2012 Playoffs WK2 GB @ SF News and Notes

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Originally posted by titmfatied:

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With the Call:
Play-by-play man Joe Buck and color analyst Troy Aikman will have the call from the broadcast booth with Pam Oliver and Erin Andrews reporting from the sidelines.

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Free Head Exam: Green Bay Packers
espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth
by Kevin Seifert

Woodson freely admitted he was "scared" about the first contact he would take on his right collarbone Saturday night. An early takedown of tailback Adrian Peterson boosted his confidence, however, and Woodson said: "Getting that first tackle, hitting the ground a couple of times, having people fall on top of me, on the side where I broke it, and to get up with no pain, that was a load off my shoulders."

defensive coordinator Dom Capers increased his rate of putting at least eight men in the box from 23.6 percent in the first two games to 31.8 on Saturday night, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Peterson managed only 3.3 yards per carry in those situations, and Woodson made clear that the elevated run support wasn't a bi-product of Joe Webb replacing Christian Ponder at quarterback.

"No disrespect to Ponder," Woodson said, "but bringing a guy down in the box isn't about Christian Ponder [sitting out]. It's about one guy. That's Adrian Peterson.
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Revamped Packers defense awaits 49ers
foxsportswisconsin.com
by Paul Imig

At the time, the Packers were starting Jarrett Bush at cornerback. After a lackluster performance by Bush in that game, he was not only removed from his starting role but also taken out of nearly every defensive package. Bush played as many snaps against San Francisco as he did in the final 15 games combined.

"We've played an awful lot of rookies, and those rookies now are not rookies any longer," defensive coordinator Dom Capers said Sunday. "They've got some experience. I think back to that game and we had a number of guys where it was their very first time they'd been out there."

"I think we're quite a bit different team now," Capers said. "Hopefully we're a little more battle-tested with the guys we put on the field. Hopefully they're a little more confident in our schemes and what we want to do."

Like Smith, Kaepernick does not throw many interceptions or take a lot of risks in the passing game. That's about where the comparisons end. Kaepernick has more rushing yards in seven starts this season than Smith had in his past five years combined.

In the first meeting with the 49ers, Green Bay had only 14 runs and a season-high 44 passes. Of those 14 runs, five were called as passing plays that Rodgers ended up scrambling for positive yards on.continue

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Packers-49ers: Williams vs. Crabtree a matchup to watch
jerseyal.com
@MJEversoll

Over the past five weeks, Crabtree has been one of the hottest receivers in football. Since week 13, Crabtree is averaging seven catches and 107.6 yards per game. Tight end Vernon Davis, another dangerous weapon for Kaepernick, is averaging just 1.2 catches and 12.2 yards per game over that same five-game span.

ProFootballFocus.com rated Crabtree as the league’s seventh-best wide receiver in the regular season. Williams graded out as the 60th-best cornerback according to PFF.

Crabtree has caught at least seven passes in four of the 49ers’ last five games. Williams has allowed more than three receptions just once over the past five games. He allowed four receptions for 51 yards against Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions in week 14, according to PFF.

In the season opener at Lambeau Field, Crabtree caught seven of the eight passes thrown his way for 76 yards. PFF charged Williams with allowing four of those receptions for a total of 42 yards. continue

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San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh discusses switch from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick
mercurynews.com
By Steve Corkran

Harbaugh said Kaepernick is handling preparation for his first playoff game with aplomb.

"His understanding of it this early in the week is savant-like," Harbaugh said of Kaepernick's grasp of the game plan.

Tight end Vernon Davis reiterated Monday what he has said for weeks on end: He is a vital part of the game plan each week, it's just that defenses are making sure that he isn't the player that hurts them the most.

"There's some multiple factors there, the biggest one being that defenses are playing us and taking that into account, taking Vernon into account," Harbaugh said. "They're wary of getting beat by Vernon Davis. That's the biggest issue."

Davis said defenses are playing him different than other prolific tight ends such as Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten and Rob
Gronkowski, often with defenders in front and behind him on most plays.

Davis called this season "stressful" but just part of the "learning curve."

Through it all, Davis has remained patient and found other ways to contribute, especially as a blocker.continue

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Kaepernick vs. Rodgers? 49ers can’t and shouldn’t let the Green Bay match-up turn into a QB opera
blogs.mercurynews.com
Tim Kawakami

Frank Gore’s numbers are either a large symptom or cause (you decide) of the 49ers’ declining run game. In the 9 games started by Alex Smith, Gore averaged 5.4 yards a carry (140 carries, 753 yards). In the 7 Colin Kaepernick starts, Gore avearged 3.9 yards a carry (118 carries, 461 yards).

—-And the lesser totals aren’t due to the 49ers peeling back on Gore’s use. In fact, he averaged more carries (16.8) in Kaepernick games than he did Smith games (15.5). I don’t think there’s any question that Gore is most comfortable in power sets and has had trouble as the 49ers use more and more shotgun and Pistol formations–which are much more suited to a darting back like LaMichael James.

—-Whether you use the numbers or the analysis of running styles, there’s no doubt the 49ers have gotten away from the two tight-end power run style once they switched to Kaepernick; it’s not wrong, it’s not that they’re running less, it’s just the way it has gone

* The 49ers gained 46.5 percent of their total yards on the ground in the nine games that Smith started.

