San Francisco 49ers: 6 Players They Must Lean on During 2012 NFL Playoff Run

Coach Jim Harbaugh has said that his coaching staff will study all three possible NFC playoff teams that have a chance to play the San Francisco 49ers in next week’s divisional playoff game. But if he spends any longer than reading the labels of the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions video discs, he’s wasting time.

The Saints are coming to town and everyone knows it. The league’s most prolific passing and second-highest-scoring team comes to town. Not an easy task.

In the Saints they face Drew Brees, the league’s record-setter in terms of yardage gained in one season. A victory will require a great effort, but if things work out as they should, all that awaits are the Packers, the No. 1 seed and the league’s highest-scoring team, whose quarterback, Aaron Rodgers set the record for highest QB rating.

To get to the Super Bowl, the Niners are going to have to pitch back-to-back gems on defense. Not necessarily no-hitters, but something akin to a Tim Lincecum 14-strikeout effort, followed with something similar by Matt Cain.

With these two stars looming on the horizon, playoff success is going to depend on the entire team, but as in most cases, some players will feel the pressure more than others.

Here are six players who will need to step up for the Niners to get to the Super Bowl.

Donte Whitner

The six-year strong safety will have chief responsibility of guarding Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, a 6’6” All-Pro who runs, jumps, catches and scores.

Against Detroit, 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had both safeties, Whitner and Dashon Goldson, helping out on Lion receiver Charles Johnson. That required Patrick Willis to battle tight end Brandon Pettigrew, and in that case the Niners came out ahead. Pettigrew didn’t hurt the Niners.

Graham, however, is taller and faster. Saints coach Sean Payton loves to send him down the middle of the field, stretching zones. Having Willis scamper deep into the secondary cuts into the 49ers’ best defensive asset, the ability to make definitive, no-gain-after-the-catch tackles.

Without Willis roaming the middle, Saints running back Darren Sproles becomes very dangerous on the check-downs, those short throws near the line of scrimmage that he often turns into big plays.

Willis and NaVorro Bowman will have their hands full keeping control of the middle, leaving Whitner having to battle Graham. To his credit, he’ll have Goldson to help out.

Look for both safeties to go out of their way to rack Graham hard at every opportunity.

Justin Smith

Justin Smith hasn’t missed a game since 2001, but reports are that he’s nicked up and tired. The week off will help him most assuredly.

The same goes for fellow defensive tackle Ray McDonald. He’s nursing a slight hamstring pull.

The effectiveness of the front line (Smith, McDonald and NT Isaac Sopoaga) accounted for the Niners holding opponents to under 80 yards rushing over the first 14 games. Then in the last two they gave up 124 and 111 rushing yards to Seattle and St. Louis, respectively.

The men were tired. Now they have to recharge, for their play requires two key elements for success. First, they have to control the line to give Bowman and Willis the freedom to roam. Second, they will have to be able to put pressure on Brees from the middle.

Remember, Brees is only 6’ tall, and anything in his face that makes him either move or have to throw high will help.

Mike Iupati

During his weekly call-in slot on the KNBR-AM radio morning show, Greg Cosell, NFL analyst and a producer for NFL Films, called the 49ers the “most complete team” in the NFC playoffs.

In this case, complete means best defense, best offense and best special teams as a whole. In the 49ers case, that ranking might be special teams, defense and offense. The numbers suggest offense is indeed the weakest link on the team.

That said, however, the Niners have the capability to run, and ground-game first downs tend to eat up the clock, maintain control and keep opposing offensive stars like Brees and Rodgers off the field.

The running game has sputtered of late, but if you look at the last six opponents of the Niners you can see that they have faced very good defenses against Arizona, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Seattle. The Rams are the exception.

The Saints and the Packers are both susceptible to the run. The Saints gave up just over 108 yards on the ground per game to rank 12th in the league, but their average gain per attempt was 5.0, which stands at 29th. The Packers were 109 a game in yards and the 4.7 average per attempt ranks 26th.

Both the Saints and the Packers could be said to eschew run defense to hunt quarterbacks due to the benefit of their offenses giving them leads. The Niners would like to find out if they could stop the run when trailing.

To do that, both Niner guards Iupati and Snyder have to control the inside lanes as well as perform as expected on their counter-play pulls.

Frank Gore

A full-speed, healthy Frank Gore will be needed. As effective as Kendall Hunter has been of late, Gore provides that durability and inside running that wears down defenses. He doesn’t fumble, takes big hits from interior linemen and linebackers without loss of effectiveness, and he’s capable as both a pass receiver (though this area should improve) and as a pass protector.

Getting Gore over 100 yards in the playoffs will go a long way to the Niners controlling the clock, keeping its defense fresh and the biggest threats of the opposition in check.

Alex Smith

The Niners finished the season 29th in third-down conversions at 29 percent. This will have to improve, and it will come down to Smith having to make some throws that he chose not to make during the season.

Much has been said about Smith having just five interceptions this year, but it also has to be said that he has thrown just 449 passes this year and only one team threw fewer passes than the 49ers.

Brees has thrown a whopping 662 (42 attempts per game) to lead the league. Rodgers has 502 attempts. The point is that Smith is going to have to make some critical throws on third down in order to maintain possession.

Against Pittsburgh, Detroit and Baltimore, to name a few, big rushes had Smith pull the ball down and take the sack rather than risk interceptions. It was exactly the thing he had to do to get the team where they are now.

Now he’s going against teams with less-than-stellar pass rushes. The time has come for him to try to jam a couple in there.

Kyle Williams

This is my prediction for the breakout player during the playoffs. Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his counterpart in Green Bay, Dom Capers, do not wear Super Bowl rings because their schemes avoided the oppositions’ best receivers.

As such, Michael Crabtree and tight end Vernon Davis will find they have plenty of company on their pass routes. That leaves Williams—whose speed and guile has been a pleasant surprise this year—to be a breakout player.

He’ll have single coverage in many plays, and that means the chance to make big plays.

The Packers had 70 passing plays of 20 yards or more on the season, second only to the Patriots. The Saints had 69. The Niners rank 23rd with 41. Williams will have the chance to change that dynamic in the playoffs.