Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Takeaways from a wild 49ers playoff win over Green Bay:
The 49ers somehow got out of their divisional playoff matchup against the Packers with a 24-21 victory. They’re on to the NFC championship game.
There was no shortage of drama Saturday night with miscues from both teams that kept the game tight the entire way. Here are some of our takeaways from a wild one at Levi’s Stadium:
Kyle Shanahan was happy Dre Greenlaw snagged his game-sealing interception … until he wasn’t.
The 49ers weren’t good Saturday night vs. the Packers, but they came up with some big plays late to seal a win. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw came up with one of those big plays to snag an interception that sealed the game on Green Bay’s final drive. Head coach Kyle Shanahan was glad his LB came up with the pick, but he had mixed emotions after the play.
What Greenlaw should have done after his diving grab was stay on the ground. There were less than 50 seconds left and the Packers had only two timeouts. The game was over if Greenlaw just stayed down.
Instead, Greenlaw sprang to his feet and started trying to return the ball for a touchdown. He broke tackles, threw stiff arms, reversed field, and gave the Packers ample opportunities to knock the ball out. If they had and recovered, they would have retained possession.
Greenlaw’s return attempt left Shanahan with some mixed feelings after the play.
“The play that Dre made there at the end to get the pick – still have mixed emotions,” Shanahan said in his postgame press conference. “I can’t believe he didn’t get down right away, but that was kinda like the whole day. All the guys I would get really upset with are also the guys I have a lot of love for at the end too because they were the ones that pulled it off to get us the W.”
It was an ugly game for the 49ers right down to the very end on Greenlaw’s return. It worked out for Greenlaw though just like it worked out for San Francisco.
Next time surely Shanahan would like his LB to stay down to take the win without any additional drama. And surely he’d like his team to put together an overall better performance where his emotions aren’t as mixed,
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Somehow the 49ers won that game. Thoughts:
The 49ers on Saturday got off to a poor start against the Packers at Levi’s Stadium, but they somehow, someway pulled out a 24-21 win over Green Bay.
Here’s a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of a roller coaster playoff game:
Deebo Samuel’s hoodie before the 49ers’ playoff game is neat.
Deebo Samuel is wearing a "standing on business" sweatshirt pregame 😤 pic.twitter.com/Mt2PRe6o2E
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) January 20, 2024
49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel is ready for action ahead of Saturday’s playoff showdown with the Green Bay Packers.
He’s wearing a hoodie that says ‘Standing on Business’ with a photo of Samuel waving goodbye to Eagles fans in Philadelphia. It’s unclear whether it was made by Kristin Juszczyk.
San Francisco will need a big day from Samuel against a red-hot Green Bay team that led 27-0 early in their wild card game vs. the Cowboys.
If the 49ers do indeed, ‘stand on business,’ they should leave Saturday’s game with a win.
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The #49ers have no players ruled out due to injury vs. the Packers.
The 49ers don’t have any players ruled out due to injury for their divisional playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
Linebacker Dre Greenlaw was listed as questionable on Thursday’s injury report with an Achilles issue. He will suit up Saturday night.
Here are the team’s inactives:
QB Brandon Allen (3rd QB)
LB Jalen Graham
OL Matt Pryor
WR Ronnie Bell
CB Sam Womack
DL Alex Barrett
DL T.Y. McGill
Barrett and McGill were both elevated to the active roster Saturday before the game. They’ll now get a full game check despite not suiting up, which is likely a key reason why the team elevated them without intending to play them.
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The Athletic interviewed 9 coaches and executives. They all have the 49ers winning on Saturday:
The 49ers are heavily favored to take care of the Green Bay Packers in their divisional playoff matchup Saturday at Levi’s Stadium. It’s not just the betting markets that like San Francisco. A panel of nine NFL coaches and executives surveyed by Jeff Howe unanimously chose the 49ers to win.
It’s worth noting the same panel all chose the Cowboys to knock off the Packers in the wild card round. Quarterback Jordan Love is playing exceedingly well and helped guide Green Bay to its blowout victory, but San Francisco offers a different challenge than Dallas – particularly on offense.
Here’s what one panelist said via the Athletic:
“No QB should be as confident as Jordan Love is going into the weekend,” an executive said. “He’s playing lights out right now, and that offense is rolling. Green Bay should be excited about the future with how much young talent is on that roster. I expect a good battle this weekend but ultimately see the Niners’ run game and front seven taking over to win. Green Bay is still suspect on defense, and I have my doubts they will be able to control the game at any point.”
It’s clear the Packers swayed Howe’s group of experts with their dominant showing in Dallas. They didn’t do enough that any expect an upset, but the ‘close game’ theme was common among them.
The 49ers are 9.5-point favorites which means sports books don’t think the game will be as competitive.
