After ending their 6 game losing streak last Thursday against the los umm oakland traders, Monday Night Football returns to Levis as the Niners will face off against the new york football giants. As us Faithful know Niners have had some great triumphs (see The Comeback Wild Card weekend 02) and some heartbreak’s (’90 and ’11 NFC Championship games). The Niners and giants have been playing each other since 1952 with both teams winning 20 wins each. Monday will mark one year to the date that we got our first win last year (I thought that was pretty cool). MNF is always exciting to watch I was at the last MNF game at Levis (28-0 Niners win to open the 2016 season) and Levis was crackin. As always I will be at Empire Row partaking in the tailgate party and would love to see any Niners fans that want to join us there. Should be a fun game under the lights and one we should win. Here is this week’s Keys To Victory.
- No Turnovers
The Niners are 31st in the league when it comes to turnover differential at -13. The offense was turnover free last week and IMO that was the most important factor in scoring a season high 34 points all on offense. The giants have a better pass defense (ranked 16th) than the traders (ranked 22nd) had last week. Nick Mullens played better than I could have ever dreamed last week, but that was a very bad traders secondary this week will be more of a challenge. Two things that B.D.N. has going for him this week is new york has only 10 sacks (ranked 31st) all season and have only picked the ball off 4 times. If Mullens can show the poise he did last week the offense should be able to make plays.
- Run the Football
With the extra rest that playing a Thursday night game brings. Matt Breida should be as close to 100% as he can be this late into the season. Running the football will not only allow the whole offense (including Kyle Shanahan) to find a rhythm but also keep eli manning and Co off the field. Any Faithful should not want B.D.N. to drop back 30-40 times. Look for a pretty even Run Pass ratio if anything leaning more heavy on the running game than the passing game.
- Sack manning
Last week the Niners had a season high 8 sacks against a struggling traders o-line. The good news for the Niners pass rush is the only o-line that might be worse than the traders is the giants. No other QB in the league has taken more sacks (31) than eli manning this season. Per Pro Football Focus the giants have an overall pass blocking grade of 61.4 just ahead of the tardinals. Add to that the manning has a 61.9 passer rating when under pressure and you can bet that building on last week’s performance has been a focus all week. If the Niners can have the same type of success this week I find it very hard to not see us come away with the W.
- No mental mistakes
All season long really for the last two seasons the Niners inability to make a play when the games on the line have killed us time and time again. Out of the 17 losses we have had the last two seasons 8 have been by 3 points or less. That’s the difference between 8-17 record and a 16-9 record. The point I’m making is that in the NFL the margin of victory is so small that most of the time games come down to one or two plays. If we can learn to make those plays this season it will pay HUGE dividends next year and beyond.
Thanks for reading my blog make sure to check out Niner Faithful Radio’s Pregame Special Monday at 3 p.m. PST Thanks for all your love and support GO NINERS!!!!!
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