Game Week Thread: San Francisco

[Golden Spur]

Well, here we go. Panthers (5-3) face the surging 49ers at their place.

Playoffs? Ron Rivera says Carolina ‘has an opportunity’ | CharlotteObserver.com

 

[Golden Spur]

Aldon Smith: I?m just taking it one day at a time | ProFootballTalk

everal teammates said they thought Smith looked like he was in good shape and ready to pick up where he left off on the field, leading to questions about whether Smith would be in the lineup for this week’s game against the Panthers.

Smith admitted to thinking about it as well, but said that there’s been no decision on that front yet.

“You know, it’s crossing my mind,” Smith said, via Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group. “I’m just taking it one day at a time, getting back here, being around the guys and just getting my life back at home. I’ve got a 10-month-old son, so I’m doing the father thing. I’m just trying to make sure I’m all ready to go.”

Crabtree is practicing for them, but I don't think he'll be back this week. I think they also got Manningham back. But Smith - I hope he needs another week off, tbh.

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

Aldon Smith: I?m just taking it one day at a time | ProFootballTalk



Crabtree is practicing for them, but I don't think he'll be back this week. I think they also got Manningham back. But Smith - I hope he needs another week off, tbh.

I really doubt Smith will be back for our game. Not that their LB corp needs any help. I think we match up very well with SF in almost all phases of the game. They are ranked 32 in passing yards we are 10th in pass defense. They are 12th against the run we have the 8th best rushing attack in the NFL. They have the #1 ranked rushing attack vs our #2 ranked run defense. If they have any major advantage it is their passing defense vs our passing offense. Our major advantage is that our defense gives up 13.3 points per game while their defense gives up 18.1 ppg.

The biggest question mark we have right now is our offensive line. They have been playing better than expected but our starting RG, who was the backup RG, is now day to day. Our next guy up is a converted DT who was a backup OT. We have signed a veteran who knows our offense and has started many games in his career. People are constantly pointing our that Carolina has not beaten any good teams. But I have not heard anyone mention that SF has only beaten 1 team over 0.500 lost to the only 2 other over 0.500 teams they have played. After that, every team they have played and beaten is 0.500 or below. In short, they are not beating the top teams either. They also have not faced a run defense anywhere near as good as ours. The only other advantage I will concede to SF is Home Field. Should be a great game.

 

[pantherfanforever11]

I really doubt Smith will be back for our game. Not that their LB corp needs any help. I think we match up very well with SF in almost all phases of the game. They are ranked 32 in passing yards we are 10th in pass defense. They are 12th against the run we have the 8th best rushing attack in the NFL. They have the #1 ranked rushing attack vs our #2 ranked run defense. If they have any major advantage it is their passing defense vs our passing offense. Our major advantage is that our defense gives up 13.3 points per game while their defense gives up 18.1 ppg.

The biggest question mark we have right now is our offensive line. They have been playing better than expected but our starting RG, who was the backup RG, is now day to day. Our next guy up is a converted DT who was a backup OT. We have signed a veteran who knows our offense and has started many games in his career. People are constantly pointing our that Carolina has not beaten any good teams. But I have not heard anyone mention that SF has only beaten 1 team over 0.500 lost to the only 2 other over 0.500 teams they have played. After that, every team they have played and beaten is 0.500 or below. In short, they are not beating the top teams either. They also have not faced a run defense anywhere near as good as ours. The only other advantage I will concede to SF is Home Field. Should be a great game.

i will give you some of that. however SF has made two back to back NFC championship games and one SB even though they lost. just going by that history they have beaten good teams in the NFL last couple years, where as Carolina hasn't. thats the reason for the skeptism surrounding Carolina. we need to prove them wrong and beat a good team. i use the last couple years because for the most part SF is fielding the excact same team.


now my prediction is that we need to get a lead and make them pass the ball especially in the second half, if we let them stay close thier great o line will quite possibly start to pop holes open in our defense. thier biggest advantage is thier o line is better than ours. so if we can get a lead and make them throw more than they want i like our chances. but if the game is close all the way through and they can keep pounding i think we will falter in the fourth. that is my observation

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

We have also moved Sione Fua from DT to G to help with depth.

http://www.panthers.com/news/articl...-linemen/fb5ad451-57ca-4da8-8d69-bebdb01b6fcb

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

Injury Report, at least there are only three on it. Blackburn, Dockery, and Scott.

http://www.panthers.com/team/injury-report.html

 

[Golden Spur]

I really doubt Smith will be back for our game. Not that their LB corp needs any help. I think we match up very well with SF in almost all phases of the game. They are ranked 32 in passing yards we are 10th in pass defense. They are 12th against the run we have the 8th best rushing attack in the NFL. They have the #1 ranked rushing attack vs our #2 ranked run defense. If they have any major advantage it is their passing defense vs our passing offense. Our major advantage is that our defense gives up 13.3 points per game while their defense gives up 18.1 ppg.

The biggest question mark we have right now is our offensive line. They have been playing better than expected but our starting RG, who was the backup RG, is now day to day. Our next guy up is a converted DT who was a backup OT. We have signed a veteran who knows our offense and has started many games in his career. People are constantly pointing our that Carolina has not beaten any good teams. But I have not heard anyone mention that SF has only beaten 1 team over 0.500 lost to the only 2 other over 0.500 teams they have played. After that, every team they have played and beaten is 0.500 or below. In short, they are not beating the top teams either. They also have not faced a run defense anywhere near as good as ours. The only other advantage I will concede to SF is Home Field. Should be a great game.

