Matching Up With the Niners

[Fritz]

Quay needs to have a career defining game. Shanahan schemes the middle a lot. If quay can be Ray Lewis, we have a chance.

That's a massive if

Very good point. SF just chews up the middle of the field. One encouraging sign from the Dallas game was the way Packer defenders swarmed to the ball. We rarely saw that all year.

You just can’t let the Niners go all alpha male on you, like they did in that blowout in 2019. Packers need to lay the wood.

[RashanGary]

Ok, I got through 4 games of the 9ers. Weeks 13-16. 3 good ones and a stinker.

Purdy thrives on checkdowns, wide open looks from scheme, picking apart zone and really good anticipation on out routes. For not having a big arm, he hits those passes consistently.

He’s just big enough. Just mobile enough. Just enough arm. Has composure. He’s a really good player kind of being just good enough at everything and being good between the ears.

The 49ers run really well to that left side behind two road graders. The receivers all block well. The TE and FB all block. That sets up deebo on jet sweeps going right off of left run action.

They kind of nickle and dime you and chew you up. Other than Jennings, all of their pass catchers excel at YAC. It’s a good combo because Purdy is better short to intermediate and he’s pretty accurate.


I’m a big believer in bend but don’t break, especially if your offense is reliable because it’s much easier to get stops in the redzone. But I don’t think this is the team to fuck around and find that out with. That’s exactly what they want because they’re best in the redzone and best and chipping their way down the field without mistakes. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Defensively, kind of no matter what you do, they’re gonna chip away and wear you down. They’re just so consistent. The times they do run into trouble is in the drop back passing game and Purdy can’t get it off quick. He’s not great creating and he’s not horribly difficult to sack.

I think you kind of concede that they’re gonna chip away at you and then take a couple guesses with play calls to put Purdy in that spot he struggles where he doesn’t have a guy open right away and pressure comes. I think you kind of play a disciplined defense, the kind they chew up, for the most part and then take a few guesses where you sell out to stop the pass. I think you can catch Purdy off guard and stop a couple drives that way. But you don’t want to guess so often that Kyle carved you for 300 in the run game. A few guesses sprinkled in and it’s not one guy guessing, it’s a whole defensive call where coverage smothers and pass rush pins their ears back.

Purdy has been lights out with that average arm, hitting those deep outs. But fuck, he’s living dangerously because I think a snappy corner could jump those things and make a house call. Valentine and Jaire (if healthy), I think have a chance for a game changer. I think we have the kind of explosive corners who can finally make him pay.

Like i said, they’re chewing you up whether you’re disciplined or not, and the only unreliable part of their offense is when coverage smothers and the pass rush is aggressive. So take a couple guesses on second down and I think you can stall a couple drives. And have your corners drive on those out routes a couple times.

They’re really good, but I don’t think they’re unbeatable. You can get pressure with 4 if you pin your ears back and guess pass at the right time.

[RashanGary]

Defensively they similar to offense. Every one of their skill guys on offense is incredibly experienced and smart. So is their whole back 7 on defense. I think they have one guy, a safety who’s a rookie, but the rest are 5+ year vets. I’m sure there are ways to take grey area off of one guys plate and spread it amongst the other 6 experienced guys.

This is NOT your 49ers of a few years ago. They’re neither physically dominant on the whole OL (only left side now) nor are they physically dominant up front on defense. You can push them around up front. Their DL is small.

This is going to be a really tough game for Love. This defense is not only experienced, but they’re used to practicing against all of Kyle’s misdirection and they don’t leave free runners. I think our pass pro is better than their pass rush so he should be able to throw accurately a lot of the time, but there’s aren’t going to be as many layups. He’s going to have to shoot a high percentage from the field.

I think we can run the ball. Especially up the middle. I think we can pass the ball. But it’s going to have to be good, accurate passes. I doubt it’s going to be this no punt kind of game we’ve seen in the past. The 9ers are just too disciplined to not come away with a couple stops.



It’s a tough matchup for both offense and defense. I think the 49ers have the edge with experience and consistency. I think the Packers actually have the edge in the trenches and with the dynamite QB.

Yada yada, it probably comes down to turnovers and Jordan Love playing another elite game for us to win. But the 9ers sure as hell ain’t in another league. We’re right there and can win this thing.

[texaspackerbacker]

Good analysis, RG. Yeah, I think we can run on them, and for sure Love's mobility and release will negate the pass rush regardless of what our O Line does.

On D, I'm a little bit worried that they can run on us, but I thought that last week too, and we shut down about as good a running attack.

That practicing against the Shanahan/LaFleur style offense works both ways hahahaha.

The fact that this is a road game also is worrisome, but the Packers have been good on the road late in the season.

We ought to beat them. It certainly seems like we have better personnel at most positions.

[RashanGary]

Good analysis, RG. Yeah, I think we can run on them, and for sure Love's mobility and release will negate the pass rush regardless of what our O Line does.

On D, I'm a little bit worried that they can run on us, but I thought that last week too, and we shut down about as good a running attack.

That practicing against the Shanahan/LaFleur style offense works both ways hahahaha.

The fact that this is a road game also is worrisome, but the Packers have been good on the road late in the season.

We ought to beat them. It certainly seems like we have better personnel at most positions.

