Tag: San Francisco 49ers

Giants great Tiki Barber not a fan of NFL’s playoff overtime rules

Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs went into overtime, testing the new rule approved by the league last March.

Under the old rules, overtime periods were set at 10 minutes in length. If the team that possesses the ball first in overtime scores a touchdown on that drive, they win the game. The other offense never gets a chance to even take the field to answer.

On the other hand, if that first team kicks a field goal, the other team will get a possession to answer to win it with a touchdown or tie it with a field goal. At that point, the game becomes a ‘sudden death’ scenario with the next team to score points winning that game.

The new playoff overtime rules set the periods at 15 minutes instead of the 10-minute overtime period in the regular season. If the team that possesses the ball first does not score a touchdown, or if the score is tied after each team has had a possession, then sudden death sets in, and the next score wins the game.

Former New York Giants great Tiki Barber believes the overtime rules in the postseason are nonsense, claiming they make the clock irrelevant.

“The new NFL overtime rule in the playoffs is nonsense. It’s absolute nonsense. To make a clock mean nothing is nonsense,” Barber said Monday on WFAN. “The clock has to end the game. I understand why they do it this way because you want to be fair. But it takes all urgency out of football.

“I hate that. Football, in my mind, is competing against an opponent. But it’s also competing against these forces that constrain you. It’s the field, it’s the officials, and it’s the clock. And overtime in the NFL playoffs, they have neutered the clock, and it makes no sense to me.”

I understand his point, but keep in mind, it’s the postseason. The game needs to produce a winner. In the old days (think the 1956 NFL Championship between the Giants and Baltimore Colts) it was a true sudden-death affair — first team to score wins.

The clock ticked but it clearly was irrelevant when it came to urgency as Tiki was intimating. Isn’t that basically still the case? The only difference between 1958 and today is that both teams get a shot as the clock ticks in the background, albeit pointlessly.



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8 ex-New York Giants will play or participate in Super Bowl LVIII

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens, 17-10, to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LVIII.

Mere hours later, the San Francisco 49ers roared back and picked up a come-from-behind win over the Detroit Lions, 34-31, sending them to The Big Game.

The game will be a rematch of Super Bowl LIV — a 31-20 Kansas City victory.

There will also be a slight New York Giants flavor to the entire thing. Eight former members of the team will either play, coach or participate in the NFL’s classic finale.

Here’s a look at all eight (front office members were not included):

New York Giants helmet

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 1992

AP Photo/John Munson

Years with Giants: 2022

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2019

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Years with Giants: 2020-2021

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2007-2008, 2015-2017

Noah K. Murray/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2004-2017

AP Photo/Brett Duke

Years with Giants: 2021-2022

Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

Years with Giants: 2022

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18 ex-New York Giants will compete in AFC, NFC Championship Games

Following a wild weekend of football, the 2023 AFC Championship Game and 2023 NFC Championship Game are officially set.

The Baltimore Ravens will play host to the Kanas City Chiefs on the AFC side of things. That game will have a distinct New York Giants flavor at the wide receiver position with a familiar face also running the Chiefs’ defense.

Over in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers will host the Detroit Lions, who are busy erasing the past and creating a new story for themselves. They, of course, are led by a former Giant.

In total, 18 former coaches and players who have passed through the Giants organization will partake in the championship festivities next Sunday. Here’s a look at each of them.

Brian Bahr/ALLSPORT

Years with Giants: 1999-2002

Scott R. Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2016

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2017-2018

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2016-2017

AP Photo/David Dermer

Years with Giants: 2021

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 1992

AP Photo/John Munson

Years with Giants: 2022

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2019

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Years with Giants: 2020-2021

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2007-2008, 2015-2017

Noah K. Murray/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2004-2017

AP Photo/Brett Duke

Years with Giants: 2021-2022

Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images

Years with Giants: 2022

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2012

James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2014-2018

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2016

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2019-2020

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Years with Giants: 2016-2017, 2022

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Giants interviewed Matthew Harper for special teams coordinator role

The New York Giants interviewed San Francisco 49ers assistant Matt Harper for their vacant special teams coordinator position over the weekend.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report the news.