Game script is going to determine a lot of how much Green Bay can stick around and make Saturday’s game interesting. If Love keeps playing at a high level though and avoids turning the ball over, it certainly appears there’ll be points aplenty at Levi’s Stadium. That puts a ton of onus on the Packers defense to get stops, and that’s the ultimate advantage that should carry the 49ers to a win even in a close contest.
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What’s happening with the Packers? We found out in a convo with our buddy Zach Kruse, the managing editor of the Packers Wire.
The 49ers and Packers on Saturday will meet for the 10th time in the playoffs since the 1995 season. San Francisco leads the all-time postseason series 5-4, and they’ve won the last four meetings between the clubs.
Most recently San Francisco ousted the Packers in the divisional round of the 2021 postseason, but despite the fact that game was just two years ago, the teams are both dramatically different.
To catch up on what’s happening in Green Bay, we touched base with the USA TODAY Sports Media Group editor most likely to win a Spartan Race, Zach Kruse of Packers Wire.
He answered a few questions for us and gave a prediction for Saturday:
A brief history of the #49ers and Packers playoff showdowns:
The 49ers and Packers are no strangers to playoff matchups. Saturday’s 5:15pm kickoff at Levi’s Stadium will be the 10th ever postseason meeting between the two clubs.
More notably it’ll be their sixth meeting this century and fifth since the 2012 season.
Green Bay dominated early on in the seemingly annual 49ers-Packers playoff matchups. They faced off in every postseason from 1995 through 1998. San Francisco only won one of those meetings though.
It’s been the 49ers’ turn to dominate over the last 20 years though. They haven’t lost a playoff game to the Packers since a 25-15 wild card loss in the 2001 season, and they’ve won the last four postseason matchups.
Here’s a quick rundown of the previous nine playoff showdowns between the 49ers and Packers:
The #49ers have a plan to slow down red-hot Packers QB Jordan Love … but will it work?
There aren’t many quarterbacks playing better than Packers QB Jordan Love. After an up-and-down start to the year, Love has stabilized significantly and over his last nine games he’s thrown for 2,422 yards with 21 touchdowns and only one interception. His mobility and big arm make him a threat to take over any game, and slowing him down is a tall task for the 49ers defense and their coordinator Steve Wilks.
Wilks on Wednesday in his press conference talked about how the team might slow down the Packers’ young signal caller. Given all of his physical gifts it won’t be easy to simply bottle him up, so Wilks pointed to stopping the Packers run game first.
“Well, I think the number one thing is we have to try to stop this run to try to make them one-dimensional,” Wilks said. “They’re very effective running a ball. I think it just opens up the play action. That’s where you see him being extremely effective in taking the shots down the field and finding an open receiver. So, that’s number one. Then again, we’ve just got to try to mix things up on him a little bit to give him something to think about and figure out where he needs to go with the ball.”
There weren’t a lot of areas where Love struggled this year. He was dynamite on play action though.
Pro Football Focus gave Love the 10th-highest grade overall on play action throws this season. He completed 72.4 percent of his play action passes, averaged 9.7 yards per attempt, and tossed 11 touchdowns against just three interceptions.
Those numbers are stellar, especially up against his non-play action stats. On straight dropbacks Love’s completion rate dips to 61.9 percent, his YPA plummets to 6.6, and he posted 24 TDs with 8 INTs.
Stopping the run isn’t enough to make play action ineffective. Packers running back Aaron Jones is an extremely talented player who the 49ers will need to account for regardless of how productive Green Bay has been on the ground. A good RB forces defenses to respect the play fake, which moves defenders out of throwing lanes and allows for easier completions.
Wilks’ point about making the Packers one-dimensional is the key, but they have to do that via game script. Winning on first down and getting an early lead are two quick ways to push Green Bay into obvious passing situations where play action becomes a less effective means of bending defenses to an offensive play caller’s will.
This, of course, will be the 49ers’ plan. Given how Love is playing though it may not matter. He’s been excellent in virtually any situation over the last half of the season. Pushing Green Bay into a one-dimensional version of its offense would be a good start though, and then the 49ers’ defensive success may just come down to whether they can win individual reps.
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Watch former Seattle Seahawks tight end Luke Willson break down Josh Allen’s monster, zero-turnover game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The best team in these NFL playoffs is easily the Baltimore Ravens, who got to sit at home and watch this past weekend thanks to their first-round bye. However, if there’s a Joker-card type team that nobody wants to face it’s definitely the Buffalo Bills.
Watch former Seattle Seahawks tight end Luke Willson break down Josh Allen’s monster, zero-turnover game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Luke Willson (@LWillson_82) joins @JayOnrait to explain why he loved the way Josh Allen played against the Steelers. pic.twitter.com/HLQlqWFRJm
— JayOnSC (@JayOnSC) January 16, 2024
Buffalo will host the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round on Sunday night, while Baltimore will host the Houston Texans Saturday afternoon.
In the NFC, the Green Bay Packers will visit the San Francisco 49ers Saturday night and Sunday afternon the Detroit Lions are hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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