SANTA CLARA – Vernon Davis spoke in the media tent this afternoon. Here are selected quotes from his group interview.
Q: We just talked to Greg Roman, and he said the past four or five weeks that he can tell you’ve become really comfortable in this offense. Would you say that time is right for you, too?
VERNON DAVIS: I’d say the time is right. When I first got in this offense it was almost like I wanted to quit, like, “This is too much.” It was too much information at one time that they were throwing on me and Delanie (Walker) and the rest of the tight ends, but we stuck with it, we learned as much as we possibly could and here we are. We’re getting better and better each and every week.
Q: Did they dial back a little bit?
VERNON DAVIS: No, they just keep adding (laughs).
Q: The Saints have struggled with tight ends your size in big games. Is there anything you’ve seen on film that makes you think you could have a big game this Saturday?
VERNON DAVIS: Just beating man coverage. No. 41 (Roman Harper), he’s usually on the tight end when they go man, so you just have to win your battle. That’s all.
Q: Earlier in the season did you feel you were thinking on the field and playing slower because of all the information the coaches were throwing at you?
VERNON DAVIS: It was a lot of things that they wanted me to do different, No. 1 changing my stance – bringing my feet in closer together. And a lot of reading, I had to read a lot of coverages on the run. So, that was a little different for me. In the past I didn’t really have to read it as much. I’d just run and get open and read whether the middle of the field was closed or open. Now I’ve got to read man and Tampa-2, you know? Just all those things. It takes time when you’re just jumping in to it.
Q: Did Patrick Willis cover you in practice last week?
VERNON DAVIS: Yeah, he had a chance to cover me a little bit. I gave him the works (laughs). But nah, me and Patrick always joke around. He looks forward to the challenge every time we match up against each other because he knows that it’s only going to make him better. And when we go, we go full speed and we compete. He’s definitely gotten better.
Q: He’s been the backbone of the defense for a while. What can you say about his resilience?
VERNON DAVIS: He’s one of those guys who’s always working. He’s always working hard and he’s always going to get you 100 percent. Probably 110 percent. And he’s just one of those guys that you enjoy having on your team. If someone’s coming in as a rookie, I’d advise them just to follow Patrick. Look at him and watch everything he does on the field and off the field.
Q: You’re facing such a high powered offense, do you feel like you’ve got to keep up with them? How do you guys approach this on offense?
VERNON DAVIS: No, I don’t think it’s about keeping up with them because if you have a defense like the guys that we have, I don’t think you really have to worry about anything. They’re going to show up. I believe in them. I just keep my faith. There’s a lot of talent over there. Very talented group of defensive guys that we have. So on offense we just have to do our job, take care of our responsibilities and just keep the ball moving, score touchdowns in the red zone. That’s one area that we had to get better at. There’s been a lot of talk about our red zone problems, but I think we got them corrected. I think we corrected all those things and now we’ve got a chance to get better today.
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shows a person that no matter how good you think you are,a person can still perfect his craft.thats what vernon seems to get now.maybe ms did have an effect on him but harbaugh and romanshowed him instead of yelling it.
Unless he is double covered I would like to see a couple of throws to Vernon down the seam. That could do some damage to the Saints.
Do the Saints run a lot of Tampa-2? They appear to be give up a bit of passing yardage and that doesn’t usual happen with a T-2 defense.
Saints give up a lot of trash yardage when they have a large lead. This has happened several times this year.
What’s the latest on Delanie Walker and Kyle Williams?
Delanie is out but Kyle Williams and Ted Ginn are back.
Kyle is good to go, and Delanie is probably going to suit up and run a few route, confuse the Saints defense.
I think Harbaugh has a plan cooked up and we’ll see Vernon get plenty of action. For all the attention paid to the amount the Saints blitz, very few people realize that they rarely get home to the QB (tied for 19th in sacks) and routinely get torched because of it (ranked 30th against the pass).
Our offense versus their defense is the real key to the game in my mind. We all know that Drew is going to get his passing yards, but we have to be able to sustain long drives to keep him off the field as much as possible. He can’t put up points if he’s on the pine.
Go 9ers.
We also have the special teams advantage.
I think the final score is 35 to 22 saints. I think Culliver is a liability on the edge. I also think that Goldson is a little too aggressive and that the saints will exploit him. Our run defense has been suspect the last 2 weeks of the season. I think guys are just tired and ailing at this point. I expect to see that shored up with the bye week. With all the blitz skemes, I don’t expect to see Vernon making any huge pass plays. He will be utilized as a blocker. I am just happy that the 49ers made it into the post season. I think they are about 3 key players away from a superbowl.
