Official Niners at Green Bay, Divisional Round Discussion Thread:

[RashanGary]

SF is going to lean into their strengths. They’re not going to reinvent the wheel. It will be a mix of the run game and a lot of passes over the middle. Campbell, Savage, Amos and whoever plays nickel are going to be challenged inside. Gary and Preston are going to be challenged with the outside run game.

The Packers are also going to lean into their strengths. It’s going to be a lot of inside runs with a rhythm passing attack to help out the OL. They’re gonna try to get Davante involved.

We have a coin flips chance at advancing. And in that next game against Tampa, we have another coin flips chance. It’s gonna be edge of your seat theater. Hopefully this is our lucky year. Our team is as good as Tampa and SF. It just comes down to having a few things bounce our way and we get a magical championship season.

[kcpackman]

Now let me try this on the correct thread.

Trey Lance will play in this game. Cause Shanahan will have looked at the Raven game tape. This is especially true now that it has been reveled that Jimmy G has a sprained throwing shoulder.

[bobblehead]

Did anyone watch the opening Patriots drive where Micah Hyde made a great pick in the endzone to kill any momentum NE thought they were gaining? And if so, did anyone like me flashback and wonder why he couldn't catch the ball when Krapernick tossed it right into his hands?

[HarveyWallbangers]

There will likely be some gnashing of teeth this week. San Fran seems to have had our number, and a lot of us are still smarting from the "Uh, Jerry Rice didn't actually catch that ball" in '98 through Colin Kaepernick running wild to two years ago and the Niners basically having their way with the Packers like a man playing against a bunch of seven-year-olds.

But in some ways I think this is similar to how we've all felt against Seattle. After that horrible 2014 season exit - that's right up there with the worst losses ever - to the replacement-refs-fail-mary debacle, people felt bushwhacked by the Seahawks. Then the Packers started beating them again, but even so, people were flinching like an abused dog when Seattle was the opponent. It took awhile for people to get over it and realize that the Packers were actually now beating the Hawks regularly - regular season, playoffs, everything.

So I think San Fran represents the same bogeyman, but the Packers have beaten them this year (without Bakhtiari, on the road) and the year before.

They know what they have to do: shut down that running game, limit Deebo Samuels, and on the offensive side, control the line of scrimmage.

Me, I am mightily comforted by having Devondre Campbell in the lineup for Green Bay. The dude tackles people so there is no YAC, and running plays go for three yards instead of eight. I also wonder if The Flower an Joe Barry have given any thought to giving TJ Slaton a few more snaps alongside Kenny Clark, to try to gum up that middle. But maybe they think Tyler Lancaster is up to the task.

Kenny Clark is rested, and he'll have to be a force in the middle. The corners are going to have to be willing and spirited tacklers. Barnes has to bring the wood. The Packers need to match the intensity of the Niners. If they do that, they'll win. None of this "Oh, we're playing for real now?" looks of surprise. Smack San Fran in the mouth, and keep smacking them in the mouth.

It wasn’t that Rice didn’t catch that ball. It was that Rice clearly fumbled after his only catch in the game. GB clearly recovered. Game should have been over. They had replay in 1989, but I don’t remember why that wasn’t reviewed. Did they do away with replay for a few years? I was at a Twin Cities bar, and my memory is foggy about that. I knew they’d lose as soon as the refs screwed that up.

[Guiness]

It wasn’t that Rice didn’t catch that ball. It was that Rice clearly fumbled after his only catch in the game. GB clearly recovered. Game should have been over. They had replay in 1989, but I don’t remember why that wasn’t reviewed. Did they do away with replay for a few years? I was at a Twin Cities bar, and my memory is foggy about that. I knew they’d lose as soon as the refs screwed that up.

The '98 game always bothered me more than any other one, even more than 4th and 26. I think it's because it really was a case of not something the team did, but was out of their control. You could feel the air go out of the team after that, and it felt like the game was done even before Owens made that game winning catch for a TD.