Harper, 39, has been the 49ers assistant special teams coach since 2021 and served as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles for eight seasons prior to his stint in San Francisco.

The Giants parted ways with Thomas McGaughey last week. McGaughey served as the Giants’ special teams coordinator for six seasons under three different head coaches — Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge, and Brian Daboll.

In addition to Harper, a New Jersey native, the Giants have requested interviews with several other candidates but have been denied.



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49ers drowning in Brock Purdy questions after disastrous night

Brock Purdy went from MVP favorite to 49ers concern in three quarters.

Purdy threw four interceptions in a 33-19 loss to the Ravens on Christmas night and left the game with his second stinger in as many weeks.

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan was optimistic that the injury would not force Purdy to miss any time as the 11-4 49ers try to hold on to the top seed in the NFC.

“He stayed in there, kept battling,” Shanahan told reporters after the game. “Our whole team struggled there in the second half, so it wasn’t just him.

“I know he was disappointed not being able to finish it there, but given that stinger again, I just wanted to keep him out of there. Ready for him to bounce back next week.”

Purdy was replaced in the fourth quarter by Sam Darnold, who threw a touchdown pass with San Francisco futilely trying to rally late.

Brock Purdy walks off the field after suffering an injury against the Ravens. AP

“It’s the NFL,” Purdy said. “We have some opportunities coming up, and we still got two games left in the regular season before we get into playoffs. For me, [I’m] trying to look at the big picture of what we’re trying to do, what our team goals are. But at the same time, I have to look myself in the mirror and ask myself why or how that happened and why I made those decisions?

“Our team came ready to play, and for me to make some decisions like that … it’s not fair to these guys. I have to realize that and understand that, and I have to get better for my team.”

Purdy, who was the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, had been expertly running Shanahan’s offense with a bevy of dangerous weapons in Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk.

The question all season has been how much credit Purdy deserves, given the talent around him.

The 23-year-old had the 49ers on the move on their first drive of the game, but was picked off in the endzone by safety Kyle Hamilton.

Brock Purdy tries to evade the Ravens pass rush. Getty Images

Shanahan called that interception the “big mistake” of the night, but it was far from Purdy’s only one.

He was intercepted on two of the next three possessions and was constantly under pressure from a swarming Ravens defense.

“I got to ask myself, ‘All right, who are you?’” Purdy said. “‘What do you stand for? Who are you when things are good? Who are you when things don’t go your way?’ It’s easy to be riding high and thinking you’re the man when things are going well, winning games and all that kind of stuff. And you don’t really see a whole lot of adversity in some games and whatnot, and this is the reality of the NFL.

“I obviously have to look myself in the mirror, watch the plays ready to get better, make some cleaner decisions, help my team put up points and score and protect the ball. And when things don’t go my way, it’s understanding I can’t be acting out. I have to be real with myself and be better, but I want to be the same guy every day. I want to be consistent in what I do and how I do things; whether things are going well or not, I know who I am, and I’m not going to waver from that.”

Gus Edwards scores a touchdown for the Ravens. Getty Images

The 49ers, who finish the season against the Commanders and Rams, are tied atop the NFC with the Eagles and Lions but currently own the tiebreaker.

Lamar Jackson, who threw two touchdown passes in an impressive performance, took over as the MVP favorite and has the Ravens at 12-3 with the best record in football.

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Raiders-Chiefs, Giants-Eagles, Ravens-49ers NFL DFS PrizePicks

Happy holidays! Week 16 of the NFL season wraps up with three games on Christmas Day: 

  • Raiders vs. Chiefs, 1 p.m. ET
  • Giants vs. Eagles, 4:30 ET
  • Ravens vs. 49ers, 8:15 p.m. ET

Let’s take a look at three of my favorite projections to target on PrizePicks. 

