belt and, with Jimmy Garoppolo eager to get onto the field, it is unknown how many more he will have this season.
"Beathard looked poised and in control all afternoon," our own Al Sacco wrote on Sunday, "completing 19-of-25 passes for 288 yards and three total touchdowns (two passing, one rushing). Maybe most impressive of all was the fact that Beathard was able to spread the ball around so efficiently, as eight different receivers recorded a reception."
According to the 49ers, Beathard became the first rookie quarterback in franchise history to complete two touchdowns of 45-or-more yards in a single game. His 83-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marquise Goodwin was the longest by a 49ers rookie quarterback in franchise history.
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Beathard was under pressure on just four of his 27 dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus. He was 18 of 21 for 279 yards, two touchdowns, an interception, and a 130.7 passer rating while not under pressure. Beathard had a perfect passer rating (158.3) when throwing beyond the line of scrimmage and between the numbers. He was 11 of 12 for 242 yards and two touchdowns during those plays.
Pro Football Focus had the following to write about Beathard's performance on Sunday:
"Beathard finished 19-of-25 passing for 288 yards with two touchdowns and a dropped pass. He completed 2-of-3 deep pass attempts for 103 yards, finding Marquise Goodwin for an 83-yard score. Beathard finished 7-of-9 passing off of play action for 86 yards and also ran in a score on a naked bootleg play action pass."
Beathard was one of two 49ers rookies to earn team's top Pro Football Focus grades on Sunday. Despite dealing with an ongoing ankle injury, the highest-graded 49ers player was linebacker Reuben Foster. Giants Wide receiver Sterling Shepard barely edged Foster for the game's top grade (89.9 versus 89.8).
Sunday's game was just the fourth in Foster's young NFL career and was only his second complete game. During the past two games, Foster has been credited with 24 combined tackles.
Pro Football Focus had the following to write about Foster's performance on Sunday:
"Foster was all over the field against the Giants, recording 4 stops, only 2 receptions allowed with a long of seven yards given up, and even recorded a quarterback hit. In the past two weeks, Foster has shown why the 49ers wanted to trade back into the first round to get a linebacker who could be a difference maker on this defense."
Despite not finishing with the game's best grade, Foster received Pro Football Focus' game ball.
All you need to know from the 49ers win over the Giantshttps://t.co/AktxUMmogs pic.twitter.com/dAFbbRT9sM
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) November 13, 2017
Top 5 49ers Grades
- LB Reuben Foster (89.8)
- QB C.J. Beathard (85.7)
- LB Eric Reid (81.6)
- T Trent Brown (78.3)
- S Adrian Colbert (77. 8)
