What worries you most about this game?
Im worried about the turf - will it slow Cooke down too much? Its been raining here last night and this morning, but the field will have the rest of today, tomorrow and game day to dry out. Hope they don't pull a Bears move and leave the grass long (at least thats what Ive heard the Bears do to slow runners who are fast on turf down). Im worried about the Niners finally being healthy on their D line and LB's. They are sack machines when all are playing together. That being said, Im not sure our Offense will have a huge day. Going to take some huge plays to break through with some TD's.
And this is why I think a victory will depend on how well our D plays. Stop Kittle, their run game and rattle Jimmy G early and often and hopefully get a few picks. We do that and i think we win the game despite our Offense being slowed down. Lets win the turn over battle by a few and I we walk out with a victory.
kittle and our Offensive line. Honestly my biggest worry is the offensive line regressing. If the oline is stout we have a great chance of winning
There are a lot of things to worry about with this team. I sort of think our defense will be OK. I think it's not crazy to think that we'll get after Jimmy and limit their backs and even limit Kittle more than he's used to.
What worries me most is the other side of the ball. The 49ers front seven is no stranger to wide zone. Plus, they get Ford back, Alexander back, Tartt back. And I think selling out to stop Cook will be their main focus. I just don't know if we'll be able to run the ball much, and so play action goes on the shelf and game is then a match up of our weakness (pass pro) against their strength (pass rush). That is a nightmare that I don't want to see.
I really think it boils down to this: if we can run the ball, we can win; if we can't, we'll need pretty much all of the bounces to go our way.
Everything concerns me about this one. Much scarier than the Saints for me as a fan.
I'm right there with PSB with a slight twist:
Our Interior OL
Their Kittle
Our Secondary
I think getting after Garoppolo is also going to be key. When he is pressured and doesn't get into a rhythm, good things happen for the defense.
@"NorthernCalVike" said: Im worried about the turf - will it slow Cooke down too much? Its been raining here last night and this morning, but the field will have the rest of today, tomorrow and game day to dry out. Hope they don't pull a Bears move and leave the grass long (at least thats what Ive heard the Bears do to slow runners who are fast on turf down). Im worried about the Niners finally being healthy on their D line and LB's. They are sack machines when all are playing together. That being said, Im not sure our Offense will have a huge day. Going to take some huge plays to break through with some TD's.And this is why I think a victory will depend on how well our D plays. Stop Kittle, their run game and rattle Jimmy G early and often and hopefully get a few picks. We do that and i think we win the game despite our Offense being slowed down. Lets win the turn over battle by a few and I we walk out with a victory.
That is my main concern as well. A slow sloppy turf. Cook's success is largely his ability to hit the hole fast. Hopefully Stef has learned from the games on grass that we may need some different play calls.
But on the other hand, the SF D is based on speed as well.
@"MaroonBells" said: There are a lot of things to worry about with this team. I sort of think our defense will be OK. I think it's not crazy to think that we'll get after Jimmy and limit their backs and even limit Kittle more than he's used to.What worries me most is the other side of the ball. The 49ers front seven is no stranger to wide zone. Plus, they get Ford back, Alexander back, Tartt back. And I think selling out to stop Cook will be their main focus. I just don't know if we'll be able to run the ball much, and so play action goes on the shelf and game is then a match up of our weakness (pass pro) against their strength (pass rush). That is a nightmare that I don't want to see.
I really think it boils down to this: if we can run the ball, we can win; if we can't, we'll need pretty much all of the bounces to go our way.
So lots of shotgun by the Vikings isn't good???
Agreed - that's not a carnage I'd want to see.
Kubiak and Dennison have a ton of experience and it will be interesting to see what they do scheme wise if the ZB run is shut-down cold.
@"MaroonBells" said: The 49ers front seven is no stranger to wide zone. Plus, they get Ford back, Alexander back, Tartt back. And I think selling out to stop Cook will be their main focus. I just don't know if we'll be able to run the ball much, and so play action goes on the shelf and game is then a match up of our weakness (pass pro) against their strength (pass rush). That is a nightmare that I don't want to see.
This, plus a dash of "crap. we have no answer for Emmanuel Sanders" is my answer.