Rashee Rice (Chiefs) more than 67.5 receiving yards 

Rice has seen his role grow tremendously as the season has progressed. Over the past four weeks, he has earned an incredible 38 targets while leading the team with a 27.5% target share. 

The rookie wideout has been Patrick Mahomes’ first read on a whopping 32.7% of his drop-backs in that timeframe. If Rice had posted that same first-read rate over the full season, he would rank 11th in the league, just behind the Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown and ahead of the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb. 

His breakout began against this same Raiders defense in Week 12 when he posted eight receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. 

Rice has averaged 83.5 receiving yards in the four games since. He has eclipsed the 67.5 receiving yards projection in three of those four games, and the one time he came up short he was just 3.5 yards shy of the projection. 

Assuming his recent volume holds up, Rice should be able to beat this projection of 67.5 receiving yards. 

Darren Waller (Giants) more than 3.5 receptions 

The Giants tight end missed five games because of a hamstring injury earlier this season. Waller returned in Week 15 against the Saints and hauled in four receptions for 40 yards. 

He posted that production despite playing just 42% of the snaps. The Giants have clearly been cautious in bringing him back, as Waller played on at least 80% of snaps in six of seven games to begin the season. He should be in for increased playing time as he continues to move further away from the injury. 

Waller has topped 3.5 receptions in five of eight healthy games this season despite spotty quarterback play from Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor earlier in the year. Tommy DeVito has arguably played better than any other QB to suit up for the Giants this season. 


Giants tight end Darren Waller AP

The Giants wide receivers room lacks talent and Waller should have no trouble earning targets from DeVito this week. The game script should feature heavy pass volume for the Giants, as they project to be playing from behind.   

Waller should see his playing time tick up in this game and he could be featured as the top option in the passing game, allowing him to easily rack up more than 3.5 receptions.

Christian McCaffrey (49ers) more than 120.5 rushing + receiving yards 

McCaffrey leads the NFL with 1,801 scrimmage yards this season. Going into the week, he had racked up nearly 250 more scrimmage yards than his closest competitor, Tyreek Hill. 

McCaffrey has averaged more than 128 rushing + receiving yards per game this season, and he has recorded more than 120.5 yards in eight of 14 games. In the two of those games he fell short of this projection he missed by fewer than 3 yards. 

The All-Pro running back has at least 121 scrimmage yards in five of his last six games, including in each of the last four games. 


49ers running back Christian McCaffrey Getty Images

Baltimore should be able to push back against the Niners and keep this game relatively close into the fourth quarter, which would help secure a huge workload for McCaffrey. 

The Ravens defense is a difficult matchup as they rank top 10 in yards allowed on the ground and through the air, but the Niners will surely find a way to get McCaffrey in open space where he can win in any matchup. 

Expect McCaffrey to rack up more than 120.5 rushing + receiving yards in what should be a competitive game to close out Week 16.

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New York Giants fined more than 49ers following Week 3 clash

Following a Week 3 game between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers, it appeared inevitable that several fines would be handed down from the NFL.

After all, the 49ers played a very dirty game that saw offensive lineman Trent Williams punch defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson in the face and center Jake Brendel deliberately injure defensive tackle D.J. Davidson.

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Williams was penalized but not ejected for his flagrant personal foul, while Brendel didn’t even draw a flag.

After the game, the NFL offered up a lame excuse for why Williams wasn’t ejected.

“When we have a flag thrown on the field for unnecessary roughness, members of the officiating department are able to review available video, Rule 19, to determine if there is a flagrant action that should result in a disqualification,” NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson said after the game. “We ended up looking at the video we had available to us, and we just didn’t see anything that rose to the level of flagrant, which is the standard that we have to apply to disqualify the player.”

The league’s clown show continued this week as Brendel somehow escaped both a fine and a suspension. And while Williams was fined $11,473 for his punch, he also avoided a suspension.

Adding to the circus, the NFL fined A’Shawn Robinson the same $11,473 for unnecessary roughness and also hit linebacker Jihad Ward with a $8,139 fine for unnecessary roughness.

