A Note On The 49er Game
By Aaron Nagler on Nov 18, 2009 with 22 Comments
I’ve heard mentioned several times now that the Packers may have ‘found themselves’ this past Sunday, or something a long the lines of ‘this is how they have to win now’, meaning that the defense will be charged with dominating and keeping things close while the offense finds its legs.
And I’m here to tell you that is just about the worst place for the Packers to be against the 49ers.
A tough, close, defensive contest is exactly the type of game the 49ers want to play. They want to pound the football, they want to keep the score close and they want to win it at the end. The Packers, for as exhilarating a win as it was this past Sunday, need to find a way to get their offense on track early against Mike Singletary’s team.
Filed Under: Mike McCarthy • Packer Offense
You’re doing my job for me, Aaron. Now what am I going to write about?
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That said, yes. They’re already talking about how their D can keep them in it until Gore can wear us down in the 4th. They see this as a mirror game to Chicago/Minnesota.
Problem is the OL can’t hold off a pass rush for any length of time. Have to do ball control for a while til their defense buys into it. D will have to hold.
Also, read that 49ers like to cause and take advantage of penalties.
Trap game.
If we can’t beat a team like the 49ers at home, than we don’t deserve anything. Nothing against the 49ers, but this is the kinda home game you should win.
If we don’t turn the ball over, we should win this game. Cutler tossed 5 picks against the 49ers and was one play away from winning the game and that game was in SF.
The SF defense is 3rd in the NFL against the rush & 29th against the pass…… IMO, AR will be throwing the ball & throwing it & throwing it…….. Slants, quick outs & screens…….. YAC will be vital.
You are definetely right, Aaron. As I’ve said many times this year, “Score early and score often.” There, however, is a difference between Chicago and Queenies when evaluating the upcoming game. The Niners have Alex Smith at QB (I know Tampa Bay). He may be equal to the Quinn/Anderson offering of the Browns. Against the Bears the Niners had 5 picks and could score only ten points. The Bears played that game with 7 or 8 in the box on most plays.
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The Dallas game showed the offense needs to get on board with the new aggressive program. If they can put up 21 1st half points, the D can open up the rush lanes and Smith will crumble.
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The key, of course, is aggresive play on both sides of the ball. And ST’s must play well also.
It will be a close game till Alex Smith starts throwing picks.The Cowboy defense was gassed at the end of Sundays game.The short fast paced passing game will tire defenses
I kind of agree with Glorious80s. I’m worried that if we try to do too much too early we could get ourselves in trouble. I’d be fine to play it safe to start, and if that’s not working, then open it up. Or maybe I’m just worn out on watching Rodgers try to complete 25-yarders that aren’t there. Either way, RockinRodgers is right — if we’re any kind of decent team, we simply have to win this game. Niners are solid, but they just ain’t that good.
Completely agree Woody – I just worry we’ll get a repeat of the Cincy game where McCarthy knows he’s got an obvious mismatch in the secondary but is too stubborn to realize Rodgers doesn’t have the time to exploit it the way he wants to.
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Funnily enough, this 49er defense reminds me a bit (not in scheme, obviously) of the Vikings a few years ago. Just a crazy-solid wall against the run and a complete sieve against the pass.
What’s the difference between MN and CIN, both opponents that we took seriously, and lost, and SF? They don’t have a passing game. WE can put 8 man on the box all day.
We shut down their running game, and we play decent ST, we win. As we’re a pretty good at stopping the run, we win.
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They don’t have pass rush, Aaron. 17 sacks till now. Which is, coincidentally, our main problem.
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To sum it up, we just match very well against them, and we’re at home. I’m not saying it’s an easy game, but we’ll win it, AS LONG AS WE PLAY LIKE WE WANT IT. If not, nothing else will matter.
