The San Francisco 49ers defeated the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football 30-12, improving to 3-0 with a victory in the home opener at Levi's Stadium.
Following a slower-than-expected start due to some quarterback miscues and longer drives, the 49ers settled in, taking a 17-6 lead going into halftime, which improved to 30-12 by the end of the game.
Here are three quick takeaways from the 49ers' 30-12 win over the New York Giants.
2nd half adjustments
For the second consecutive half, it seemed like the 49ers made the proper second-half adjustments defensively, operating with heavier blitzes and more press-man coverage, which resulted in shorter passes from quarterback Daniel Jones, leading to four punts and an interception in the final 30 minutes.
Jones finished with just 137 passing yards, averaging just 4.3 yards per pass, a measly measure that indicated how much he was forced to throw short of the sticks, and how well the 49ers tackled in the second half.
An interesting comment that came up this week from defensive tackle Javon Hargrave was the involvement of head coach Kyle Shanahan in the halftime adjustments ahead of the second half.
Shanahan has consistently gotten second-half adjustments to work this season, a testament to the gameplan, as well as the strong execution over the final 30 minutes of the game.
If the 49ers can continue this trend throughout the season, they can repeat the second-half dominance defensively from last season.
Brock Purdy
Looking at the statistics, quarterback Brock Purdy passed for an efficient game, completing 25/37 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns.
However, the on-field product wasn't up to par with what the numbers indicated, as Purdy's throws were consistently off-target, even on completions.
There are two major takeaways from his performance.
One, Purdy needs to be better against stronger competition, as the 49ers will have to be much more aggressive to field a dominant offensively consistently throughout the season.
Two, the 49ers offense was still extremely effective, scoring 30 points, while compiling 441 yards, and it was nowhere near Purdy's best performance.
Overall, this game showcased how the 49ers don't need strong quarterback play to have strong offensive performances, which has been the MO of the team in recent years.
But, that hasn't gotten them to a Super Bowl victory just yet, so the 49ers and Brock Purdy will look for a tune-up next week against the Arizona Cardinals with hopes he can return to his Week 1 form that had the offense clicking on all cylinders in the first half.
Field Goals
Field goals can be seen as a positive and a negative; the 49ers have to kick field goals when they're unable to score touchdowns, but the three makes per game is a strong indication of how Jake Moody has performed to begin the season, especially after a porous preseason performance.
Moody didn't have much difficulty in Week 3, as his longest make was just 36 yards, but he's hit from all three ranges, including a career-high 57-yarder last week.
Now, focusing specifically on this week, the field goal opportunities prove how the 49ers offense wasn't nearly at their highest range.
Moody's three field goals were all inside the redzone, with two coming inside the 10-yard line. Of course, it's impossible to convert on every redzone opportunity, but you hope for more redzone efficiency going forward.
- Rohan Chakravarthi
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Written by:Writer/Reporter for 49ers Webzone