Still not laughing at the show? Well, the NFL decided to hit Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams with the game’s biggest fine, slapping him with an invoice for $16,391. The reasoning? Because he made a very normal, everyday football play.

Just to recap: Robinson was fined the same amount as Trent Williams after getting punched in the face.

And this “penalty:”

Was fined more than this non-penalty:

Okay then.



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Anonymous 49ers players talk trash about Daniel Jones from the shadows

Days removed from making NFL history with a legendary come-from-behind victory over the Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones once again found himself in the crosshairs.

Jones and the Giants were soundly beaten by the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football, and that allowed the DJ critics to emerge from the rocks they had been hiding under.

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Although Jones was the least of the Giants’ concerns on the night, he wasn’t able to beat the 49ers singlehandedly. And for Danny Dimes, that’s really all it takes to stir people up.

Not only did Jones catch heat on social media and from national talking heads, he also caught a few unprovoked shots from anonymous members of the 49ers.

“The dude did not want to throw the ball,” one unnamed 49ers defender told Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle. “Early on, you could tell it wasn’t gonna happen. Everything was a checkdown. At that point, we knew what time it was.”

Nothing screams “brave” like insulting another man through the comfort of anonymity.

Other anonymous 49ers also chimed in. One called Jones’ salary “unbelievable.” A second yelled out from the shadows, “That’s a travesty, man.” A third said Jones’ contract was “ridiculous.”

All four were too scared to stand by their opinion publicly, which really calls into question how strongly they believe the words that are falling off their tongues.

But some 49ers were brave enough to put their name out there. They showed far more guts than their teammates.

“A lot of people who make all that money don’t even deserve it. I think they took a chance (when they paid him). I mean, he’s not bad. And if you ain’t got nothing better,” 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw said.

“Forty million dollars a year is a lot of money,” Niners cornerback Charvarius (Mooney) Ward said.

Notice how toned down those criticisms are compared to those who shared their hot takes anonymously?

Either way, it’s considered taboo in the NFL to speak on another player’s salary. It’s a locker-room no-no and violating the league’s unwritten rules is looked down upon. Doing it all anonymously is viewed in an even more negative light and warrants no respect.

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Why did Giants abandon the run, handcuff Daniel Jones in Week 3?

The only way the New York Giants were going to stay with the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night was to control the clock with the running game and move the chains.

They didn’t.

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Correct that. They didn’t try.

The Giants rushed for 11 times in a game that was still winnable early in the fourth quarter. They gained just 29 yards without their star running back Saquon Barkley and their other weapon — quarterback Daniel Jones — only attempted two rushes for a total of five yards.

The 49ers were a little shocked after the Giants’ second-half assault of the Cardinals last Sunday in which Jones both ran freely and took deep shots down the field in the passing game.

The offensive line was, once again, a makeshift one with left tackle Andrew Thomas and left guard Ben Bredeson inactive with injuries. The Giants simply did not allow Jones to be exposed to the extremely aggressive Niners defense. That’s a defeatist approach. No wonder they lost by 18 points.

Jones used a two-step drop and released the ball quickly to avoid being ravaged by the San Francisco front. He completed 22 of 32 passes for a mere 137 yards on the night. That’s just 4.3 yards per attempt. Jones came into the game averaging 6.5 yards per attempt.

If the Giants plan on making another playoff run this season, the offensive line has to be trusted so Jones can lead this team like he did in Arizona. If they can’t, co-owner John Mara will be facing the thing he loathes the most — meaningless December games.



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Best and worst performers vs. 49ers

The New York Giants continued their prime-time struggles on Thursday night, falling to the San Francisco 49ers, 30-12, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

With the loss, the Giants fall to 1-2 on the season and now face another prime-time game in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks.

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Between now and then, the Giants have to heal up and clean up a lot of their poor play, which was once again on full display against the 49ers and reflected in the Pro Football Focus grades.

Here’s a look at the best and worst performers from the Week 3 defeat.

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