Medic One,
While that’s one possible outcome, it doesn’t seem likely.
Firstly, the Saints aren’t the same team on grass.
Secondly, the Saints have racked up their gaudy stats against middling to weak defenses.
I think the 49ers will have a very effective game plan, including contigency plans, just in case.
I just feel it’s going to take fluke plays / bad refs’ calls for the Saints to win this game.
@ex
For the Saints to win, it will require the Niners to not play their game. The Niners have to play like they have over the course of the season on defense, and NO will be shocked.
That means few/zero broken tackles by the NO players. I know our guys can break their tackles.
That means playing smart. If you get beat, have it only be due to the other guy being better than you.
Watch that DET/NO game carefully, and the Lions would have lost that game against a well run pee-wee team. They beat themselves. The Saints just helped.
The biggest reason I can think of as to why our D is so good this year is because we don’t beat ourselves. Big plays usually come out of plays where a D does beat themselves. Limit that, and the number of big plays will drop a ton for any team regardless of natural talent.
You guys need to get off the opinion that the Saints haven’t played good defenses. Y9u guys have a good defense, but let me ask you this, how many offenses like the Saints have you faced this year? Maybe Detroit? You beat them in the last minute. We beat them soundly twice. You guys better be ready for a really good offense (history setting offense).
Sorry Who dat
The Niners played against Pit and Baltimore D this year. Those 2 plus ours are the best D by far in the league. We also played the Giants, our own division in Seattle and AZ were top 10 D last half of the season (3 games right there).
Houston is not a good D when the game is on the line. They lost to the Raiders in Houston. I don’t think anybody has won a Super Bowl since 2003 or so who has lost to the Raiders at their home. They are that bad a team.
Our D is used to winning games. NO D is not.
Please look up the history of what was going on and where the games were with Detroit if you are going to bring them up.
We played Detroit when they were the darlings of the NFL. They were 5-0, and all the world thought they were unbeatable. Unstoppable offense with C. Johnson. Stafford tossing bombs, NOBODY can ever beat them.
The Niners went in there and C. Johnson had 7 quite catches, and no TD’s. He had over 100 yards, but nothing of any real importance. He was nullified by our rookie CB. How did the Saints D against C. Johnson again last week?
The Niners beat the Lions. Lions went to 5-1. Same record as the Niners. But then the Lions went into a tailspin after losing to us. The finished the season 5-6 (below 0.500) since that game. Because the Niners beat the Lions, they gave the blueprint to all the rest of the NFL how to do it.
Another NFL darling, the TB Bucs came into town with a winning record as well. You know them. They beat you. Well anyway, they came marching into the Stick thinking they were all that because they beat us last year 23-0 or so. We beat them that day 48-3. TB collapsed the rest of the season and their HC is in trouble and their QB situation is all messed up. All that happened after we beat them.
The Niners took more winning teams, beat them and had those teams reeling after their loss than anybody. We did it to the Lions, TB, Giants. 2 out of 3 of those teams ended up in the playoffs, but not without having gone thru a long losing streak starting with us. TB, the team you lost too, was a pre-season darling. All 3 of those teams got all the love from the media, and lost. Tell me why the Niners can’t do it a 4th time? The best measurement of future success is past accomplishments. We did it all year long. We can do it now.
And I don’t know why you keep having trouble with wins (we barely beat Detroit). I could ask the same question about the Titans game. I don’t because you won. Doesn’t matter how.
Well we shut out the team (Rams) who beat you when we played them the first time, and beat them again later. Sweeping the series.
DS 94
OK DS, you have your twisted logic for everything. Just be prepared for the best offensc you’ve seen this year! You guys are gonna have to chase so much talent it will make your head spin!
And I’m sure we can handle your offense with no problem! I’d say good luck again, but you don’t take it in the manner it’s intended! Look at the records and the facts! Best Offense by Far!
Medic One, if you want to pick the Saints why not do it on a Saints blog. Forty Niner fans, the ones that have stood by the team, don’t really care about predictions against the Niners. If your sure about your speculations call up your local bookie, if you don’t have a bookie head to Vegas and slam the Saints.
Medic, I was hoping you were delivering a good shin-kicking there…but re-reading your post tells me you’re serious. You may be right, and I agree that we should be damn happy to even get to the playoffs this early in Harbaugh’s tenure. It’s really an incredible feat, given all the givens.
