When Jim Harbaugh was hired, much was said about the West Coast Offense and how he'd be bringing it to the San Francisco 49ers. Now, he did bring it here and has implemented it in one iteration, but one thing we've only started to see recently was very important to its execution: getting the ball out quickly. In a nutshell, the WCO is situated to get the ball out quickly to your playmakers so they can, you know, make a play. Against the New York Giants on Sunday, it will be more important than ever for the 49ers to get that football out quickly.
The New York defense has been vastly overrated over the past few weeks, and that includes myself. I've talked about how good they are, especially considering the fact that hey disrupted the Green Bay Packers. But everyone has an off day, and the Packers were clearly not playing their best football. Then again, everyone has an on day as well, and the Giants do have several playmakers. But they were ranked in the bottom of the league in pass defense (29th), rush defense (19th) and points allowed (25th).
Sure, the Giants can be "on" again and have a great game against the 49ers, but San Francisco should be confident and if the offense continues its rate of progression, Alex Smith will be getting the ball out quickly and, unlike the first contest, Frank Gore is 100 percent healthy and ready to go. About the only thing the Giants do exceedingly well on defense is get to the quarterback, and that's why the WCO moniker of "put the ball in the hands of the playmakers" is more important now than ever. Smith needs to take a couple steps, find his man, and rocket the pass in there like he did against the New Orleans Saints.
New York's defense ranked third in the NFL with 48 sacks. There are far too many threats on the Giants' defense to take them lightly, but luckily, the 49ers have been preparing for this kind of matchup since Jim Harbaugh signed on the dotted line.