In the seven Kaepernick games, they’ve gained only 38.4 percent of their yards on the ground.

* The 49ers had more rushing yards than passing yards in four of nine Smith games and averaged 170.2 yards on the ground.

They had more passing yards than rushing yards in each of Kaepernick’s seven games, and averaged 137 yards on the ground.

By making that move, and using a lot more shot-gun formations, the 49ers have put more responsibility on a younger QB, and we have certainly seen signs that the young QB is capable of doing some great things.

It also makes the 49ers a less physical team than they used to be, however. continue

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Battle of the Bays II: 49ers different this go around
sacbee.com
MATTHEW BARROWS

There have been other, significant changes since the teams' Sept. 9 meeting.

Akers, for instance, made the 63 yarder, which put him in the NFL record book for tying the longest field goal ever. Akers, in fact, was good on all three of his attempts that day, each of them from 40 yards or more.

While the Packers readied for the Vikings this week, the 49ers players mostly rested during their bye. They prepared on Thursday for the Redskins, the only possible Saturday opponent they hadn't faced during the regular season. Their most extensive practice of the week, on Friday, was dedicated to the Packers. continue

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Originally posted by Mcpacker64:
If so,their pretty damn lucky!!!

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Secondary Set to Host Green Bay
49ers.com
Alex Espinoza


One player on the 49ers defense who figures to get more playing time than usual is fourth cornerback Perrish Cox, as the Packers often use four-wide receiver sets.

Facing such a pass-heavy offense in Week 1, the 49ers went to their dime package with six defensive backs often, bringing Cox out on to the field as a slot cornerback.

“Week 1, that’s the most I played all season in one game,” Cox said. “I’m always prepared for the game and to get in. I don’t know when my name is going to get called, but I’ll be prepared for anything. It gets tough to play in that slot because there’s so much field to work with and sometimes they run receivers out of the backfield. It’s tough but I’m ready for it.”

...outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks has also quietly become one of the game’s best at his position. Brooks, who also recorded sacks on Rodgers in Week 1, said he expects to receive his usual dose of double teams on Saturday.

“I think every team we play is giving the right tackle a lot of help,” Brooks said. “I don’t get a lot of one-on-ones.”

Since the Harbaugh era started, the 49ers have shown a knack for showing up on the biggest stages. This season included big road wins at Green Bay, New England and New Orleans while the 49ers also claimed hard-fought home victories against teams like Seattle and Chicago.

So as the 49ers prepare for Saturday’s postseason showdown, Brown doesn’t anticipate anyone in the locker room feeling butterflies.
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NFC playoffs Q&A: It gets better
espn.go.com
By John Clayton

What is the biggest single injury to watch this week?
Whether Justin Smith returns to the 49ers' defense. Smith has been missing the past 10 quarters. In that span, the 49ers have surrendered 86 points and 915 yards on 173 plays. When Smith is on the field, the 49ers have had 33 of their 38 sacks. When he's not on the field, teams average 5.12 yards a play compared with 4.48 with him. Opposing quarterbacks have a 93 quarterback rating with Smith out compared with 73.5 when he's on the field.

Will the Packers-49ers game test out a fatigue theory?
Packers coach Mike McCarthy spends a lot of time during the regular season and offseason having his coaches do studies. One of his big studies this offseason involved the number of plays defenders are on the field. After a season in which the Packers finished 32nd on defense, McCarthy felt his players were too tired when the playoffs began.

The Packers have seven defenders who played more than 880 plays last year. The Packers lost their first playoff game despite being a No. 1 seed with a 15-1 record.

The 49ers had an incredible nine defenders on the field for 982 plays, most in recent memory. That doesn't include Justin Smith, who was on pace to be in the 980-plus range before his injury. The 49ers basically use only 13 players on defense in most games.

As a comparison, the Falcons had only three defenders with more than 890 plays. The Redskins had six. The Packers had only two.

what coach will be watched the most during this round?
Harbaugh used a concussion to Alex Smith as a reason to go with Kaepernick at quarterback. His thinking was that Kaepernick's ability to run and throw deep offered more explosiveness to an offense that he must have thought was good but not great. Before his concussion, Smith was completing 70 percent of his passes and had completed 25 of his past 27 throws. Kaepernick finished with five wins in his seven starts, but his numbers trended downward down the stretch. He finished with three games in which he completed less than 60 percent of his passes.continue

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Originally posted by titmfatied:

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NFC playoffs Q&A: It gets better
espn.go.com
By John Clayton

Will the Packers-49ers game test out a fatigue theory?
The 49ers had an incredible nine defenders on the field for 982 plays, most in recent memory. That doesn't include Justin Smith, who was on pace to be in the 980-plus range before his injury. The 49ers basically use only 13 players on defense in most games.

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Pete Caroll was just interviewed on the radio and he said he had the same 22 guys starting on offense and defense against Washington that he did the first game of the season.

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Originally posted by Pakrz:
Not that he isn't always dialed in, but Arod is going to be a man on a mission Saturday night.

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@RobDemovsky
Harbaugh on how Akers has responded to the kicking competition: Like a football player.