Packers fan with some questions

1. Alex Smith has made some good throws but the fact remains he’s got about a 1:1 ratio of bad throws to good throws. His most reccuring theme seems to be throwing the ball too high and staring down receivers. The kid has all the potential in the world but I’m not seeing it realized. All of us 49ers fans know the talented, smart and strong Alex Smith is there somewhere, we just don’t know what it will take to get it to show. A staggering number of 49ers fans are looking at who the quarterback will be next season, which is no show of confidence for Smith.

2. The run defense on the 49ers is superb. The only rusher to do good against the 49ers was Chris Johnson, a player who was literally run down from behind twice by Patrick Willis, and to my knowledge is the only linebacker to do so. The pass defense has some holes with Nate Clements being out but they’re not gaping as Tarell Brown and Shawntae Spencer are solid at CB. The particular strength on the 49ers has to be the defensive line and the ILBs. NT Aubrayo Franklin is a player to watch out for, he’s playing like never before. If the Packers want to beat this D, they’ll need a scheme for Franklin and Justin Smith and a very quick release. I don’t see the Packers gaining very many rushing yards.

3. The numbers are deceiving here. I hate the “morale victory” concept and I guess sometimes looking at pressures as opposed to sacks is a morale victory but the 49ers have been waiting all season, and no disrespect here, for an offensive line like the Packers. Parys Haralson is a great pass rusher, but only has a couple sacks to his name due to offenses scheming for him. Manny Lawson shouldn’t be too much of a threat off the left side to a pocket passer such as Rodgers, the big deal here will be designed blitzes by the ILB, SS and occasionally the OLB as the 49ers defensive line, especially Franklin, fills up some holes nicely.

4. Without trying to sound too cocky, this is the first match I’m 100% confident in my 49ers winning. If you’d care to look back through the archives of NN this season you’ll see that I was even pessimistic towards the St. Louis Rams game. I will be the first to admit right now that I’m basing this 90% off of gut feeling. My gut is just telling me the 49ers play a great game and win. Note, that isn’t to take away from the talent the 49ers have, I think from a talent standpoint I would give the Niners the edge, and make it just about even, maybe in the Packers favor with both Staley and Clements out. 49ers win this with a huge second half performance after the first half is defensive football from both sides. 26-9

Interestingly enough there are a great many similarities between our two teams.

We both have struggling O-lines. Our O-lines are particularly weak at the RT (you guys started a rookie last week, we’ve got Adam Snyder). We both have QBs with turnover issues—Aaron Rogers fumbles a lot and Alex Smith has been interception prone (though his accuracy has gotten much better).

Roger’s 41 sacks this season is encouraging for our defense. You guys do a pretty good job of moving up and down the field but if you get a sack that’s a drive killer big time. I expect a win here. I think our D is better and I think we have more potent combination with Gore, Davis and Crabtree.

He has plenty of physical talent and no natural instincts for the position. He’ll make some great plays and you think he’s finally gotten it. Then he makes his usual slow decision, passes late to his receivers, and looks like a high school kid playing college football. He’ll always be a backup.

For once I don’t have to tell you how much I hate seeing Favre and Co. thromp us in Lambeau. Sure, it may be Rodgers and Co. thromping us, but that’s another story entirely. I’ve actually acquired some respect for the Packers in the way they handled the whole Brenda Brett Favre situation, and they have fallen my list of top 3 teams to despise. Anyway, now that that’s out of the way…

1. Alex Smith is neither great nor terrible. He is Alex Smith – he is good at times, he is bad at times. He has a much better athletic skill set than Shaun Hill (or Swan Hill if you prefer), and much better arm strength. The downside is that he tends to throw the INT in more frequency than Hill. He doesn’t take as many sacks as Hill, which can be attributed to jittery feet in the pocket or athleticism. His pocket presence has been improving, but he’s no John Elway.

2. Our defense is pretty solid, more so against the run than the pass. Chris Johnson was the only back to tear us apart. Since he’s superman, it’s expected. Michael Turner faired pretty well against us too, but that Atlanta game was an overall suck fest. The bigger, power backs tend to have greater success at beating us, with CJ being the exception (he is the exception to all). The 49ers don’t have the best secondary in the world, and the safeties are the weak spots. Michael Lewis is a good LB playing SS, but can’t cover the pass. Dashon Goldson tries to lay the wood far too often, and that leads to some hilarious miss-tackles.

3. The stats numbers don’t back it up in the sack column, but the 49ers pass rush off the edge is pretty good. Justin Smith has 28 QB pressures, and 11 QB hits. Parys Haralson has 22 pressures (6 hits), and Manny Lawson has 15 pressures (8 hits). The team doesn’t get a lot of sacks, but at the same time, they can rough up a QB pretty good. Our secondary needs to maintain better coverage so those pressures can turn into more sacks or INTs.

4. I don’t want to make any predictions concerning this game. I feel the 49ers can win the game, but the 49ers I remember of recent years don’t win “winnable” games late in the season when they count most. It will be a serious test for Singletary’s bunch, and this Sunday will prove what the 49ers are truly made of.

1. He’s got all the talent in the world and is still trying to put it all together. His career was really derailed with that shoulder injury two seasons ago right when he seemed to be starting to figure things out. He needs more than 3 games starting the in same system to get comfortable. I think with some continuity he’ll start to get it together. As for right now – he will make some good throws but he tends to make only one read, stare down his receiver, and he throws a little late. His performance this week could go either way.

2. Way better against the run. Our D-Line has been very good this year and obviously the ILBs, especially Willis, are great. I think we have some pretty talented guys in the secondary but with no pass rush to speak of they end up getting burned at least a few times a game.

3. Terrible. Haralson and Lawson have some skills but are not plus pass rushers. We end up getting pressure by collapsing the pocket with our D-Line but very few sacks.

4. If this were at home I’d give the Niners a punchers chance but on the road I think we lose.

Didn’t participate in questions, but I think your pass rush without blitzing is not up to par and with those corners why not blitz. If we pick up those blitzes we can burn you guys deep. Should be a good matchup if it’s not a 7 pt or less game I think the Pack will win, although I used to have hatred for you when Favre was there it has changed a bit, since I wanted to draft Rogers if any QB in 05

We can win this because of one reason and that is that they don’t have farve anymore LOL

And I’ve noticed that there are a lot of posts saying these two teams are alike. I can see the similiarities: the embarassing offensive lines, the great front sevens, the on-and-off running game and the quarterbacks who were taken in the first round of the same draft. However that is where the similiarities end. The Packers have a far superior secondary, far better recievers, and a much better quarterback. The only way the Packers lose this game is on penalties and poor special teams play. This is very possible but I’m still predicting a 24-10 Packer win

Eh?

You won’t be able to run on us, I don’t think you will. We can however dump of to gore in the bad weather. Grant is too slow for our d

who will he cover?

Vernon Davis?

Crabtree?

Some of each??