BUT…don’t you see it? There’s a really special chemistry on this team. Alex is literally blooming in front of our eyes, –he’s not THERE yet, but after one regular season, he’s head and shoulders above where he was this time last year. I don’t see why he wouldn’t continue to improve. And the rest of the offense has just kept getting better and better, throughout the year (remember how they looked in pre-season against the Saints? I thought we were in for a VERY long season at that point).
Even given the possible weaknesses you mention in the D backfield, those same guys have been there all year. Yup, they’ve broken down a couple of times, but overall, look what the D’s done! We may have a few links that are weaker than the others, but they’re still starters in the NFL, and I think they would be in a lot of places. In other words, they’re only “weak” relative to the all-world guys around them. I don’t look for the D to play any worse this Saturday than they have all season.
Special teams? They ROCK, led by the best kickers in the league!
Don’t give up on the Niners just yet, would be my message, Medic.
My best guess is the Saints score 20 or 21. If the O can respond as they’ve done, life will be good!
@rusty
You’re right. AS isn’t there yet. Gotta wait another 3 weeks for that. : – )
That works for me, DS!
Well said!
@who dat
My “twisted sense of logic” has an odd way of being correct far more often than being wrong. Even if it is not the most popular or liked idea.
And we faced off against the “Dream team” Philly in Philly. They have as much talent as you do.
We fell behind by 20 points in the 2nd half. AS threw for nearly 200 yards in the 3rd quarter alone. The Niners won the game on the NFL defensive play of the year when JS chased down a WR downfield 20 yards and caused a fumble. The Eagles never recovered from that loss.
That game by the way was the only time the Niners fell behind by 20 points this season. And we won. So we don’t just think we can beat a high octane offense, we already have multiple times. How many top D has your team gone up against again and beaten?
Grant – Is there anyway to ban these uninvited “swamp people” from our blog?
Medi One is making an intelligent summation of his take on the game. No need for name calling.
I happen to disagree.
I think the Saints must also be a little tired. I think just by playing on grass at the Stick the Niners are in better condition. I also think there is some dark, don’t-go-there anger in the Niner’s collective gut that I would not want directed at me.
Who does this team remind me of, from the coach on down? They remind me of a motorcycle club. They stick tight, don’t lip off and keep their thoughts to themselves. They are the complete opposite of the Lions and the Niners can physically hurt you. Most teams quit against us somewhere in the first part of the 3rd Quarter. There’s a reason for that… pain.
Thank you.
I don’t know Crab, I think it’s cool that the Niners are so awesome that their fans feel the need to come here and talk their team up.
And you have to admit, some of them are kinda funny.
Let the Bayou folks come, Their participation has cooled the anti v pro Smith debate, which has been very welcome.
At first the Saints made me really nervous, but the more I think about it, the only thing that worries me are fluke plays. KO or P returns and turnovers. As long as the 49ers win the TO battle, the Saints are going to have a hard time winning the game.
@ex
Following script, teams that win the TO battle in the regular season win those games. Playoff games are no different.
Det/Pit (I think)/Atl/Cinci lost or didn’t win the TO battle. All lost.
@ex
What AS debate?
Don’t know what you’re talking about. :P
exgolfer,
I respect your optimism! The saints don’t need to win games on fluke plays, they have plenty of offense to win games.
I agree, TO battle will be a big key!
Vernon’s answer to the question about keeping up with the Saints offense is right on.
The 49ers don’t need to do anything out of the ordinary. Sure, change things up a little… more throwing on first downs, a few “shot plays”, maybe a trick special teams play. Otherwise, run the regular offense and defense and be confident.
The Lions had poor tackling, awful gap discipline and their linebackers were slow in coverage. The 49ers excel in all those things. No need to radically change what they do on D.
Keys to winning:
- 50% or better red zone efficiency. 4 trips to the red zone gets two field goals and two TDs for 20 points. Add a good special teams play or turnover and that’s 23-27. A long FG outside the redzone makes 27-30.
- The offense must maintain drives and chew clock. The 49ers defense is one of the best in history for the first 35-45 snaps. From 40-50 snaps pretty good. After 50 they melt. (The bye week might buy them 5 more snaps). Alex and the gang should move the chains and keep the D off the field as much as possible.
- The defense has to get off the field on 3rd down. It does not matter if they slam the door on first and second down if the Saints can make easy 3rd down conversions. Get off the field, keep that snaps defended count low, and the game belongs to San Francisco.
