What Are The 49ers Strengths And Weaknesses?

[ball hawkin 20]

[quote name='keebl3rs' timestamp='1321833042' post='879215']
I don't know why but I look at the 49ers the same way I look at the Lions and say to myself.. overrated. I know I shouldn't say that about a team that is 9-1 but I can't help it. I mean I look at that division and their schedule and just.. I dunno. It'll probably be a close game, but man do I hate losing to NFC teams. We GOTTA win this game!
[/quote]

only good team they've beaten is the Giants right?

[Ravenslifer]

[quote name='ball hawkin 20' timestamp='1321833509' post='879226']

only good team they've beaten is the Giants right?
[/quote]

They've also beaten Cinci and Detroit, both of whom have winning records (and Detroit was 5-0 coming into that game - there was the whole "Harbaugh-Schwartz" fiasco at the end).

[ball hawkin 20]

[quote name='Ravenslifer' timestamp='1321833790' post='879236']

They've also beaten Cinci and Detroit, both of whom have winning records (and Detroit was 5-0 coming into that game - there was the whole "Harbaugh-Schwartz" fiasco at the end).
[/quote]

lol detroit really hasn't been that good, even then
and i guess Cinci counts as good

[757RavensFan]

[quote name='ball hawkin 20' timestamp='1321833509' post='879226']

only good team they've beaten is the Giants right?
[/quote]

They've only beaten 3 teams w/ winning records. Detroit, Cincy, and NY.

[keebl3rs]

[quote name='ball hawkin 20' timestamp='1321833509' post='879226']

only good team they've beaten is the Giants right?
[/quote]

Haha, I know I'm wrong to look at 'em that way. I think my problem is I still look at them as being last years 49ers (6-10). Well, that and I have no respect for the NFC West as a whole.. get some competition in that division please.

[bmore187]

Its gonna be tough......we cant afford to turn the ball over.......I say Ravens 13 49ers 10

[RavenousBG]

[quote name='ball hawkin 20' timestamp='1321824504' post='878726']
Just trying to think of matchups that would favor us..i don't follow the 49ers by any means
[/quote]

I've seen them a couple of times this year and they are scary. I think the weakness is in the passing game on offense but not if their running game is going. So I would say, the Ravens have to take Gore away and get a bit of a lead, put Alex Smith in obvious passing situations. That's the best thing we can do against them there.

On Defense we have to use their aggressiveness against them, much like we did against the Bengals. Screens will be good but their backers are fast and their 52 (Willis) is a lot like our young 52 circa 99 or 98. We have to stick with our running game, no matter if we are getting anything from it or not and pass out of run formations on first downs. We have to catch them off guard as much as possible. I believe that Torrey and Lee can get deep. Well I know Torrey can.

We have to get a lead on these guys. I think we really need this game and need to start our run now to secure homefield advantage.

[RavenousBG]

They are Ravens west with a young Ray Ray-a-like in the middle of the Defense.

Good thing for us we usually play well against the better teams because this one won't be easy. May be a game full of field goals

[CapoRocky]

They have a great defense. I watched them wear down teams with their running game. They have a few big play making receivers, too. All the things that make me nervous about Thursday night. I think we have momentum after the emotional win today. Let's win all the games left on the schedule and prove the critics wrong.

[footballfan78]

[quote name='keebl3rs' timestamp='1321833042' post='879215']
I don't know why but I look at the 49ers the same way I look at the Lions and say to myself.. overrated. I know I shouldn't say that about a team that is 9-1 but I can't help it. I mean I look at that division and their schedule and just.. I dunno. It'll probably be a close game, but man do I hate losing to NFC teams. We GOTTA win this game!
[/quote]

You do realize the Ravens have played more NFC West teams then the Niners? Today was only the second NFC West game for the Niners.

[ajanke]

Niner fan here. Looking forward to the game. Have a lot of respect for your team and players. Especially your coach

Let's talk football

[ravensdfan]

[quote name='ball hawkin 20' timestamp='1321826956' post='878913']

yeah, but 9/20 against the cards? is he usually like this or just a bad game?
[/quote]

They do not put the game into the hands of Alex Smith for the most part. We have to shut down Gore and force Smith to beat us. I don't think he can do it.

