By: Brandon Williams
The Saints and the 49ers will face off Sunday afternoon in San Francisco. The Saints have won the last three out of their four games, after having a slow start to their regular season.
Meanwhile the 49ers have been struggling to win all season. During their week 4 loss to the Dallas Cowboys they lost their defensive captain and leader LB Navarro Bowman for the season, due to a torn left ACL. To make matters worse they are 1-6 and haven’t won a game since opening night against the Los Angeles Rams.
As of right now we are at the mid-way point of the regular season, and the contenders for the playoffs are starting to show. If the 49ers want to get back to winning it all starts with this game coming off their bye week.
The Saints offensively are going to rely on their passing game led by Drew Brees who has a 69.5% completion percentage, and has already passed for over 2,000 yards on the season. He has receivers Brandon Cooks, Michael Thomas and Willie Snead to throw too. Cooks has five receiving touchdowns on the year, averaging 14.7 yards per catch. If the 49ers want to win this game they will have to try and keep Cooks from making a short catch into a big play.
The 49ers rushing attack has been their bread and butter all season long. However, starting RB Carlos Hyde is listed as questionable this week with a shoulder injury. So they will have to rely on the arm of passing game, led by leading receiver Jeremy Kerley who has 30 catches for 331 yards and two touchdowns. It will be interesting to see how they fair against the Saints defense that is also dealing with some injuries. C Max Unger, LB James Laurinaitis, LB Dannell Ellerbe, RB Daniel Lasco and S Kenny Vaccaro are all questionable for this Sunday’s game. Most of them are all key starters on both sides of the ball.
The saints are known for their passing attack, but this is a game where they have a chance to run the ball a lot more. The 49ers defense has allowed their opponents over the course of the season to rush for 1,296 yards as of right now. This is the perfect opportunity to have a more balanced tempo offensively.
Kickoff is at 4:05 at Levi Stadium.
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