EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Christian McCaffrey and Brian Robinson Jr. kept getting the ball and carving through the New York Giants’ defense. San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan wondered if he should mix in a pass or two before deciding against it.
“Screw it,” Shanahan thought. “We’ll just keep running it.”
The 49ers did that for the entire game, running all over the Giants on the way to a 34-24 victory on Sunday. McCaffrey accounted for 173 scrimmage yards — 106 on the ground on his 28 carries and 67 receiving on five catches. Many of the 49ers fans in attendance chanted “CMC! CMC!” after he got into the end zone past the midway point of the fourth quarter.
A week after a franchise-low 10 rushing attempts, Shanahan’s team ran the ball 39 times for 159 yards, including Robinson’s 18-yard touchdown that sent a lot of the Giants crowd to the exits.
“Collectively as a team, we were able to stick with it,” Shanahan said. “It was a huge team deal getting those run calls.”
Jones completed his first 14 passes on the way to finishing 19 of 24 for 235 yards and TD passes to McCaffrey and Jauan Jennings. Jones bounced back from a fumble forced by Brian Burns and caught by Abdul Carter to improve to 5-2 as a starter this season.
Pounding the ball against the Giants with not much resistance and plenty of missed tackles, the 49ers (6-3) quickly moved past a clunker of a loss at Houston, even without starting quarterback Brock Purdy for a fifth consecutive game. Robinson — who torched the Giants (2-7) during his first three NFL seasons with Washington — averaged 10.6 yards a carry to show it was not just McCaffrey having success on the ground.
“He runs so hard,” said McCaffrey, who had his 16th career game with a TD run and a TD catch, breaking a tie with Marshall Faulk for the most in league history. “To have him is huge for me. It means a lot to me. He pushes me, and the way he runs, if we can continue to kind of get that flow of the game in there, man, I’m really excited.”
San Francisco’s defense bounced back from allowing a touchdown on its opponent’s opening drive for the first time this year. The pass rush that has struggled got going as Clelin Ferrell and Sam Okuayinonu each sacked Jaxson Dart, whose TD run and pass to Gunner Olszewski came in garbage time when the result had already been determined.
“Chasing around Jaxson all day is such a big challenge,” Shanahan said. “But I thought we swarmed him very well and can’t say enough good things about the D-line.”
Dart was 24 of 33 for 191 yards with the TD passes to Theo Johnson and Olszewski. Johnson and Wan’Dale Robinson each had a drop on third down that cut short a couple of promising drives.
Combine those with blunders on defense and special teams and New York has lost three in a row, giving up at least 33 points in each of those games. A plane flew overhead before the game reading, “Mr. Mara enough is enough — clean house,” and coach Brian Daboll was asked afterward if his team’s record has him concerned.
“Look, we’re not where we need to be,” Daboll said. “We’ve got to continue to improve here. There’s some things that, I think, are improving and there’s some things that are not.”
Avoiding what would have been their first back-to-back losses this season, the Niners are in the thick of the race for first place in the NFC West.
“You really have to look at this game like a playoff game almost, and I feel like we answered the bell there,” Jones said. “We definitely answered the bell, but the challenge is don’t be complacent and we’ve got to do it again next week.”
Injuries
49ers: DL Mykel Williams left with a knee injury that Shanahan fears is a torn ACL. … Purdy was inactive after being listed as questionable.
Giants: C John Michael Schmitz left with a left shin injury in the third quarter and did not return. … ILB Darius Muasau injured an ankle in the second. … WR Beaux Collins was quickly ruled out in the second half with a neck injury. … CBs Paulson Adebo (knee) and Cor’Dale Flott (concussion) and S Jevon Holland (knee) were inactive, along with TE Daniel Bellinger (neck) and RT Jermaine Eluemunor (pectoral muscle).
Up next
49ers: Host the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday.
Giants: Visit the Chicago Bears next Sunday.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Sports Writer
