Deebo Samuel Taps Into his 2021 Form by Leading 49ers to Victory Over Giants

Never was there a doubt.

The San Francisco 49ers defeat the New York Giants 30-12 to improve their record to 3-0. Defeating the Giants was always a lock for the 49ers, and they were even expected to destroy them. However, this wasn't a Week 1 Pittsburgh Steelers easy victory. There was some battling for the 49ers in this game.

It all started with Brock Purdy. He wasn't too hot in this game, especially in the opening series. He missed roughly four easy throws on that drive and it forced the 49ers to settle for a field goal. The entire game it didn't feel like Purdy was on it. Some of that has to do with the offensive line struggling, but the instances he had time he didn't consistently make the most of it. Still, despite all of that, Purdy was more than enough for the 49ers on offense.

Purdy made a few sweet throws that did enough to make an impact. The greatest highlight for him was in the fourth quarter when he threw a beauty to Deebo Samuel on a back shoulder fade for a touchdown score. I'll say this about Purdy, the guy knows how to compensate for his lack of an arm. He threw that ball quickly and early to the front right pylon for Samuel to easily flip around and get it where only he could. Most impressively is that Purdy made this throw against the blitz.

The same happened on his first touchdown throw to rookie receiver Ronnie Bell. Both touchdown passes were amazing. He finished the game completing 25-of-37 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns. Much of his yards came via yards after the catch, but the most important stat is his zero interceptions again for him. Another impressive trait of Purdy is he never gets discouraged. He could've easily got in his own head throughout the game on some misses, yet he remains strong and confident. Look no further than how he handles pressure. He made the Giants inefficient with their constant blitzing.

The Giants blitzed Brock Prudy on 33 of his 39 dropbacks (84.6%), the highest blitz rate in a game in the NGS era.

Likewise, Purdy averaged the fastest time to throw of his career (2.34 seconds).

💡 Purdy vs Blitz: 20/31, 247 yards, 2 TD

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It also helps when Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel are playing phenomenally. Today's player of the game was Samuel by far. It might have been the best Samuel has played since his magical 2021 season. He caught 6 passes for 129 yards and one touchdown. The 49ers needed him today with Brandon Aiyuk inactive due to a shoulder injury. It goes to show that when one key player in the 49ers offense is out, they have more than enough talent to mitigate that absence. Hopefully Samuel can sustain this 2021 form. It'll only make the 49ers offense more unfair.

As for the 49ers defense, they looked strong from start to finish. Outside of the first offensive series from the Giants in both halves, they were hardly giving any ground. Nick Bosa got his first sack of the season, and they kept quarterback Daniel Jones in check with his rushing ability. He only had two rushes for five yards. They forced Jones to be an actual passing quarterback, which made it easy to defend the Giants offense who is missing star running back Saquon Barkley. Jones completed 22-of-32 passes for 137 yards, one interception, and was sacked twice

Business as usual for the 49ers. There was never a doubt that they would beat the Giants. It would've been nice if they could've made it more of a beatdown, but Thursday games are always tough for even the greatest of teams. The 49ers now get a little extra rest and will turn their attention to Week 4 where they play host to another weak team in the Arizona Cardinals at home.