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The Athletic’s Matt Barrows joined “The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross” Tuesday morning following the excitement of Wildcard Weekend to talk about the 49ers next opponent, the Green Bay Packers.
San Francisco learned who they’ll play early in Wildcard Weekend when the Packers upset the Dallas Cowboys 48-32 on Sunday. Barrows believes it’ll be a battle of similar strengths.
“The Packers caught your attention. The Packers had a great game and a really good game plan. I thought [Matt] LaFleur’s play calls…in combination with Jordan Love’s play, that’s what stood out in that game and that’s what stood out for the 49ers all season, the combination of Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan,” Barrows said. “Two young quarterbacks with two really good offensive minds calling the plays, and they happen to be running the same systems, and oh the one guy is the former pupil of the other guy. So there’s some good storylines.
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The star player for the San Francisco 49ers has revealed his playing status for their Divisional Round matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night.
The Niners have been dominant this season, and whilst they did end the season with 5 losses, 1 of them came in a meaningless bout against the LA Rams, whilst the other 3 came in a dull stretch where they had key starters Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel missing
Luckily for the 49ers, it looks like they will enter this game with all key starters, including star back, Christian McCaffrey – who was inactive in Week 18 – fit and healthy on the offensive side of the ball, per Underdog NFL.
McCaffrey was already expected to play in this game, so probably no real change on either team’s game plan. But in terms of the game, this will not be good news for Green Bay.
The Packers are notoriously poor against the run, and going up against the best run schemer in the league in Kyle Shanahan, who is 2-0 against the Packers in the playoffs, and now the best running back, will surely not put any encouragement into the hearts of the Green Bay faithful.
Let’s see if the Green Bay Packers can manage an upset against the heavily favored (10 points) Niners, or if San Francisco will claim another victim en route to the grand prize.
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia uttered a familiar statement following Sunday’s Wild Card Weekend victory, summarizing the Green Bay Packers’ absolute domination over their 2-seeded opponent.
“How about them Cowboys?”
Jordan Love and the offense obliterated the Dallas Cowboys’ formidable defense, and they received assistance from the defense and special teams playing complementary football.
It’s hard to call a play in the first half of the game a dagger, but Darnell Savage‘s 64-yard pick-six might have been the turning point for the Packers. That play stalled Dallas’ momentum and turned a game they were merely losing into an abyssal uphill climb.
It’s no coincidence that Green Bay’s defense has played better since a healthy Savage re-entered the lineup. Joe Barry is setting up Savage for success by using his best skills and putting him in a position to succeed. Between his more consistent play, improved tackling, and importance in defensive communication, Savage is well on his way to earning a spot on next year’s roster.