Welcome 94niners. I may be reading that wrong and if I am, I apologize in advance. Sure reads to me as though you and a good part of your 9'er brethren believe that all the 9'ers have to do is show up, and that a couple of guys need to NOT screw up and wha-lah!! Victory is yours.
Lol, no. I just said that the running game won't beat us. AARON RODGERS, against a secondary with a rookie in it, is the key for Green Bay. Did I not write that clearly enough? *goes to look*
While I understand your fan base's glee at going to (and misery of losing) a Super Bowl, I would offer that the key will NOT be the 9'ers defeating themselves as your post would infer, but rather that the 9'ers coaching staff once again completely out-coach the Packers'.
Thanks for the unneeded jab. I hope you cried in 1997-98.
In any case, rookie DBs make mistakes. Great QBs make defenses pay for starting rookie DBs. Aaron Rogers is a great QB, playing against a suspect secondary that will be starting a rookie. How does it NOT make sense to attack the 49ers there, particularly when the 49ers are arguably the best run defense the NFL has seen in a few years? Run to keep the pass rush honest, but any more than that and you'll be hurting your chances.
Your guys ran the ball 43 times in last year's game, including #5's attempts - hard to determine to be sure, how many of those attempts resulted from 'coverage' and how many were designed off the top of my head. Factor out #5's 56-yard busted play jaunt -- and our defense STILL sucked. Much has been made of the read-option thing ... but I still think that poor preparation on GB's side (or exemplary game planning by SF) had more to do with it than anything.
The 49ers don't run the read-option like they did against Green Bay. That was an anomaly, but because of the high profile nature of the game the whole world seems to have completely missed reality. The 49ers do the read-option thing once or twice a game on average. It was a great plan by the 49ers, but it was NOT their usual M.O. (in fact that's exactly why it worked so well)
So... 43 running plays to 16 (including Rodgers' 3) for Green Bay, a 38 minute to 21 minute time-of-possession advantage for SF ... want to tell us again how unimportant a running game is to Green Bay? Just sayin' ...
That wasn't because Green Bay couldn't run the ball.
It was because Green Bay couldn't STOP the run. STOPPING the run is much more important for a team like Green Bay. Did you see how many rushing yards the Broncos had on Thursday? Like 60? Meanwhile they scored 49 points and Manning throws for 7 touchdowns.
I'm reading in various media previews this RIDICULOUS notion that the Packers, in order to stifle the 49ers seemingly "unstoppable" offense, should use a running game and ball control to keep them off the field.
AARON RODGERS... needs to use a running game and ball control to keep THE OTHER OFFENSE off the field? Are you freaking kidding me? No! No freaking way! The 49ERS need to run the ball to keep RODGERS and the PACKERS offense off the field.
Do you see what ONE incredible performance has done? The whole freaking world has lost its mind!
...and I repeat ... LAST year has nothing to do with THIS year -- and I'm not taking thing #1 away from the 9'ers. Your guys beat our guys ... twice... and neither win was a fluke. Best of luck to your guys this year beginning week 2.
You seem to have mistook my post. So let me try again.
A running game in and of itself won't save Green Bay, and that's for two reasons:
1. The 49ers are a great run defense.
2. Every time Aaron Rodgers hands it off, there are potential big plays in the passing game being aborted, and this against a
suspect secondary that GOT WORSE in the off season.
The Packers need only enough of a running game to keep the 49ers pass rush honest. A ball control type offense (like I'm reading about all over the internet) is completely absurd. The Packers will need the quarterback with the highest passer rating in NFL history to win the game, not some rookie RB.
*caps for emphasis. I find this notion that the Packers need to play like the 2011 49ers to have a shot at winning to be ridiculous. That's the exact opposite of what they need to do on offense. The OFFENSIVE key is Rodgers, and the defensive key is stopping the regular run, because you probably won't see much read-option.