It’s seven days until 49ers training camp-week begins! We want to look at each opponent and provide a reason for and against the 49ers beating them. We’ve included a poll for the community to vote on whether they expect a win or a loss. We’ll see what kind of prediction this provides at the end.
Week 1 @ Minnesota Vikings
Week 2 vs. Detroit Lions
Week 3 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Week 4 @ Los Angeles Chargers
Week 5 vs. Arizona Cardinals
Week 6 @ Green Bay Packers
Week 7 vs. Los Angeles Rams
Week 8 @ Arizona Cardinals
Week 9 vs. Oakland Raiders
The 49ers will host the New York Giants in Week 10, a team that is having their own rebuild issues. Now that Ben McAdoo is out as head coach, Pat Shurmur is getting his second chance. The Giants are a team you just can’t sleep on ever. A switch gets thrown and they are a team to fear in the league. Only time will tell if this is one of those years.
Reason For: The Giants secondary
In 2017 the Giants surrendered the second-most yards through the air with 4,038 yards. Only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could do worse. This vulnerability certainly contributed to them being in the back half of the league in points per game. Now, this can blamed on the numerous injuries the team suffered in 2017, but the secondary didn’t get hit with the bug near as bad as other positions (can you say, “wide receiver?”). The numerous defensive line injuries could also have contributed to this. But 31/32. That’s just bad, even with injuries.
So dial-a-Jimmy Garoppolo. With the new and improved 49ers wide receiver group, Jimmy G could very well feast on the Giants secondary with intermediate routes and not stop. In fact, if the secondary is even half as bad this year, Garoppolo could be turning in a 300-yard game.
Reason Against: The Giants wide receivers
While he’s wildly inconsistent, Eli Manning has his receivers back to help him and they can cause all sorts of problems for the 49ers. Especially now that the Giants have done some improvements to that offensive line. Bleacher Report ranked the Giants wide receivers group as a whole as No. 4. The (hopeful) return of Odell Beckham Jr. helps this group out, but beyond Beckham, Manning has weapons to throw to if he has an on day.
The 49ers secondary will have a great test here to see how much they’ve improved over the season. If they can keep the wide receivers from dancing around the field, they have taken that step we all have wanted.
If you can’t see the poll, click here.