[ravensdfan]

[quote name='ajanke' timestamp='1321848251' post='879725']
Niner fan here. Looking forward to the game. Have a lot of respect for your team and players. Especially your coach [img]http://content.boards.baltimoreravens.com//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png[/img]

Let's talk football
[/quote]

Welcome to the boards! I'll love that I have Raven football again in just a mere 4 days but then that wait for the next game will seem like forever!!!

Looking forward to the game too! Should be a good one!

[hawkprey]

This is going to come down to us being able to get pressure on Smith. Our pass rush has to come though, and it can't come at the expense of broken coverages. The 49ers have had the benefit of the turnover margin in basically all their games, so if we can force more turnovers than they can, we can win this.

[keebl3rs]

[quote name='ajanke' timestamp='1321848251' post='879725']
Niner fan here. Looking forward to the game. Have a lot of respect for your team and players. Especially your coach [img]http://content.boards.baltimoreravens.com//public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png[/img]

Let's talk football
[/quote]

49ers didn't even exist on my radar until recently. Did Harbaugh put something in your guys Gatorade or what? Looking forward to see this defense you guys have!

Anyway, with all the brother vs brother hype behind this game.. should be entertaining!

[BobMarley]

I don't think the 49ers defense has let up a running touchdown all year. Let's change that.

[The King]

The 49ers strength is in playing well as a unit and in playing mostly mistake free. Alex Smith has his INTs way down this season and it has been great for their offense. It allows them to hold the ball for longer, and takes some pressure off of Frank Gore.

The main offensive weapons are Gore and Vernon Davis. Davis is one of the most physically talented TEs in the league and is a challenge for any player to cover. Personally I like the idea of matching Jimmy Smith up against him as a way to limit his impact. Jimmy has the physical tools to run and jump with Davis. We really need the D to return to its form of the first six weeks or so in order to shut down Frank Gore.

Defensively they have a very strong front seven and a relatively weak secondary. We need to give Ray Rice enough carries to establish the run and give him a chance to break out a big run, but if we win it will be because the passing game works. I think that this is the kind of game where I'd expect Boldin to shine.

[keebl3rs]

[quote name='BobMarley' timestamp='1321853295' post='879799']
I don't think the 49ers defense has let up a running touchdown all year. Let's change that.
[/quote]

I think Ray, Vonta and Ricky are just the crew to change that.

[CharmCityRaven]

I wont lie this game makes me nervous. I'm just glad it's here in Baltimore where we haven't lost this season, Joe also plays great at home, we have our fans and the bank is going to be rocking Turkey day/night!!

If we can get Joe the protection he needs I don't see a problem with him burning their secondary up, it's their front seven that worries me. I also think Cam needs to let Joe go more with the play action boot leg, he seems to be way more comfortable rolling out.

Our defense might be older than theirs, but we have way to much veteran talent on every single level of our defense. Going to be a great game and hope this pans out to be a every season rival between the Harbs!

[Bottom_Line5220]

I see them as the ravens 2 years ago solid run game Great Defence anchored by Patrick Willis and a QB that dosent have to make to many tough descions

[ajanke]

I mostly agree with you guys. Shutting down gore is everyone's best chance to beat us. Our offense has been very different the past few weeks. More passing, lots of missed opportunities(dropped td passes, missed throws in the endzone to wide open recievers) and have had less emphasis on the run. We haven't even run they type of run plays that we had been running so successfully prior to the giants game. I'm not sure what to think of it. Shutting down gore is the best chance for anyone to beat us. Would you rather let go go free or alex go free. Obvious choice. We do have some injuries starting RT injured his ankle today and our FB had a concussion today. Braylon Edwards is still injured and not playing very well. He dropped two td passes today. Not sure what is up with him. We have a really good back up rookie RB named Kendall Hunter. Very quick and small. Very nice compliment to when gore comes out of the game.

[BenDufusberger]

@ ajanke

Do you know what day they're flying to Balto ?

[RayRiceRunningfortheRavns]

Gameplan against the Niners:

Get the lead early through the air, flacco-rice screens to set up deep TD to Torrey. Make Alex Smith beat us with his arm. They have a weak-ish pass defense and nobody that can keep pace with Torrey, nobody physical enough to hang with Boldin. Outscore them to the point where they have to rely on Smith to lead a comeback, which he and his receivers are not good enough to handle. Let Kruger and Suggs and McPhee hunt.

