Sorry, 49ers, but there are no more New York football teams to stay and beat at MetLife Stadium’s field of screams.
The injury-ravaged 49ers completed a New York sweep with Sunday’s 36-9 rout of the winless New York Giants, a week after topping the New York Jets.
“Our team kind of expected this,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We had a lot of confidence coming in and hopefully that can lead us into next week, too.”
Top billing could go to a 49ers defense that rallied after last game’s season-ending knee injuries to Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas. The Giants (0-3) never breached the 49ers’ 20-yard line.
Offensively, however, Nick Mullens equally dominated in place of an injured Jimmy Garoppolo to win his first start since 2018. Mullens passed for 343 yards in a turnover-free, punt-free effort, looking smooth running Kyle Shanahan’s scheme and completing passes to 10 different receivers.
Just like that, the 49ers (2-1) scored over 30 points for a second straight game and did so without its top quarterback (Jimmy Garoppolo; ankle), tight end (George Kittle; knee), wide receiver (Deebo Samuel; foot) and running backs (Raheem Mostert, knee; Tevin Coleman, knee).
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So concludes a 10-day road trip, complete with a stay last week at The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia to ease their travel. The 49ers play their next three at Levi’s Stadium, starting Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles before hosting the Miami Dolphins (Oct. 11) and Los Angeles Rams (Oct. 18; 5:20 p.m.)
Here are the highs, lows and all you need to know about their Week 3 effort:
MULLENS MANIA: Career win No. 4 was his first on the road. Mullens was as aggressive as anticipated, using this opportunity to showcase his knowledge of the system, his improved mechanics and his feisty leadership. He finished 25-of-36 with one touchdown pass and a 108.9 passer rating.
“He doesn’t hesitate. When he sees it, he lets it rip,” Shanahan said.
“That’s what you have to live by,” Mullens responded when told of Shanahan’s quote. “That goes back to the whole preparation leads up to game, so once Sunday hits, you play with a clear mind, you see it and react.
“I’m not the fastest, most athletic guy but I can react pretty quick. That’s what I do pretty well, and it’s a lot of fun.”
He mixed clutch throws with a couple risky ones that nearly got intercepted. Mullens received stout protection, aside from two sacks, the first of which came on the opening drive by unblocked blitzing linebacker Blake Martinez. The 363 yards were Mullens’ second-most, behind a 414-yard effort in a 2018 loss at Seattle.
“Nick was great, very poised,” Shanahan said. “We went on a lot of long drives today. … Long drives can get exhausting, especially for me; I don’t want to call so many plays.” Shanahan noted how Mullens kept his composure as penalties threatened to stall drives. They had four possession last at least 10 plays.
THE AIYUK DRIVE: Brandon Aiyuk scored his first career touchdown on a 19-yard, third-quarter run, capping a drive that he earlier highlighted with his first three receptions of the day (19, 6, 3 yards). Aiyuk scored easily behind blocks from Kyle Juszczyk, Mike McGlinchey and Ben Garland, among others.
“Last week, it was getting my feet wet and I understood how the game works,” said Aiyuk, a first-round draft pick. “I got the jitters out the way and I was able to come in today and just play.”
Shanahan said Aiyuk had a couple first-half errors, and Aiyuk complimented Mullens for mentoring him through them. Aiyuk finished with three carries for 31 yards and caught 5 of 8 targets for 70 yards.
DUAL-THREAT DUO: Jerick McKinnon and Jeff Wilson Jr. combined for three touchdowns and excelled in place of Mostert and Coleman. McKinnon came out early in the fourth quarter with a rib injury, Shanahan said.
McKinnon has scored a touchdown in each game this season, and his 10-yard run put the 49ers’ ahead 13-6 with 1:07 until halftime. McKinnon had just 10 yards on seven carries before an 11-yard run and then his 10-yarder to the left pylon, which Mullens replaced like last week in what’s become a fun-to-watch ritual.
McKinnon’s backup, Jeff Wilson Jr., scored on a 19-yard catch-and-run to push the 49ers’ lead to 29-9 with 13:28 remaining. Wilson capped the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Wilson had 12 carries for 15 yards, and three receptions for 54 yards en route to his third career two-touchdown game. McKinnon also finished with more yards receiving (39) than rushing (38), and he came out after a 1-yard loss early in the fourth quarter.
CAPTAIN FRED: Needing defensive heroics to offset the 49ers’ injury wave, linebacker Fred Warner came through with a timely interception 55 seconds before halftime at the Giants’ 32-yard line. Warner read Daniel Jones’ eyes and jumped the route to the 49ers another scoring chance before halftime.
