PFF grades, stats for 49ers-Giants

The San Francisco 49ers improved to 6-4 with their win over the New York Giants, and while it was not a pretty victory, there were plenty of highlights. They were primarily on the defensive side of the ball, but the team did enough to get away with a victory.

With that in mind, we're back for another week of PFF grades and stats. If you have any questions about this info, let me know. I can't go in and copy and paste all their content here because they make a living off that information. However, I can provide some details. And if you have any questions about their process, let me know and I can talk to Jeff Deeney, who is available to answer questions as best he can.

Usual disclaimer: No one stat or grade or measurement is the be-all, end-all when analyzing performance. However, each stat can provide a little something extra to figuring out the bigger picture. If you get a minute, I highly recommend reading this 2-part series (Part 1, Part 2) at our Eagles blog, taking a look at their system.

Offensive line and run game

Given the line's struggles this year, I'm sure we'll be discussing them plenty in this PFF recap. Here is a rundown of their numbers. The grades, in order, are overall, pass blocking, run blocking. There were no negatives on the day for penalties, so I am leaving those grades out.

Joe Staley: 2.2, 2.0, -0.1
Mike Iupati: -1.0, -3.6, 2.4
Marcus Martin: 1.4, 0.8, 0.5
Alex Boone: 1.0, 0.4, 0.4
Anthony Davis: -0.7, -3.4, 2.4

The 49ers found their greatest success in the run game on Sunday, with Frank Gore rushing 19 times for 95 yards. The Giants came into the game allowing huge rushing totals outside the left and right tackles. The 49ers ran five times off left tackle, and 15 times off right tackle. On the runs to the left they finished with -5 yards, but on runs to the right they finished with 90 yards, for a 6.0 ypc. They found success and hammered it.

Secondary

The 49ers cornerback depth chart is ravaged by injuries. Chris Cook and Jimmie Ward were placed on injured reserve, and Tramaine Brock is out with a hamstring injury. That left the 49ers with Perrish Cox, Chris Culliver, Dontae Johnson, and Leon McFadden on Sunday. Johnson came on when the 49ers went into the nickel, but as A.Gordon pointed out in the snap count comments, Cox stayed outside for the most part, while Johnson played in the slot. Johnson finished the game giving up three catches on four targets for 32 yards. He also blitzed twice and got QB hits in both.

Johnson finished the game with 56 snaps, and according to Jeff Deeney from PFF, he spent 53 of the snaps in the slot. Cox played all 70 defensive snaps, and spent 65 on the outside, and none in the slot. It was great to see Vic Fangio recognize that Cox has had much more success on the outside. He is still an available emergency option, but Johnson is likely to stick with the slot role until Tramaine Brock gets healthy.

Chris Culliver continues to play some strong football. He sometimes has trouble spotting the ball down the field, but all in all, he has done good work for the 49ers the last few weeks. On Sunday, he grabbed an interception, and gave up only three receptions for 35 yards, on 11 targets.

Perrish Cox struggled against the emerging Odell Beckham, Jr. OBJ finished the game with six receptions for 93 yards, with Cox giving up four for 70 yards.

Pass rush

Aaron Lynch filled up the stat sheet with ten QB pressures. He had one sack and nine hurries. He also had a sack negated by a defensive holding penalty. He faced Charles Brown, who has been brutal in pass protection, and Lynch took advantage.

Aldon Smith had one hit on the quarterback to go along with six hurries. The key with Smith was that he found himself getting double- and triple-teamed on multiple occasions. Add in instances of running backs chipping him, and it is perfectly clear how important he is to the 49ers pass rush. They only had two sacks, but the pressure was fairly constant on Eli Manning. The 49ers were facing a Giants offensive line that was fairly blah in pass protection, but in previous weeks, they might have gotten half the pressure on Manning.