For long stretches in the second half, the Giants looked like the 1-3 team, the one without an identity or much interest in winning. But Eli Manning got things jump-started with a touchdown drive late in the third quarter, and did it again with seconds left in the game to put away a 49ers outfit no one expected to still be hanging around by the final whistle.

The good news: The Giants move to 3-2 and are in sole possession of first place in the NFC East (the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins are all 2-3).

The bad news: There's plenty to clean up, starting with some ill-timed play-calls, similar to the ones that doomed New York back in Week 1 against the Cowboys (more on that below). More good news: The division is a train wreck, which allows the Giants a little wiggle room when it comes to less-than-textbook football.

1. It wasn't pretty (and rarely is) but Eli Manning is playing some pretty good football. Manning finished 41 of 54 (yep, 54 attempts -- a career high) for 441 yards, three touchdowns and a terrible interception at the end of the first half that swung the momentum in the 49ers' favor after the break. Despite that miscue, Manning has not only been playing at a high level, he's currently the best quarterback named Manning in the league, which we've never been able to say before.

Heading into the game, Eli ranked 11th in Football Outsides' QB efficiency metric, just ahead of Philip Rivers. By comparison, Peyton, who had another pedestrian effort Sunday against the Raiders, ranked 32nd. Put another way: having a true franchise quarterback can mask a lot of shortcomings elsewhere on the roster, which is something the other NFC East teams -- with Kirk Cousins, Sam Bradford and Brandon Weeden and/or Matt Cassel under center -- know all about.

2. Still, what were the Giants doing on that penultimate drive? Yes, we get it: Odell Beckham Jr. and Rueben Randle were on the bench with hamstring injuries, but on eight of the first 11 plays, Manning was still throwing the ball. That included a first-and-10 from the 49ers' 14-yard line with six minutes to go. But after an incompletion, the Giants ran the ball on second-and-10, and did it again on third-and-7. And to no one's surprise, on fourth-and-1, they kicked a field goal to take the 23-20 lead.

Why run it on second and third down there? What's the thinking, other than "Let's get ultra-conservative, so much so that even Colin Kaepernick will have enough time to lead a comeback?" Again, we get it, the Giants' best receivers were on the bench, but if coach Tom Coughlin learned anything from that Week 1 loss it's that settling for field goals when you can score touchdowns is a terrible idea.

Luckily for New York, Larry Donnell made the catch of a lifetime about 5 minutes and 45 seconds later.

Larry Donnell had the catch of a lifetime on the Giants' final drive. (USATSI)
Larry Donnell has the catch of a lifetime on the Giants' final drive. (USATSI)

3. Not even the NFL could deny that this was a catch. Sadly, what is and isn't a catch has become a weekly talking point around the NFL, but Donnell made magic happen -- thanks to a terrific throw from Manning -- and it sealed the Giants' win with 20 seconds to go.

Just how good was that throw and catch? Here's ESPN writer and former NFL safety Matt Bowen:

It didn't hurt the Giants' offense that Beckham returned to the field for that last drive, and even drew a pass interference call several plays before. Yeah, he was questionable with a hamstring but apparently he operates under different physical laws than the rest of us. But you already knew that ...

4. Odell Beckham is instant offense. After Manning's end-of-half, in-the-end zone interception, followed by a mostly sluggish third quarter, the Giants' offense got things turned around when -- wait for it -- Beckham took what looked like an innocuous pass and turned it into six.

5. More Beckham (get used to it). You know how to make Beckham's freakish athleticism seem even more impressive? Slo-mo:

There's more:

Beckham finished with seven catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.

6. Silver lining for Colin Kaepernick? Heading into the game, first-year coach Jim Tomsula was answering questions about whether he might bench Kaepernick for Blaine Gabbert. Think about that for a second. Blaine Gabbert. Thing is, Kaepernick had been playing badly, ranking near the bottom in just about any statistical category you could think of -- and a bunch you couldn't.

Consider this: heading into Sunday night (via ProFootballFocus.com), Kaepernick ranked:

  • 29th in QB rating -- 73.5 (ahead of only Andrew Luck)
  • 21st in completion percentage (62.1)
  • 28th in yards per attempt: 6.2 (ahead of Matthew Stafford and Ryan Mallett)
  • 3rd in sacks taken (14)
  • 5th in interceptions (5)
  • 23rd in passes dropped (4)
  • 27th in accuracy under pressure (53 percent)

But we saw a more composed Kaepernick against the Giants. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 262 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers. He still appeared to struggle through his progressions and held the ball too long, but he also made plays, something we haven't seen for much of the season.

And perhaps, more importantly, there were no mindless interceptions or game-changing fumbles, though more consistency on downfield throws would be nice. Either way, it's something. It won't be enough to save the 49ers' season -- or, in all likelihood, Tomsula's job -- but it's encouraging.

By the way, a month ago this was hilarious. Now it's just sad:

Which reminds us ...

7. Tomsula has been set up to fail. By all accounts a superb defensive coach and a great person, Tomsula never had a chance to succeed in San Francisco. It started with president Jed York's decision to move on from Jim Harbaugh.

And continued with the roster upheaval:

8. The 49ers should have won this game, by the way. We criticized the Giants above for questionable play-calling on that next-to-last series, but it's fair to wonder what the hell the 49ers were doing on their final touchdown drive.

Facing a second-and-goal from the Giants' 4-yard-line with two minutes to go and trailing 23-20, the 49ers threw the ball. The Giants were flagged for defensive holding setting up a first-and-goal from the 2. So, naturally, the 49ers throw it again instead of trying to run some time off the clock and force New York to burn timeouts. Kaepernick's pass fell incomplete (and probably should have been intercepted). Carlos Hyde scored a play later but the Giants were left with 1:49 to mount a game-winning drive, which is exactly what happened.

9. Jarryd Payne sighting. Win or lose, it's always fun watching former rugby star Jarryd Hayne, who almost scored in the third quarter:

10. Move over, Phil.