2012 NFC Divisional Game vs. New Orleans Saints Gameday Thread

Originally posted by boast:

Originally posted by clientnumber9:
As I've said before, the Saints are favored for a reason and will win this game. By the way, has the field crew started overwatering and growing the grass really long yet?

wrong forum

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New Orleans vs. San Francisco: Three Keys To A 49ers Win

Coming off their big win in the Wild Card Round the New Orleans Saints this weekend will travel to play the well-rested San Francisco 49ers. Both teams finished the regular season with a record of 13-3, and look to match up well in this NFC Divisional match-up. The following article looks at three keys San Francisco needs to focus on if they want to beat the hot New Orleans Saints.


Defense: The featured match-up of the game between the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers will be New Orleans' offense versus San Francisco's defense.San Francisco's defense finished the season ranked first in rushing defense, only allowing an average of 77.3 yards per game, while not giving up their first rushing touchdown of the season until Week 16. San Francisco's passing defense finished the season ranked 16th, allowing an average of 230.9 yards per game. Additionally, San Francisco had the second most interceptions in the NFC this season with 23, and the most passes defended in the NFC with 100.While those regular season statistics are great, the regular season is over. In the win over Detroit, Brees passed for 466 yards and three touchdowns, while Darren Sproles and Pierre Thomas rushed for 117 yards and three touchdowns. San Francisco must also watch out for the deep ball as Brees threw a 41-yard and 56-yard touchdown pass in the game versus the Lions.For San Francisco to beat New Orleans, the defense will need to play the best game of their lives.

Special Teams: During the regular season, kicker David Akers made 44 field goals, and 34 extra points to score 166 points on the campaign, which was the most by any player in the NFL. Kick returner Ted Ginn had 800 kick return yards with a touchdown, while also accumulating 466 punt return yards with a touchdown. New Orleans can score early and often, so for San Francisco to have a chance at winning this game, they must score every opportunity they get whether it is a touchdown, field goal, or a kick return for a touchdown. Punter Andy Lee had 28 punts land between the 20-yard line and the goal line, while also recording nine touchbacks on the season. Again, New Orleans has a great offense, but the further New Orleans has to go to score, the better San Francisco chances are of stopping them.

Defensive Stops/Turnovers: In New Orleans' win over Detroit, New Orleans went the entire game without punting the ball, scoring on every drive but three. In the three drives New Orleans did not score, there were two fumbles recovered by Detroit and the last drive of the game when New Orleans was running down the clock. Additionally, New Orleans was 3/4 on-fourth down attempts in the game.If San Francisco is going to slow down New Orleans' offense and win the game they must do what Detroit could not, make New Orleans punt or stop them on fourth down and score points following turnovers. If San Francisco can accomplish these goals, they will stop New Orleans from building up momentum and stop them from building up the score.This is going to be a great game to watch and if San Francisco can accomplish these three keys, they should be able to hold off New Orleans and advance to the NFC Conference Championship.

Link...

Originally posted by BrianGO:
Our run stopping line:

McDonald Soap Smith Haralson (usually plays standing up, but near the line)
Brooks (usually plays off the line as a linebacker)

Our pass rush line:

Brooks McDonald Smith Smith (90% of the time, they are all rushing and playing on the line)


The times when people say, "We get no pass rush" are the times when we have our run stopper line in the game.
Our pass rush line gives us amazing pass rush 90% of the time, and is the main reason we finished 13-3.

The question is, which one should we use on first down against the Saints?
I think we should use our pass rush line almost the whole game, even if it means we give up some runs. Brees is just too darn dangerous.

I agree Brian. I think you have to make the Saints try to run. If they do, they'll be slowing down the game to S.F.'s advantage.

I'll go a step further. I suggest that Brooks comes off the field, Bowman takes his place and Fangio lines up another DB. 4-1-6. With Bowman taking Sproles and Willis taking Graham short, that will be up to 8 in coverage.

Originally posted by clientnumber9:
As I've said before, the Saints are favored for a reason and will win this game. By the way, has the field crew started overwatering and growing the grass really long yet?

Yeah, favored teams always win. Good argument.

Originally posted by clientnumber9:
As I've said before, the Saints are favored for a reason and will win this game. By the way, has the field crew started overwatering and growing the grass really long yet?

Originally posted by DaDivaRecieva15:

Originally posted by clientnumber9:
As I've said before, the Saints are favored for a reason and will win this game. By the way, has the field crew started overwatering and growing the grass really long yet?

k

Looks like he's already fishing for an excuse

It's getting close to go time...

