Shadarr
5741
I don’t know if you watched the Monday night game or not, but the 49er offense was able to move the ball just fine. The Steelers defense is a hell of a lot better than the Saints.
I think the challenge will be whether the defense can hold up against Drew Brees. No quarterback in the league distributes the ball better. The Niners were able to shut down Stafford and the Lions by taking away Megatron. They stop most teams by taking away the run. The Saints offense will be harder to stop, because Brees doesn’t have a favourite target and they don’t like to run that much anyway.
Lorini
5742
Don’t forget, the Steeler defense was missing James Harrison who really is good if not great on defense. Turns out he might as well have stayed in Pittsburgh anyway since the offense did nothing, but I wouldn’t judge the SF offense by that game alone (not saying you are, just saying that it was not facing the normal Steeler defense).
Zuwadza
5743
Oh god, we’ll never live that down. I take some solace in the fact that Seattle has gone on to play a lot better this season.
They had one truly horrible game against St. Louis and they have won against some pretty tough defenses: Houston, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Chicago (pre-injuries even). All four are in the top 10 according to FO. The Titans haven’t been total pushovers this season either, ranked 7th in points allowed per game. I didn’t say anything to imply that their wins over bad teams mean they could roll over any team.
That said, it’s hard for me to imagine SF playing well enough to win unless they are at home, for sure, unless GB is still beat up. But they are as good as any team in the playoffs at home. They have beaten the Eagles, Giants, and Lions whether at home or away, and those are all potential playoff teams. They beat the Giants by coming out passing which Alex Smith handled just fine and they beat the Lions on a clutch 4th and goal pass by Smith. And the Niners almost beat both the Falcons and Saints last year. I am not saying I won’t surprised if they lose but I don’t think the Niners offense is “so, so soft” that it cannot compete. It was a tough enough offense to win 11 times so far this year.
I never said that their offense was so bad that they couldn’t compete. In fact, I admitted that Smith has been efficient and has protected the ball well.They do an amazing job protecting the ball, which counts for a lot, but they are ranked 25th in yards per game, 14th in points per game and 21st according to FO (16th weighted). Obviously it has been enough to get them 11 wins, just like New Orleans’ mediocre defense has been enough to do likewise!
Also I didn’t say “so, so soft” I said “really, really soft”. There’s an important distinction there!
Zuwadza
5744
Yeah, I watched that game. I was really impressed by their offense that night, actually. I’ve also watched other games of theirs where I’ve been underwhelmed by their offense. I still think they’re a spectacular team this season though. Just to be clear, we’re talking about the best of the playoff teams here, so San Francisco’s “underwhelming” offense is still way better than a lot of teams’.
I didn’t mean for my posts about the Niners to turn into homer-ism. I’m really excited about the playoffs this year and part of that is seeing them go up against teams they haven’t faced yet, especially New Orleans.
Shadarr
5745
The Niners were without Patrick Willis, so aside from the injured rapist the game couldn’t’ve been more fair.
Lorini
5746
Not disagreeing that the Niner’s would have won, but Patrick Willis is on the defense is he not? As is James Harrison. My only point was to say that you can’t judge the Steeler’s defense without Harrison.
Hammet
5747
The way they’re currently playing I’d say that no defense in the NFL can stop The Saints offense. They’ll score 25 points on anyone, including the Niners. They can do so many different things so well that unless you knock out Brees, they’ll pick you apart. Three Very Good receivers, a Great TE, two Very Good running backs, a Great O-line and Darren Sproles. They are no longer bothered when they’re running the ball (like they were first half of the season) and I’d call their screen plays the best in the league. So if you want to beat the Saints you need to score a lot of points on their defense, which is entirely doable. I’m not too fond of the play-calling on that side of the ball, but then I glance at New England and well, Saints D is definitely better than that, even if we overload and blitz and play Patrick fucking Robinson.
And preferably play the Saints outdoors at around lunchtime. They just can’t seem to get it going half as well in daylight. Odd.
Well, Matt Barkley is staying for his senior year at USC, which is a weird decision since he’ll be losing his probable top-3-pick stud of an OL, Matt Kalil, who has declared for the draft.
It also means that the QB pool for QB-desperate teams just shrunk. Barkley was projected as the #2 or #3 QB in the draft. The guys lower on the ladder will be happy, as their stock went up a bit.
It also means Pete Carroll won’t get a chance to do a trade to draft his golden boy.
That is not an auspicious start for Indy.
Lorini
5750
He’ll get to go to a bowl game next year though, and maybe to the National Championship game. (Unless my faulty memory failed and USC is still under the death penalty next season). I personally am very happy he’s staying as a Pac 12 fan.
I didn’t see the game from the beginning, so that’s exactly what I was thinking when I caught the end… holy crap! And it’s over!
Was Indy playing well, or was Houston just that off?
Zuwadza
5754
Houston was kind of off, but I thought Indy’s defense really stepped up and Orlovsky didn’t look bad on both his two-minute presses. Also the refs were giving the Colts an early Christmas present.
sluggo
5755
I happened to be driving and heard the end of this game on the radio, and Ian Eagle’s incredulous call was pretty funny. “Touchdown, Indy!!! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?”
Clearly, Indy wants to avoid the Manning/Luck controversy.
So I believe strength of schedule determines who picks first if teams are tied, as are three teams now – Indy, Minnesota, and St. Louis. Is that right?
Some are suggesting Houston threw the game to hurt Indy’s chances for Andrew Luck.
Correct, which means you take the win-loss record for all 16 of the team’s opponents. The team whose opponents sucked MORE gets the first pick.
Looks like Indy still is on track for the #1 overall. They need to beat the Jags to move down in the draft.
