The New Orleans Saints will bring a whole host of offensive weapons to Candlestick Park, but arguably their most talented player is tight end Jimmy Graham. The statistics alone show what kind of talent he is. He finished the 2011 regular season with 99 receptions, 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns. Beyond just the stats, you're talking about a guy who is 6'6, 260 pounds with very solid speed and leaping ability as good as anybody in the league. He needs to do this for more than one year, but if he can keep it up, his ceiling is as high as any tight end in the league.

Enough slobbering about the Saints. How about the guy who will be covering him? 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis will draw the primary assignment on Jimmy Graham. Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner will get plenty of opportunities to help out, but Willis will be the first line of defense.

Football Outsiders ranks the 49ers sixth in defending against tight ends and much of that has to do with Patrick Willis and his filthy athleticism. Willis has been utilized more frequently this season to defend tight ends than in year's past. He did drop into coverage before, but Manny Lawson was often matched up against opposing tight ends. The emergence of NaVorro Bowman has allowed the 49ers to mix up how they use Patrick Willis and improved the defense accordingly.

Although Graham presents an incredibly tough matchup for the defense, there is something really cool about seeing Graham matching up with Willis. You have two players who can be absurdly dominant at their position matching up in a win-or-go-home situation. Willis was rusty in his return against the Rams, but hopefully he got that rust off. He cannot afford anything less than his best against a beast like Graham.

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The 49ers face numerous challenges against the New Orleans Saints this Saturday, with Drew Brees and his band of merry men topping the list. Even if the grass slows down the Saints attack to some extent, it is still an incredibly tough offense to contain. The Saints have numerous weapons up and down the roster and will find ways to mix and match their skill position players all around the field.

The Saints passing attack has been strong all year, but when they have struggled, it has often been because defenses have been able to get pressure on Drew Brees. When Brees has all day to throw, it should surprise nobody when he picks apart a defense. But nobody can wait forever when defensive linemen and linebackers are getting in their face fairly quickly. Additionally, if a QB feels enough pressure early, it can potentially get them thinking about footsteps later.

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The 49ers and Saints squared off at the start of the preseason and the big story was how much the Saints defense blitzed. Alex Smith spent a sizable portion of his time in the game struggling to avoid the onslaught of blitzes. The story that creeped out was something to do with Sean Payton being displeased by Jim Harbaugh's failure to call him about setting up some sort of gentleman's agreement regarding some of the ground rules.

In a vacuum, a "gentleman's agreement" sounds a little odd, and Coach Harbaugh acknowledged as much in his press conference yesterday. He was asked if he knew anything about this and he said:

No, I don't. I really don't. Don't know anything about that. You hate to deal with hypotheticals. What somebody might have said and what somebody didn't say. It really becomes irrelevant. Certainly not aware of any gentleman's agreement. Even asked my brother. ‘Is there some kind of gentleman's agreement that you call a coach before a preseason game?' And he wasn't aware of any. Even if there was, we wouldn't do it anyway. We ask no quarter, we give no quarter, and that's how we approach things.

Whether or not Sean Payton was pissed off about something, the 49ers players who have played under Gregg Williams indicated he is a big fan of blitzing no matter what the scenario. Carlos Rogers and Jonathan Goodwin both stated Williams was a heavy blitzer, with Goodwin even indicating that Williams would blitz extra in practice.

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The San Francisco 49ers welcome the New Orleans Saints to town this Saturday for the first 49ers playoff game in nine years. The last time the 49ers were in the playoffs, they pulled off the biggest comeback in playoff history in their wild card round victory over the New York Giants. They followed that up with a 31-6 thrashing at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Shortly thereafter, the team fired Steve Mariucci and moved on to eight seasons of ignominious play.

This will be the first postseason matchup between the two teams, but they have plenty of history. The two teams were members of the NFC West from 1970 to 2001, at which point the Saints moved to the NFC South. The 49ers lead the all-time series 45-24-2 but have lost six straight to the Saints dating back to 2002.

In reality, the recent history is not particularly pertinent. The 49ers did play the Saints extremely close last year, but it is worth noting how early in the season it was and how much more explosive the Saints offense is this season. They've put 1,500 more yards of offense thanks in part to replacing Jeremy Shockey and Reggie Bush with Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles. As BASG pointed out in the link above, it's also worth noting the Saints were defending champs and a Super Bowl hangover shouldn't have been the most surprising possibility.

It's of course most notable that these 49ers are a much different team from last year. There are a lot of familiar faces from that game, but we all know it's a different team. It makes for a matchup that should be fun all around. I don't see either team winning in blowout fashion, but rather a fairly close battle that will keep all of us on the edge of our seats.

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I have to say that the fact that Anthony Dixon's nickname is Boobie real makes life so much easier when it comes to writing titles. The 49ers have a lot of work to do to get to the Super Bowl, but if they had the good fortune of earning a trip to the Super Bowl, I have a feeling Dixon would be the star of media day.