Final Score: Ravens 34 (Flacco 310 yards, 1 int, 3 TDs; Rice 65 yards, 1 TD; Cundiff 2 FGs)
49ers 21 (Smith 170 yards, 3 int, 1 TD, Frank Gore, 90 yards, 2 TD)

[Ravenseconbeast]

We need to execute better than 49ers on all phase of the ball(ST,Offense, DEFENSE). This is a good team. Shutting one player isnt going to do jack squat. Every player on man to man need to outperform the other. Only way we will win this game.

[RavensFanInCA]

Here's what I've found from watching the 49ers (I live near San Francisco and my gf is a 9ers fan... sorta...).

Alex Smith throws a lot of short passes that turn into bigger gains. A lot of the time it's to Gore or Davis, but sometimes it'll be Delanie Walker or Crabtree. Their O-line usually gets decent push, but I think Anthony Davis might be out for their game against us. I believe he's a 2nd year player who was picked in the first round last year?

Their defense gets a crazy number of turnovers that I still can't figure out. Maybe I can accept the fumbles as a result of the players being well trained to punch the ball out (we NEED to maintain good ball security), but some of the INTs that get thrown are beyond acceptable. Flacco cannot be his 4-INT self (a la Bengals last year). Either way, we can't give them the easy turnovers.

Their offense is not spectacular. I'm under the strong impression that a lot of their points are because of great field position caused by their league-leading number of turnovers.

[BenDufusberger]

Their interceptions appear to mostly come at the hands of CB Rogers and their two safeties. Rogers looks to be very tough , and both safeties seem to have decent stats too. If their secondary is so weak , it must be at other positions as far as I can tell. I guess they must have a couple other CBs getting burned pretty regularly to be giving up the passing yards they do.

[Yurtle]

I've been reading the boards on the 49ers website. A lot of their fans seem extremely confident that they can shut us down. One guys projected the stats of the game, predicting Rice to get 10 attempts for 23 yards, while Gore will get 15 attempts for 92. They think that if they pressure Flacco the game will be over. They also were on our boards and seemed very offended that most of us had not seen them play (even though they have not had a primetime game yet). One of them said that he thought the Giants were a tougher match on their schedule. Another said Dalton threw all over us and Smith can handle our blitz. Of course, they said our defense is old and that their offense is young and will match up well with us. They think they will dominate time of possession and that we won't know how to defend their formations where apparently 2 OL report as eligible. In general they disagreed with most of your analysis of their team's strengths and weaknesses. Of course some of them praised the Ravens and think this will be a very tough game. But a lot of them seem to underestimate our offense (as usual). We are probably underestimating them somewhat, so it's fair I guess. Should be a great game.

[757RavensFan]

I don't know if this was already posted in this thread, but I saw on NFL network where they haven't allowed a rushing TD so far this year. That's very impressive!!

[Gtown Purple]

Strengths- running the ball, timely passing, running defense, vernon davis, ted ginn, offense does not turn the ball over much, defense creates turnovers. offensive line, defensive front 7

weaknesses- overall passing game, defensive secondary, gnerally vanilla offense.

The Ravens will have to minimize mistakes and play good defense. I don't think the 49ers can burn us deep like Cincy can but they do have players who can surprise you.

[PuRock]

[quote name='RavensFanInCA' timestamp='1321862698' post='879933']
Here's what I've found from watching the 49ers (I live near San Francisco and my gf is a 9ers fan... sorta...).

[b]Alex Smith throws a lot of short passes that turn into bigger gains.[/b] A lot of the time it's to Gore or Davis, but sometimes it'll be Delanie Walker or Crabtree. Their O-line usually gets decent push, but I think Anthony Davis might be out for their game against us. I believe he's a 2nd year player who was picked in the first round last year?

Their defense gets a crazy number of turnovers that I still can't figure out. Maybe I can accept the fumbles as a result of the players being well trained to punch the ball out (we NEED to maintain good ball security), but some of the INTs that get thrown are beyond acceptable. Flacco cannot be his 4-INT self (a la Bengals last year). Either way, we can't give them the easy turnovers.

Their offense is not spectacular. I'm under the strong impression that a lot of their points are because of great field position caused by their league-leading number of turnovers.
[/quote]

This is part of our strength. Webb, Pollard and even Reed are very good at closing in on short routes for tackles. We struggle more with when the QB has more than 3 seconds to throw down field. We prefer the short ball game. We can focus in on the run.