The big talk this week has been about how to limit Drew Brees and the Saints and what will happen if the 49ers get into a shooting war with the Saints. Leaving aside the strength of the 49ers defense (which I think matches up well with the Saints), there's the strength of the offense to consider.

In my opinion the 49ers offense is underrated and has been for a long time. I have no concerns about the 49ers hanging with the Saints, because it's shown that it can hang against other so-called "power" offenses like the Eagles, Giants, Cowboys and Lions. Yes the 49ers lost to the Cowboys, but that was in overtime and a game which could have easily gone the other way.

I want to take a look at the actual strengths of the 49ers offense and compare the to the Saints and see where we end up. To be clear I'm not going to argue that the 49ers offense is as good as the Saints offense. What I am going to try and show is that it's not as bad as has been claimed, nor is it a hopeless match up in a game vs a high powered offense.

Points per game

The whole point of an offense is to score points. This is where the 49ers show the biggest deficiency in comparison to the Saints. The Saints averaged just over 34 points per game, the 49ers just over 23, an 11 point differential. Looking at the rankings though and it's rather surprising. The Saints ranked are ranked 2nd the 49ers a surprising 11th. Far from being a terrible offense they're better than half the teams in the league at scoring points.

How do they compare to other playoff teams? The Houston Texans also scored an average of 24.8 points per game, but nobody talks about them like they can't hang with the big boys. The New York Giants scored an average of 24.6 points per game, essentially the same as the 49ers. The Detroit Lions averaged 29.6 points per game and squeaked into the playoffs.

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There's been a great deal of discussion over the perceived weakness of the 49ers pass defense. The argument says that the 49ers won't be able to keep up with gunslinging teams like the Patriots and the Packers. I don't think  that this will be an issue at all. I think the 49ers pass defense is up to the task of defeating these types of teams. 

Let's look at some defensive statistics to show my point:

Points per game

I'd argue that this is the single most important statistic when it comes to evaluating a defense. I don't care if the defense allows 500 yards per game on offense if they can keep that offense from scoring it has done it's job. 

The 49ers defense is ranked first in the league with only 15.3 points per game given up. They're followed by the Ravens (15.5 ppg), Steelers (17.4), Bengals (17.6), and Texans (18.1).

Before arguing that the reason the 49ers have such a good ppg average is due to them playing in the NFC West, consider this:

The 49ers have only played one team from the NFC West. They're the only team in the top 5 who's opponents have a winning record (the record of 49ers opponents is 26-24). For example the Ravens have faced teams with a total record of 23-29 and the Steelers opponents record is 24-30. 

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The list today includes two of the best defensive backs and one of the best safeties to ever play for the 49ers, as well as one of the best RBs to play for the 49ers. Lots of talent today.

The Winners:

Representing the Number 21: Frank Gore. Sanders is one of the best to ever play the position but he only played one year in San Francisco, making this an easy choice for me.

Representing the Number 21: Dwight Hicks. This was a tough one. Eric Wright is deserving of mention as is Nate Clements, but Hicks had a better career than Wright (who was hampered by injuries). Hicks was also part of the 1984 secondary that would be voted en masse to the Pro Bowl, something that's never happened before, or since.

Representing the Number 22: Nate Clements. Dude is a stud and will prove his doubters wrong this season

Representing the Number 23: By unanimous consent I've changed it to Spencer Tillman

Edit: I've made a tie for number 21 because I can't in good conscience leave Dwight Hicks off this list. Nor can I leave Gore off. 

I'd forgotten that Lelie had a brief stint as a 49er--probably because his performance was very forgettable.

The Winners:

Represeting the Number 18: Elvis Grbac. He'll never be remembered as a great player but he was a good backup for us when we needed him to be.

Representing the number 19: Gene Washington. He's a bit of an unheralded player in 49er history but he averaged almost 18 yards a reception during a time when the forward pass was not utilized as much as it is today. He had two seasons with 12 TDs (One in 1907 and one in 1972, and another season with 9 TDs)

Representing the number 20: Garrison Hearst. He's one of my favorite 49ers. I loved the way he ran the ball. If it weren't for his injuries he might be rememberd as the greatest running back in 49er history.

I had no idea that Chris Weinke briefly played for the 49ers. I really liked the guy as a college player, too bad he never made it in the pros as a big success. We've got an ex-soccer player from Belgrade in this bunch, Ninjame's favorite 49er and the man himself, Cool Joe Montana.  

Winners:

Representing the Number 15--Michael Crabtree, just because I think he'll be a star WR

Representign the Number 16--Do I even have to say it? Joe Montana

Representing the Number 17--Steve DeBerg. The dude played into his 40s and was an incredibly tough QB

Lots of players in this list, two of them, are among the best players to ever don a 49ers uniform, and another player is one of the best college QBs of all time.

Representing the number 12--John Brodie. This is an easy one.  Trent Dilfer wore Brodie's number to bring more attention to the fact that Brodie is not ensrhined in the Hall of Fame.

Representing the number 13--Shaun Hill. I guess QBs must be a superstitious lot since there have only been three players in all of 49ers history to wear that number.

Representing the number 14--Y.A. Tittle. Another easy choice. Sadly Tittle's best years were after he was traded to the Giants.

Some more familial relationships in this batch of 49ers. Kicker Matt Bahr has a younger brother who was also an NFL kicker. Jeff Brohm's younger brother is Brian Brohm, whom many of you may recall from his days at Hawaii. Jeff Kemp had a fairly successful career in the pros though he bounced from team to team.. He backed up Joe Montana in 1986 and threw 11 TDs for the 49ers. He's the son of Jack Kemp (former politician and NFL QB)

Winners:

Representing the number 9: Jeff Kemp. Journeyman QB who's made a long career of coaching.

Representign the number 10: George Mira. Even though he wasn't all that great a back-up QB (his best season he had a completion ratio of 51%) he had a longish career.

Representing the number 11: Alex Smith, starting QB of the 49ers. Earl Morrall had a successful NFL career after the 49ers (especially with the Colts), but he only spent one season with the Niners.

Seven must be the lucky number this time around. We have two picks from the 1984 supplemental draft and a whole bunch of late round picks.

Mark Stevens took full advantage of the 1987 strike to become one of the first black QBs to play in the NFL, even if it was only for a couple of games.

There's a caveat to Zendejas' drafting position. He was drafted in the disperal draft which happened after the USFL disbanded. Interestingly enough there was another Zendejas who played for the Cowboys and was drafted in 1986. He was also a kicker--with a name like that they have to be releated.

Steve Young was the 1st overall pick in the 1984 supplemental draft. Interestingly enough there was another Steve Young drafted by the Buccaneers in 1976, although he was a tackle out of Colorado.

Winners:

Representing the Number 7: Nate Davis. Just because he's a fan favorite, not because I have any particular liking for him.

Representing the Number 8: Steve Young. This was easy and not just because he's the only Niner to have worn that number (weird huh?)

Representing the Number 9: Jim Asmus. Just for some old-time player love here.