The San Francisco 49ers chose wisely.
The team focused its bye-week preparations on
the New Orleans Saints, and they will come marching into
Candlestick Park next weekend after beating Detroit 45-28 Saturday
in an NFC wild-card game.
The 49ers could have faced one of three teams –
the Saints, New York Giants or Atlanta – and they raised eyebrows
by singling out the Saints as the team they expected to host next
Saturday. Most teams in that situation would avoid zeroing in on
one opponent to not motivate the others.
SANTA CLARA
The San Francisco 49ers chose wisely.
The team focused its bye-week preparations on
the New Orleans Saints, and they will come marching into
Candlestick Park next weekend after beating Detroit 45-28 Saturday
in an NFC wild-card game.
The 49ers could have faced one of three teams –
the Saints, New York Giants or Atlanta – and they raised eyebrows
by singling out the Saints as the team they expected to host next
Saturday. Most teams in that situation would avoid zeroing in on
one opponent to not motivate the others.
The tack, like everything coach Jim Harbaugh
does, likely had a bit of strategy behind it.
Looking ahead to the Saints served to not only
flatter – and soften – the New Orleans squad, it might have been
aimed to inspire their opponent, the Lions, to topple perhaps the
league’s hottest team. The Saints have won nine straight games. Had
the Lions won, they would have played at Green Bay next
weekend.
Harbaugh on Friday said he and his staff would
watch the game from team headquarters, where they ostensibly were
working on the game plan against the Saints.
“The team is playing at as high a level as
anybody in football,” Harbaugh said of New Orleans. “The
quarterback (Drew Brees) – it’s just a master of the obvious
stating something like this – is playing as well or better than
anybody who has ever played the game. It’s a great team.”
His players echoed that sentiment last week.
Defensive end Justin Smith said he and teammates watched game film
of the Saints on Friday.
“Their timing routes, their back-shoulder fades
– we paused the film, and the ball’s halfway down the field, and
the guy’s still running straight,” Smith said of the Saints’
proficiency in the passing game. “So they do some pretty awesome
stuff on offense.
“Defensively, we know we’re going to have to
pressure Brees, hit him, make him uncomfortable.”
The game promises to be a classic
strength-vs.-strength contest. San Francisco’s defense finished the
regular season No. 1 against the run and No. 2 in points allowed.
New Orleans, meanwhile, had the top-rated offense, which averaged
334 yards through the air. Brees had 466 passing yards and three
touchdowns against the Lions.
Although the 49ers did not play the Saints in
the regular season, they kicked off the exhibition season in New
Orleans.
Blitzing typically is done sparingly in the
preseason. The Saints, however, called all-out blitzes throughout
the game and recorded six sacks in their 24-3 victory.
San Francisco’s starting quarterback, Alex
Smith, absorbed several big hits in the opening quarter, and the
Aug. 12 game is likely to be raised inside the 49ers’ locker room
and meeting rooms this week.
