The closer to gameday and the more I drink I think GB is going to smoke the 49ers
Justin Smith is going to play through his injury, but his tricep injury is so bad it already requires offseason surgery so I'm doubtful as to his effectiveness even though he practiced. Aldon Smith is still limited via his own shoulder injury as well.
SF is still certainly capable of getting pressure, but that alone hasn't stopped Rodgers from being effective this season.
Further, SF (as well as SEA) got away with tons of illegal contact and downfield PI in the first game thanks to the shoddy replacement refs letting DB's get away with everything and mug WR's, an advantage they wont have tonight.
SF will probably have some success in the run game, but I think GB follows the approach NE took in the second half of their game with no-huddle all over the place. Try to get SF behind and play catchup. In the first game Manningham was murdering the GB secondary, Jarret Bush played in place of Shields and Hayward who are both miles ahead of where they were at the start of the season. Kapernick basically ignores Vernon Davis, GB can double Crabtree, single up Moss with Shields and expect to win matchups with the WR's IMO. GB has also run the ball much better in recent weeks versus the beginning of the season, so I don't think they'll be completely unbalanced like the first game either.
Tying in with what the Patriots did:
6. Will the Packers-49ers game test out a fatigue theory? Packers coach Mike McCarthy spends a lot of time during the regular season and offseason having his coaches do studies. One of his big studies this offseason involved the number of plays defenders are on the field. After a season in which the Packers finished 32nd on defense, McCarthy felt his players were too tired when the playoffs began. The Packers have seven defenders who played more than 880 plays last year. The Packers lost their first playoff game despite being a No. 1 seed with a 15-1 record. The 49ers had an incredible nine defenders on the field for 982 plays, most in recent memory. That doesn't include Justin Smith, who was on pace to be in the 980-plus range before his injury. The 49ers basically use only 13 players on defense in most games. As a comparison, the Falcons had only three defenders with more than 890 plays. The Redskins had six. The Packers had only two.
I'd expect GB to go out there and try to run a track meet versus the defense, tire out the guys who even in spite of the bye week have tons of mileage on their treads this season. Attack SF with a lot of screens and short stuff to guys like Cobb to get their LB's moving laterally and then take deep shots outside the numbers where Lloyd did his damage against them.
The three teams than ran the most no-huddle this year?
1. New England
2. Baltimore
3. Green Bay
Plus, there's momentum. GB has been cruising lately, and has more playoff experience. SF lost to STL, fell asleep in the first half versus Miami, nearly collapsed against the Patriots, got destroyed by Seattle, and then beat an awful Cardinals team. Not the most inspiring quarters of football they've amassed lately.
