AMERICAN FOOTBALL NFL:ONE DIFFERENCE, and maybe the deciding difference, in the rivalry between the Giants and the 49ers became evident in the second quarter of the Giants' 26-3 victory on Sunday. The 49ers led, 3-0, and the Giants had gained only 24 yards and punted twice. But then Giants quarterback Eli Manning threw a lob to Domenik Hixon for 39 yards, a 16-yard pass to Hixon on the sideline – both on third down – and a six-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz.
The Giants had 7-3 lead that soon multiplied. And they had demonstrated, again, that they have something that the more methodical 49ers do not: an offence that can hopscotch downfield in large chunks, occasionally at will. San Francisco thought it addressed that during the offseason, after the Giants came to Candlestick Park for the NFC championship game and left with a 20-17 overtime victory. The 49ers’ biggest weakness was evident in the box score.
Quarterback Alex Smith completed 12 of 26 passes for 196 yards, but only one pass was caught by a wide receiver. It went to Michael Crabtree for three yards.
San Francisco, with a championship-caliber defence and offensive stars in running back Frank Gore and tight end Vernon Davis, set out to shore up its receiving corps. In March, the 49ers signed Randy Moss and the former Giant Mario Manningham, who scored two touchdowns in two games against San Francisco last season and made the game-changing catch in the Giants’ Super Bowl victory over the Patriots.
The 49ers seemed better, the Giants a bit worse. But then Sunday happened, and things did not seem to have changed much.Smith, who entered the game with eight touchdown passes and one interception, giving him the NFL’s top passer rating, was intercepted three times. A 49ers offence that averaged 29.8 points a game, and had scored a combined 79 points the previous two games, was held to its lowest output since a shutout two seasons ago.
The 49ers’ receivers made a larger impression than they did in January. But they were outplayed by those from the Giants, whose big plays were the key to blowing through the NFL’s second-stingiest defence, both in terms of total yards allowed and passing yards allowed.
“They had a couple big plays downfield in the passing game,” San Francisco safety Donte Whitner said. And that difference was enough. On the drive that followed their go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter, the Giants came out throwing again. Manning completed a 16-yard pass to Cruz along the left sideline, then another 16-yarder to Hakeem Nicks. The 49ers allow fewer points than any team and the Giants eventually settled for the first of four Lawrence Tynes field goal and a 10-3 lead.
Smith tried to answer by throwing deep to a diving Manningham, but the ball touched the ground before the receiver corralled it. Minutes later, Hixon made a catch on a similar ball from Manning that dived toward the grass. Anything the San Francisco passing game could do, the Giants could do better.
“They got the best of us, like they did last year,” cornerback Carlos Rogers said. The 49ers and the Giants arrived on Sunday as two of the three highest-scoring teams in the league, but their methods differ. The 49ers rely on a ground-hogging rushing attack and a controlled, mistake-avoiding passing game. But theirs is an offence in transition, slowly trying to stretch things out in coach Jim Harbaugh’s second season.
In 2011, only two receivers were among the team’s top six in receptions. This season, three of the top four are receivers, including Manningham and Moss. The Giants’ defence, however, focused heavily on Davis, as if they wanted to test any changes in the way San Francisco operates. In November 2011 at Candlestick Park, Davis scored a fourth-quarter touchdown that helped the 49ers to a 27-20 victory. In January, Davis had three catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns. But on Sunday, the Giants held him to three catches for 37 yards.
“It was frustrating for me, I can’t lie,” Davis said. “They were banging me when I released from the lines, the defensive ends. Then when I got in my route I had a guy over the top of me. It was just one of those games.”
The Giants, having now won two of three from the 49ers in the last 11 months, remain far more proficient at timely land grabs, building momentum behind the arm and wits of Manning.
Last week, Harbaugh labelled Manning “a magician”. Manning was 15 of 28 for 193 yards, with 13 completions to wide receivers. Smith was 19 of 30 for 200 yards, with 11 of his completions to receivers. It was an improvement from January. But the 49ers seemed to trade in the productivity of Gore and Davis, their two best offensive players, for more variety, and the entire enterprise fell surprisingly flat.
New York Times Service
Weekend results: Atlanta Falcons 23 Oakland Raiders 20, Baltimore Ravens 31 Dallas Cowboys 29, Cleveland Browns 34 Cincinnati Bengals 24, Miami Dolphins 17 St Louis Rams 14, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 Kansas City Chiefs 10, Arizona Cardinals 16 Buffalo Bills 19, New York Jets 35 Indianapolis Colts 9, Philadelphia Eagles 23 Detroit Lions 26, San Francisco 49ers 3 New York Giants 26, Seattle Seahawks 24 New England Patriots 23, Washington Redskins 38 Minnesota Vikings 26, Houston Texans 24 Green Bay Packers 42.