This game is no different than any game. Time of possession and field position wins games. All this talk about quick scoring and a high powered offense is what led us to a 4-4 record with a loss to Tampa. If we had an O-line and big time running game that might work, but we don’t. We want long good offensive drives (taking as much time off the clock) and if we get ourselves in 2nd and longs or 3rd and 15+, run the ball for a few yards and kick it. Keep the 49ers and there offense deep on their side of the field. When you run a high powered quick attack offense and you have a number of sacks and penalties, you leave plenty of time on the clock and put your defense in bad field positions. Throw in a couple of special teams blunders, you lose to a team like Tampa. Simple game plan call the offense with main goal of time of possession and field position.
Good plan, Dilligaff.
I wouldn’t want GB to leave the medium to long game out all together. There’s a time for it. But let it come to them, after the 48ers’ DL is bruised a bit and the backers have to move in closer. At least 49ers know the Packers have the capability and AR ought to be able to exploit their fear of it.
Don’t assume a win against the Niners. Rembember the Bucs game.
” Cutler tossed 5 picks against the 49ers and was one play away from winning the game and that game was in SF.”
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Well, yeah, but you could say the same about the Packer Bear matchup. Cutler was bad, and the Packers were an incomplete pass away from blowing it at home.
” We want long good offensive drives (taking as much time off the clock) and if we get ourselves in 2nd and longs or 3rd and 15+, run the ball for a few yards and kick it. ”
Although I agree with the TOP argument, for GB to suddenly go conservative on offense would be a mistake, IMO……. AR throwing to DD, GJ, & now JF again is a strength for GB’s offense even with the possibility of sacks & penalties… GB’s defense has yet to establish a week-in week-out identity…… IMO, you probably won’t see the ‘real’ GB defense until the playoffs. (I’m thinkin 2nd round Metrodome)
woody has a point and i want to extend on it…last week the D won the game hands down…its time for the offense to return the favor…simple enough..nuff said! GOPACK!!
I hate to be the one to bring up this game again, but isn’t this kind of what happended against Tampa two weeks ago. The Pack thought that the game was going to be an easy win, and they just never came to play. If one word had to be used to define the Packers’ season, it is inconsitency. Just because they won aginst a quality team like Dallas does NOT mean that San Francisco will be easier. There are no automatic wins in the NFL, especially for the Pack.
I think its safe to say that this team should focus on its proven ability to stop the run and run the ball vs. its proven ability not to be able to throw the ball downfield. The WCO, as we all know is all about lining up with the same personnel and similar formations but passing short when they think run and running or throwing screen when they think pass. Holmgren made his career doing that here. SO I say lets just do that. When that happens opposing defenses ALWAYS wear down in the 4th quarter, that;s the point and when we run the ball. I predict a huge game for Ahman Green in the screen game and Grant pounding the ball. Take 3 shots down the field at various times for the big score, but take control of the clock, then the score, turn them into a passing team, we win this game and any other…including Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
Don’t sell the 49ers short. Their front seven on D are one of the top groups in the league. They had one bad loss, to the Falcons. Otherwise, they lost by 1 to Minnesota, by 3 to Houston, by 4 to Indianapolis, and by 7 to Tennessee.
I do fear that McCarthy will mind-numbingly try to exploit their secondary and dialup another sack-full game.
A win against the 49ers helps our playoff hopes more than just increasing our recored to 6-4, but may make the last game of our schedule much easier.
That would reduce the 49ers recored to 4-6, with Arizona already at 6-3 in their division. Arizona has to play the Rams twice and Detroit. 3 difficult games against MIN,TEN, and 49ers??
49ers have to play Phil,Jac, Sea, and Arizona.
Good chance the Cardinals will have the division locked up by the time we play them.
Jersey Al, their front 7? Their run D, you mean. They’re 23th in sacks (we’re 19th, with one more). They cannot generate a fearful pass rush. Not that it matters, they’ll get 3+ sacks against us for sure.
All this talk of long, drawn out drives to tire the 49er D….I say you beat down their will with big plays and go into the locker room at halftime up 28-3. A big lead means less Frank Gore, more Alex. I like that scenario.
We didn’t lose the Tampa game, because we came out and threw our jock out on the field. That’s only half of it. The other half was that Tampa was fighting hard to get a win for their coach.
The Niners will be doing the same thing. We should win this game handily, but if MM lays an egg, it could get ugly. Not only for this game, but for his career.