Smith's quarterback rating against the blitz (96.3) ranked third in the NFL this season behind Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers (131.4) and New England's Tom Brady (110.9). He completed 90 of 152 passes for 1,097 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception against blitzes.Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/SPIO1MN3K6.DTL#ixzz1jAeX9bhw

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest

anyone have ESPN Insider? can you share the article that Sando talks about here?

Originally posted by ninersrule4:
You guys are seriously b***hing over them blitzing in the preseason? Wasn't aware they had broke any rules by doing so. Chill out

I am just saying that there is bad blood here for this game. I could care less if a team wants to blitz every play in any game, but the media and the team was not happy about it when it happend a lot in that 1st pre-season game and Alex did not like it as well. Did you watch that game??

What do you guys think about the uphill battle vs the law of averages? I would like to get Shorteous' take on it as he is the stat guru.

We've averaged 27ppg a game at home, they've average 27ppg a game on the road.

HOWEVER, we've only given up 10ppg at home and they've given up 24.5 on the road. (only two teams scored less than 20 vs them: 10 jax and 17 TEN).

Matchups:
SF Home offense vs Saints Road Defense: 27SF - 24.5NO = 2.5 points SF needs to overcome
SF Home Defense vs Saints Road Offense: 10 SF - 27 NO = 17 points NO needs to overcome

So, SF only needs to overcome the law of averages by 2.5 points whereas the Saints need to overcome the law of averages by 17 points.

And that's not even including Grass averages. And if you want to say we have never seen something like the Saints Offense...well...we have played 4 of the top 12 offenses in terms of ppg.

Originally posted by valrod33:
Smith's quarterback rating against the blitz (96.3) ranked third in the NFL this season behind Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers (131.4) and New England's Tom Brady (110.9). He completed 90 of 152 passes for 1,097 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception against blitzes.Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/SPIO1MN3K6.DTL#ixzz1jAeX9bhw

I really am suprised and impressed. I knew he got the ball out, but I didn't think he was effective (that much). 8 tds is nearly half his count total for the year....

Interesting stat for sure.

Devil's Advocate: I wonder if this takes into account the effectiveness of the blitz? In other words, the defense may blitz, but if our Oline picks it up it's a non-factor. In theory, this could tell more about the performance of the Oline than Smith.

Originally posted by Oakland-Niner:

Originally posted by valrod33:
Smith's quarterback rating against the blitz (96.3) ranked third in the NFL this season behind Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers (131.4) and New England's Tom Brady (110.9). He completed 90 of 152 passes for 1,097 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception against blitzes.Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/SPIO1MN3K6.DTL#ixzz1jAeX9bhw

I really am suprised and impressed. I knew he got the ball out, but I didn't think he was effective (that much). 8 tds is nearly half his count total for the year....

Interesting stat for sure.

Devil's Advocate: I wonder if this takes into account the effectiveness of the blitz? In other words, the defense may blitz, but if our Oline picks it up it's a non-factor. In theory, this could tell more about the performance of the Oline than Smith.

just cant give him credit can you

Originally posted by Oakland-Niner:

Originally posted by valrod33:
Smith's quarterback rating against the blitz (96.3) ranked third in the NFL this season behind Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers (131.4) and New England's Tom Brady (110.9). He completed 90 of 152 passes for 1,097 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception against blitzes.Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/SPIO1MN3K6.DTL#ixzz1jAeX9bhw

I really am suprised and impressed. I knew he got the ball out, but I didn't think he was effective (that much). 8 tds is nearly half his count total for the year....

Interesting stat for sure.

Devil's Advocate: I wonder if this takes into account the effectiveness of the blitz? In other words, the defense may blitz, but if our Oline picks it up it's a non-factor. In theory, this could tell more about the performance of the Oline than Smith.

i also wonder how many of his sacks were taken when blitzed. getting 152 passes off against the blitz seems fairly good, but I wonder how many times he was blitzed and didn't get the pass off?

still they are impressive numbers and should give us confidence against a blitz happy team that hasn't had much success actually getting to the QB.

Insider request...

Starts with IDing RayMac's performance against Sea. in the first game. He says Pete Prisco (don't like him, Niner hater), singled out Ray as a "under-the-radar" player in Sat.'s game. Compares to Rogers and Goldson, too. Notes that Joyner mentions how Brees' "willingness to take chances" could give him problems with both those players. But he mentions Ray as the helper of both by causing pressure.

He also mentions Joyner's article citing that we scored at least 20 pts in every hm game and the Saints usually give up that many on the road. Also, they don't do well in the TO battle, too.

Finished with his interest in a historical reference tying the Saints to other teams that set offensive records. Runs counter to the notion that NO would auto benefit from a wide open game.