The San Francisco 49ers will start Nick Mullens for another week and he’ll look to keep momentum against the New York Giants after a strong debut.
When Jimmy Garoppolo was lost for the season with a torn ACL, the San Francisco 49ers could’ve hung it up and worked for a better draft pick. However, they’ve continued to try and develop young players and see what else they have on the roster. As it turns out, they have Nick Mullens, who will make his second start at quarterback on Monday Night Football against the New York Giants in Week 10.
Mullens filled in last Thursday for an injured C.J. Beathard and submitted a phenomenal three-touchdown debut against the Raiders. That performance was enough to earn him the starting nod against the Giants. There’s no doubt that he’ll be looking to replicate that performance. What’s more, if he’s able to do just that, he could supplant Beathard as the backup to Jimmy G moving forward in San Francisco.
The offense for the 49ers has continued to see George Kittle emerge as a star, but the young players on the defense will be tested a bit against the Giants. Solomon Thomas and DeForest Buckner up front will be in the forefront, looking to wreak havoc against a Big Blue offensive line that’s been atrocious. What’s more, Reuben Foster and Fred Warner will be key in keeping Saquon Barkley in check.
To this point, the Giants would certainly like to forget about this season. Eli Manning and the offense have been a train wreck, with Barkley being the exception. That includes Odell Beckham Jr. who, though he’s been relatively productive, hasn’t lived up to his massive new contract that he signed coming into the 2018 season.
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Meanwhile, the defense hasn’t been much to write home about either. The pass rush hasn’t been there from Olivier Vernon or, really, anyone on the roster. With the secondary struggling and a severe lack of talent at linebacker, this team is just an issue overall. They set up nicely for Mullens’ encore performance to be another impressive outing.
TV and Live Stream Info
Date: Monday, Nov. 12, 2018
Start Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Stadium: Levi’s Stadium
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
The oddsmakers are seemingly buying (or somewhat so) Mullens and the 49ers playing at home against this one-win Giants team. However, you probably shouldn’t be expecting a ton of scoring with a pretty pedestrian Over/Under line for this matchup.
Betting Odds (via Odds Shark)
Point Spread: San Francisco -3.5
Moneyline: San Francisco -180, New York +155
Over/Under: 45
Prediction
At this point, there’s no reason to have any faith in this Giants team. And while it’s only been one week of Mullens-Mania in the regular season, that’s still more promising things that resulted in wins than Big Blue has shown this season. Yes, I think Barkley will make some plays, but it’ll be another loss for the G-Men.
Final Score: New York 17, San Francisco 23