The 49ers play the Saints Sunday at the Superdome. In the meantime, I’ll break down five key matchups. SS Roman Harper vs. TE Vernon Davis The Saints absolutely cannot leave Harper one-on-one with Davis in this game. Steve Spagnuolo must devote two defenders to Davis. In the playoffs last season, Gregg Williams thought Alex Smith wouldn’t make the Saints pay for single covering Davis. Davis beat Harper for 180 yards…
SANTA CLARA – Jim Harbaugh held a press conference Friday afternoon. Here’s what he said about the Saints defense, courtesy of the 49ers. The Saints defensive players have talked a little bit about just adjusting to Saints defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme, which I guess happened when he was first with the Giants. It took him a little while. Is there anything unique for their defense that it might…
Greg Cosell spoke on Doug Farrar’s Week 12 preview podcast Friday morning. Here’s what Cosell said the Saints will try to do against Colin Kaepernick. FARRAR: If you were the Saints, how would game plan for Kaepernick? COSELL: The Saints defense has played better the last couple of weeks. Clearly they are understanding Steve Spagnuolo’s pressure concepts a little bit more. We’re seeing a lot more of the zone blitz…
Here’s what St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo said on a conference call with Bay Area reporters this morning. Q: You’ve seen the 49ers quite a bit over the years. Could you talk about differences you see this year with their offense? SPAGNUOLO: A lot of the personnel’s the same. I know I counted up a lot of guys, same guys we played in the second-to-the-last game of the…
Some of you have expressed frustration with the local media’s line of 49ers questions. So, here’s your chance to submit a question for me to ask. I’ll choose as many or as few of the good ones as I want. St. Louis Rams’ head coach Steve Spagnuolo has a conference call at 9:30 a.m. Do you have any questions for him? Jim Harbaugh speaks in the media tent at Noon,…
After Troy Smith’s virtuoso performance against the Rams in mid-November, NFL teams appeared to piece together an effective game plan for stopping the 49ers quarterback: Keep him in the pocket and force him to make accurate passes. That blueprint — or book, if you will — severely limited Smith’s effectiveness and eventually led to his demotion.
