70% completion percentage for QB's against our DB's. That's terrible. :pity: If we don't pressure Rivers, he's going to have a field day spreading the ball around.

 

yeah i saw today that while we're mid-range in overall defense, we have allowed an average of a 114.8 passer rating for opposing QBs... not very good at all. good for 31st in the league (in front of Detroit)

 

Yeah, SD's passing offense against our secondary has the potential to turn this game into the Arizona fiasco all over again if we dont get to Rivers early, and often. Langford and Merling need to get in there and disrupt Rivers, and I imagine we'd have Allen up against Chambers... so he needs to be pretty physical at the line as well.

 

I wouldn't put Chambers/Jackson in the range of Boldin/Fitz just yet but it's still not pretty. But the safety valve that LT and Gates has been is enough to compensate even if they're hobbled. We have to get in his face fast and knock him around. Allen against Chambers looks like a fair matchup (though I would still give the edge to Chambers because of his leaping ability and that Allen couldn't catch a cold in a leaky Army quarantine storage facility) but Allen against Jackson is a TKO in favor of the bigger Jackson (think slower Fitz but stronger, bigger, and taller).

I have LT and Chambers starting which makes me uneasy. On one hand you want your favorite team to win, on the other, you hope Rivers, LT and Chambers make up for Plaxico's absence. Best case is, those 3 go nuts on the statboard but we still win with lots of TD grabs by Fasano. :up:

 

I agree Alen, our guys not only need to get to rivers, they need to get to him early.

FFIC i sorta have been thinking the same thing, i'm worried abotu the charger passing game more than LT and his toe.

 

Each member of the D has to continue to improve each game and this game will be another measuring stick of their progress. If we concentrate on run stopping LT, then Gates and Chambers will pick us apart. If we shift to cover Chambers and Gates, LT will run wild. We will need to step up with good individual efforts and hope that our pass rush gets to Rivers and disrupts his timing. If we can add to our sack total this week and pressure Rivers we could have a legitamit shot at a win.

 

I think we have to worry more about Gates. We've shown a tendency to have Ayodele covering the TE and it could get out of hand with Gates...he's the best TE we played against this year...

The other thing is, as most have mentioned above, to get into Rivers face. He's as human as any QB when pressured. A huge part of our success last week was pressure in Cassel's face...If Langford, Kendall, Starks and co have as much success...it could be a fun game to watch for Fins fans...

 

Keep this in mind though.

A HUGE part of that 114.8 rating comes from Warner having I think a 156.4 rating.
That is a large large spike in that average.

Faavree didnt have that great a game against us, and part of his rating was a freakin Hail Mary
Cassell...well, he looked like a guy that hadnt played since High School.

 

The secondary has to be held accountable too though. Getting pressure is important but the secondary really bounced back against NE and they must do the same against SD. Getting pressure on Rivers won't be effective unless the secondary can hold up more than 3 or 4 seconds. Both units have to perform well.

 

If we get pressure on rivers like we did on Cassell, and stop the RG like we did to the Pats, we can win this thing. Of course this may all be dependent upon the Sun rising in the West on Sunday. :lol: