Garcia on Kaepernick: “The kid just really believes in his abilities. He has tremendous abilities.”

Jeff Garcia spoke on 95.7 The Game Monday morning. Here’s what he said about Colin Kaepernick.

GARCIA: He looked outstanding. He did a great job. The kid is extremely athletic, but he just has that confidence, that swagger about him. I think that’s a major reason why Harbaugh went with Kaepernick when he did, because he saw that personality to him. The kid just really believes in his abilities. He has tremendous abilities. The players believe in him. They’ve rallied around him. And he went out there and he made plays.

Obviously he had the one hiccup early in the game, but he responded. He put it behind him. He moved forward and he was outstanding.

Q: What happened to the Green Bay defense?

GARCIA: Green Bay defensively hadn’t really been strong all year long. Obviously there were weaknesses in that defense. Come playoff time, you hope that you can fix certain things. But the 49ers truly did exploit them in many ways. And Kaepernick exploited them with that read option, reading that end at the line of scrimmage. They just were lost in trying to defend that.

The first touchdown that he ran for, the Packers were in man-to-man defense and they tried to bracket one of the players – that’s a lot like Cover 2 Man. A quarterback with running ability loves to see Cover 2 Man or some sort of bracket man because they don’t put anybody on the quarterback. And that’s exactly what happened. He took off on a 20-yard run to the end zone. It was a big play that sparked kind of everything that they had going at that time. And it didn’t stop.

Q: Does Atlanta have the tools to do any better against Kaepernick? They haven’t done well against quarterbacks who can run this year.

GARCIA: As we saw with Russell Wilson yesterday, he definitely was able to make some big time plays with his feet, whether it was running for yardage or getting outside the pocket and buying time and getting the ball down the field to his receivers to make plays – that’s something that Atlanta has shown to be vulnerable in that situation.

Obviously, they’re going to have somewhat of an equalizer with the hometown crowd, but Kaepernick and the Niners, they’ve been in that situation, they’ve been in that sort of hostile environment – going down to New Orleans. It’ll be a couple decibel points louder in Atlanta, but they’re capable of going in there and winning, especially with that defense.

That’s what it comes down to – they’re such a well-balanced team. You look at the 49ers – they’re strong on the defensive side of the ball. They hit you. They don’t miss tackles. They don’t have breakdowns in the secondary. They’re offensive line is so strong, so active. They run the ball well. They pound it at you. They have a real mix of things from a team standpoint that gives them an edge when they step on the field.

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