Bold: I have to give Gettleman some credit for finding guys to at least hold our DB and OL corps together. I actually think the former have been playing pretty well the last couple of games. A big part of an NFL scouting department's operation is to know players who are out of the game, but 'on call'. Bringing Travelle back has actually benefited us, I think, and for all the injuries, we're running the ball better than most of the league.

Looking at the two games that SF lost, you have SEA and INDY. Some stats for both.
INDY-SEA
C. Kaepernick 13/28 127 4.5 0 3 3-20 14.0 20.1
Boldin only caught 1 pass for 7 yards. But that's because he had Sherman and crew playing man on him. Vernon Davis had 3 catches for 20 yards. They ran for 100 yards.

INDY-SF
C. Kaepernick 13/27 150 5.6 0 1 3-11 11.8 49.9
Boldin had 5 catches for 67 yards, and apparently Davis didn't play. They ran for 115 yards.

Contrast that with their wins against AZ, where Davis had 8/180, and Boldin 3/28, and against TENN, where Boldin went 5/74, Davis 4/62. They don't have any stellar playmakers at wideout, but when 9ers get combined production from these guys, they seem to win.

We need to stop the run, and do a good job on those two, imo. Davis is a hybrid TE/WR, and presents some coverage problems (like when Luke whiffed on Tony G last week on the TD throw, maybe) but Boldin is the one I worry about most, as he really knows how to find holes in zone coverage, and I don't think we have a guy who's going to go man with him all day.

 

[Golden Spur]

now my prediction is that we need to get a lead and make them pass the ball especially in the second half, if we let them stay close thier great o line will quite possibly start to pop holes open in our defense. thier biggest advantage is thier o line is better than ours. so if we can get a lead and make them throw more than they want i like our chances. but if the game is close all the way through and they can keep pounding i think we will falter in the fourth. that is my observation

There's been a lot of criticism of Kaep not going through his reads, too. We need to get pressure, and make him force some decisions. I really feel like we're going to need a couple takeaways to win this one.

 

[Balljim55]

Our Defense needs a similar game plan as the one we used against Seattle. We bottled up their run game and limited Wilsons run effectiveness by staying disciplined in our rushing lanes.
Unless we can rattle Kaepernack, take away his first two reads and limit his runs, we won't win this one. I think their D can get to Newton.
Hope I'm wrong

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

Our Defense needs a similar game plan as the one we used against Seattle. We bottled up their run game and limited Wilsons run effectiveness by staying disciplined in our rushing lanes.
Unless we can rattle Kaepernack, take away his first two reads and limit his runs, we won't win this one. I think their D can get to Newton.
Hope I'm wrong

Very much agreed. Their D has not been able to generate much pressure on the QB since Smith went out. He still leads SF in sacks despite missing 5 games. If our O line can pull together and keep them off of Cam, we win this one.

 

[pantherfanforever11]

thier O line is centered around running the ball. if you take that away by scoring some points and make them throw. that goes against the strength of thier o line, then you can get alot of pressure on Kaep. i hold to we need to be our front in this one and stay there.

 

[Tabasco Kat]

Vernon Davis is pretty much a wide receiver he and Bouldin could give our secondary a lot of trouble especially if Rivera assigns someone to shadow Kaep.We really need to give Cam a little time in the pocket to have a chance in this game if the O-line fails so will we.

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

Everyone on ESPN.COM has picked SF in this game. I like it when we are the underdogs.

 

[Golden Spur]

Couple links I found on the Niners board:

Rivera following Madden's advice on QB Newton

John Madden gave Panthers coach Ron Rivera some advice this offseason: You need to reduce the wear and tear on Cam Newton's body.

Rivera says he sought out and met Madden in California and the Hall of Fame coach "was a little concerned about us giving the ball a little too much to the quarterback."

Rivera has taken the advice to heart.

Newton is on pace to carry the ball 110 times, down from an average of 128 over his first two NFL seasons. But while Newton is carrying less, the Panthers (5-3) are winning more.

Rivera says it's a "good thing" that Newton's rushing numbers are down a little, adding "we want to limit his exposure in light of what has happened to RG3 in the past."

Kaepernick on Manningham: It's not going to take much time for Manningham to get up to speed

 

[Golden Spur]

Everyone on ESPN.COM has picked SF in this game. I like it when we are the underdogs.

I just went and checked the line, and it's come down from 6.5 to 6, so maybe some peeps in Vegas are leaning the other way, lol.

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

This is how I'm looking at this game. Our offenses are about even. SF has a slightly better rushing attack and we have a slightly better passing attack. Any way you try to slice it, our D is clearly superior to SF's. IMHO we are VERY SLIGHTLY better on special teams. Gano might just be the FG kicker in the game right now and is better at kickoffs. They are a little better on coverage. We will have to play a whole lot better than we did against Atlanta, but this is a winnable game.

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

Couple links I found on the Niners board:

Rivera following Madden's advice on QB Newton



Kaepernick on Manningham: It's not going to take much time for Manningham to get up to speed

Actually, he talked to Madden, Ditka, and Cowher. Madden actually broke down game film and went over it with Rivera.

Notes: Rivera leaned on legends

 

[Golden Spur]

Not to change the subject, but the other big games I see for the NFC playoff picture are:

Detroit (-1) @ Chicago,
Dallas @ New Orleans (-6.5),
Philly @ Green Bay (-1.5)

There was some talk last week about the Detroit schedule, but man, did the picture shift rapidly in the NFC central Monday night! And I guess I'm going to have to root for Dallas again - I hope I don't breakout in hives or something.

 

[pantherfanforever11]

Goldenspur if you root for Dalles you deserve hives!!!! LOL

 

[ONEPANTHERSFAN]

Goldenspur if you root for Dalles you deserve hives!!!! LOL

Call my dermatologist, I'll be pulling for Dallas too.