FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – With a bye week’s worth of film to go over, the Falcons and their coaching staff have gone over in minutia the details they hope will jump start the running game.
However, in the San Francisco 49ers the Falcons face an unfavorable opponent to accomplish the goal. In head coach Mike Singletary’s first full season, the revitalized 49ers are 3-1 and boast one of the league’s top run defenses.
San Francisco’s only loss came on the road against unbeaten Minnesota, which needed a last-second touchdown pass by Brett Favre to earn the victory. Most relevant for the Falcons in that game would be the 85 yards on 19 carries to which the 49ers limited the Vikings’ juggernaut of a running back Adrian Peterson.
In fact, Singletary’s bunch has yet to allow an opponent to rush for more than 100 yards. So does that mean this is the week for the Falcons and quarterback Matt Ryan to crank up the passing game?
“They’ve been very efficient in stopping the run,” Head Coach Mike Smith said of San Francisco. “…They’ve done a very good job through the first four games and I think it’ll be a very big challenge for us and it depends on how they try to defend us. We’re going in there with all intentions of it being a physical football game.”
Physical to be sure.
There has been much talk this week about how the 49ers have taken on the personality of their coach, one of the game’s legendary linebackers known for a near crazed intensity.
For all of the plaudits thrown his way, Singletary (8-5 since taking over in the middle of last season) would not say the 49ers are a good football team yet.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve turned it around yet,” he said despite holding a one-and-a-half game lead early in the season in the NFC West over defending conference champion Arizona. “I would just say that we’re fighting right now. Hopefully, we show some signs of being a good football team. Hopefully, there’s a lot of room to grow. But I would not say we’ve turned it around.”
After his Hall of Fame playing career ended after the 1992 season, Singletary remained out of football until returning as the Baltimore Ravens’ inside linebackers coach in 2003. That position became open when Smith departed to become the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville.
Smith said he remembers the interaction he had with Singletary during the change-over.
“One of the things he wanted to talk about was the personnel, the linebackers,” Smith said. “Mike is a very good motivator and I think he really wanted to know about guys’ attitudes and how to interact with them.”
One player who seems to have benefited from interacting with Singletary is linebacker Patrick Willis -- the defender whom the Falcons will have to keep their eye on the most.
The 6-foot-1, 240-pound Willis, drafted 11th overall in 2007 out of Ole Miss, has earned Pro-Bowl honors in each of his first two seasons.
Last week in a 35-0 win over winless St. Louis, Willis recorded 2.5 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, 8 tackles and an interception that he returned for a touchdown. As the Falcons’ Smith said, that’s a season for some players.
The Falcons’ Michael Turner has yet to record a run longer than 16 yards, but Willis knows he is capable.
“They have good running backs, and if you’re not disciplined and within your defense they can bust a big one,” Willis said. “They have explosive backs capable of taking it the distance.”
The 49ers have not forced a ton of turnovers (six), but they have only given the ball away twice. They also have scored four non-offensive touchdowns in four games.
While the 49ers are making a name with a physical defense, all but one of their turnovers have been interceptions.
So if the Falcons do chose to go through the air, they must be mindful of that statistic. Smith likes to say offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey predicates what he does based on what the defense gives.
Seeing as San Francisco ranks fourth in the NFL against the run, allowing just 73.8 yards per game, will that mean that the Falcons’ path will be through the air?
Ryan said things don’t always play out in games the way they do on film.
“You know I think it’s going to have to play out,” he said. “You can have a feel for what a defense does well over tape, but with that said most importantly you’ve got to see what they do on Sunday and each week is kind of different.”
It’s not as if the 49ers are worse against the pass, ranking 10th in the NFL.
“Their safeties are very physical, [Michael] Lewisand [Dashon] Goldson, and they’ve got a big corner in Nate Clements,” Smith said. “Nate’s over 200 pounds and he’s a very physical corner.”
Falcons wide receiver Roddy White said he remembered playing against Clements two years ago and how physical and aggressive he was. White caught three passes for 55 yards in that game with Joey Harrington as his quarterback.
Depending on how the 49ers choose to defend Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, it would seem likely Gonzalez could be closer to the seven catches he had against Carolina than his one against New England. Like New England, San Francisco runs a 3-4 front. On passing downs, Smith said, the 49ers don’t do a lot of substitution. They take out a defensive lineman and linebacker Takeo Spikes and substitute a defense back and linebacker Scott McKillop.
Outside linebackers Manny Lawson and Parys Haralson step onto the line in a three-point stance to give the line a four-man rush.
Although the NFL is a copy-cat league, Gonzalez said he would be surprised if more teams attempted New England’s defensive tactics.
“Yeah, I’d be surprised if more teams did it,” he said. “That can hurt you, too. If you put two guys on me, just like we put two guys on anyone, it’s going to create a one-on-one match-up with the other guys and with the guys we have here I’ll take that.
“If you want to double team me, fine… but [Michael] Jenkins had a great game against New England. If that one [touchdown] didn’t get called back [for a pass interference penalty], who knows what might’ve happened. We might have even won that game. I think Roddy, he’s coming. He and Turner, they’re about to break out. It’s going to come together real soon.”
Whether it starts at 4 p.m. at Candlestick Park on Sunday is what Falcons fans want to see.
MORE FALCONS-49ERS COVERAGE:
- SCOUTING REPORT: Falcons face tough defense in San Francisco
- FALCONCAST: J. Mike and Matt preview Sunday's game
- NOTEBOOK: Reserve running back to play for 49ers
- FEATURE: Veteran Williams helping younger players learn defense
- TRANSCRIPT: Thoughts from the Falcons locker room about the Niners
- BEAT BLOG: Breaking down previous games and future opponents
- J. MIKE'S MISSIVES: J. Mike looks at TV listings and more on the game
- VIDEO: Click here for video and other multimedia content on Falcons-Niners
- EXPERT'S TAKE: Pete Prisco evaluates the Falcons for Week 5
- SUPERFAN: Check out the newest "Smack Cartoon"
- VOICES HEARD: Justin Blalock answers your questions
