Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants have some similarities this season.
They’re both coming off their worst loss of the season, at least in terms of point differential, because the Giants’ worst loss of the season was when they allowed 33 fourth-quarter points to the Broncos. Both teams are dealing with injuries to two of their best players: the 49ers on defense and the Giants on offense.
But the significant difference between the two teams is their records. The 49ers sit at 5-3 and are still competing in the NFC West, while the Giants are 2-6 and have already dug themselves a deep hole in the NFC East.
The 49ers hope those trends continue as they visit the Meadowlands to take on the Giants on Sunday. These are the numbers to know for the matchup:
6.1
The Giants’ pass rush has a 6.1 sack percentage, 22nd in the league.
The New York pass rush is quite perplexing, to say the least. The names and talent are there, but the results haven’t matched. New York’s 18 sacks on the season put them in the middle of the league, with more than half of those sacks coming at the credit of one player.
Brian Burns is tied with Myles Garrett atop the NFL with his 10 sacks through eight games this season. Of those eight games, Burns has recorded a sack in seven, with at least two in three. With how the 49ers’ offensive line poorly handled Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter last week, Burns should be salivating at the thought of facing the San Francisco front.
But outside of Burns, there hasn’t been a ton of production from the New York pass rush. The eight other Giants that have recorded a sack this season have combined for just eight sacks, with Kayvon Thibodeaux leading the way with 2.5 after combining for 17 sacks the last two seasons. The same for Dexter Lawrence, who only has half a sack in 2025 after recording a career-high nine in just 12 games last season. Even top-pick Abdul Carter has struggled with just a half sack of his own on more snaps played than Lawrence.
While the sack numbers haven’t been impressive, the Giants have been creating pressure. While Burns leads the team and league in sacks, he doesn’t lead the Giants in pressures. That would be the rookie Carter with 32. Then comes Burns with 27, followed by Thibodeaux with 25 and Lawrence with 16.
The New York pass rush has felt like a sleeping giant (pun semi-intended) this season. Hopefully, the 49ers’ offensive line doesn’t have a repeat performance from Houston because the Giants’ pass rush could make them pay.
148.9
New York’s defense has allowed 148.9 rushing yards per game, third-worst in the league.
A few weeks back, I mentioned how Atlanta’s run defense was the worst the 49ers had faced at that point of the season, and it needed to be a big Christian McCaffrey game. McCaffrey came through...