But my truly darkest fear is that we just don't show up. First half vs DEN, first quarter @ GB type of egg-laying. Niners are way too good to think we can be competitive if we get down multiple scores early. I don't *think* this will happen, but since you asked, that's my biggest worry.
Their front 7 against out OL and backs. IMO that is the game right there. IMO KC can match JG if we can protect him.
also... Zimmer, the conservative nature has its place, i dont think we can wait until we are down 2 scores to take the gloves off on offense, we need a game plan going into this thing that tells the Niners D that they have to be ready to defend the whole field from the start. dont let them get into any kind of predictive nature. IMO winning here will be way WAY bigger than winning last week in Nawlins.
@"greediron" said:@"NorthernCalVike" said: Im worried about the turf - will it slow Cooke down too much? Its been raining here last night and this morning, but the field will have the rest of today, tomorrow and game day to dry out. Hope they don't pull a Bears move and leave the grass long (at least thats what Ive heard the Bears do to slow runners who are fast on turf down). Im worried about the Niners finally being healthy on their D line and LB's. They are sack machines when all are playing together. That being said, Im not sure our Offense will have a huge day. Going to take some huge plays to break through with some TD's.And this is why I think a victory will depend on how well our D plays. Stop Kittle, their run game and rattle Jimmy G early and often and hopefully get a few picks. We do that and i think we win the game despite our Offense being slowed down. Lets win the turn over battle by a few and I we walk out with a victory.
That is my main concern as well. A slow sloppy turf. Cook's success is largely his ability to hit the hole fast. Hopefully Stef has learned from the games on grass that we may need some different play calls.But on the other hand, the SF D is based on speed as well.
Same goes for SF's 3 running backs. They're all speed. None of them weighs more than 210 lbs.A slow field favors the Vikings, especially Mattison IMO.
Run the ball between the Tackles. Period. Their DTs are light and fast (their run-stuffing DT is done for the year). Their LBs are really good but Alexander is coming off a pectoral injury. If Minnesota can move the DTs and get to the 2nd level Dalvin will hit some big runs.
If the Vikings can't run between Tackles running outside left is not going to work any better than it did against New Orleans. Running off RT only can be countered. To keep San Francisco off balance Minnesota has got to be able to run up the gut AND off RT with a few off LT runs just to keep Saleh honest.
Once the run is working Play Action opens up and the 9ers are not very good against it. As long as Thielen plays there's 1 too many weapons for them to stop. Warner can handle Rudy and Sherman may be able to limit Diggs but they don't have the personnel to also cover Adam and Irv.
IF Minnesota can't run Rudy will have to stay in to help Reiff with Bosa. And their quick DTs will be able to pin their ears back. Elf struggles with speed so he'll need Bradbury to help against Armstead and Kline is hopefully ok against Buckner.
I still see a path to victory without a strong performance by Cook running but it would require Shotgun and an effective screen game. Prefer for it not to come to that.
On Defense it's going to be remarkably like the last game. Garappolo goes deep even less than Brees. However, he's capable of it, which Drew hasn't been since 2017. So I do expect some tendency breakers from Shanahan. It will need to rely on misdirection though. Sanders is not as fast as he used to be and Samuel isn't really speedy either.
I expect Kyke to try and single up Bourne on a Safety or Rhodes and take a deep shot or two. And the light is probably green every time he sees Xavier on Emmanuel. If Rhodes can hold up and Zimmer uses some combination to cover the Slot things get more promising.
After more research I'm not as impressed with their O-Line. Staley is really old. Mcglinchey is good but he's not Ramczyk. The Guards are meh and it's a journeyman backup Center. IF Griff still has something in the tank I think they can get pressure off the edges AND up the middle when they move inside. Jimmy hates interior pressure.
Part of me wants Zimmer to come out showing Double A Gap looks and bailing out from the get go. But with the depleted Secondary and a revived Pass Rush he might want to start out looking to stuff the run and play Zone nust to see how Garappolo reacts to the pressure of his first Playoff Start. If he's gets going early start throwing the wrinkles at him.
This game is very close talent-wise. Very close. Coaching, execution and not turning it over will be crucial. The biggest weakness either team has is Minnesota's CBs. That's my biggest concern about the game.
