Giants vs. 49ers Week 3 preview: Everything you need to know for gameday
Blake Martinez during Giants practice on Sept. 17. Credit: Matthew Swensen/Matthew Swensen
49ERS (1-1) AT GIANTS (0-2), 1 p.m., Metlife Stadium
VITALS
Line: 49ers by 3 1/2; O/U 42 1/2
TV: Ch. 5 (Kevin Burkhardt, Daryl Johnston)
Radio: WFAN-660 (Bob Papa, Carl Banks, Howard Cross), Sirius 121; XM 227.
INJURY IMPACT
GIANTS
DOUBTFUL: DB Adrian Colbert (quad); QUESTIONABLE: CB Brandon Williams (groin).
49ERS
OUT: QB Jimmy Garoppolo (ankle), RB Tevin Coleman (knee), DE Dee Ford (back), LB Dre Greenlaw (quad), TE George Kittle (knee), RB Raheem Mostert (knee); QUESTIONABLE: CB Ahkello Witherspoon (hamstring).
FEATURED MATCHUP
Nick Mullens would make a good middle infielder. "He is a guy who kind of turns two, as we say," Joe Judge noted of the 49ers QB who will start in place of injured Jimmy Garoppolo. "The ball hits his hand, the ball is coming out and he’s getting it to the receiver." Mullens is 3-5 as a starter and hasn’t done it since the end of the 2018 season. "He has very good anticipation, he does a good job pre-snap of reading the defense and knowing where his receivers are going to be and he’s a tough, gritty dude," Judge said. "He’s had some success for them when he has had to play."
QUOTABLE
"He helps me more than anything, because he’s a good player who can execute. I just try not to mess him up."
— Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham on ILB Blake Martinez, who leads the Giants with 21 tackles
INTANGIBLES
The 49ers tried to mitigate the effects of cross-country travel by staying in West Virginia between their back-to-back games against the Jets and Giants. That may not have been entirely necessary. It’s an old axiom that teams in the Eastern Time Zone have a big advantage when hosting groggy West Coast opponents, but so far this year the four West Coast teams in the NFL are a combined 5-0 in games on the East Coast. In fact, since the start of the 2019 season and including playoffs, teams traveling from the Pacific Time Zone to play in the Eastern Time Zone are a combined 20-4.
NUMBER, PLEASE
29: Years since a Giants QB has had as many rushing yards (43) through the first two games as Daniel Jones has (Jeff Hosstetler, 65 in 1991). Jones is the first Giants QB since 1970 to lead the team in rushing yards through two games.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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