luckadjusted

Week 9 2025 · November 2, 2025

49ers at Giants, Week 9 2025: who deserved to win?

The 49ers beat the Giants 34–24, and it was no fluke: replayed with the way both teams actually played, the 49ers win 8 of 10. The Giants had the bounces: injuries alone were worth 7.7 points to the Giants.

Before kickoff the 49ers were 57% favorites. The biggest swing (Q2, 13:14 left): the 49ers converted 3rd & 5, worth 9 points of win probability to the 49ers.

Final

San Francisco 49ers 34
New York Giants 24

November 2, 2025 · MetLife Stadium · Closing line: 49ers −2.5

Luck index +19 49ers about even · −19 Giants

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. 49ers win 8, Giants win 2.

  1. 1 SF 42 NYG 17
  2. 2 SF 30 NYG 10
  3. 3 SF 37 NYG 20
  4. 4 SF 26 NYG 13
  5. 5 SF 37 NYG 27
  6. 6 SF 27 NYG 20
  7. 7 SF 24 NYG 20
  8. 8 SF 13 NYG 12
  9. 9 SF 24 NYG 27
  10. 10 SF 9 NYG 21

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

49ers win 81% of them, Giants 19%, counting the 2% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: 49ers by 10.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
49ers by 17+29.6%
49ers by 9–1622.4%
49ers by 1–827.8%
Level after regulation1.8%
Giants by 1–811.5%
Giants by 9–165.1%
Giants by 17+1.9%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was 49ers by 10. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes 49ers by 11.5.

Each row takes one kind of luck out of the margin. Color shows which team it helped. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each component is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • E. Pineiro, 54 yds made · 70% expected
  • G. Gano, 45 yds missed · 86% expected
  • E. Pineiro, 33 yds made · 96% expected
  • G. Gano, 22 yds made · 100% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Giants’ chance of winning

As low as 0% and as high as 72%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Giants were ahead in it, below while the 49ers were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q1 13:55 The Giants converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 42% expected +5% NYG NYG: Touchdown
2 Q1 4:21 The 49ers converted 3rd & 33rd & 4th downs · 46% expected +7% SF SF: Touchdown
3 Q2 13:14 The 49ers converted 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 44% expected +9% SF SF: Touchdown
4 Q2 0:53 The Giants were stopped on 3rd & 73rd & 4th downs · 35% expectedT. Johnson dropped a catchable passDrops · 8 drops on 64 catchable balls before this +7% SF NYG: Punt
5 Q2 0:38 The 49ers fumbled and the Giants recoveredFumble bounces · loose balls are close to 50/50 +7% NYG SF: End of half
6 Q2 0:20 G. Gano missed 45-yard field goalKicks · 86% expected for him, 42 of 51 from 45+ before +7% SF NYG: Field goal
7 Q3 7:28 The Giants were stopped on 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 34% expected +4% SF NYG: Field goal
8 Q3 5:06 The 49ers were stopped on 3rd & 53rd & 4th downs · 44% expected +4% NYG SF: Punt

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Paulson Adebo (NYG CB), out · 0.8 pts
  • Malik Nabers (NYG WR), out (IR) · 0.8 pts
  • Jevon Holland (NYG S), out · 0.6 pts
  • Cordale Flott (NYG CB), out · 0.4 pts
  • Jermaine Eluemunor (NYG OL), out · 0.3 pts
  • Cam Skattebo (NYG RB), out (IR) · 0.1 pts
  • Brock Purdy (SF QB), out, replaced by m.jones · 7.3 pts
  • Nick Bosa (SF DL), out (IR) · 0.9 pts
  • Fred Warner (SF LB), out (IR) · 0.8 pts
  • Ricky Pearsall (SF WR), out · 0.7 pts
  • Jake Brendel (SF OL), out · 0.4 pts
  • Bryce Huff (SF DL), out · 0.3 pts
  • Marques Sigle (SF S), out · 0.3 pts
  • Ben Bartch (SF OL), out (IR) · 0.1 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

49ers 77% · Giants 23%

Final margin
49ers by 10
Luck in points
1.5 for the Giants
Luck-adjusted margin
49ers by 11.5
Replay with same day's form
49ers 81% · Giants 19% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 9 2025 games · 49ers · Giants

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