49ers emulate one of the NFL's greatest ever offenses in Week 3 win over Giants

The 49ers have a loaded offense stacked with talent, and on Thursday it emulated one of the best attacks in NFL history. San Francisco improved to 3-0 in its home opener, overcoming a slow start to cruise to a 30-12 primetime win over the Giants. It marked the third successive game in which the 49ers […]

Nicholas McGee

Sep 22, 2023 12:31 AM EDT

Sep 21, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) celebrates after catching a pass for a first down against the New York Giants in the third quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The 49ers have a loaded offense stacked with talent, and on Thursday it emulated one of the best attacks in NFL history.

San Francisco improved to 3-0 in its home opener, overcoming a slow start to cruise to a 30-12 primetime win over the Giants.

It marked the third successive game in which the 49ers have scored exactly 30 points, having done so in road wins over the Steelers and the Rams.

As such, it was a history-making effort from the 49ers, who became only the third team in NFL history to win their opening three games while scoring the same number of points each time.

The only other teams to achieve that feat, the 1936 Pittsburgh Pirates (10 points) and the 2007 New England Patriots (38 points). One of those things is not like the other.

There hasn't been much written about a low-scoring Pirates team that, for those curious, eventually finished 6-6, but the 2007 Patriots are firmly enshrined in the annals of NFL history.

The #49ers are the third team in NFL history to start the season 3-0 while scoring the same number of points in each game (30 points), per @NFLResearch.

The other two teams: 2007 Patriots (38 points) and the 1936 Pittsburgh Pirates (10 points).
— Clayton Holloway (@HollowayNFLN) September 22, 2023

New England scored 75 touchdowns and 589 points in the season, setting records in both categories that were eventually broken by the 2013 Denver Broncos. The Patriots went on to finish 16-0 in the regular season before infamously losing the Super Bowl to the Giants.

The 49ers obviously want to avoid replicating the finale to that historic Patriots season and there is a long way to go before they will even allow themselves to think about 17-0.

However, they are on course for 510 points, which would be a franchise record. It's a difficult pace to sustain, but if the 49ers can come close to doing so, they'll likely be in tremendous shape to be the number one seed in the NFC.