@brodie..totaly agree.great analysis
Interesting break down, B2W. One question though, is your comment on the defense wearing down as the game goes on based on stats or observation?
Both.
In 2009 the 49ers went the first 11 games giving up only 3 points total on opening drives. That’s 3 points in 11 possessions against some of the best offenses in football… including Payton Manning.
But in 2009 the offense failed to maintain drives, so the defense had to jump right back into the field. They simply wore out. 2010 was a re-run, but with more pass protection breakdowns.
In 2009 the overall defense statistically has been middle of the pack, but only because they are on the field all day. From a performance standpoint it was a top defense… but the offensive 3-and-outs, (and the inability to get off the field on third downs), forced the 49ers to defend far more snaps. (I heard an extra two games worth but have not verified that)
The tipping points for the 2011 defense was a complimentary offense that maintain drives and chews clock. Combined with an improved defensive backfield and pass rush (Aldon Smith + getting Brooks more snaps), 6-10 quickly became 13-3.
nice call healdsburgite….very good knowlege….better call than radnich would have made
Medic One has been one of the niner fans for a long time….Like Streetglide, I respectfully disagree…I think there’s gonna’ be a lot of bravado from the Saints camp …’til Saturday.
Thank you. Well said.
I’m still laughing at the swamp people comment. As 49ergirl mentioned. It’s kinda funny their talking about our defense bein tired after a bye week that we beat their team out for. Also our run defense only ended up #1 in the league. ye. we were exhausted.
Does anybody have the total time the Niners D was on the field this year vs. last year? I’m willing to bet it’s about a full game (60 minutes) less.
How do the times compare between Niners and NO?
I’m sure you can look that up.
per NFL.com stats Niners… 2011 top/game..32:08, 2010 top/game..28:47
@niner61
Thanks. Just about what I thought.
1 full games worth is nothing to dismiss.
I disagree a tad bit with the notion that were not gonna have to keep up with the Saints and that we just have to play our game. Our weakness on defense is our pass defense. We’re goin up against the best passing team in the league. Harbaugh is gonna defer the kickoff if we win the toss and Payton will recieve if he wins. The Saints will be in attack mode 1st. Our D will not let the Saints score 40′s but we’re gonna have to be up in the 30′s to win this game. The keys to this game is pressure on Brees and Frank Gore running the ball. We get those and we got this. But remember the Saints have 710 pounds just in their 2 guards. we gotta be on our A game folks.
This gave me a bit of the chills – and now I’m even more exited for Saturday! The end zones will be painted red – wonder if they’ll have the old school 49er logo as well :-). Just another sign this team is headed into the next generation of “glory days”!!
http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/niners-talk/post/Traditional-red-returns-to-Candlestick-e?blockID=629384&feedID=5884
Now if they paint the 20′s and 50 gold again. It would set the scene. ;-)
Oops. Didn’t see your post – just posted the same thought.
Welcome back, RED!! Missed it!
Damn, wish I could be there, The Stick is gonna rock! You all make tons of noise! :D
@Adam
Why can’t Jed get a bunch of huge TV’s or screens and set them up all around the Stick. Encourage fans to watch surrounding the stadium.
Then the noise level would be overwhelming. Break the ear drums of DB!
They have a hard enough time keeping the lights on without additional electricity demands.
Newsflash….its a 1pm game, unless theyre playing on the South Pole, doubt they’ll be needing the lights at all.
@MJ
Don’t question BigP. He knows all. lol
Saints are a very good team. There Offense is playing lights out now. We have to:
1. Minimize their run game;
2. Pressure Brees. Even if we can’t sack him, he needs to feel pressure, get hit and moved off his launch points;
3.Take every turnover available and score. The saints should have turned it over 4 times against the Lions. The Lions should have been in the led by the beginning of the 4th Q, we can’t whiff on those opportunties;
4. Limit the big plays by the Saints O. The D. needs to play smart and not make mistakes;
5. The Offense must convert 3rd downs. I think to win we need to convert 45+% of 3rd downs;
6. Score TD’s in the red zone;
7. Win the field position battle. Make their offense drive the field, don’t give up any big plays on special teams;
8. What ever happens don’t panic or get down. The Saints could get up by 17 points pretty quickly, but we have to maintain our composure and just focus on winning each play as it happens.
I can’t wait for Saturday, but no matter what happens this has been a great year. The S.F.49ers are back and the rest of the NFL better watch out!
