Been looking at some of the film of the niners/saints game tonight. Its amazing how one-dimensional the 49er defense makes opposing offenses. The Saints are definately known for their passing attack, but they also like to run the ball to set up play action. That strategy absolutely failed them this week. I think the longest run of the game for them was like 7 or 8 yards. Our linebackers were not biting on play action which allowed them to play aggressive in coverage and stop big plays for the most part.
Justin Smith is hands down the best defensive lineman in the league. He absolutely manhandled Bushrod, a pro bowl O-lineman. It seemed like he was 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage on every play, up in Brees face, making him throw the ball when he wasn't ready. I was also really happy to see Aldon Smith get more snaps in this game, the kid is a weapon of a pass rusher on the edge and makes a difference every time he is in on passing downs. He also dropped back many times, which is something he is not known for and is working on im sure. If I was an opposing RB, I would be extremely worried about my health going into a game against the 49ers front 7. They are downright scary.
I would say the one weakness of our defense is check-downs to pass catching RB's like Sproles.
The 49ers have not allowed a special teams TD all year and this week was no different. Opposing kick returners never seem to get more than 10 yards on a return. That coupled with Andy Lee, our pro bowl punter, makes for some great field position most of the time for our defense.
Alex Smith had only 1 or 2 bad passes all game, all the other incompletions was him throwing the ball away, or receiver drops. And on the few plays when the passes were bad he was putting it in places where the ball would not be intercepted. The combination of safe play on Smiths part, and the fantastic field position we get as a result of our special teams and defense puts points up on the board and doesn't turn the ball over. It may not be as flashy as some of the other offenses in the league, but as we saw this week flashy offense doesn't always win you football games.
Anyone else find these State Farm commercials featuring Clay Matthews and BJ Raji hilarious? I mean these guys are part of the worst defensive unit in all of football but they get commercial deals because everyone was jocking the Packers so hard over the last few months. Then when it comes to crunch time they get RAPED at home by a team that everyone had counted out only a couple months ago.