[Bretsky]

The '98 game always bothered me more than any other one, even more than 4th and 26. I think it's because it really was a case of not something the team did, but was out of their control. You could feel the air go out of the team after that, and it felt like the game was done even before Owens made that game winning catch for a TD.

The RICE FUMBLE was horrible; but it seemed to be your classic officials favorite the Superstars kind of call (See all those pass interference calls Michael Irvin got gifted vs. Green Bay) against the Packers.

I don' think there was replay at that point, or at least that year for sure.

That game was kind of scary. I was at a Packer Bar in California the day after watching the greatest and most enjoyable Badger game Ever. Was walking on water.

That game seemed in our hands the whole game, and I thought that was a team that could win a Super Bowl.

I was respectable, and not loud in cheering for the Packers in a supposed Packer Bar in California with my wife only.

After Owens caught that pass, a large ripped African American Dude got up, pointed at myself and my wife, and started yelling asking how it feels and telling us to get the hell out of California and go back to the freezing cold in Wisconsin. To my knowledge I did nothing to provoke that, and I definitely didn't say a word in talking back to him.

Overall still one of the most enjoyable weekends of my life; but what a downer of an ending.

[Fritz]

My biggest fear is not really about whether Trey Lance gashes the Packers or whether Savage can step up his game, or any of those scheme/player/matchup things. My biggest fear has to do with the team's attitude coming out.

I'll probably never forget that Packer-Giant playoff game where the Packers came out flat as a pancake while the Giants were fired up and ready. They moved quicker, tackled harder, and were just ready to play. Green Bay looked shell-shocked.

If The Flower can have them come out of the gate hitting hard and tackling sure, they will win, whatever else happens.

[George Cumby]

My two worries:

RG is too aggressive and reckless on his rushes and gives up outside contain and Savage looking lost In space. !Danger Will Robinson!

Earlier in the season, Gary was super disciplined in his rush. Time after time I'd see him stop his outside rush, start to break inside, stop again and hold outside contain.

He has gotten sloppy as the season has worn on. Is he trying to do too much? Does he feel like he has to cover up for someone else? Is it the absence of Ming? What gives?

[George Cumby]

I'm now confident the Packers win.

The Packers are not the Cowboys.

MLF >>> Fat Mike

Rodgers >>>>>>>>>>> Prescott

Packers D > Cowboys D

The Cowboys played incredibly poorly and still had a chance to win it in the end.

So against the Niners:

MLF = Shanny, jr

Rodgers >>>>>>>>>>> Jimmy G

Packers D = Niners D [.3 difference in ppg, 16 yards in ypg]

Packers Run Game < Niners Run Game [by 16 yards a game, this could be a push]

If Packers reduce damage in the run game, and keep a lid on Kittle, put the ball in Jimmy G's hands, they win, handily.

[Freak Out]

Stop the run stop the run stop the run.

[Fritz]

The Cowboys had fourteen - fourteen! - penalties and still had a chance to win the game at the end.

San Fran can be had, should be had. If the Pack comes out and matches the San Fran intensity, the Pack will win.

George, I also wonder what happened to Gary's contain. He set the edge so well before but does seem to have gotten sucked inside on his rushes too many times, forgetting about the edge.

Maybe Z Smith has been giving him tips in practice or something . . .

[Fosco33]

Lots of talking heads saying Niners will beat Pack.

I think it’ll be close but if we can keep Debo and Kittle under check and own the Oline - and avoid big/multiple ST mistakes we’ll win by 6.

[Spaulding]

Packers roll in this one on the road to destiny. I think it will be 27 to 16 and Rodgers will extract revenge against the 49ers. Remember his prior losses to them were in San Fran and the energy and improving health of the team along with Thunder (Dillon) and Lightning (Jones) balancing the offense will negate the 49ers rush.

The only way the 49ers win is if they rattle Rodgers early. However I don't see our tackles losing the battle with their ends (Bosa be damned) and I don't believe the 49ers push enough up the middle to wreck the pocket.

The NFCC game next week though will be a battle regardless of whether its' the Bucs or the Rams.

[Joemailman]

[RashanGary]

Gotta love the injury report. Hardly anyone on it.