They are really strong running to the left. Three road graders, all 320 plus from center over to left tackle. Plus all their skill guys block so that whole left side is just a dominant aspect to their run game and offense over all. It’s the center of their offense.

They love quick passes, screens, check downs. All their guys except their #3 wr are amazing yac guys. They love to pick apart zone defense.

They don’t commit penalties and they don’t make many mistakes so they just methodically chew you up and drain the clock. They’re very good in the red zone.


So yeah, bend but don’t break isn’t going to work. Barry is going to have to pick some spots and hope he guesses right. When you’re playing a bad team, you take risks and you give a bad team a chance to get in it. But against a team that methodically eats you alive, you’re no losing much if you give an undisciplined 20 yard run once a drive. They were going to get it anyway. And if you guess right on second down, you have a dang good chance of getting a stop on 3rd and long.

[call_me_ishmael]

They have 8 all-pros, we have 0. "Our personnel is better fellas". Come on. But they got a shot, no doubt. I think it's gonna be close.

[Fritz]

Well, if they tend to run left, Preston Smith is a better guy to have there than Gary, who contains the run like a sieve contains water.

TJ Slaton is going to have to really be a force. And I hope McDuffie’s feeling better and better. They’re going to need him early downs.

And Quay’s going to have to have the game of his life.

They need to take Olivia Newton John’s coaching advice.

Let’s get physical, physical.

[BrokenArrow]

They have 8 all-pros, we have 0. "Our personnel is better fellas". Come on. But they got a shot, no doubt. I think it's gonna be close.

Never did put much stock into the all-pro and pro-bowl stuff. Nothing more than fodder for players to demand inflated contracts.

[KYPack]

No senor. I will be watching on the rec room tv with the homeboys. Unless some shit kicks off and we go on lockdown before Saturday. Then I will have to watch on the tv reflection off the CO’s pod glass. I’m hoping Smiley gets house arrest release on Thursday because I’m next in line for a door window that looks right at the TV.

Hey, I can show you how to make a really good shiv out of a spork.

[Sparkey]

This is the game that you hope Van Ness steps into the spotlight and totally blows up the 49ers gameplan.

[MadtownPacker]

Hey, I can show you how to make a really good shiv out of a spork.

And risk losing my Internet privileges? Hell no!

On a fun note 49er fans seem to be concerned about Love. Kinda like Erron before they realize they could beat his ass. Fave women the niners so maybe it skips a generation.

[Fritz]

Help a fellow Rat out - what is EPA?

It's the Environmental Protection Agency, but how that applies to football, I do not know.

Odd to me that no one's really mentioned the Nick Bosa interview, in which he talks about how Rodgers, HOFer and all, often went so far oft script nobody knew what he was running. Then Bosa said maybe it was better that Love just did what the coaches wanted.

Stenavich more or less confirmed the Rodgers part of it, saying that sometimes the Packer sideline didn't even know what Rodgers had just run. So if the offensive coaches don't know, how the hell were the young players supposed to know? And as has been pointed out, that made it near-impossible to set up plays for later cuz The Flower didn't really know what Rodgers was going to do. Sounds like Rodgers was playing 3-D chess but only about three guys on the offense knew what that was, because Rodgers would change things last-second with his Martian hand signals and blips and buzzes - no wonder the young guys couldn't get up to speed. Rodgers may have seen things no one else could see, but if he couldn't get that info to the whole offense in a manageable amount of time, and if he couldn't fit it into a bigger strategy, then it sounds like it might've been really tough at times.

It sure sounds like LeFleur is able to run strategy for a game instead of just tactics play-to-play as Rodgers seemed to do. Sounds like it's easier for the young guys, too.

Man, this team has a good vibe right now. Instead of being the older, favored team with the weight of expectations, these guys are young and loose and playing hard and fast. I couldn't believe that was a Green Bay defense out there flying around against Dallas.

I think this team is in a better mental and emotional place to take out the Niners than the last two Packer playoff teams were. They really do seem on a hot streak.

I hope it's a fun game. Especially for the Packers.

[RashanGary]

I saw that too, fritz, the way I relayed to to my son is that Rodgers thought his idea was better than the collective of 20 people.

They have an OC or offensive staff up in the booth tracking plays that were run so far and compiling a list of plays that would be off balance from the plays they’ve already run.

There are young guys on the team who can’t play to the mental capacity of a 15 year vet.

They have an OL that plays better when they know what’s coming so they can dial in and play aggressively.


Rodgers made everything complicated and hard to execute. He’s doing 100 things at once and figured he could call plays better than coaches who are doing one thing, charting plays and planning counter punches off of that.

He took everything over and the reality is, he was pretty good at it for one guy, but the group can do even better.

[George Cumby]

LeRoy Butler was on Moving the Chains just now and said the same thing. Without saying anything overt, he was harshly critical of 12.

[Fritz]

Can this year's team match up with the Niners? Sure doesn't seem so, at least on defense. How can this defense stop McCaffrey AND Kittle/Samuels/Ayiuk? Can they even stop the run?

And of course Jordan Love, great as he's played, is due for a stinker of a game, like the Giants' game. He's still young - can you really expect him to have another lights-out performance?

Knowing that, of course the Niner defense is going to key heavily on Jones. Stop him, you stop the Pack.