“We talked about it all week long, that concept, and I’ve got to shout out (Jaquiski) Tart because he was alerting it to me before the snap, ‘Hawk Pass! Hawk Pass!’ ” Warner said. “It played out perfect where I read the quarterback’s eyes and baited him to throw it.”
That was one of three takeaways by the 49ers’ defense that limited the Giants to 231 yards and never allowed them in the red zone.
REED INJURED: Tight end Jordan Reed did not play in the second half after injuring his left ankle and knee, and Shanahan does not think they are long-term issues. Reed initially got hurt attempting a touchdown catch in the back of the end zone, on the 49ers’ second possession. His health became more suspect in the second quarter, when his left knee got evaluated on the bench by the 49ers’ medical staff.
Reed caught just 2 of 6 targets, those catches going for 12 and 11 yards on the same drive he got injured. Reed had two touchdowns last week while starting in place of Kittle.
It appeared Reed’s left foot, while he attempted a toe-tap touchdown, stuck hard in the highly scrutinized MetLife Stadium turf. Whether the field was a factor or not, six 49ers were unavailable because of leg injuries they sustained in last week’s 31-13 win over the Jets.
CORNERBACK SHUFFLE: Who would have figured Jason Verrett and Dontae Johnson would be the 49ers’ healthiest cornerbacks by Week 3? Worse than allowing a 19-yard run to Daniel Jones was the ending: Emmanuel Moseley sustained a concussion by colliding with Jaquiski Tartt, so Johnson replaced him.
Shanahan was “happy” Verrett garnered his first start since 2017, and it came in his season debut after last month’s hamstring strain. And it was the 49ers’ third different combination of starting cornerbacks in as many games. Ahkello Witherspoon was inactivated because of a hamstring strain from Thursday’s practice. Witherspoon started last week in place of Richard Sherman, who went on injured reserve with a calf injury after the opener and is eligible to return in Week 5.
SNAPPER WOES: Kyle Nelson, the 49ers’ veteran long snapper, had his worst game in terms of high and low, low and lower snaps. He got pulled in the fourth quarter as Justin Skule snapped on a point-after kick that pushed the 49ers’ lead to 36-9.
Nelson low snaps resulted in two botched point-after attempts, and he had a low snap when Robbie Gould missed a 55-yard attempt in the second quarter. It marked Gould’s first miss in 23 attempts, dating back to last Dec. 1 at Baltimore. A high snap accompanied Gould’s first field goal (52 yards).
DWELLEY FACTOR: Business picked up for tight end Ross Dwelley, who stepped up in place of the injured George Kittle (knee) and Jordan Reed, who sustained a leg injury in the first quarter. Dwelley made like Kittle with a yards-after-catch classic, breaking two attempted tackles (or attempted ball strips) on a 14-yard reception to the Giants’ 21. That marked his fourth reception on four targets for 49 yards.
KINLAW STOP: Javon Kinlaw’s biggest impact in three games came when he broke up a third-down pass and forced the Giants to settle for a second-quarter field goal that tied the score at 6. That stalled out a drive in which the Giants attacked Johnson, who allowed a 23-yard reception and committed a holding penalty before making a nice pass defense himself.
SAQUON JONES?: Having lost star running back Saquon Barkley to an ACL tear last game, the Giants’ best rushing threat turned out to be Jones, whose dashes around the edge successfully attacked a 49ers defense that’s been vulnerable to mobile quarterbacks in the past. Jones had 49 yards on his first four carries.
Jones, however, got stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 late in the third quarter, and leading that defensive stand was Kinlaw, D.J. Jones and Azeez Al-Shaair.
EARLY GIFT: The 49ers starting defense produced a takeaway on its first series, with Dion Jordan pouncing on Jones’ fumbled toss to Evan Engram at the Giants’ 42-yard line. Earlier, the Giants converted a third-down pass against a revised 49ers’ pass rush consisting of Kerry Hyder, Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw and Ziggy Ansah.
THIRD-DOWN FUN: The 49ers’ third-down offense converted on 8 of 12 situations, including a very helpful illegal contact penalty that Trent Taylor drew on third-and-22.
OPENING DRIVE: Mullens engineered a scoring drive out of the gate, although they had to settle for a 52-yard field goal from Gould to cap the 10-play march. Third-down conversion by Taylor (20-yard catch) and Mullens (QB sneak) extended the drive, but a 9-yard sack by blitzing linebacker Blake Martinez at midfield stalled things. The 49ers’ leading rusher on the opening drive: Brandon Aiyuk, who had two carries for 12 yards while McKinnon had just a 1-yard carry
