COMMENTARY : 49ers Gave Giants a Heavy Dose of Reality

It could have been worse, it should have been worse and it figures to get worse. This, after all, was only the season opener. Those who would like to remember the New York Giants’ defense fondly are advised to skip this season and pop in those 2-year-old videotapes instead. Remember them when they were fast, mean and ornery young men. They are none of that now.

It is a measure of the sad state of the Giants’ defense that we must pause here to give thanks to Jerry Rice, of all people. The San Francisco 49ers’ All-Pro wide receiver is hardly the charitable type, especially when it comes to opposing defenses. But there he was in the first quarter Sunday, being penalized for a false start that nullified the first 49ers touchdown. There he was in the second quarter, being penalized for illegal motion, nullifying a 52-yard pass play to the Giants’ 23. On both possessions, the 49ers failed to score.

Thanks to those and other self-imposed screwups, for three quarters the 49ers maintained a mere 10-point lead and the Giants and their fans maintained the delusion that they actually had a chance to win this game.

Dream on. As it was, the 49ers’ 31-14 victory was the Giants’ worst opening-game loss since 1965, and if anyone had a difficult time grasping what happened, it was the 49ers, not the Giants. The 49ers came to town thinking of the Giants as a great defensive team and an extremely worthy opponent. They left town knowing that to be a lie.

“I am a very prideful person,” Giants linebacker Carl Banks said. “There are still a lot of people in this locker room with prideful feelings.”

Pride, Shakespeare wrote, goeth before a fall.

Tim-ber.

Joe Montana is on injured reserve, and Steve Young was knocked out of the game in the first quarter with a concussion, so the 49ers turned the quarterbacking over to third-stringer Steve Bono. Why not Sonny Bono? Anyone could have looked out over the Giants’ defense and sung, “I Got You Babe.”

Bono had ‘em, all right. Receivers open to the left, open to the right, open up the middle. Who to throw to, who to go to? Decisions, decisions.

And let us not forget the 49ers’ running game. The 49ers are about as famous for their running game as the Boston Red Sox are for theirs. But the 49ers ran on the Giants. Oh, how they ran. They ran inside, they ran outside and they ran where Banks, an alleged star, is supposed to shine. They ran 35 times for 172 yards -- 4.9 yards a carry.

Remember how the Giants’ linebackers used to absolutely stuff any team that tried to run wide? Hold on to those memories. That’s all that’s left.

“I’m going to be a standup person and I hope everyone else is so we can get this straightened out right away,” Banks said, mindful that “right away” is important with the Cowboys, Bears and Raiders up next. “Until I evaluate the film, I can’t say for sure, but right now, I’m going to take responsibility for every run to the left side. I’ll say I had a less than perfect game.”

What about pass coverage of backs flaring out of the backfield? That the 49ers love to use fullback Tom Rathman for play-action flare passes, especially near the goal line, is about as big a secret as the fact President Bush is running for re-election. So how come Rathman caught five passes Sunday, including three for touchdowns?

“We didn’t play the play-action game of the 49ers very well,” Giants Coach Ray Handley said.

Exactly what did the Giants’ defense play well? Thanks to Rice’s illegal motion nullifying the 52-yarder to John Taylor, the 49ers’ long gain of the day was a 36-yarder to Taylor. The Giants, mindful they gave up nine pass plays last season of 50 or more yards, were determined that the 49ers receivers would not get behind them. At their leisure, 49ers receivers caught 19 of 28 passes in front of them.

The Giants changed defensive coordinators in the off-season. But can they change the results?

“There’s nothing wrong with the (new) system,” linebacker Steve DeOssie said.

And there was probably nothing wrong with the old system, either. What’s wrong is that the Giants haven’t drafted a defensive player on the first round since they chose end Eric Dorsey in 1986.

That draft netted three other defensive starters -- nose tackle Erik Howard, linebacker Pepper Johnson and cornerback Mark Collins, all on the second round. Since then, the Giants have failed to make defense a draft priority. Now, that shortsightedness is killing them.

“There’s a lot of things the 49ers were able to do that they shouldn’t have been able to do,” Howard said. “If the 49ers are able to run the ball on us, we’ve to get something done pretty quick.”

But can they? Unless and until they do, the Giants are going to be a sorry and tired act.