Saints versus Niners???
 

Well, we already have an idea, of how we match up against the Packers.... So what about the Niners? That defense was off the hook tonight... If we find ourselves up against them in the playoffs, where do we stand? Their secondary looked really good shutting down the Steelers recievers.......

Their defense was off the hook vs steelers, with out harrison. Even fully healthy Steelers do not have near the offense we do.
We have scored at least 20pt on the #1 defenses in the NFL , 2009 Jets, 2010 Steelers.
Saints offense is better than it was in those years. Graham upgrade from shockey, Sproles upgrade from Bush, RB core is almost insane.

We can put at least 24-28 points on that defense. I don't see their limited offense keeping up. GW has no problem game planing for Alex Smith, and SF OL is worse than GB's . They have no chance dosnt matter where we play them.

49ers were .... um...... "tidy".

Tidy will not do it against a Saints team that does not cough the ball up.

One of the few times EVER I root for the Steelers & they can't stop tripping over their own feet!!

Jackasses!!

Yeah, plus you have to consider Little Ben gave them 2 overthrow pic.s. The funny thing is N.O. could throw 4 interceptions and that SF offense will still only generate 12 pts.

We win, 49ers lose, they did not impress me at all.

We spread out our WR and match up problem we cause with Graham and Sproles they would have a problems with use. Now on defense that damn Gore is a beast we would have to stop him and of course put pressure on Smith which didn't look to good to me last night. It would be a good game.

It will be hard to run on the 9ers but we can easily spread them out with 4 and 5 receiver sets and pick them apart. Steelers had open guys but Ben couldn't step into his throws and missed. That will not happen with Drew.

The best player for SF last night was Roethlisberger.

I was just about to ask if Roethlisberger would play for the 'Niners if we play them.

It was insanely stupid to play him the entire game last night. It reeked of DESPERATION. You owe it to your franchise to keep him healthy. Now, their QB corps is totally DEFLATED. It was a vote of NO confidence.

Alaska

Beating SF is no different than any other team. If the o-line keeps Brees clean we're golden. If not then we have a problem.

The Niners looked good, but I noticed they also made a lot of little mistakes of the nagging kind that look small now, but will very often magnify and kill a team in the playoffs. At the end of the first half, they repeatedly let the Steelers runners/receivers get out of bounds in the final two minutes, which a better offense or non-hobbled quarterback would have easily exploited and gotten points from that drive. They kicked all those field goals in the red zone, they were kinda dominating the game but with only a 6-0 lead to show for it -- that is just one play by an elite offense away from being 7-6, and TWO plays away from being 14-6 and done in the playoffs. The Saints and Packers in particular can BOTH score points in ridiculously fast 'drives' that last only ten, twenty, thirty seconds of clock, from any point on the field.

Alex Smith is okay, but I feel like he NEVER really makes something miraculous happen, a play that makes me say "WOW," like better QBs will do. He missed on a lot of passes that Drew, Eli, Aaron, Brady etc. would MAKE with ease, including some big TD or clutch passes that he didn't connect on, 3rd down conversions, drive-killers, etc. That key difference of having laser-like passing, and being able to place the ball a few micro inches here or there, in just the perfect spot. A lot of these little things with the Niners looked okay in a game like last night's, but they can suddenly become a really BIG DEAL in the playoffs.

Some facts
 

Offense:
49ers are 29th overall in Passing
49ers are 9th overall in Rushing

Defense:
49ers are 21st overall against the pass
49ers are 1st overall against the run

Would love to see Drew and the Saints slice that defense up. They can stop our run ALL DAY LONG because our passing game is a CIRCUS!

You can bet that our coaches will have a lot of film to watch and then install the winning game plan.

I agree. With this caveat.

We all know how turnovers play into seasons
The 49ers are 1st in turnover ratio with +25 (that's monstrous)... Saints were only +11 in 2009. We have a -3 To ratio this season.

49ers have lost a total of 5 fumbles all season which is = to ours.
Smith has only had 5 interceptions all year= Brees has cleaned that up since week 9.

However their Defense has tallied up 21 interceptions. To our 11.
In order for those states you posted to shed hope we CAN NOT turn the ball over. If Drew get panicky as he can get some times or tries to force things those turnovers will absolutely kill us.

I know it seems a little counter-intuitive, but I think Smith's interceptions are low because he is not very accurate. In that Steelers game I saw a lot of balls sailing, way over people's heads, or hitting the ground early, or not going where anybody could catch them. Like I was talking about earlier, if you are skilled and gutsy with the ball, and are counting on your accuracy to deliver balls into a lot of tight coverage (typical Brees, Rodgers, Eli, Brady type throws) then you get intercepted more. If you're mostly hitting 8 yard clunker passes where the guy is right in front of you, unobstructed, facing you with his hands waiting in front of his numbers, like the 49ers seem to do, you will NOT throw a lot of interceptions. If you're throwing deep, or sidelines, or throwing accurately into tight spots, contested balls, attacking the coverage when going for big game-changing plays, you get more interceptions as a result.

I do agree, though, if Drew gets the jitters and throws a couple of boneheaded INTs early on, and gets that weird grimace on his face on the sidelines (the weird sweaty disheveled look like a wet dog, not the determined "I'm gonna win this" game face look), then it's going to be very tough for the Saints.

Great insight SaintsBro, Id also add that Alex Smith plays in a vanilla offense. They have dumbed down the offensive plays and reads he has to make in his progression as QB to be more productive.

for the love of god i don't see our demons on the niners roster. no montana no rice so niners go down in defeat!

i hate them

run the score through the roof.

Watching that game reminded me of one thing... I still hate the Niners.
Actually it runs deeper than the Falcons.... old wounds.

Still, I could see us beating them with 3 turnovers.

One of those rings should have been ours.

http://sfist.com/attachments/SFist_A...e_montana.jpeg

ok that has me even more fired up

Exactly. Watching that game MNF at Candlestick brought up some old, not so good, memories. Bring them on...I want to beat them at the stick so bad, it's not even funny!!!!

Agreed. However my point was his accuracy as much at it was the lack of turnovers.... Weather its Smiths inaccuracy or the Rbs not fumbling... They just do not turn the ball over much and their defense generates nearly 2 per game.

21 interceptions this season has nothing to do with Smith.SF recovers 1 fumble per game average this season.