[quote]chillain wrote:
[quote]fnf wrote:
Am I drinking too much kool-aid? I want my team to win, there’s nothing wrong with that. New Orleans is not unbeatable. Their defense gives up 5 yds a rush. The 49ers are very good at running.
In New Orleans, NO ONE can beat them. Away from home, they’ve lost 3 times. So they can be beat.
My teams weakness is stopping the pass, so I can see Brees getting 350 easily. But let’s say my team goes up 7-0 eating up 8 minutes of the clock. Then Brees throws a pick and the 49ers eat 7 minutes of the clock and get a FG. That’s 10-0 and half way into the 2nd quarter. It could happen just like NO easily burning Brown for a TD and Goldson missing a tackle for another TD so NO is up 14-0.
Should be a good game. Aldon and Justin Smith will do work, so Brooks has to show up.[/quote]
True. Nothing wrong with you wanting your team to win and certainly overdosed on kool-aid, as well.
:)[/quote]
People keep getting all excited about the Saints’ offense, and justifiably so, but people seem to forget that the Niners will be playing on offense as well. The Saints are horrible against the run and the pass and they’re even worse at stopping teams within the red zone. The Niners have sucked cock inside the red zone for most of the year, but the last 2 or 3 games they’ve been MUCH better in it, something like 6 TDs in their last 8 trips. The reality is that as bad as the Niners have performed on offense, they still have very favorable matchups in certain areas and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see the Niners score four or five touchdowns against the Saints. It wouldn’t surprise me if they get 6 points out of their defense either. On top of that, unless things do a complete 180, the Saints will consistently be getting buried inside the 10 due to Lee’s punting and the Niners’ superior punt coverage.
And as good as the Saints’ passing game is, the Niners have a WAY more physical defense than anything the Saints have seen all year. They’ve knocked out a bunch of players this year. They knocked out Cedric Benson, LeSean McCoy, LaGarrette Blount, Jahvid Best, Kevin Kolb and at least a half-dozen others that I can’t remember right now. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Niners knock someone like Graham or Colston or Sproles right the fuck out of the game.
And Brees, when you watch him play well, has all the time in the world to throw. I don’t expect the Niners to sit back and play coverage. They’ve done a lot of that this year, and they still have been able to get consistent pressure on the QB. They knocked Tony Romo out temporarily, they roughed up Vick, Kolb, Stafford, that dipshit 3rd stringer in St. Louis. I expect them to get pressure on Brees on a regular basis. Shit, Aldon Smith had 14 sacks this year and he barely played the first couple games and even after that he really only plays on 2nd or 3rd and long. If the Niners are in their nickel package a lot, which I’m sure they will be, Smith will be on the field much more, and the guy is simply unblockable at times. With him and Justin Smith and Ray McDonald, the Niners have 3 elite-level linemen plus the best stable of linebackers in the league coming after him on blitzes.
And even though the Niners’ secondary is a weakness, it’s a bend, don’t break-type of secondary. They’ve come up with a LOT of interceptions this year and they have some big hitters in Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner that will make life uncomfortable for Brees’ receivers, especially over the middle. In fact, Brees loves to work the middle of the field, and that’s one area that their secondary has not struggled in this year. They’ve primarily struggled against sideline passes like deep outs and wheel routes.
I think anyone who thinks it’s only a matter of by how much the Saints win by is the one drinking the Kool-Aid. The Saints are the flavor of the month, LAST month. Plus, I’ve got to think the Niners are going to be extra motivated, if that’s even possible at this time of year, because they’re the underdogs. The Niners have NEVER been an underdog at home in the postseason. I just pray that the groundskeepers have been watering the shit out of that field because there hasn’t been rain in the Bay Area in more than a month, maybe two, which is unheard of in Northern California this time of year. Every playoff game the Niners have played at home has been on a pretty muddy field.