I bring him up now because he could be in for a prominent role this Sunday. The 49ers are short on wide receivers and likely will be looking to run every which way on the Rams. Frank Gore will get the start and Kendall Hunter will be his primary backup, but this could be a chance for Boobie Dixon to be as involved as any time in recent memory.

The team will be looking to control the clock and dominate the rushing attack, but I would also imagine they do not want to over work Frank Gore. Kendall Hunter is likely looking at a shot at a season high in carries, but Anthony Dixon could see that happen as well. Hunter had a career high 12 carries last week as the 49ers ran roughshod over the Seahawks rush defense. I would imagine Hunter will find himself with another significant rushing load this week.

However, I also think Anthony Dixon has a good chance at surpassing his 2011 high of seven carries. He rushed seven times for 32 yards against the Arizona Cardinals. While Dixon has been a staple on special teams he has not been able to consistently work his way into the running back rotation. It is not surprising given the talent ahead of him, but it still noteworthy. I don't expect to see him get a ton of running back time in the playoffs, but much like Joe Hastings could use Sunday's game as an audition for playoff playing time, Anthony Dixon could find himself in a similar situation.

The 49ers head into their regular season finale against the St. Louis Rams facing a team that has had a fairly miserable season. The rumors are flying that Steve Spagnuolo is out the door with Jon Gruden unofficially on the team's radar. The team is tied with the Indianapolis Colts for the worst record in the draft and can secure the pick with a loss and a Colts win. The Colts are underdogs, but Jacksonville is not exactly a powerhouse so an Indy win is entirely possible.

I took a few minutes to chat with Ryan from Turf Show Times, primarily to get an idea of the mindset of this team heading into the finale. I don't expect Steve Spagnuolo and his squad to just roll over, but there's also a reason they're 2-13. The 49ers are better than the Rams, but these last few weeks have shown just how crazy things can get in this league. Ideally the 49ers can grab a quick lead and put this thing away, and maybe even get some rest for guys like Frank Gore and an offensive lineman or two. But, the 49ers will need to be prepared for the Rams to come out with everything but the kitchen sink in this one.

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The San Francisco 49ers head out to St. Louis this weekend looking to wrap up the number two seed and get a much needed first round bye. Although this has nothing to do with much of anything with regards to the 2011 season, the all-time series is tied 61-61-2, so the 49ers can take the lead in the series with a victory.

As the 49ers prepare for the Rams, they are a bit short-handed at the skill positions, but thankfully still have a beast in the backfield with Frank Gore and his new personal escort, Bruce Miller. The Rams have struggled in numerous phases of the game on defense, with their rush defense being particularly suspect. I would imagine that part of the reason their rush defense is so much worse than their pass defense is that teams have taken leads and run out the clock. Hopefully the 49ers can run out the clock themselves this Sunday.

Although the 49ers offense has its share of question marks heading into this game, the defense is another question entirely. Even if the 49ers sit Patrick Willis, they retain a significant advantage over the Rams. Football Outsiders ranks the Rams 32nd in total offensive efficiency. Even with Steven Jackson having a fairly solid 2011, the Rams have not been able to punch the ball in with any sort of regularity, sitting in dead last points per game. If the 49ers lose this game, they just don't deserve that number two seed.

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The decision to release wide receiver Braylon Edwards, coupled with injuries to Ted Ginn Jr., Kyle Williams and Delanie Walker leaves the 49ers incredibly thin at the receiver and tight end positions. At receiver, Michael Crabtree and Brett Swain are the only currently healthy receivers, although Ginn might be close to coming back. Beyond that, the team is looking at potential receiver options that will likely include their practice squad players, Joe Hastings and John Matthews.

The tight end position still has Vernon Davis, and Justin Peele can operate in a blocking role. However, as Danny Tuccitto pointed out, the loss of Walker could really hamper the 49ers formation diversity. They use Walker in four or five different roles, which allows them to create mismatches and confuse opposing defenses with their abundant formations.

Now, the 49ers head into St. Louis looking for the proverbial next man up, but they find themselves in a position where there likely won't be a traditional "next man." The team waived Braylon Edwards, thus creating room for one addition. Given the short-handed nature of the team, it will be interesting to see how the play-calling is impacted this Sunday against the Rams.

Whatever you think of the 2011 version of the Rams, the 49ers still have to figure out a way to make plays on offense and get some points on the board. I suspect we'll see a whole lot of Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter, and maybe even some Anthony Dixon to keep things fresh. Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis will likely be prominently involved as well.

The 49ers still have several strong skill position players available, but obviously not as many as they had prior to all these injuries. The team doesn't employ the most dynamic of offensive game-plans at times, but even still, coming in further short-handed puts them in a position where we might see a whole lot more running than normal. The Rams bring a struggling rush defense that the 49ers will look to gash. They will air it out when needed, but this looks to be a power rushing game all the way.