New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers: Can Aldon Smith Pressure Drew Brees

Today the New Orleans Saints will travel out to San Francisco to take on the defensive oriented 49ers.

One of the keys to this game will be whether or not the San Francisco 49ers, and specifically Aldon Smith can get consistent pressure on Drew Brees, one of the hardest quarterbacks in the league to sack. If not it could be a long day for the Saints. That’s just one matchup in the game

Here is what else I’ll be watching for in the game:

The Field Conditions

Much has been made about the Saints leaving the comfy confines of their home dome to travel out to San Francisco to play on their potentially muddy field, and I think for good reason. I watched the Saints play the Titans in Tennessee and they did not look like the same unstoppable offense on that surface. I think a large part of it to is crowd noise at home. The Saints run a million different looks at teams and have more open wide receivers than any other team in the league based on route combinations and play calling. A slower track definitely favors the 49ers.

Vernon Davis and Frank Gore in pass protection

The one thing the 49ers don’t have is a dynamic passing game. Two of their best receiving options are their TE Vernon Davis and their RB Frank Gore. The Saints love to blitz the quarterback, if the Saints blitz combinations force the 49ers to keep Vernon Davis and Frank Gore into block, it could be a very long day for the 49ers offense.

The Saints Darren Sproles running the football

I like Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory, but I don’t think they are well suited to take advantage of the 49ers defense for any big plays. The Saints are a good running team, but the 49ers a terrific run defense. The 49ers are really fast at the linebacker spot and fly to the football, I could see Darren Sproles springing free on a counter play if the 49ers over-pursue. While they are really speed at the linebacker position, Sproles could go the distance if he gets to the second level and run away from the 49ers secondary.

Marques Colston

This year the 49ers give up quite a few big days to big physical wide receivers. Players like Miles Austin, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald were able to abuse them, but physical players like Victor Cruz, Anquan Boldin, and Jerricho Cotchery also had some big games. In fact the 49ers have been a bit vulnerable to the pass this season. I think with Lance Moore officially out the Saints need a big game from Colston.

The 49ers Special teams

This is the one HUGE Advantage matchup the 49ers have on the Saints. The 49ers kicker (David Akers) and Punter (Andy Lee) have been absolutely terrific this year. Lee averaged over 50 yards per punt on the season and pinned almost 30 inside the 20. David Akers on the other hand only missed one field goal under 40 yards.

The 49ers red zone offense

The 49ers Must score when they get in the red-zone and from my recollection they have been very good at that this year. The other thing they do is protect the football. These are obviously central focal points for the 49ers in this game.

Prediction:

I think it’s going to be a close game and I actually like the 49ers here. I think they’ll be able to play enough defense to win this game, and the Saints defense is just not that good so the 49ers should be able to score some points. Everyone knocks the 49ers offense, but they have actually played very efficiently this year. They actually score the 11th most points per game in the entire league at nearly 24 points per game (bet you didn’t know that). It’ll be a tough one thing.

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