I think the entire contest comes down to what our interior line can or cannot do blocking their DTs. If they can get pressure up the gut we can't execute our game plan of run, run and play action, simple as that.
@"FSUVike" said: This game is very close talent-wise. Very close. Coaching, execution and not turning it over will be crucial. The biggest weakness either team has is Minnesota's CBs. That's my biggest concern about the game.Our CBs are definitely a concern and probably our biggest weakness considering both Hughes and Alexander are out. HOWEVER, this team doesn't have great wide receivers. No Devante Adams, no Michael Thomas, not even an Allen Robinson, Keenan Allen or Courtland Sutton, so the match up isn't terribly alarming to me. Considering the match up, our interior OL versus their interior DL has to be a bigger concern, don't ya think?
@"BarrNone55" said: The team coming out flat is pretty much it.Zimmer mentioned that in the locker room right after the WC win.
Maybe he's even shown them some of the Q1 carnage of the title game in Philly???
@"MaroonBells" said:No. Armstead and Buckner are pass rushers. And really, they both rush better when both Bosa AND Ford play. Ford will be matched up on O'Neill and likely on a snap count. Brian should be OK. Reiff + Rudy should limit Bosa, who might be hitting the Rookie Wall since his production really tailesd off the last quarter of the season.@"FSUVike" said: This game is very close talent-wise. Very close. Coaching, execution and not turning it over will be crucial. The biggest weakness either team has is Minnesota's CBs. That's my biggest concern about the game. Our CBs are definitely a concern and probably our biggest weakness considering both Hughes and Alexander are out. HOWEVER, this team doesn't have great wide receivers. No Devante Adams, no Michael Thomas, not even an Allen Robinson, Keenan Allen or Courtland Sutton, so the match up isn't terribly alarming to me. Considering the match up, our interior OL versus their interior DL has to be a bigger concern, don't ya think?Their DTs look to beat you with quickness and athleticism. Not size. Kenny Clark, Chris Jones and others that wreaked havoc on the interior had BOTH size AND speed. Kline should be able to handle Buckner. Elf + Bradbury should be able to limit Armstead. And they should definitely be able to block them in the run game.
The major reason Minnesota's CB play improved near the end of the season was Zimmer rotating a lot. He can't do that now. 2 of the 3 Primary Weapons the Saints had were not WRs. But both Sanders and Samuel had over 800 yards each. New Orleans didn't have that. Sanders averages something like 14 yards a catch. And the FB is pretty good too.
Michael Thomas and Greg Kittle are very similar in that they catch most of their passes within 10 yards of the LOS. New Orleans had Cook and Kamara after that. Harry eliminated Cook for the most part. That left Waynes on Ginn. Neither he nor Rhodes needed to worry about having to cover Kamara, that's Kendricks job.
This game they will be forced to cover better players than Harris and Hill and Ginn. I'd put Rhodes on Samuel since he's not that fast. And Waynes on Sanders. And hold my breath.
Another way to think about it: Kittle=Thomas, Sanders/Samuel>Harris/Hill/Ginn. And Harris and Ginn still each caught a chunk play against Rhodes and Waynes respectively. Even though he's slower, Sanders still racked up over 800 yards cuz he's still shifty. Samuel is the beneficiary of a lot of misdirection. If Xavier gets caught peaking in the backfield or misses a tackle he'll get YAC.
If Alexander and Hughes were playing I would be just as confident as I was before the Saints game. They're not...and I'm not.
The only thing that has me concerned- that hasn't already been mentioned- is the refs. But, since we're not playing the Packers... we have a chance. Last week's crew missed some calls that ended up benefiting both teams; I guess that incompetence- if it is equally applied- is the best we can hope for. If it was a Packer game, I don't think it would be incompetence; I think it would be intentional.
Garoppolo has never played in a playoff game. That should scare the schit out of 49er fans and be our edge in this one. What concerns me? If they get the running game going, Jimmy G. loses the butterflies and will get easy pickings with play action. Stop the run and make him beat you, and you've got a chance.
Kittle and the Niners getting pressure off the edge. That's how GB beat us last time and it causes major problems with the outside zone runs and passing game. I also worry that San Francisco has more weapons in the passing game, I really wish we could have drafted Samuel, so it's harder than New Orleans where you just had to contend with Thomas.
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