Week 11: San Francisco 49ers (6-3) @ New Orleans Saints (7-2)

[Watson]

3:25 Central on FOX


Huge huge game for New Orleans, especially if Carolina wins.

In their 3 losses to the Panthers, Seahawks, and Colts; the 2nd, 3rd, and 22nd ranked teams in total defense (compared to the Saints; #7 ranking) the Niners have scored less than 10 points. So basically this game hinges on Rob Ryan and whether or not drinks are on him at Ms Mae's. Kenny Vaccaro being out with a concussion is a huge blow, but I still like the Saints chances because the defense leans more on the athletic side than large and imposing, especially the defensive line, and the Niners are not a prototypical "pro style" smashball offense. As long as we can keep them passing more than running I think the Saints can keep Drew on the field long enough to make the difference.

So I can see two outcomes happening:

1) The above occurs and the Saints game manage to a 24-10 victory

or

2) We have a shootout (by NFL standards) and you can flip a coin to determine who wins a 35-30 game.

[LowerWolf]

If Eric Reid is out (and he likely is) we're in trouble.

Edit: Offensively, we're fine as long as we make Gore the focus and grind teams down (see the 5-game winning streak). We get in trouble when we try to show off Kap. But I think he's going to have to step up and make some plays either way this time.

Really not looking forward to facing Brees with Craig Dahl at safety though.

[jmood88]

Finally, some revenge for the Payton Revenge Tour.

[thaima1shu]

Going to be a very exciting game. Wish I could watch it, but just hoping that CenturyLink Field will keep us updated on the score throughout the game.

[Watson]

Quote: Originally Posted by LowerWolf

If Eric Reid is out (and he likely is) we're in trouble.

I forgot it's Re1d's homecoming. Dammit. He's my 3rd favorite Tiger of all time



/College post

[Steven78]

No way we win this game. Our offense and offensive coaching staff is plain offensive. Worst passing game in the entire league. Did you know our passing game has gotten worse every year with Harbaugh and Roman and worse than the 3 years before he arrived?

We do not beat good teams. I thoroughly expect a Saints beatdown. Defense might keep us in the game for a half before they can only be on the field too long as usual and end up breaking. At this point San Francisco is nothing more than pretenders and they better watch out of missing the playoffs altogether.

[thaima1shu]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steven78

No way we win this game. Our offense and offensive coaching staff is plain offensive. Worst passing game in the entire league. Did you know our passing game has gotten worse every year with Harbaugh and Roman and worse than the 3 years before he arrived? We do not beat good teams. I thoroughly expect a Saints beatdown. Defense might keep us in the game for a half before they can only be on the field too long as usual and end up breaking. At this point San Francisco is nothing more than pretenders and they better watch out of missing the playoffs altogether.

I think that's probably a bit of an overreaction. The offense was averaging 30+ PPG during the 5 game winning streak right? One bad game against a top 5 defense isn't the end of the world. I could definitely see San Francisco pulling this one out, as much as I would like not to.

[Steven78]

Quote: Originally Posted by thaima1shu

I think that's probably a bit of an overreaction. The offense was averaging 30+ PPG during the 5 game winning streak right? One bad game against a top 5 defense isn't the end of the world. I could definitely see San Francisco pulling this one out, as much as I would like not to.

With defense and running the ball and playing bad teams they did that. Take away the run, hell WE TAKE AWAY THE RUN. Watching this team is an exercise in frustration. Just like against the Colts, this past Sunday against Carolina we are running the ball good, and then just completely abandon it. Seriously, dead last in the NFL in passing yards per game.

The 49ers lost the defensive struggle behind the worst and most ineffective passing performance by any team and any quarterback in all of 2013. Yes, worse than even the worst produced by the Jacksonville Jaguars or Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year.

Kaepernick and the 49ers produced a woeful 46 net passing yards Sunday on 28 attempts – the average of 1.64 Real Passing Yards Per Attempt was easily the worst by any team in 2013, according to our Quality Stats Big Boards at CHFF Insider.

But Kaepernick and the 49ers offense were not merely ineffective on Sunday. They were worse than the worst all season, a season mired with a massive disparity between the elite passing teams like Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos and the horrendous also-ran clubs scraping through personnel trash dumps for starting quarterbacks. Kaepernick and the 49ers on Sunday were worse than all of them this year.

Here's how bad it was: there have been 144 NFL games this season heading into the primetime Week 10 showdown Sunday. Of those 144 games, only five teams this year averaged fewer than 1.64 yards per rush attempt. Yet that's all the 49ers could muster every time they dropped back to pass on Sunday.