Ravens & the Blitz

I seem to remember them blitzing the hell out of us last year and us being totally crushed by it. I think they had like 9 sacks in that one game. Will they employ a simliar game plan? Or do you think they'll hesitate to bring the house with Kaep's running ability? Seems like you can catch Kaep at the right times with the blitz (ATL got him once on that 3rd down) where if the DE's keep contain on the outside and the blitz comes straight up the middle, he doesn't have anywhere to go. How worried are you about this, because it's freaking me the hell out

Let them come! Bring it Baltimore. We have a blitz beater in CK7 now that will burn them if they try! Defenses are already struggling to stop Kaep. I don't think they can afford the loss of the extra defender on passing downs. Kaep will find the open guy. Its been said a bunch but I'll repeat it anyway. This team has so many ways to win its almost unfair. Take away Vernon and Crabtree will eat you up. Take away Vernon and focus on Crabtree, then Gore and Kaep will run all over you. I feel like we finally have a way to win in any situation and I'm not scared of any defense let alone Baltimores. This is not the same offense as last season and Baltimore's defense while playing very well right now is not the same defense they were last year. GO NINERS!!

The blitz is an opportunity for the 9ers to shine....
1. Our OL is awesome
2. Blitz allows Kap to shine - "juke"
3. Less coverage on the WR

All is good; "we got this"!!

If I recall correctly, we had Snyder as RG and he got injured. Then Busto Rachel came and it got worse.

They are a VERY well coached team and it will be a battle.

Last time we played them we had two of these on our offensive line.

We are must better at pass protecting now. Plus they would be stupid to blitz Kap he could make them pay dearly.

Originally posted by BayArea:
Last time we played them we had two of these on our offensive line.

We are must better at pass protecting now. Plus they would be stupid to blitz Kap he could make them pay dearly.

This was the problem. Davis struggled with Suggs. A lot. And Rachal couldn't block anything. They didn't blitz that much. The team with the pass rush wins.

It's going to be a slugfest no doubt but Kaep's feet give us excellent options against the all-out blitz. I'm more worried about Flacco going deep on us, early and often. His success has been the deep ball and that's not been a strong point in our defense. We got to get pressure and don't let him drop back and go bombs away.


Spotted on Ravens' message board:

Originally posted by Chrs0049:
I seem to remember them blitzing the hell out of us last year and us being totally crushed by it. I think they had like 9 sacks in that one game. Will they employ a simliar game plan? Or do you think they'll hesitate to bring the house with Kaep's running ability? Seems like you can catch Kaep at the right times with the blitz (ATL got him once on that 3rd down) where if the DE's keep contain on the outside and the blitz comes straight up the middle, he doesn't have anywhere to go. How worried are you about this, because it's freaking me the hell out

If you are referring to the lone sack ATL got, it wasn't because of some elaborate blitz. Iupati just got absolutely owned on that play.

Yes they blitzed because they weren't afraid of Alex Smith running away from them or beating them with his arm. Kaepernick has a stronger arm and can make the throws Alex can't. It only takes one big run or throw to VD or Moss from Kaep to stop them from blitzing. We are a much different team then we were last time we played them.

Further to this point. We remember the first play of the game on Thanksgiving Day when Alex had Delanie Walker open down field and didn't pull the trigger. You know Kaepernick would've have made that throw and the game would have been a different.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
If I recall correctly, we had Snyder as RG and he got injured. Then Busto Rachel came and it got worse.

They are a VERY well coached team and it will be a battle.

It wasn't just the right side that got lit up. They were running those nasty cross stunts up the middle and the left side had just as rough a time. I remember Iupati being pretty confused at times. Nothing against the big fella, the Ravens called a beautiful game.

But that was last year. If they try to hammer away in a similar fashion against our new offense, they'll get gouged around the edge. It'll be interesting to see how the Ravens attempt to establish the edges...they'll need to.

SF also had almost no practice time to plan for the game last year. Makes a huge difference.

Originally posted by captveg:
SF also had almost no practice time to plan for the game last year. Makes a huge difference.

Oh yeah, great point. We played Sunday, then flew across the country to play on Thursday.

Either way around it they got killed up front and must improve. They confused Staley and Iupati a lot and at times one of them would pick up the wrong guy and leave a free blitzer. Plus Ngata up front is just a beast. I think the key to this game will be getting Walker and VD on linebackers. Ray can't run with either of them.

Some of those sacks were because Alex didn't know where to go with the ball, tucked the ball and took the sack. 49ERS need to be very alert on 3rd down, that is where the Ravens LOVE to bring extra rushers. Ravens will bring 5-7 defenders to rush the QB, they will sometimes load up on one side of the line.

Watching the Ravens games on NFL game rewind, throughout the whole regular season and in the playoffs, Ravens would time and time again dial up blitzes usually during 3rd downs. Suggs often times tries to get to the QB by running around him and takes himself out of the play sometimes. Ngata is a better run stopper than pass rusher, from time to time he will try a swim move to get to the QB. Kruger is mister coverage sack. With Kaepernick's mobility he can avoid Suggs run around the guard approach.


If the Ravens try and dial up the pressure on third down and Kaepernick escapes it, he's got a lot of space to run. Either that or Kaepernick can hit a hot read like he did with Crabtree, Crabtree's ability to juke out defenders he can run one in for a TD like he did against New england when they tried blitzing.

Lets not forget we played them on a short week and we lost a day due to travel. We are well rested this time around.