The Saint team is not going to be as “up” as the wild card game. They have to travel cross-country and adjust to the time difference. In the 50′s and 60′s east coast teams would end the season playing the Rams and Niners on the west coast. Most teams would get beat. I particularly remember the 1960 Baltimore Colts going for their 3-peat, they’re are tied for the league lead at 6-4 and wind up losing both games on the west coast. It’s tough going cross country late in the season.
Brees is just a man, a small one at that (kidding I know he’s 6’1 heck I’m 6’3) but we have to get some good hits on him to put some doubt into his head. He hasn’t been as great against great defeses and I think if we beat NO we can beat GB. Anyways make sure to have fun Saturday guys!
It almost feels like ’84. This team has that something special about it. The air is thick with destiny. There is a fire burning in the hearts of these 49er champions and there is no way to blow it out even with a Saints Brees.
I feel the same. To be honest alex does still scare me but you can not question his heart. I don’t know of any one else that can be booed as much as he has, different coordinators and everything else, still come back for more, My believe is he is turning into Rich Gannon, Productive Quarterback, never a franchise qb but good enough to get to the superbowl, his relationship with Gruden worked well for everybody. I know everybody wants a franchise QB but you can’t just go to walmart and pick one of those up. With how commited and hard Harbaugh and Smith work, maybe this well happen for us. I also believe Medic one makes some good points, I do hope though this team plays like the “81″ team, very young and with some great players but also “some limited ones” that played well as a team, Only way we find out is by watching. Going to be an emotional one but I will still take this over the last 10 years.
I would say to win the game we keep hitting Brees, even take roughing the passer three times in a row. After their first touchdown, am sure he will not be the same again. Smashmouth football.
We can play that both ways! I wouldn’t want to be Alex Smith if you guys hurt Brees intentially!
@Who Dat
If you have watched AS and the Niners all year, you would know that AS takes more of a pounding than any other QB in the league by far.
Guy is one tough SOB.
He may take more hits than RB’s. People doubt him all the time, but he will not quit.
I’m sure your not familiar with Brees’ determination as well
@who dat
6 years of losing, signing 3 contracts, getting smashed game after game, never blaming any teammates. Coaches leaving/fired/throwing him under the bus. Being drafted onto a team which was less talented than the last 4 expansion teams had when they started up.
Nobody has ever gone thru what AS has gone thru for as long a time as AS had to be burdened by this. Not even close.
You might have a few QB’s like Rich Gannon who wonder from one team to the next for a while, but Gannon never had to deal with anything remotely like what AS has had to deal with.
That my friend is determination. DB has had it pretty good. Two HC’s. Both QB guys. Nobody throwing DB under the bus after a loss. Basically in the same system for a long time. DB has determination. But has never had to be tested (that is a good thing) like AS has had.
With both Brees and AS out, i still like our chances.
Take-aways…take-aways…take-aways….this is going to be the difference. Niners 27, Saints 17 !!!! GO NINERS !!!!!!
You have to be kidding if you think the Saints are only scoring 17 points!
I give ‘em 20; that’s 5 more than the Niners give up, on average.
I find Vernon’s comments encouraging. This offense isn’t fully installed; there is a lot of room for growth on this offensive group for next year.
As to this weekend, well we’ve got some veterans who’ve played a long time for this opportunity, and I doubt they’re satisfied to have just gotten here. I have faith they’ll play hard and be proud of their effort.
Score? Who knows? Not me.
Outcome? Don’t know, but I’m not scared, just nervous.
There is no doubt in my mind that the 49ers can win this game. We’ll have to see if they can go out there and get ‘er done.
Bleeding Red & Gold
I think this is a rare year where there are essentially 3 superbowls this year. The first is SF vs NO. The second GB vs NY and the third will be the NFC vs the AFC.
I agree that the weakness on the 49ers defense has been pass coverage. The sollution of putting safety help there plays into their running game. Sproles isn’t a back who goes down on first contact. Their passing game sets up their running game. If you watch the big plays against Detroit, Brees had enough time in the pocket to apply for a CA driver’s license on a Monday at the DMV before he hit wide open receivers on 3 occassions. The big test here is going to be pass rush and man to man coverage. Dashon Goldson needs to worry abotu wrapping up and not just going for a mind blowing hit.
In closing, regardless of the outcome of this game, I am darn proud of this team and what they gave us the fans this year! Great job and thank you!
three superbowls??? No matter if the 49ers win everyone will say the next game is going to be the test for thier legitimacy BS BLAHBLahBLAh I cant wait for 49ers 6th SB trophy and to send the dirty cajuns back to NO with Drew getting pooped on and nut sacked