Giants at 49ers 2017, Week 10: Big Blue View staff picks, predictions

If the 1-7 New York Giants can’t beat the 0-9 San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, is there anyone left they can beat this season? Let’s see what your Big Blue View contributors think will happen.

Chris Pflum

This is a game the Giants absolutely should win.

The 49ers have a rookie quarterback who is missing his best offensive lineman and some of his best offensive weapons. Their defense is missing some of it's best players and is one of the worst in the league.

But still... The Giants have shown that they can lose to anyone, and in a variety of painful ways.

The Niners know who they are. They know that they are a young, rebuilding team that only recently acquired (who they hope to be) their franchise quarterback. They know that right now they're only playing to win for winning's sake. The Giants, on the other hand, seem to be a team in disarray. There are annonymous quotes seeping out of the locker room and the team (as a whole) looked flat and lifeless on the field against the Rams.

The Giants should field the more talented team Sunday afternoon, but how whether the team comes out of the tunnel playing to win is another matter entirely -- or whether they will figure out yet another new way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I said I think the Giants should win, but I don't think anyone should have any confidence in them.

Final score: 49ers 17, Giants 14

Mike Gallop

I don’t believe the Giants are as bad as they are playing, even with the injured players. That must mean that the Giants actually have quit on McAdoo, and/or he’s a terrible coach.. The game itself seems like a coin flip, so home field gets the nod.

Final score: 49ers 21, Giants 17

Kevin Haswell

Sunday's matchup between the 49ers and the Giants will come down to the team with more talent. Even though New York is without multiple players, they still have more talent then San Fransisco and that's what will be the decider. I think the 49ers make it more interesting than people think it would be.

Final score: Giants 24, 49ers 17

Dan Pizzuta

Entering the season, no one would have guessed we’d be going into this Week 10 matchup with the Giants and 49ers seen as equals. If we did, we probably would have guessed San Francisco was a pleasant surprise. But here we are, with these two teams combined for one win. The Giants right now are 28th in DVOA -- 19th on offense, 28th on defense, and 30th on special teams. The 49ers are 29th in DVOA -- 30th in offense, 25th in defense, but eighth in special teams.

Luckily for the Giants, that big advantage comes from the punting game and not the return game on either punts or kicks. The Giants already start with the league’s fifth-worst field position on offense, so it’s not like getting pinned deep by a punt will be something new for this team. The amount I just talked about special teams should show how dire it is to find anything interesting about this game.

San Francisco feels like a good young team heading in the right direction -- literally the opposite of the Giants -- but it’s still just not clicking yet, especially with C.J. Beathard still as the starting quarterback. This might be the Giants’ best chance at another win for the rest of the season, but even that might not be too impressive.

Final score: Giants 17, 49ers 13

Valentine’s View

I have gone back and forth on this one all week. Serving as the guest analyst for SBNation.com this week, I actually picked the 49ers to win. But, I made that pick several days ago and I’ve had a lot of time to think about it and digest the events of the week for the Giants.

If the Giants don’t play with pride this week they probably won’t do so for the remainder of the 2017 season. Being embarrassed by the Los Angeles Rams, 51-17, was bad enough. It had to wound the players even more that their effort in that game has been called into question. The whole “anonymous quote” thing, including the angry reaction of a number of locker room leaders to an unnamed player going public, is also part of the story.

The more I have mulled it over, the more I believe we will see a Giants team that plays with some determination on Sunday. To be honest, I don’t think that has anything to do with showing support for coach Ben McAdoo. I think there are many players embarrassed by 51-17, by being 1-7, by being embroiled in locker room turmoil.

Finally, Eli Manning. My guess is that Manning isn’t happy with his play last week, and he’s probably even less thrilled about the questions he has endured all week about perhaps ceding playing time to Davis Webb. I think he has a big day.

Final score: Giants 27, 49ers 24